How to Revive a Dead Church - Lessons From Sardis: Part 2 - Revelation 3: 2-3

1:32You can turn the light back on. The church at Sardis, the light had gone out. It was a spiritually dead church, and yet there were still some vestiges of its earlier Christian life. The light, the source of spiritual vitality, was gone, but there were still these relics of its great Christian past. This is the church of spiritual deadness. And there are still some motions of Christianity that are taking place, so much so that the church had a great name for being alive and a Christian organization, a Christian church there in Sardis. But as Jesus looked upon it, he said, You are dead. What's happening is just the afterglow of a once great church. There's still some vestiges of its Christianity, of its glory days, but its greatness was in its past. Welcome to Sardis. Welcome to the church in America and the church largely around the world in many parts. Churches that are living in the greatness of their past, entire denominations.

3:00That once blazed with the glory of God and the passion of God and the spiritual vitality that gave birth to Methodism, Presbyterianism, Lutheranism, and even Baptistic faiths. Now, largely, many of them live in the relics of the greatness of their past. How do we not become that? I see it in our own denomination. That's what we're mainly interested in. Not just our own denomination, but even our own church. How do we not become a spiritually dead church who is going through the motions of Christianity?

3:48How do we as individuals don't become like that light that just there is no spiritual vitality, but we know enough about Christianity that there is some semblance of spiritual life, but we're completely dead? How does that make sure that doesn't happen to us? Well, welcome back to the church at Sardis. We need to learn the lessons from the church at Sardis. Well, it's very clear, as we looked at last time, there is the reality of spiritually dead churches. They may look alive. But they may in reality be spiritually dead. We looked at that last time. Look at verse 1. To the angel of the church in Sardis, write: He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this: I know your deeds, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. And Jesus is saying, I know your deeds. I know the quality and character of your deeds. I know that you have a reputation of being this alive church, but in reality, you are dead. And Jesus knows for sure he is the one that controls the spirit of life. You see that with the expression, the seven spirits of God. He is the one responsible behind administering the full administration of God's will through the Spirit of God. Certainly a picture of life and vitality. He also holds the angels or the elders, the pastors in their hand. When he says something's dead, he understands. And he's saying all this because he wants alive churches.

5:32We need to understand that spiritual decline is not something that Christ wants. He wants spiritual vitality. He doesn't want spiritual deadness, and that's why he writes this letter to the church. And that's the lesson that we can learn from this letter, among many other things. He wants spiritual aliveness. Well, we looked at that last time. So then the question is, what? Is the remedy? What is the remedy? What is the remedy? And that's what we will be looking at this time. Let me read to you, verse 2. Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die. For I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. So remember what you have received and heard and keep it and repent. Therefore, if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

6:34Well, what characterizes a dead church? Well, it's not hard to figure out, at least at a big picture level. It's a void of a vibrant spiritual life. You think about what's happened at Pergamum. There is a collision with society out there over politics, specifically the politics of emperor worship. Is the church going to go along with the politics of their day, or are they going to stand firm on the truth? That was Pergamum. You come down to Thyratira, what's going on? Well, that involves largely the trade guilds and the professional life and the pressures that the believers are facing in the work world. Are you going to embrace the gods of the society and the trade guilds, or are you going to remain true to the God of the society? Scripture. When you come down to Sardis, they have become like this innocuous church. They have stepped out of the collisions with society, even though unquestionably these were there. Jesus doesn't spell these out, it's just they have become so innocuous. Like they have found that sweet spot of stepping out of the collision with the culture and just have become lethargic to any kind of spiritual vitality. They're lethargic when it comes to the real demands of Christianity, complacent, lethargic. That's what spiritual deadness looks like. It's a lethargy. I think sometimes we can feel that. I feel it. You see, it's easy to become lethargic about the demands of following Christ in a secular world.

