Sue J Love
Loyal
Revelation 3:1-6 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“1To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of the One who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation for being alive, yet you are dead. 2Wake up and strengthen what remains, which is about to die; for I have found your deeds incomplete in the sight of My God. 3Remember, then, what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know the hour when I will come upon you.
“4But you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and because they are worthy, they will walk with Me in white. 5Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
A Reputation for Being Alive?
In the day and time and culture in which we presently live here in the USA, and perhaps in the world, as a whole, for a “church” to have a reputation of being alive, it appears that it has little to do with being alive spiritually. Usually “alive” means it is friendly, fun, entertaining, non-judgmental, and it has lots of fun activities for the family, as a whole. The preachers are usually very charismatic (captivating, charming, fun) people who blend in with the culture in order that they might draw in large crowds to their “churches.”
So many of what are called “churches” are businesses incorporated under the state in unholy unions with the ungodly, the world, the government, and with big business. And their gatherings are being marketed to the people of the world, both of which God forbids. And, in order to attract the world to their gatherings, many of them have diluted the gospel message to make it less offensive and more acceptable to human flesh and to the ungodly. And most are not insisting on repentance and obedience to God’s commands.
Therefore, the church gatherings where the truth of the gospel is being taught, in its fulness, from the Scriptures taught in their correct biblical context, where death to sin and obedience to God and to His commands and holy living are being taught as necessary components of believing faith, these gatherings are often referred to as “dead” because they are not entertaining and they are not catering to the desires of the world. And so this whole thing of “alive” or “dead” is being flipflopped on purpose.
[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]
The Biblical Church
But let me say here that the biblical church is not a building. It is not a church denomination. And it is not a corporation united with the world and with the government, although this is what many (or most) “church” gatherings have turned out to be. But the biblical church is the universal body of Christ, the body of believers in Jesus Christ throughout the entire world who are united by faith in Jesus Christ via death to sin (repentance) and obedience to God and to His commands. We the people are the church.
So, when we read in Revelation about the church in a specific location, it is speaking of the body of believers in Christ in that location meeting together, but the church is universal. And this is speaking of the church in one whole city, and they usually met in homes, so they were probably not all in one place like we think of today. And that could be why the majority of them were not spiritually alive, but were mostly dead, and while some of them were spiritually alive and were those who walked worthy of The Lord.
But spiritually alive has to do with our lives surrendered to the Lord in walks of obedience to His commands in holy living, and no longer as slaves to sin. But the gatherings of the church where they are making compromises with the world in order to “win the world” to their gatherings are spiritually mostly dead and are in great need of revival. So what is being called “alive” is often, more than not, mostly dead, while what is being called “dead” may actually be what is genuinely spiritually alive but not entertaining the world.
[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 2:42-47; Acts 5:27-32; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-32; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Philippians 3:18-19; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]
A Wake Up Call
So, this is a call for all who profess faith in Jesus Christ and for all gatherings of what are called “the church” to know what the Scriptures teach about salvation and what it looks like if our faith is genuine biblical faith, and if what we are doing in our lives and in our gatherings agrees with God and with the Scriptures or if it is against God and is against the Scriptures, and if it is sinful or if it is holy in nature. But we need to read the Scriptures in their correct biblical context, and then we need to obey our Lord God.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to Him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) Him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in His power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
Are You Dead or Alive?
An Original Work / October 12, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Nails Were Pounded
An Original Work / June 4, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Nails were pounded when He hung on a tree;
Suffered for us so we could be set free.
He died for our sins; rose up from the grave,
So we could be forgiven; by His grace we’re saved.
A spear pierced His side; His clothes they’d divide;
A crown on His head to mock Him instead
Of honoring Him as our Savior, King,
Who gave His life for the world to be free from sin.
Forsaken by friends, though He’d not offend.
He lived perfectly; our High Priest to be.
He calls us to see, and by faith believe;
In repentance receive Him; live eternally.
