4-25-21 am The Essential Church pt.12 - The Dead Church - Dr Chris Haizlip

[Music] do you feel the world is broken [Music] do you feel the shadows [Music] but do you know that all the dark won't stop the light from getting through do you wish that you could see it all made is all creation groaning is a new creation coming is the glory of the lord to be the light within [Music] is it good that we remind ourselves is anyone worthy [Music] is anyone able to break the seal and open the straw he worthy is he worthy of all blessing and honor and glory is he worthy of this [Music] is with us [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] he has made us a kingdom and praised is he worthy is he worthy of a blessing and honor and glory is he worthy is he worthy is he worthy is he worthy is [Music] he worthy is [Music] [Applause] [Music] and i owe it all to you lord all i have is yours lord take my life make it what you have it be i'm your child and you're my father i'm the clay and you're the partner lord you're you've been my friend for so long you were right and i was wrong i can't repay [Music] you were my friend when no one cared i was alone but you were there lord you're the best thing [Music] take my life make it what you'd have it be i'm your child and you're my father i'm the clay and you're the potter lord you're the best thing that's ever happened to me borrow treasures borrow dreams all life's joys you've given me when trouble comes you're always there to make me smile like come will be done i love you jesus god's only sign lord you're the best thing that's ever happened to me and i owe it all to take my life make it what you'd have it be i'm your child and you're my father i'm a lord you're the best as the sun rose that morning on the day of job's trial he rose up to serve god as any other day bound and determined to live in god's favor and nothing would stand in his way then the messengers came one by one with their stories in just a few moments job lost all he had great wealth and riches to the health of his body and even his children were dead the lord giveth he taketh away blessed be the name of the lord i served him before and i'll serve him today blessed be the name of the [Music] she said you should end it just ashes he looked toward the heavens he brushed back the tears in his eyes and he said the lord giveth he'd to be the take of the lord i served him before and i'll serve him today blessed be the name of the lord this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my soul praising my savior all the day long the lord giveth he taketh away blessed be the name of the lord i served him before and i'll serve him today blessed be the name of the lord i served him before and i'll serve him today blessed be the name blessed be the name blessed be the name of the lord [Music] all to jesus i surrender all to him i freely give i will ever [Music] [Music] oh [Music] all to jesus i surrender make me save your holy vine let me feel thy holy spirit truly know that thou art mine i surrender all i surrender all all to my it save your i surrender all jesus i surrender lord i give myself to thee fill me with thy love and power let thy blessings fall on me i surrender [Music] all to thee my blessed savior i surrender i just want to thank the lord for allowing me to be a part of this group and go to crown college growing up in in a christian home i know a lot what i'm supposed to do and how to do things but being in a christian college and in a christian environment it's helped me to know what i believe and why i believe it and make it my own and i'm thankful for this opportunity to be able to go out with the tour group and be able to share the gospel with people and be an encouragement to others and i don't want to take it for granted that the lord has given me the opportunity to sing and i want to use it for his honor and his glory [Music] i was discouraged when no answer came see i'd prayed for years and i still saw no change i was ready to give up thinking what can i do but when i prayed that last time god's power broke through [Applause] and prayer is just as big as god is prayer is just as strong as god is strong prayer can reach as far as god can reach don't ever give up just pray just pray don't ever give up just pray we haven't given a means to the throne of the one whose potential is yet to be known there is no limit as to what god can do so just keep on praying he's listening to you and prayer is just as big as god is prayer is just as strong as god is strong prayer can reach us for as god can reach don't ever give up just pray just pray prayer is just as big as god is prayer is just as strong as god is strong prayer can reach as far as god can reach don't ever give up just pray just pray don't ever give up just pray just pray don't ever give up just for that this morning wonderful miss wendy make sure we get a picture with them before they leave today uh you guys stand up introduce yourself just a moment they are traveling with them as chaperones brother you introduce you guys if you would good because i've seen anna drive yeah that's right she drove my truck one time i was with her i got saved seven times on the way wherever he's going man of course her mama's worse than she is but anyway she'll flip you over revelation chapter number three let's stand together revelation chapter 3. we're getting ready this morning to get into our fifth church on the series of the essential church as he was walking behind me makes me nervous on people behind me we have talked about how important church is how essential church is how needed in your life church is and so we look at another church today this church is a little different than the ones we've looked at prior the bible says in verse number one of chapter three of the book of revelation and under the angel the church in sardis write these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of god and the seven stars i know thy works that thou has a name that thou livest and are dead be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for i have not found thy works perfect before god remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent if therefore thou shalt not watch i will come on thee as a