8:31Avoid the collision. Step out. Don't do anything or say anything offensive. You know, a little Christianity is good, but not too much. You ever heard that? I did growing up after I came to Christ. It's like, oh, yeah, a little rich religion is good. Yeah, go get some religion, but don't get too much. Well, that's kind of the idea here: is just it's easy to become lethargic, spiritually complacent. In the light of the demands of a vibrant, spirit-controlled Christian life. We're to be excited about certain things. We are to be moved by certain things. We are to proclaim certain things. That's what gave rise to the church in the book of Acts. They were not lethargic, they were excited about the truth, and it moved them. And that's where the church comes from. And you see this in denominations, in their past, in their great movements. But it comes out of a spiritual vitality, and then society goes on, generations come, and the following generations become lethargic.

9:48Well, this was Sardis. They had a name for themselves. They had made a name for themselves. I think often we can fall into that ourselves. We want to be well thought of by our culture, by our peers, and so we are slow to say, do, and sometimes even think things that would offend the spirit of our age. And let me tell you what happens. When we elevate our reputation above God's, we inevitably place ourselves in a state of spiritual lethargy, spiritual lethargy. Lethargy to the vibrant demands of true Christianity. And that's what happens, and we become lethargic, slow.

10:40Well, what's the remedy? What's the remedy? How does a spiritually dead church come back to life? What do we need to do in order to bring a dead church back from the dead? Some of the most important questions of our times, in church life, anyway. I think many, this has application to those who are in dying churches, dying denominations, dying congregations, or maybe there's been a church split and you don't know what you're supposed to do on what side to go.

11:21What's the answer? What is the remedy? How does revival happen? Has God left us any instructions? And how do we make sure that we don't become like that light that just ends up void of spiritual power, yet still having a little bit of an afterglow for a period of time before it goes completely out? Well, the answer is right before our eyes in verses two and three. And here, Christ gives us the remedy for spiritually dead churches. I want to look at these. How do we revive a dead church? Very basic question.

12:07Well, there are five commands in the next two verses that give us the story. Verse 2 will give us the big picture. Verse 3 will give us a little more specific details. First, let's look at the big picture. What does Christ want? Well, look back at verse 2. Wake up. First command, wake up. The command is actually become alive. That's what Jesus wants. I mean, obviously, you're spiritually dead, think on a big picture. What's the goal? Come alive. That's really the command. Come alive. You be becoming alive. That's the idea. But it's come alive. Come forth. You become alive. That's what he wants. Wake up. Wake up. Be alert. Become someone who is paying attention.

13:07I told you a little bit about the history of the church, not the church, the history of the city of Sardis last time. Do you remember two times in its history, it was conquered. They thought they had this natural fortification that nobody could conquer, and they just went to sleep that night without even posting guards two times. In its history, it was taken by night for being asleep. Two times. Wake up. He uses this metaphor for sleep. Wake up to your dead condition. That's what he's saying. Wake up to your dead condition.

13:56You see, spiritual life involves alertness. The contrast, spiritual dullness is spiritual death, being lethargic. Where are you with the demands of Christianity? Are you excited? Are you moved by the truths that have been given to us by the gospel? Or are you kind of like, yeah, you know, I'm going to do one, two, three, four, five today, and then maybe if some's left over, I might take in a Bible study. I might read, I might pray.

14:34Where are you? Wake up from this fog of sleep, from this spiritual lethargy. Become alive. You see, the Christian life is one of continued watchfulness. Well, the rest of verse 2, that's a big picture. Become alive. If you're dead, come alive. Spiritual, so the next, the rest of verse two shows us what being spiritually alive looks like. Spiritual life involves a right focus, not a dullness, but a right focus, focus, a right focus on the right things for the right reasons. Look back. Wake up and strengthen the things that remain which are about to die.

15:31Wake up to your dead condition and strengthen the things that are dying in your midst. Literally, it's the expression, the NASB says, which were about to die. The verb there is really that are on the point of dying. That's how wake up, strengthen the things that are at the point of death. Wake up. There are things, precious things around you that are about to be lost forever. Wake up to your dead condition. Focus on the right things.

