A letter to ALL those in the Church meeting in Fresno.

“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 Fresno (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. Revelation 3:1-6

Do you ever read the scriptures and change the names to the places and put your name in the places He calls out individuals? How many people in the Churches in Fresno are dead? How many ‘personally identified’ as Christians in Fresno need to WAKE UP! How many people sitting in the Churches in Fresno are just going through the Sunday morning service ritual motions and no more? What does Jesus promise them? He will come to them “suddenly” like an ‘unexpected thief’.

What did He mean when He said there were those who had not ‘soiled their clothes with evil’? What does it mean to ‘soil your clothes’?

From Biblehub: “These had not succumbed to the oppressive moral atmosphere around them. The words cannot, of course, be understood of absolute purity. Their praise is that, in the deathlike, self-complacent lethargy around, they had kept earnest in the pursuit of holiness, and had not forgotten Him who could cleanse and revive.”

How much has the world and culture around you seeped into your life and thinking? Is there any difference to you than those around you? How much are you pursuing the Holy Spirit and His advice to you? To what degree and level? How important is holiness to you? Not holy in ‘ritual’ or practice but in your heart? Will Jesus actually erase people’s names out of the Book of Life?

Does your Church seek the Holy Spirit when you are together in “service”? Do the leaders defer to the Holy Spirit and what He wants to do in the service, or is it so ‘scripted’ and tightly controlled that there is zero time for the Holy Spirit? Then what is the Sunday morning service really about? When we get so agenda driven – are we denying the Holy Spirit to allow Him to change our agenda in the moment? Is the Holy Spirit really in control or are we? When we are too busy to listen to the Holy Spirit – are we really … alive in Christ? Are you able to ask ‘dangerous’ questions of yourself, the Holy Spirit, and your Church leadership, that expose personal agendas?

Maybe the ‘real’ Church / ekklesia is in the living room with friends earnestly praying and discussing the scriptures and current issues. And being able to ask the hard questions of each other. Maybe the ‘real’ Church isn’t a building or a ‘service’ but when two or three gathered in His name seeking His face and the Holy Spirit’s advice?

Are you purposely getting together with those who are earnestly seeking God? Are you actually discussing things with them? Are you really engaging with them in conversation? Are you able to ask one another difficult questions? In a ‘theater-like setting’ that really isn’t the environment to do that kind of fellowship.

How will Jesus judge you for all the time you sat in a ‘Church service’ thinking that somehow it would been seen by Him as ‘right’ and worthy of ‘reward’ when you really never engaged with anyone or Him in that place?

This message to the Churches is … sobering. Can we receive it? Are you offended?

Where is the discipleship? Where is the vital two-way communication with the Holy Spirit?