Rick Renner — History of Sardis

my name is Rick Renner and today I'm sitting on the ruins of the great temple of artemis in the ancient legendary city of Sardis which at one time was the capital of the Lydian Kingdom and it was a king who lived here whose name was King croisus during his life he was the richest man in the world and as a result Sardis was fabulously wealthy where did they get all their money well right alongside of Sardis there's a river called the pack talus and if you follow the pack tellus east it leads to the heart of the Phrygian Kingdom where there was another king that was legendary his name was Midas maybe you've heard of King Midas he was a real king but there was a lot of Legends connected to him and one Legend is the Midas asked the gods to make him rich and as a result everything he touched turned to gold this is where we get the phrase about the Midas touch a person today who has the Midas touch everything he touches his blessed it turns to gold well legend said everything Midas touched turned to gold he touched his food he couldn't eat it because it turned to gold he touched his drinking utensils they turned to gold he even touched his daughter and she turned to gold and he realized this blessing was really a curse and he said to the gods how can I get rid of this Midas touch and the gods said go into the waters of the pack to us and wash off the blessing so he went into the waters of the pack to us and he washed off the blessing and the legend says the gold begin to flow downstream and stopped here outside Sardis and what's really interesting is that Sardis really is a location where there's a lot of gold and during the time of the Lydian Kingdom they would extract the gold from the water and of course according to the legend it was a result of the Midas touch which happened up in the phrygian Kingdom and as a result of all the gold this city became fabulously wealthy and they built a fortress on the top of the hill right behind me which was called the most secure strongest fortress on the planet and that is where King Crysis lived until the kingdom fell to the Persians that's just a little bit of the history of sardis but there was a church here and it was a great Church it was a church that had a good reputation but Christ addressed that Church beginning in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 1 and identified some serious problems and things they needed to correct and that is what I'm gonna talk to you about today stay tuned for a teaching you can trust a message that will inspire strengthen and equip you with vital insight and understanding from the Word of God here's Rick thank you for joining me for today's program I'm so excited that today you and I can sit down together open our Bibles and dive in oh how we love the Word of God there's nothing to compare to the Bible and today we're going to be seen what Jesus had to say to the Church of Sardis in Revelation chapter 3 hold on to your seat because this is going to be packed full for this entire series get your Bible get a piece of paper you get something to write with and get ready to dive into the scriptures with me to see what Jesus had to say to the Church of Sardis because what he had to say to them is what he is saying to many of us we need to hear these words of Jesus but as we get started I want to tell you that if you need prayer we aren't here for you just contact us at the number on the screen or send us an email or a letter we will gladly pray with you we counted a privilege to put our faith together with you jesus said where two or three of you are gathered together in my name I'm in the midst and Jesus really works when we come together in unity and agree in prayer so if you need somebody to pray with you call us we'll put our faith together with you and Jesus will go to work on your behalf we really believe that and I want to say thank you for your partnership with our ministry you're really helping us take this teaching of the Bible to the ends of the earth not just there where you live but this teaching is literally covering the planet people are hungry for the Bible and we have a responsibility to bring the Bible to them proverbs chapter 10 verse 21 says the lips of the righteous feed many my prayer is that God will use my lips and your partnership with me to help you do it to feed many who are spiritually hungry and I really want to thank you for your partnership right now we're offering you my brand new series for the first time which is called Christ's message to Sardis it's ten parts and it comes in multiple formats with a study guide that is loaded with insight and revelation the back of the series says if Jesus gave you a report card on your spiritual status what kind of grade do you think you'd get that is exactly what he did with a Church of Sardis what is most important in life is what Jesus thinks of us not what we think of ourselves wow that's powerful and when we see what Christ had to say the Church of Sardis it really helps us to reassess our own spiritual status to see what we need to correct so that we get a good report card from Jesus if you really want to be pleasing to the Lord this is a series that you need to listen to or a gift to somebody else who also is wanting to really please God it's just packed full of insight and divine revelation and we're offering you today a CD I've never offered you just a CD by itself actually it's a two-part CD series called a prophetic alert my friends we are living in the end times the inside of this says Rick Renner opens the scriptures and expounds on current events with profound insight he prophetically forecasts what we can expect in the near future the signs of the time are clueless spelled out in God's Word but it takes an eye of Revelation to see it as you listen to these messages you'll understand why this is called a prophetic alert for our time this is so powerful in fact it's one of my favorite series it's small it's just two CDs but it is really something else you'll be glad that you ordered this by the way it comes in multiple formats just go to our website or call us and you can place your order right now but today we're going to see Christ message to Sardis beginning in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 1 but we have to go back to Revelation chapter 1 verse 10 to