thief thou shalt not know what hour i will come upon thee so read a little bit farther thou hast a few names even in sardis which have not defiled their garments they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy he that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment and i will not blot out his name out of the book of life but i will confess his name before my father and before his angels he that have an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches you can be seated this morning brother james asked me a question when i was preaching through one of the churches recently about what i thought the church has really meant represented in the book of revelation we talked about how that in all of christendom and all uh that we see in our day you see just about if not completely every type of church represented but you also see a lot of what christians are represented here in this passage of the word of god when i started out on the series we talked about the declining church that church in ephesus that royal model church in ephesus the declining church we talked about the dependable church and then the defiled church and last time we talked about i even the defiant church a church that was defined that would not do what god wanted them to do well as we look at the fifth church today we look at a church that i call the dead church the dead church i started some time ago about the stars and when you walk outside at night and you see a startling at night on the night where there are no clouds and you see someone would look up and as they would look up to that they would say look how bright those stars are shining but the truth is many of those stars are not shining at all you will realize those stars are such a long ways away from us those stars are such a distance away from us that many of those stars are dead already but their light is just getting to us other words their light is what that used to be that's a terrible word but their light is simply the light they did shine but they're dead now when i travel and preach across somewhat of the south and a little out father i have preachers that'll drop me by a place and they'll say that church at one time was on fire that that church at one time was doing something for god and some had lost their vision some it got quiet i saw me quit doing things and for not careful friend in our day and i work we can have a church that is dead spiritually now let me say this today doesn't mean a church has to be loud to be alive sometimes deep water uh runs quiet doesn't mean we have to shout from the rafters though i'm all for that i don't know about the rafters but i'm all for the shouting doesn't mean that we i can't praise god and wave our hand and enjoy the lord but here's what it does mean if they churches will remain alive it has to be a light it has to shine bright it has to have something that this world can see that you don't find in other places don't you listen to me i heard a statement this week that concerns me dr david gibbs many of you know dr david gibbs and christian law association for years dr david gibbs made a comment this last week that we have lost america he said to some of the prominent men of god that i know in fundamentalism he said to them you better be getting your churches prayed up you better be getting your churches ready you better be getting your churches realizing this is not a playground it's a battlefield and the battle has come to us and the battle is on our doorstep and we're losing america and he said we better get our churches back to where they need to be can i say i believe the only hope for america is that god's people realize we need to turn to god get to god get back to god or we're not going to leave anything for our children and grandchildren what a startling statement when someone that knows the ins and outs of our country said we're losing this nation i won't go into eschatology and talk to you about future things much today but america's not found a whole lot at all in future things the church is though thank god for the church to notice some things about the church at sardis first of all it was a church with a reputation it was known far and wide as a live church when someone would have mentioned oh the church of sawdust they would say boy that church is alive matter of fact the members themselves probably thought it was alive the pastor said probably thought it was alive but according to the word of god the bible says that church was not alive but the bible says that church was dead god says you're not alive what he means by that is is there may be motion there may be noise there may be stirring there may be a lot of things but that does not mean that a church is allowed friend if we're just meeting on side of the road and gathering in a building and then going home and we're not making any impact in this world and any impact for the cause of christ and we're not making any impact at all we're just sitting here doing nothing while the world dies without christ the church had a reputation i think sometimes and i'm not trying to be mean but i think sometimes all people care about is a reputation of their church we got the best church we have this church we have that friend i've got news for you every church is made up of people saved by grace if it's the kind of church it ought to be don't none of us deserve what we have we all deserve something besides what we have but we can be thankful to god that god's allowed us to be a part of the church there's a church with a reputation second of all was church with a reality thou art dead i asked the question some time ago and here's a question i asked i wonder i wonder if the holy spirit of god were pulled out of the average church how much of our activity would continue as usual i have no problem with churches having structure i have no problem with churches doing things right in order matter of fact i am all for that i have no problem with things of that nature but i ask you a question if the holy spirit of god wasn't even a part of it would it be different or are we just dead churches going through the motions and we haven't experienced god to really show up in a long time friend listen serving god is not just