I want to be part of a church that is streamlined, less complex, and with far less bureaucracy so that local churches have more money to do ministry. I want to be part of a church that pursues wholeheartedly what it is “for” instead of arguing for decades about what it’s “against.” I want to be a part of a church that is clear about its mission and doctrine and holds people accountable for faithfulness and fruitfulness. I want to be part of a church that embraces the Holy Spirit as “God with Us” and the only engine that will determine and drive our ministries. I want to be part of a church that is unapologetically clear that Jesus is the Lord of all! I want to see Jesus lifted up at every chance and people encouraged to repent of their sins and turn toward His hope, love, and grace. The local church is God’s Plan “A” to transform this world and usher in the kingdom of God, and there isn’t a “Plan B.” We’re God’s answer to people’s prayers! If we genuinely believe that we’ll enthusiastically say we want to be part of a movement and a mission and do whatever it takes to stay away from monuments, museums, and mausoleums. I’ve never known a Jurisdictional or Annual Conference that has introduced someone to Christ. No General Conference has ever made a disciple of Jesus. I want to be a part of a church that recognizes that disciples are made at the local level. I want to join the Light and Hope of the World in reaching the least, the last, and the lost and introducing them to the saving way of Christ! I haven’t surrendered my life to Jesus personally and vocationally to be part of a dead sect. I want to be a part of a movement and a mission. From being a museum, the journey to becoming a mausoleum is very quick. Moreover, I fear that some of our churches are teetering on the brink of becoming a museum. They are monuments that point to a once glorious past when over one-third of all Americans were Methodist. Sadly, today we have churches where that mission has become a monument. The mission grew worldwide, making disciples of Jesus and spreading scriptural holiness across the land. That movement became a mission that crossed oceans. That man inspired a movement in England that led to an evangelical revival. Not only was the church not successful in transforming the city, but the city is no more. Eventually, the museum became a mausoleum. Instead, they chose death.Ĭhoosing death, the monument of Sardis turned into a museum pointing to a past mission. The Christians of Sardis weren’t willing to repent and return to the mission of making disciples. 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. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Jesus squarely warned this remaining monument of what would happen unless it fanned into flame the few remaining embers. Eventually, it turned from a mission into a monument. It began to care more for its own preferences than the lost outside its walls. It was transforming the city…until the church got comfortable. That mission located in Sardis was alive. It is a mission that included a church in the ancient city of Sardis (present-day Turkey). That movement grew into a mission that moved worldwide and today includes over 2 billion people. That man inspired a movement a movement of men and women that began to form a church. The sermon was called “The Museum of Sardis” and it was based on Revelation 3:1-6, the passage where Jesus warns the church at Sardis that they are almost dead.Ĭoy shared the idea that Christianity started with a man, Jesus Christ. A member of the church I served almost 20 years ago gave me a CD of Coy’s sermon, and it had a profound impact. At the time, Calvary Chapel was the largest church in Florida. He was the lead pastor of Calvary Chapel in Ft. Those words have shaped and formed who I am in Jesus and what I do for Jesus.īob Coy preached one of those sermons. God used the preachers that shared them to speak into my life. There are four or five sermons that I’ve heard in my lifetime that I can remember almost every word.
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