“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, 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. 4 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. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 3:1-6

Questions for Reflection:

To get a letter like this would be both humbling and hopeful.. What words from letter are humbling for you?

Which words or phrases in the text are meant to inspire hope for the reader? Where is Jesus directing them to go for "hope"?

Pretend you are a member of the church in Sardis and you are hearing this letter read to the church for the first time. The leader asks each person (maybe 20 or 30 are present) to share what they think the church as a whole should do in response. When it's your turn what do you say?

Prayer of the Week:

Jesus, I love You! I worship You! I trust You! I give myself over to You today! You the WAY, the TRUTH, the LIFE and no one comes to God the Father except through You. I thank and praise You for the passion, fervor and zeal with which you Seek me, Save me and Rescue me each day all while doing battle against evil, the evil one and all his cunning accomplices. All this you do out of love for me, for all people and for Your church. Thank you, Jesus, so very much! I praise you also for being adamant about Truth! You know that You are the only true means of Life now and forever for every person. Your way is the True way. Thank you for being a Warrior for Truth and I surrender to You! I confess honestly Jesus that I struggle at times with understanding and applying Your Truth especially when my own ego gets in the way - when I think I know what is better for me and others than You do. I need You Holy Spirt, the Spirit of Truth to lead me into all Truth. I also confess that I sometimes compromise Your Truth and Your Love in my thoughts, attitudes, convictions, actions and words as well as my moral choices and positions. Sometimes I have held on to sin and sins disregarding Your word to me. (Spend a moment confessing to Jesus specific things He is bringing to mind.) I am so very thankful, in this moment, that I can confidently ask for and authentically receive Your complete and total forgiveness solely based on Your grace towards me that You paid for all my sins. I do that now. Thank you for fighting for me even when I fight against You. Jesus, fill me afresh with Your Spirit so that I might live today, not out of my old sinful self but out of my new self, my new Life in Christ, that is in this moment of truth filled prayer being renewed and restored by Your Spirit. Today I get to trust You and live fully alive, with You as my WAY, my TRUTH and my LIFE! Amen!