see how John receive the book of Revelation I understand that I've covered this previously in these series but we need to always keep in mind how the book of Revelation was received and when you come to Revelation chapter 1 and verse 10 John is writing and he says I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying I'm Alpha and Omega the first and the last what thou see us write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia well when you come to verse 10 John says I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day those words I was is a translation of the Greek word genome I and this word genome I always carries an element of surprise it's something that takes you off-guard something that takes you by surprise something that is unanticipated you could actually translate it like this in some way that I do not understand I don't know how it happened I could never replicate it it completely took me off-guard and by surprise but in some way somehow I came to find myself in the spirit on the Lord's Day the word Spirit in Greek is not uppercase its lowercase it's the word spirit it's describing the spirit realm so in one moment John was in his cave on the Isle of Patmos today if you visit the Isle of Patmos you can still visit that cave it is called the Cave of the revelation I've been there many times John lived in that cave with his assistant who had traveled to Patmos with him he was there as a political prisoner because he refused to burn incense to the image of Domitian and because of that he became a political prisoner in his very elderly years he was sent to the Isle of Patmos an island that had been stripped of all vegetation and with John and his assistant arrived on Patmos they begin to look for a place to live and they found a cave on the top of the hill right in the middle of Patmos and that cave is where John took up residency for about 18 months and while he was in that cave he had again on my experience that's what he now describes in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 10 and one moment he was in the cave and he says suddenly again oh my I was in some way that I do not understand something I could never replicate I don't even understand how it happened but in some way somehow you know my I came to find myself in the spirit or the Greek really means in another dimension so John passed from the natural realm across that line that separates these two realms and he stepped over into the realm of the Spirit I came to find myself in spirit or in a spiritual dimension he says on the Lord's Day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet trumpets in scripture usually depict a prophetic voice so now Jesus is going to begin speaking prophetically to John like the voice of a trumpet Christ is about to declare a message to the Apostle John in that cave but now John no longer sees the cave because he has stepped across that line that separates the natural realm from the spirit realm and now John says somehow I came to find myself in another dimension and when I stepped across that line into the other dimension suddenly I began to hear and see things and I heard a voice as of a trumpet saying verse 11 I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last what thou seest write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia and then Jesus begins to enumerate the seven churches that he's going to address he says first of all unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamum an indefinite era and unto Sardis and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea but notice the order first of all Jesus addressed the church in Ephesus well Ephesus was the biggest city in the whole of Asia and it had the biggest Church in the entire region it was an enormous Church a lot of spiritual activity was an emphasis and it seems that the Apostle John himself had probably been the angel of the church in Ephesus but this time Timothy had already been killed John was alive he was the bishop of the whole of Asia and it seems that John at this time was even the pastor of the church so Jesus spoke first to the church in Ephesus then he spoke to the church in Smyrna and he spoke to the church in Pergamum the entire Tyra Vince artist then led Philadelphia then Laird to see why in this explicit order well there was a road was a circular road some historians call it the postal road because the mail traveled on that road but it was a circular road that went throughout the province of Asia and the road began in Ephesus and if you followed the road the road naturally led you next to the city of Smyrna if you got on that road and just kept following the road next it would take you to Pergamum and if you kept following that road next it would take you to Fayette IRA which was an outpost constructed to defend Pergamum but if you kept following the road next it would take you to the city of Sardis which is our subject beginning today Sardis now we don't know who were the first gospel preachers who brought the gospel to Sardis but whoever they were they were very brave because Sardis was a very degenerate very dark place spiritually it could have been gospel preachers who came from Ephesus it seems that Ephesus was the missionary base the dispatched preachers all over Asia or it could have been gospel preachers who came from Laodicea or maybe they came from Philadelphia or maybe they came from Pergamum they came from one of the other churches in the region but when they descended on the city of Sardis Sardis was a very dark spiritual place and they came there in the power of the Holy Spirit and with the power of the Holy Spirit they established the church in the city of Sardis and my friends I wanted to you if God can establish a church in Sardis if God can work in Sardis then God can work any way you may think that you're living in a very dark place or in a very dark situation God can work there if God could establish churches in these seven cities and work mightily in these places which were spiritually pagan very very very dark and deviant and yet God's grace was poured out in these places it means that God can work where you are he can work in your city God can work in your family God will burst on the scene in the lives of those you know this seem that they're living in darkness in fact the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 