16:16This church had once started down a great path of faithfulness, but something had happened to hinder their progress. That's so true of so many today. Start down a road of faithfulness. Vibrant life, and then something jumps in and impedes the way. It's halted your progress in the things of Christ. But if you'll look, as it was, the church of Sardis, there were those things that were still good. Even though it was a dead church, there were still some vestiges of true Christianity, of a vibrant faith. They were on the point of dying. And he's saying, wake up, come alive, focus, strengthen those things that are about to die. That's great, great advice. I mean, if you're a business owner, good advice. Focus. Strengthen those things that are on the verge of dying. If you're in a marriage, sometimes marriages can go in a very bad direction. But if you'll look, focus, strengthen those things which remain.

17:38Strengthen those things which are about to die, but pay attention to those. And certainly this is true on the personal level. Sometimes we get far away from the Lord, so much so that we're just, we feel totally cut off from Him. I would say to you, look what's going on in your life. Strengthen those things that remain. Good advice. But certainly, this is in the context of the church with implications to all other areas. Focus on the right tasks, focus on those things that are about to die.

18:18Don't let them die. Strengthen them. So, an enlivened spiritual life certainly focuses on the right tasks, but it also does so for the right reasons. Look back. Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die for or because I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. The right reason. What is the right reason to be active about the right things? It's for his reputation, for his name, for his glory, not for our names, not for my name.

19:03This church is not here for our names, it's for his name. His reputation is far more important than mine. His reputation is far more important than yours. Listen, you may think I'm a swell guy, but that's not going to save you. So I don't need to be all about trying to establish my name. That's not going to do anything. Do it for anybody. You need to know Christ, His name. I do what I do so that He may be known. We do what we do so that the world may see Him and come to Him.

19:48I mean, you can think this is a swell church, but that's not going to save you. You need to see the living God who breathes life into this church. That's who you need to see. That's who you need to encounter. And hopefully, by our lives and our deeds and what we do and what we say and what we're about, we bring our world face to face with the God who breathes life into us and into them.

20:18His name. For His glory. Let us strengthen the things that remain, not for our own sake, but for His sake and His name. Church at Sardis, their works may have given them a good name with outsiders, but it didn't give them a good reputation with God. I see this more and more common in our people and churches today. We want to be well thought of. We want to have a good name. And as Our society continues to clash with biblical Christianity and Antichrist theology. We have so many people that are caught in the middle, and we just want that middle road where we can opt out of the collision. We want a good name for ourselves.

21:28John chapter 12, verse 42 says this: There were many Pharisees who were coming to believe in Jesus. But listen what he says: Nevertheless, many, even of the rulers, believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. I can say something that characterized Sardis. It was this: Let's take an innocuous position so that we can have a good name with outsiders and not engage in that vibrant Christian life that offends the darkness. Well, you remember, I also told you last week about another aspect of this church. Church, or of the city, rather. They had this unfinished temple to Artemis. You remember? That temple sat vacant for over 350 years as a construction site. It's a great lesson. Archaeologists love it because it has all these different eras of construction methods and styles, and so it's an archaeological wonderland for studying all that.

23:03But what does that say about the city's commitment to Artemis? Compliant, I mean, complacent. Artemis, really, low priority. This was a lethargic city as it came to finishing their temple. You can kind of see they're just kind of like, they're innocuous. They're like secularists. They don't, a little religion, oh, yeah, whatever. Not too much of anything. And, but you think about this. Okay, so this is a city, okay, you say you are a city who worships Artemis, but really you don't.

23:47Your lethargy says so much about the goddess Artemis. The incomplete temple says all about how you really feel. Okay, yeah, you just go along with it. You really feel. Don't believe he really called that. Well, you see what happens when we live for ourselves and our reputation, we diminish God's reputation, and therefore people will not see Him as worthy. Yeah, Artemis isn't worthy, but you can see the culture, you kind of see the character of this town. They've just become secularists, like nothing really drives them except perhaps status quo, good name.