“1To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of the One who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation for being alive, yet you are dead. 2Wake up and strengthen what remains, which is about to die; for I have found your deeds incomplete in the sight of My God. 3Remember, then, what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know the hour when I will come upon you.
“4But you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and because they are worthy, they will walk with Me in white. 5Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
A Reputation for Being Alive?
In the day and time and culture in which we presently live here in the USA, and perhaps in the world, as a whole, for a “church” to have a reputation of being alive, it appears that it has little to do with being alive spiritually. Usually “alive” means it is friendly, fun, entertaining, non-judgmental, and it has lots of fun activities for the family, as a whole. The preachers are usually very charismatic (captivating, charming, fun) people who blend in with the culture in order that they might draw in large crowds to their “churches.”
So many of what are called “churches” are businesses incorporated under the state in unholy unions with the ungodly, the world, the government, and with big business. And their gatherings are being marketed to the people of the world, both of which God forbids. And, in order to attract the world to their gatherings, many of them have diluted the gospel message to make it less offensive and more acceptable to human flesh and to the ungodly. And most are not insisting on repentance and obedience to God’s commands.
Therefore, the church gatherings where the truth of the gospel is being taught, in its fulness, from the Scriptures taught in their correct biblical context, where death to sin and obedience to God and to His commands and holy living are being taught as necessary components of believing faith, these gatherings are often referred to as “dead” because they are not entertaining and they are not catering to the desires of the world. And so this whole thing of “alive” or “dead” is being flipflopped on purpose.
[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]
The Biblical Church
But let me say here that the biblical church is not a building. It is not a church denomination. And it is not a corporation united with the world and with the government, although this is what many (or most) “church” gatherings have turned out to be. But the biblical church is the universal body of Christ, the body of believers in Jesus Christ throughout the entire world who are united by faith in Jesus Christ via death to sin (repentance) and obedience to God and to His commands. We the people are the church.
So, when we read in Revelation about the church in a specific location, it is speaking of the body of believers in Christ in that location meeting together, but the church is universal. And this is speaking of the church in one whole city, and they usually met in homes, so they were probably not all in one place like we think of today. And that could be why the majority of them were not spiritually alive, but were mostly dead, and while some of them were spiritually alive and were those who walked worthy of The Lord.
But spiritually alive has to do with our lives surrendered to the Lord in walks of obedience to His commands in holy living, and no longer as slaves to sin. But the gatherings of the church where they are making compromises with the world in order to “win the world” to their gatherings are spiritually mostly dead and are in great need of revival. So what is being called “alive” is often, more than not, mostly dead, while what is being called “dead” may actually be what is genuinely spiritually alive but not entertaining the world.
[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 2:42-47; Acts 5:27-32; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-32; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Philippians 3:18-19; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]
A Wake Up Call
So, this is a call for all who profess faith in Jesus Christ and for all gatherings of what are called “the church” to know what the Scriptures teach about salvation and what it looks like if our faith is genuine biblical faith, and if what we are doing in our lives and in our gatherings agrees with God and with the Scriptures or if it is against God and is against the Scriptures, and if it is sinful or if it is holy in nature. But we need to read the Scriptures in their correct biblical context, and then we need to obey our Lord God.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to Him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) Him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in His power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
Are You Dead or Alive?
An Original Work / October 12, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Nails Were Pounded
An Original Work / June 4, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Nails were pounded when He hung on a tree;
Suffered for us so we could be set free.
He died for our sins; rose up from the grave,
So we could be forgiven; by His grace we’re saved.
A spear pierced His side; His clothes they’d divide;
A crown on His head to mock Him instead
Of honoring Him as our Savior, King,
Who gave His life for the world to be free from sin.
Forsaken by friends, though He’d not offend.
He lived perfectly; our High Priest to be.
He calls us to see, and by faith believe;
In repentance receive Him; live eternally.
Nails Were Pounded
6/4/11: One of my granddaughters was about to get her nails painted. My husband was watching the neighbors get a new roof put on their house, and so there were lots of nails being discussed. My granddaughter then began singing, "Nails, nails, nails, nails, nails," so the first five notes of this...
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