about emotionalism you're not going to be emotional every time you go to church serving god is not just about us coming together having a feel-good session but listen when we come to church we need more than anything else the presence of a holy god we need to know the lord is whether i'm here or you're here or someone else is here friend if god's here that's the most important thing and we need god in the church amen if not the reality is we're not really accomplishing anything all we're doing is making noise singing songs but we're not accomplishing anything see if god's in the place lives will change if god's in the place people's hearts will be different if god's in the house when we worship you'll be able to feel his presence and his power and we need to be like that and we need to understand no matter how high we jump and shout or how straight we walk we have to walk it in the holy ghost and with god helping us or we're just making noise amen i can go into places and not be in them very long and usually i can tell a little bit of what it's going to be like i have literally walked in churches before someone asked me before about preaching meetings and they say boy don't you enjoy driving preaching meetings i said some of them yes i do i was in two tremendous churches or or good spirit churches this last week i was at crossroads in knoxville then last night i was in marion and i'll be honest with that church in mary and dr walker been there for a lot of years i mean the music's my kind of music the singing is my kind of thing in the henson family there last night i'm told that it was uh and i'll use the words old time that's what it was and buddy i could just feel the presence of god in that place but sometimes on the first night of the service in the church i get teary-eyed and it's not because god showed up it's because i've got to be there all week while you're here and the reason for that is this the pastor is not interested in god doing anything the people are just having their annual meeting everybody's just showing up everybody's just coming in the door it's sunday we're gonna go it's monday well i guess we gotta go we're having a meeting pastor won't like it if we don't go and so they just come in friend can i tell you this church ought to be more than that it ought to be more than that you want to get out of your car walk in that door and say lord i'm here to worship you if i sing in a choir when i lift my voice if i see on the platform to live my voice i want to come and worship god we don't want to be something that was we don't want to be a light of a dead star we want to be alive and well as a church amen so you see the reputation of the church at source and then you see the reality thirdly i want you to see the church and it's remnant notice in your bible if you would back in the passage i read about this church the bible says in verse 4 thou hast a few names even in sardis which have not defiled their garments i want you to notice the remnant that are there but notice their number it says they are a few they are a few you know what i'm learning the more i travel and the more i the more i'm out and doings i've been the last 10 15 years of my life i am learning that everybody that goes to church is not interested in church everybody feels up seats are not interested but you thank god for that remnant you thank god for those that have a heart for god and want to do something for god you thank god for a remnant that has a desire to serve the lord amen amen the bible says in sardis that remnant was a few it says that was their number look at their nature the bible says they have not defiled their garments other words there are some in the church of sardis that are still alive and they're still living right they're still alive and they're still living right they have not defiled their garments they are trying their best to live right they are trying their best to do right and friend what we need in the day and are we living in in this country that is so chaotic what we need is we need churches of people that are living right and doing right and have a testimony that god is there notice their nobility the bible says they walk with me in white then it says they are worthy you know what that crowd is that remnant is that's the crowd that our day in time people make fun of that's the crowd that a younger generation comes along and said boy if y'all get them out of here we could bring in some new things and do some new stuff but then some people you know that they still like them old songs and they still like that hymn book and they still like this if we could just get them out of the way oh boy we could really take our church somewhere you might take it somewhere but it won't be god taking it anywhere and i want to say this i thank god for the remnant that have stood the test of time and have been faithful to the bible and to what it is friend we need a remnant in our day though we might be a few we need to stand for god amen i thank god for you folks that are here today and i know most of you personally obviously and i thank god today for a remnant that understands we got to defend and yes i'll say it the old past and we've got to defend and stand right because listen if we keep getting away there's going to be no light for this world i've said it often the world getting church in the church getting worldly it's almost like the world's decided whether the church has decided if we can't beat them let's join them if we can't beat them let's just make our church like what they're used to and that way they'll come right when i came up was the boy the most uncomfortable place of me in the world's church you know what i said i said uncomfortable you know why because i wasn't right with god and i'd come to church and i wouldn't write with the lord listen when you're not right with the lord and you come to church like i did you don't want to come in and feel comfortable not if you not if you know you need the lord you want to come in to realize i'm a sinner and i need to be saved and i need christ to change my life friend i'm glad i got uncomfortable because later on god got me comfortable say amen right there now amen there was a day there was a day i didn't want