5 where sin abounds grace much more abounds God love just show up in dark places now all of that is the foundation which leads us to Revelation chapter 3 and verse 1 so now let's go there revelation chapter 3 and verse 1 well in our teaching series we've already been to Ephesus we've seen what Christ had to say to Ephesus after that we went to Smyrna and we saw what Jesus had to say to the angel enter the Church of Smyrna then we went to Pergamum we saw what Jesus had to say to the angel to the Church of Pergamum then we went to Fiat IRA and we saw that very difficult message the Christ spoke to the angel and to the Church of Thyatira and today we come to the legendary city of Sardis and in this legendary City there was the church but let's begin today in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 1 it says and unto the Angel of the church in Sardis there we have it in Sardis write these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God in the seven stars I know thy works and that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead the Greek actually says but in reality you are dead verse two be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for I have not found thy works perfect before God verse 3 remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent if therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on me as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee verse or the hast a few names even in sardis which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy verse 5 he that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment and I will blot not blot out his name out of the book of life but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels verse 6 he that happened here let him hear with the spirit saith unto the churches notice it says churches it is plural which means what Jesus has to say to this church he is saying to every Church of that period and to every church for all generations so don't just think this was a message for people in the past a city in the past this is for anyone who has an ear to hear anywhere in the church for all generations there is a message here for my ears and for your ears and for your church well what is the message well let's look Revelation chapter 3 and verse 1 let's go back to the beginning and under the angel of the church in Sardis write these things say if he that hath the seven spirits of God and the Seven Stars I know thy works that thou has to name that a live is but you are dead let's begin at the beginning it says to the angel of the church in Sardis every time Jesus addresses these churches in the book of Revelation he actually begins by addressing the angel of the church and as we've seen before this word angel is the Greek word Angelus and the word Angelus does not describe in this case a heavenly angel but rather a human messenger the Greek word Angelus describes a human messenger it can depict an angel but in this case it depicts one sent on a special mission one dispatched to perform a specific assignment a delegate for a dignitary it pictures the role of a pastor so when Jesus has something to say to the church he doesn't say to the church first first he says it to the pastor this is established when he speaks to Ephesus when he speaks to Smyrna when he speaks to Pergamum when he speaks to that i right now we come to Sardis in all of these cases Jesus speaks to the Astrea first which means if Christ has a commendation the pastor is going to hear it first if Christ has a correction the pastor is going to hear it first if Christ has a rebuke the pastor is going to hear it first this is so very important God is not going to speak to the intercessory prayer people first he's not going to speak to people in the worship team first if God has something to say that is directional or correctional he's going to let the pastor's ears hear it first and the pastor's job is to be God's representative in the church he is to hear what God has to say and then he is to pass it on to the congregation in the power of the Holy Spirit and I've told you when we discussed Ephesus Smyrna Pergamum Thyatira that Jesus always calls the pastor an angel your pastor is an angel you need to say to him pastor you are a real angel that is biblical terminology he has been dispatched by God to be a guiding light to your congregation and the Bible says to the angel of the church of entually the messages for the church that first the pastor is going to hear what Christ has to say the word church is the Greek word ekklesia and as we've seen before it is a compound of the word ech and the word Kaleo the word Ekman's out the word Kaleo means I call when you compound the two words together it forms this Greek word ekklesia which means called out ones this was not originally a New Testament word this was a political word borrowed from the city of Athens in the city of Athens there was a group of citizens that were gathered together those citizens made laws they decided jurisdiction they decided who would be the governors who would be the judges they decided who would be expelled from the city they were very powerful people and this assembly was called the ecclesia they were the called out ones who ruled in the matters of the region that is the word which the holy spirit used to describe the church which means the church your church my church any Church we are not called just to be a group of people who huddle together in a building down on the corner or just to affect what going on within the walls of our church but we are gods ekklesia we are privileged people called by God called to a General Assembly and in the spirit realm we have the power to make decisions that will affect the atmospheres of our cities and our nations we are the church wow that is so powerful but this was the church in sardis well what do we know about Sardis Sardis was the capital of the ancient Lydian kingdom even today if you visit the ruins of Sardis you see it was quite a magnificent place there Greek historian and the father of history whose name was Herodotus wrote that the city of Sardis was founded by the sons of Hercules and it was the most fabulous of all cities during its time its most famous King was King Crysis King Crysis is legendary he is not a mythical figure he was a real king in the city of Sardis