Welcome to Gateway Church's podcast. Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

So, we are going to continue our series. We are on the fifth church, which is the church in Sardis.

I told Debbie that. She said, what church is it this week? I said Sardis. She said Stardust.

I said, no, I think that's a casino in Vegas, but anyway.

But Sardis is the name of the church, and it's in, we're starting Revelation 3. Now we have three more churches.

So, I'll do the fifth church this week, next week, and then the next week we'll finish this series.

Let me just explain to you that in many Bibles, there are headings above the passages.

And the headings aren't inspired. They're written by the translators or by the publishing company and puts that Bible out.

But they still tell you a little something. The church had Ephesus where we started. It was called the Loveless Church.

You know, return to your first love. The church at Smyrna was called the Persecuted Church.

The church at Pergamum was called the Compromising Church. The church at Thyatira, which we did last week, was called the Corrupt Church, because of the corruption that had come in.

Smyrna, the title over it in most Bibles, is the Dead Church.

Now, I don't know about you, but remember these letters are written to the Seven Pastors.

And if I was the pastor of the Sardis Church and got to that part, now to the Dead Church, you know, it would hurt my feelings personally.

But we're going to talk about this and let the Lord apply it. So remember, each week we let the Lord apply the truths from these passages to our lives, right?

So Revelation 3, verse 1. And to the angel of the church in Sardis, right, these things says, he who has the Seven Spirits of God.

Now, this is a new salutation. We're talking about what each salutation means. So we'll get to that.

And the Seven Stars, the Seven Stars, we know are the angels and the Seven Lamp Stamps, which he doesn't mention here, are the churches.

But the Seven Spirits of God, what are they? I know your works. Now watch this, and that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

That's Jesus saying. It even say you're like dead, or close to death, but you're dead.

Be watchful. I underlying that because I want to come back to the word watchful, and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.

In other words, you got a few things that are alive, but they're really close to death.

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