to go to church now you leave a crack in the door i'll try to get in amen so i want you to understand there's a remnant there's a remnant last night i preached for one of those in that remnant by the time 72 years old still got a heart for young people as much as a 20 year old preacher would got a heart for god at church and you go in and it's just it's what i like it's just what it is it is an old-fashioned bible preaching soul-winning god-loving church and that's that to me that's the alive churches because when the smokes put up and the lights are closed and the noise is off what you are when you go out through them doors is what's gonna make a difference and i promise you ain't no flickering light gonna make you different and no fog machine gonna make you different and no no group of dancers gonna make you different the only thing's gonna change your life is the power of the gospel the word of god the bible's gonna change your life if anything does it all amen number four a church with a reckoning notice what the bible says the bible says thou hast a few names even in sardis which have not defiled their garments they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy he that overcometh the saints will be clothed in white raiment and i will not blot out his name you want your sins blotted out but you don't want your name blotted out but i would confess the name before my father and for his angels he says he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches what is he saying he's saying here listen here is a reckoning there is coming a day when the church has to give an account for who it is so what does he tell them to do he simply tells them to do the things we need to do and i believe this he tells each one he said in verse number three remember remember remember you will not believe the churches i go into and somebody come up to me brother clark and they'll come by me and they say we remember this what church and here's that word again used to be and said you know where we said it used to be that's like one word but you know they're from crowns i'm trying to say used to be you know how it is but it used to be for me amen do you understand we have people to come up and those people will come up and they will say to you this is what church was remember i come up i remember granny's waving a hanky praising god and everybody can turn around go what are they doing i remember church when people rejoiced and got on the altars and people enjoyed serving god and living for god and that's the way it ought to be amen amen church is not a social club he says remember then he says retain what does he mean he says hold fast remember then he says hold fast that means to retain what you hold fast to the things you have don't let them get away amen amen and then he says to repent so there's a challenge and a caution church needs to have a reckoning the church needs to realize if we don't do right god's not going to bless us god's not going to touch us god's not going to help us we need to do right we want to strengthen the things that remain amen amen we've got to have that i want to encourage you when you think about the church at sardis so just simply remember a star when you walk outside you ask yourself a question is that star still shining or is that the light of what it used to be they'll ask you a question is your light shining are you a light of what was can i tell you this today we need choirs shining brightly we need preachers shining brightly we need churches i'm telling you it is as bad as you think it is in this country amen and the only hope for america is a remnant that has not bowed the knee amen amen the church's artist says you got a reputation got a reputation that you're alive god said you're dead no matter how loud the drum beat is you're dead it doesn't matter how smoky it gets you're dead doesn't matter the light show you're dead god said unless my presence is there it doesn't matter amen brother willis and i've always talked one of the things that's missing in churches like sardis is change lives of people that are different when god gets a hold of them amen stand our feet this morning i want to ask you a question it's been on my heart a little bit as i traveled down the road last night i want to ask you a question how many of you love your church if you do say man how many of you love jesus so listen to me we gotta have church where god is present we've got to have churches that stand in the last days for unborn babies for marriage that stand for right and wrong because what is coming to us and you look around you it may not be my generation but there's going to be a generation in america that's going to be lawless there's going to be no law it's coming man's going to do with that which is right in his own eyes and the lonely light some people gonna have is those stars that are still shining and the light is still bright [Music] for churches that's the building we're inside of this is a church people today but for many people it's you walking in your job or going in your classroom or wherever you might be in this world i love what ana said earlier about her testimony she said we just want to be able to go and travel and take christ to people let them know listen when you leave a place regardless of what they say about your song regardless of what they say about your sermon regardless of what they say about anything if they just leave that place and say what a savior is worth it it's worth it that's really what matters there are churches all around america we need to pray for there's a remnant some of you know what i'm talking about but even in our last days even in churches today you're going to live for god it takes it takes some fortitude to do it it's a whole lot easier to compromise and go with the flow parents you're going to raise your kids love god it's going to take some it's going to take not being so popular it's going to take standing [Music] if calvary baptist church goes on builds this building moves on does something after that whatever god wants us to do it's going to take a church of people that's that few that remnant that says we're not going to leave this book [Music] we're not going to try to do it without god we're going