24:35They lacked positive output. When you come to the God of the Bible, He is worthy for us to focus on the right tasks for His glory. When we become lethargic in our spiritual life, we say to the world, He really isn't worthy of being followed. He's not worthy of our spiritual vitality. Something else is. You see, what the church of Sardis lacked was positive output in a true spiritual sense. That's what happens when a person or church ceases to do and complete the tasks that God has for them. And you know what happens? They die. Oh, they may still continue doing the work, just like that light, but it's going out.

25:38Listen, it's the lack of doing the right things for the right reasons that lead to spiritual decline, not just in Sardis, but everywhere. You see, oftentimes, before you start doing the wrong things, you've stopped doing the right things. Story of life: what is Christ's command? Get to work doing that for which God created you. Your works are not completed. God still has something for you to do. I remember what really first awakened me to my spiritual condition and my need for God was somebody telling me, you know what, God has put you on this earth and He has something for you to do, and it's not to waste your life.

26:32And that truth went in and took root. Like, yes, God has put all of us here, He has a purpose for you being here, He has got works for you to do, He's got things for you to walk in, He's got a relationship that He wants with you, and it's not for you just to go squander and ruin your life and wreak havoc all around you. Complete the works that you have. God has called you to do. This has application to all of us, regardless of how young you are or how old you are. Speaking of age, it's my wife's birthday today.

27:16I turned 55. Four days later, she turns 55. That gives me enough of a heads-up to know that I've got a plan for her birthday. Today, we're going to start enjoying those 55 senior discount menu items. But spiritual vitality focuses on the right things for the right reasons. And that has application to all of us, regardless of how much time you have left. God's not through with you. Get busy on the tasks that He has called you to do. And I can tell you what He wants you to do. Strengthen the things that remain. Be a strengthening force in the life of the church, in your own life, in the spiritual things. And especially pay attention to those things which are about to be lost forever. Strengthen them. That's where revival is going to happen. So focus on the right tasks. Become alive. Focus on the right for the right reasons.

28:25What are the right things? The things that need strengthening. What is for the right reason, for God's glory and reputation, not ours? That's what becoming alive looks like. Come alive, focus on the right things for the right reasons. So then the question becomes: okay, how do I become alive? How do I become alive? And this is where Jesus takes us into the three steps to becoming alive. Yes, what's the answer to being dead? Come alive. Evidence by focusing on the right things for the right reasons. Okay, but then how, specifically, how do I become alive? Well, verse 3. He gives us three verbs, commands that tell us how to come alive. So remember what you have received and heard, and keep it and repent.

29:32Let's look at the first verb. So remember. Be remembering. It's a command. Be remembering. It's not just a command to recall something that took place in the past, but bring this reality to the forefront of your thinking. Let this be on your mind. Be remembering. Now, many translations, what you have received. Remembering what you have received. The word is actually the word how. Be remembering how you received and heard. So there's certainly an emphasis upon the content. Be paying attention to what you received, but it's not just what, it's how.

30:25Be remembering how you took hold. The word there for received is the word, it's an active verb. So it's not just, okay, there I was, and then bam, I got struck by lightning. And no, it's an act of taking hold. It's like football, the receiver. The receiver actively catches. He takes hold of the ball. He receives the ball. That's the picture here. Remember how you took hold of the truth. How you received the truth. Remember what you received, but remember how you took it. You aggressively took hold of it. In fact, if you look back just a few verses before, he promises, Jesus promises, he who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. Verse 26, verse 27, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the Potter are broken to pieces. Verse 27, as I also have received authority from my father. Same verb there, as I also have taken hold of the authority from my father. So he's going to give that authority. Same is true, same expression here. So remember that truth you have received. You look at, there was this lively excitement at one time when the truth came. There was this awakening, this liveliness, this excitement. I remember when the centurion in Matthew 8 says, Jesus, will you please heal my servant? And Jesus starts coming. He says, no, no, just say the word. I'm a man under authority. I know who you are. If you just give the word, he will be healed. And Jesus said, This, truly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. The centurion took hold. Remember 1 Thessalonians 1:9. For they themselves report about what kind of reception we had with you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God. Paul was saying, Look, the Thessalonican reception to the gospel was so over the top, so loud and so bold, right in the shadow of Mount Olympus, where all the Greek gods are supposedly living, right there. The church at Thessalonica boldly took hold of the truth and said, Finally, a God worth serving. Finally, a God who is true. Finally, a God who loves us. And they turn to him. And nobody needs to say anything because their reception was so loud and over the top that everybody heard. Their reputation went out for the way they received.