legend says the king crisis was the wealthiest man on the planet during his time in fact he was so wealthy that there is an expression to describe people that are rich you can call them rich as crisis that originated in Sardis with this real King King crisis and his wealth they said came from the pack Dallas River which flowed right along the city of Sardis well if you follow the pack to lists all the way east it leads you into the Phrygian Kingdom where there was another legendary king not a mythical king a real king whose name was Midas maybe you've heard of King Midas he was a real king but there's a legend about him and the legend says that Midas really wanted to be rich so he asked the gods to bless him with a magic touch and they did it and as a result everything that he touched turned to gold and it's called the Midas touch well at first he was excited but when he touched his apples and his fruit they turned to gold when he touched his eating utensils they turned to gold when he touched his daughter she turned to gold this blessing turned out to be a curse he said to the gods please take the away from me and the God said go into the rivers of the populace and wash and you will wash off this magic spell this gold blessing and legend says that midas went into the waters of the pack toolless he washed and he washed away this magic spell this blessing of gold and the gold begin to flow downstream from where he lived flowing in the rivers of the pact Alice and the gold flowed and flowed and flowed until the gold stopped into the soil around the city of Sardis and that's where King Crysis lives now what's interesting is that today there is still a lot of gold in that area and in fact there was so much gold there during the time of King croisus that he mented gold coins and it was the first time in history the gold coins had ever been mented so the city of Sardis was fabulously wealthy fabulously wealthy but by the time that we get to the New Testament this fabulously wealthy city has become degenerate it is in a state of dilapidation and morally it is filled with filth just filth and there's a church in the middle of this environment and that Jesus is going to address the church in sardis at a time that I'll be back in just a moment and I'm going to pray for you how is your spiritual life seriously if Jesus gave you a report card what would be your grade in the book of Revelation the Church of Sardis didn't get the grade they were expecting and jesus warned that they were on the verge of flunking if they didn't change in rick Renner's 10-part series christ message to Sardis you'll discover how this first century message to the church in Sardis is applicable to our life today as Rick explores the message to the church in Revelation you'll discover the foundational cracks the church had allowed to develop and Christ's rebuke and instruction about how to repair them available in physical or digital formats starting at just $20 when you call or go online today you'll also receive the two-part CD series a prophetic alert for just $12 in this special CD teaching series Rick reveals how current events in Bible prophecy go hand and you'll see that what is in our headlines our prophetic events clearly outlined in Scripture Christ's message to Sardis and/or the two-part CD series a prophetic alert call now 1-800-789-7895 eyewall training center in moscow this advanced training has been made possible by the support of our partners not only do they graduate but they go off to make an impact for the gospel these graduates have started churches the Commission Ares in our teaching evangelizing working in the health ministry in many countries around the world all because of your support but there is so much more to do in the coming years our Training Center outreach will produce even greater results with a far-reaching impact we need your help when you consider joining us as a partner so we can continue training men and women in our Bible Training Center the vision you are supporting is the spreading of the gospel around the world right from your home right now you can help us help others by becoming partners in the work in supporting our work financially please call one eight hundred seventy four two five five nine three or go online to rhema.org because of your gift of any size we can continue to make a huge difference in people's lives in Romans chapter 5 verse 20 the Apostle Paul writes these amazing words where sin abounds grace much more abounds when Paul says where sin abounds that were two bounds describes our River that is overflowing and flooding the whole area it's the equivalent to saying when it looks like there's a flood of sin grace much or abounds which means God loves to show up in difficult situations God loves to show up where there's sin he loves to show up in darkness God just delights and pouring his power out in an environment where the devil has been working that's what we're seeing in the case of Sardis it was a city that was degenerate it was filled with moral filth and God's power showed up there and it abounded there and a church was established that tells me that even if you're living in hard times even if you're living in a very dark situation or you know someone who's living in spiritual darkness that's the kind of place where God wants to show up and if you need somebody to pray with you for God's power to show up in those places contact us we will pray for you to move in that place to move in that person's life amen by the way I'm offering you my series brand-new called Christ's message to Sardis this is a powerful series I want you to order yours we're also offering you right now a CD called a prophetic alert Wow two-part series that is loaded with insight about the times that you and I are living in but let me pray for you father we thank you for this time of the Word of God or there truly is nothing to be compared to the Bible thank you for the words of Jesus to us in Scripture and Lord we pray that your grace will be poured out magnificently in our lives and we thank you for this in Jesus name Amen well remember please ask these eight for where the word of a king is there is power I'll see you in the next program [Music] you

Channel: Renner Ministries

Views: 9,167

Keywords:

Id: -N7H8Sg-r-w

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 03 2019