Sermon Central
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Seven Lampstands
Contributed by Gordon Pike on Jan 4, 2021 (message contributor)
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1. Among The Lampstands
Contributed on Jan 4, 2021
The Jesus that we’re about to encounter is the Lion of Judah! The Eternal, Almighty, Self-Existent God of the Universe who has eyes that burn and pierce into your very soul … the judge before whom all of us will one day have to stand.
Jesus … What do you picture when I say that blessed and beautiful name? Do you picture the classic portraits and descriptions of “Jesus, Meek and Mild”? Maybe you picture a deified Mr. Rogers with a beard? Do you picture a carpenter from Nazareth? A rabbi wandering around the Galilean ...read more
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2. Ephesus: Come Back To Me
Contributed on Jan 10, 2021
What were the things that you used to do when you first fell in love with Jesus? What are the things that you stopped doing since then? Remember … repent … and then start doing them again!
The “revelation” of John … What does the Book of Revelation “reveal”? Is it a book that “reveals” what is going to happen in the future? Yes. But more importantly … much, much more importantly … it is a revelation about the One … with a capital “O” … who holds the future in His hands. The ...read more
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3. Smyrna: Unto Death
Contributed on Jan 17, 2021
Whatever the Christians were going through in Smyrna … whatever we are going through in our lives right now … Jesus not only knows what we are going through, He’s experienced it Himself.
Imagine having to hide to do what we’re doing right now because if we get caught, we would be arrested and tortured and made to renounce our faith publicly … or be executed. That was the situation and daily reality for the little church in the beautiful city of Smyrna. Smyrna is located 35 ...read more
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4. Pergamum: Satan's Throne
Contributed on Jan 24, 2021
Are we clinging to our faith in Jesus and His word as firmly and as stubbornly as the Christians in Pergamum did or are we guilty of trying to live a compromised life with one foot in the world and one foot in the church?
There was once a king who ruled over a vast city. He was feared for his might and loved for his wisdom. Now, in the heart of the city was a well whose waters were pure and crystalline from which all the inhabitants drank … except the king. He lived in a castle on top of a hill overlooking the ...read more
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5. Sardis: The Dying Church
Contributed on Feb 7, 2021
can a church that was once so full of life become a white-washed tomb full of dead men’s bones and rotting corpses? That, my fellow investigators, is our job this morning as “Christian Soul Investigators.” Get it? “CSI”
God morning, brothers and sisters! Welcome to “CSI: Canton.” For those of you who live in a cave and don’t have cable, “CSI” stands for “Crime Scene Investigation.” Now, CSI started out as a weekly crime show that literally began at the turn of the century … in the year 2000 … on CBS. The ...read more
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6. Philadelphia: The Faithful Church
Contributed on Feb 7, 2021
Communion is a celebration of the One who opened what we could not open ourselves – the door of Heaven. He opened it on the cross and then He walked through the door of death and He waits for us on the other side where He will call us by our name and welcome us into His Temple.
Before I moved here, I was asked to preach at my very first appointment … Anthony United Methodist Church in Anthony, FL. I was their pastor from 1994 to the year 2000. They were kind. They were patient. They had to suffer through a lot of boring … and honestly … terrible sermons and I made a ...read more
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7. Laodicea: Knock, Knock!
Contributed on Feb 14, 2021
Becoming a tepid or lukewarm church doesn’t take any effort at all … none. All we have to do is sit in the pews, sing the same old hymns, hear the same old sermons over and over again, and eventually you’ll end up with a tepid church full of lukewarm Christians.
The sun showed them no mercy. Directly overhead, it blazed and beat down on them. They were tired and hungry and very thirsty, so the sight of a well … even a Samaritan well … was a more-than-welcome sight. Jesus and the Disciples didn’t have a jar or a bucket with them, so they had no way to ...read more