33:26That's the kind of reception that Jesus is saying. Go back and remember. Be remembering. Let this be for you in your mind. Mark chapter 10, Jesus says in verse 15, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all. Listen, there's going to be some truths that you aren't going to be able to explain, but it's true. Take it. Receive it. You can approach God's words in one of two ways, with an unbelieving heart or a believing heart. Let me tell you what a believing heart looks like. Lord, I'm just going to take it. I'm going to believe it. I'm going to take it at face value. An unbelieving heart says, I'm not going to take it at face value until it's proven to be true. The believer says, I will accept it. Truth. Unless there is clear evidence to the contrary, my default is to believe the word. The skeptic default is to not believe the word. But there are two approaches, very different outcomes. That's not to say that Christianity is irrational, but it is to say, come to it. Look for reasons to believe. And if you will look for reasons to believe, you will find them because they're there.

34:58And the world will make sense. You'll be able to understand your own heart much better. It's a light. Yeah, but you're going to have to come in faith. Jesus said, like a child, yes, good news. God loves you. God knows who you are. God has placed you where He has and when He you live. He's put you where and when so that you would know Him, so that you would find Him. Listen, I know many churches, denominations today have a rich heritage, some not so much.

35:48But we can all, if we're in Christ, we can look back and see the early church as our heritage. Look at the church at Acts, look at how they received the gospel was. Fresh and alive. News that God loves us, that His favor is to be had in Christ. What a soul place. You remember hearing those words that God loves you, and it first really kind of hits that God has created you and He has placed you and He has showered His favor upon you, and that there is a way into God's eternal favor. And it's in Christ Jesus, and that Christ Himself came for the purpose of taking away all those offenses, all that which was odious in the sight of God, for which you know you don't deserve the favor of God. That Christ Himself came and He took away your sins. You remember that, and He took away all that was foul, all that offended God, that you knew offended God. He took all that away. What's left?

37:04That which God is excited about. He removed all the offense, and not just in some way that impersonal way, but specifically for you. And when that truth takes hold, wow, what a rich message. And that takes us to the next step. First, be remembering what you have. Received. Second, be keeping what you have heard. Be keeping that. Be keeping that. Let that be in your heart, in your mind. Let this truth, let these truths keep what you have heard. Be remembering how what you received and how you received it, but be keeping what you have heard. And I don't mean in a sense like, okay, God says, do not steal, therefore, I'm not going to steal. You know, I want to steal my sister's hair clip, but I'm not going to because, yes, that's, but beyond that, what does it mean to keep this in your heart? Listen, I don't steal. I don't want to steal because God is someone who doesn't steal. Not just because he doesn't steal, because it's the opposite of what he does. He gives. And so even I look at the commandments that say something like, do not, do not steal, and I can see the goodness of God. I can see the character of God, that he is someone who gives and loves and pours out. That's why he says do not steal, because it's not at all like him at all. And as I hold that truth in my heart, I'm brought in connection with the God of the universe who gives and gives and gives and gives. Keep it in your heart. That's what he's saying. Be keeping all these things. There's implications.

38:53Oh, there's so much. Keep your life in step with the word that you. Have received. Let's keep it corporately as a church. Let's keep it individually. So much there. Okay, let's move on to the third verb. I know time's getting away. Three steps to becoming alive. First, be remembering what you have received. Second, be keeping what you have heard. Third, repent. Look back. Let me reread that. Wake up. I'm sorry. Verse 3. So remember what you have received and heard and keep it and repent and repent. Interesting.

