SIX DAYS FOR 7 CHURCHES ~ 5 ~ Sardis

Words of Encouragement, Oct 13 2022, Ep 553
"SIX DAYS FOR 7 CHURCHES" ~ 5 ~ Sardis
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WHAT THIS SERIES IS ABOUT ~

The Three Questions:
1. Do you believe you are living in the Last Days?
2. Do you believe God gave specific instructions for the Last Days?
3. Are you aware of & following those instructions?
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SCRIPTURES:

THE NAMED BUT DEAD CHURCH ~ Rev. 3:1-6
"And to the angel of the Church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the Seven Spirits of God and the Seven Stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be WATCHFUL, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will NOT WATCH, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His Angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.”

WHITE GARMENTS = RIGHTEOUS ACTS ~ Rev. 19:7-8
"Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the Marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the Saints."

LINKS:

Definition: Websters Dictionary ~
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sardius
Late Latin, from (lapis) sardius Sardian (stone), from Greek sardios (lithos), perhaps from Sardeis Sardis, capital of Lydia

https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/ebd/ebd322.htm#006 ~
"Sardine Stone (Rev 4:3, R.V., "sardius;" Heb. 'odhem ; LXX., Gr. sardion , from a root meaning "red"), a gem of a blood-red colour. It was called "sardius" because obtained from Sardis in Lydia. It is enumerated among the precious stones in the high priest's breastplate (Exo 28:17; Exo 39:10). It is our red carnelian.

Sardis The metropolis of Lydia in Asia Minor. It stood on the river Pactolus, at the foot of mount Tmolus. Here was one of the seven Asiatic churches (Rev 3:1). It is now a ruin called Sert-Kalessi."
Sardis is the first important city on the highway south of Thyatira. Like Thyatira, Sardis enjoyed a favorable commercial location. Strabo, the ancient geographer, speaks of it as “a great city,” although in John’s day it did not rival either Ephesus or Pergamum in importance.

The meaning of the name is uncertain; however, some suggest “song of joy,” or “that which remains,” or “something new.”

"And this city is one of the seven churches of Revelation (Revelation 3:1). Hypocrisy characterized the church of Sardis, which was not what it pretended to be. Professedly, the Reformation churches had discovered what it means to live by faith in Jesus Christ, but for the most part they eventually lapsed into a state resembling, in certain ways, that of the organization from which they had withdrawn (2 Tim. 3:5). Their name—Protestant—implied opposition to the abuses, errors, and formalism of the Roman Catholic Church, and the name
Reformation implied that none of these faults were to be found within the Protestant fold."