to keep music that brings glory to him not to man [Music] i'll be honest somebody can save their quarter to try to come and talk me in to go on a different route [Music] just ain't going to happen as long as i'm pastor of this church it'll be old paths someone would say i don't know if i like that i would say to them we don't lock in [Music] you can go down the road who used to say have it your way burger king hold the pickles hold the lettuce special orders don't upset us that shows how old we are [Music] you can go down the road and get what you want for me i want to go to church and bump into god amen amen [Music] by the way i didn't just start believing this yesterday preaching the same thing now for 30-some years don't get mad at me because i didn't change amen i wonder this morning how burdened you are about your own church how burdened you are about your light i wonder why brother james you're going to sing i want brother james sings for us i'm just going to make sure you're playing her singing didn't know you eating candy what you doing back here hey man but uh i just uh i i wonder how burdened you are about the church in our country the burden about this church you need to be bird we need god to do great things and he's going to do great things how burden you about your own light shining if that's the case why he sings once you find your spot and pray and say lord i want to be a part of that few that'll stand for god in these hours in these days [Music] stand for young people in our country was his how's your light today how's your light [Music] has today done there's just one reason i am the one he loves me yes he does he loves me loves me he loves me he loves me [Music] jesus loves oh yes and i'm convinced they came because they say we want the real thing [Music] no one cares for me i talk to jesus he loves you know that core singing along with brother james if you know that course he loves me yes he he loves me [Music] jesus loves me he loves me he loves me let's sing it one more time brother james [Music] i want you to sing it to the top of your lungs the best you can for brother james let's sing it right now sing it real live one more time he loves [Music] aren't you glad he loves us love he loves me he loves me jesus [Music] the next two churches are philadelphia philadelphia is a church of the great testimony and then the church of laodicea which some people believe is the age we are living in today and we'll look at those last two i don't do series all the time but that's kind of what we're doing right now because what church is what essential amen i'm glad you're here today guys thank you all for coming and brother brother clark uh i'm i'm going home all right but if you'd like to take all of them you already got it ready at home you cooked if any of y'all want to go somewhere else i'm just kidding i'm kidding miss robert so you've got them all ready to go praise the lord amen amen what's that mac and cheese yeah yeah do you know as long as i've been your pastor if you ever invited me to eat at your house one time maybe once did i eat too much amen all right guys we we enjoyed having you i know y'all gonna be up toward the conover hickory area tonight and and anna we love you sweetie and uh praying for y'all how many how long are you going to be traveling you guys going to be going how long is it going to be like just as far as when you get started you're going to be three months during summer i guess summer break you guys going the whole time 50 churches in three months amen she's not originally from west virginia i've been to west virginia riding a four-wheeler and you don't look like people in west virginia where you originally from micronesia where is that ah awesome i knew i'm from west virginia no reason amen did you go to crowd i guess came to crown to college wow y'all look really young how are you hey man good to have you guys thank y'all and i know you'll have a great time being some great places and i know you're excited pray for elena she'll be in i guess they got two more weeks and they'll be coming in summer and jamie of course here and i guess jonathan uh be coming in for summer as well so pray for them as they come in for that and uh uh don't forget signup sheets in the back young people if you're gonna need a bike renting for you what are you gonna write beside of your name bike all right don't put it up i don't know buy it okay amen all right brother jerry thank you all for last night for the help and getting them there and we're gonna pray and we'll be dismissed tonight's service uh six o'clock you come tonight have a good service tonight fellowship after and brother uh justin miss cass will be their last time for us here with us and service-wise unless they come to visit as he's pastor now over it south view and uh so let's go ahead and pray and we'll be this father lord we want to thank you for the good spirit of god today lord the choir just wonderful lord for these young people that come to sing to us from crown lord i certainly appreciate dr sexton and the price he has paid through the years to have that college to train men and women to serve you i thank you lord it is still a good fundamental solid place where we don't have to worry about our kids being there lord i pray you'll bless hands staff as they continue to train young people at crown college of the bible i pray god you'll just use them and then lord i pray for this group as they travel that god they'll see souls save lives changed they'll experience church in a great way lord i pray for their meal today you'll bless it for the clark mr robert preparing that for them lord i pray for calvary baptist church as lord we continue to open up all of our ministries and god when the buses begin to roll in may we begin to outreach and knock on doors and tell people about christ lord i pray we'd be a church not just with a reputation but we be a church on fire serving you lord give us a good afternoon thank you for a pretty spring day we ask it all in christ's name amen [Music]

Channel: Calvary Baptist

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Keywords: calvary baptist church, gospel

Id: 4K9bs1tUtg4

Length: 54min 9sec (3249 seconds)

Published: Wed May 19 2021