39:46There's two present verbs. Be remembering, be keeping. And then you come to this third, repent. Repent. It's not a be repenting, though there's places in Scripture that that is true and that scripture affirms that. The lifestyle of a believer is to be one of repenting. But here, the emphasis upon repent. Come to that decisive point where you say, I'm done with this. I want a different course. I want to change the trajectory. It's that it's speaking of a definitive purpose in the heart that says, I have remembered what used to be. I have remembered what. Ought to be. I'm looking at the way things are, and I am not going to live like that anymore. I am turning away from that. That's the idea of repentance. It's the thief who stops taking and starts giving. Like, I'm done stealing. It's the drunk who forsakes his alcohol and says, I am coming under God's Spirit.

40:56It's the sexually immoral person to be done with misusing the body and rendering the instruments of his body or her body to deeds of unrighteousness. I am done with that kind of living. You see what repentance is? It's a turning, it's a coarse correction. And that's what Jesus is saying. Be remembering. Assess where you are. And then come to that decisive moment that says, I'm done with this kind of living. His name is more important. It's a tragedy that his name is being dragged through the mud or it is being brought down by my life or our church.

41:43Come to that decisive moment. Strengthen. Be assessing. Put yourself on the right task. Be strengthening the ministries of the church. Be strengthening the ministry. Look at the ones. Be strengthening and be keeping and keep on strengthening. Change that course from lethargy to this vital way of life. You know, I think to some degree, you see this all around. We, Emmanuel, have kind of walked through this process some, and we've ourselves feel like we've experienced a revival. And I can tell you, you can look at the history of a church, even a dead church today, and I can tell you you can find vestiges of where you can start pouring attention on.

42:45First of all, think about Sunday mornings. Even dead churches, they still gather. For some reason, there's still that afterglow of our post-Christian world, Christian society. There's still a lot of people congregating. They still listen to sermons, even though some of them are getting a lot shorter. They still listen. Well, first of all, strengthen that. People still assemble. Let's make sure the pulpit is proclaiming the truth. Listen, if God's inerrant word is not being proclaimed, guess what? The oracles of man are. And that's not going to bring spiritual life.

43:28Well, then there's music. You know what? People still sing, still like to sing. In fact, some of the songs we sing are relics. It's interesting when you go to some of these cathedrals in Europe, which are pretty much turned into museums, some of them mosques, some of them are concert halls. And some of the things that they will play are the hymns, the great hymns. There's still a vestige. Strengthen that music ministry that puts theology, sound theology, and good music together that is singable, that is tasteful, that brings the congregation to sing the truths of God. Strengthen those ministries. And you could go on and on, strengthen. You can see vestiges all around, even in dead churches like Sardis.

44:17Prayer ministry, scripture reading, fellowship ministries, evangelism, service. All of these strengthen, strengthen. We go on the principles: truth, community, and mission. Kind of roll everything up in there. Yeah, give ourselves to truth. Let's grow community. Let's strengthen community. Strengthen missions. Strengthen our proclamation in truth, of an understanding of truth. All that. And spiritual revival will happen. Wake up. Focus on the right things. Start remembering how the truth is to be received. Start remembering how rich the gospel is. Messages, be keeping the implications of that gospel message and determined to be done with your spiritual lethargy. I think we know what happens if you don't. Look back at verse 3. Therefore, if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

45:28Just like the city was taken by stealth, Christ will come, judge the church, and they won't even know what hit him. It'll just be gone. The light will eventually go out. And that's what happens. If spiritual lethargy continues, every vestige of life will eventually go out. First from the church and then from society. Well, Jesus made it clear he is the one who gives life. He is the one who holds the seven spirits, the spirits' life-giving vitality, and he wants to revive churches.

46:11And he's going to reward those who will give themselves. We'll talk about a white robe, putting it on. But just as I close, I want to tell you a story. The story is called Pappy, Tom, and the Little Dog. Pappy, Tom, and the little dog. Let me tell you something about Tom. That's me. So, this is kind of a story from my childhood that left an impression on me. First, let me tell you about Pappy. Pappy. My dad had this distribution, food distribution, bread distribution company in northern New Mexico when I was growing up. And we had a warehouse where all the bread and all the cakes and all that kind of stuff would come. And right next to it was kind of the caretaker. His name was Pappy. He lived in a single wide trailer right next to the warehouse. And if ever there was an on-real goat on the planet Earth, it was Pappy. He seemed like he was drunk all the time. I remember 10 in the morning, he would be drinking. He was about, these two things I remember about Pappy. Number one, he seemed drunk all the time, and he seemed to be yelling all the time. That was Pappy.

47:40I didn't like him, and he didn't like me. And probably for some good reason, I would bring my friends to the warehouse, and we'd kind of get to rattling around in there. And what do you do? Well, eventually you get tired of eating the donuts, and you start throwing them at each other. And so you have all these. These cakes, and you'd have these, you know, nothing like throwing hoot and toots and twinkies and getting into a nice, good food fight. And I remember on one occasion, just to give you a good reason why Pappy didn't like me, as I perched myself up high with some of my friends and I pulled out this coffee cake, this big one, took it out, and just as they were coming, I launched it out and just right over the floor. And right about then, Pappy comes walking around. What is all this going on? No wonder we have a cockroach problem. No wonder we have a rat problem. And don't you know what you're doing?

48:40And no wonder we're moving so much merchandise and not making any profit around here. What are you guys doing? I did clean it up, but that was kind of my relationship with Pappy. And I couldn't figure out, like, Dad, why did you hire such a cantankerous old goat? And Pappy probably thought, why did you have all these kids? You know, that was my relationship with Pappy. And then that kind of changed one day, and that's when the little dog comes into picture. A little dog. I remember one day I was rattling around the warehouse, a little boy, and this little white, fluffy dog, stray dog, there was a number of stray dogs probably coming and eating up the cakes that are all over the floor.

49:25But this little dog jumped out in the street, and this car just. Ran straight over him. And this little fluffy dog just was out there in this lifeless heap in the middle of the street. I knew I couldn't go out and get him. So I walked in there and saw Pappy. Pappy, there's a dog got run out right out here. He's right out there in the street, got run over by a car. Pappy gets rid of his beer for just a moment, gets up, walks out into the street, picks up this little dog, this lifeless dog, and brings him back and sets him down in the shade, gets a place for him. And Pappy looks at me and says, he's not dead. He says, he's not dead. He goes, see, the axle hit him. The tire didn't hit him. The axle hit him right in the head. He'd just been knocked out, and there's this big gash here. And then Pappy ministered to the dog's needs. And the dog revived. He took care of that dog. He first got the dog out of the middle of the road. And then he nurtured that dog back to life. And that dog went and was alive again.

50:42And I remember thinking, You're all right, Pappy. You're all right. If I had a white robe, I'd put it on you. So that was Pappy, Tom, and the little dog. But let me tell you this: if an old drunk can have Compassion on a dying dog and be so moved to strengthen it. And if a little boy would be willing to put a white robe on an old cantankerous drunk for his heroic deed, how much more should we be giving ourselves to that which is really important, the church of the living God? And how much more should we expect Christ to reward those who do?

51:32There is a way to revive a dying church, but it involves the church. Come alive. Repent. Turn away from your spiritual lethargy. Be keeping what you heard. Be receiving what you heard. Focus on the right things for the right reason. And our church, our lives will be met with God's life-giving supply, for sure. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we remember these words today, we are confronted with our own spiritual lethargy. We want the life that you give.

52:26We want to complete the purposes for which you have placed us on earth. And we want to give ourselves to them completely and totally. Forgive us, for we have sought to establish our name above yours. Forgive us. Call us to yourself. Awaken us. Enliven us that we might be about high living instead of low living. In Jesus' name, amen.