Repentance and revival

We are looking at personal repentance this week; it can lead us to revival!
Let's dig in again . . .
Still working in the second chapter of Revelation, we see Jesus' words to the church at Thyatira:

“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. (v 18-22)

Similar to what we mentioned on Monday, we need to repent if we have been tolerating the presence of evil influences. I believe we have all heard the old saying about when something is mentioned more than once in the Bible.....it must be pretty important!
If we have been tolerating some influence for evil, we need to become more aware of it. We need to weed it out of our lives, just as a gardener pulls up buttonweed in the lawn......
Oh yeah.
Ever heard of Virginia buttonweed? It's extremely invasive, but you don't know you have a problem until it's begun to completely carpet your yard, choking out all of the "good" grasses. The ones you've sowed, sprinkled, fed, and groomed. (Grin)
Button weed has a nice look to it. Pretty leaves. Lovely green color. Tiny white blooms.
Nice, right?
Wrong!
Buttonweed spreads two ways -- by zillions of seeds, and by runners. Those runners will scoot along below the grass that you've lovingly nurtured along and then pop up again to make a thick mat of leaves. If you have thatch in your lawn, it's an expert at running along below the thatch and then popping out again. The only way to make sure you get rid of buttonweed is to gently pull on the runners. You can see where they "go to ground" or where the root is. Then you can carefully tug on that part and when you pull it up, the long runners will usually come along with it.....many inches long, in some cases. The way they spread out is incredible!
You know where I'm going with this, right?
Sin is the same way.
Whether it's sexual immorality, erroneous teachings, or other evil influences, we need to get to the root of the problem and get rid of it. Are we tolerating smut in the programs we watch, or in the digital resources we read? Are we allowing false teachings to take root because we like the speaker or we like some of what they say? Jesus is reminding us; He is saying it more than once; it must be important for us to repent of these things!

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. (Revelation 3:1-3a)

The folks at the church in Sardis had a problem -- their Christianity was "surface" Christianity. They had an outward reputation, but it didn't match what was on the inside. Jesus, of course, was not fooled; He saw through the outward appearance and discerned the real state of their hearts and minds. Just like when He told the Pharisees:

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “‘These people honor me with their lips,    but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain;    their teachings are merely human rules.’ (Matthew 15:7-9)

Ya know what? The unbelievers that we are trying to reach will see through us, too, if our faith is not real:

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (I John 4:20)

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. (James 1:26)

They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. (Titus 1:16)

Is our faith real?
Is it vibrant?
Is our walk the same as our talk?
If not, we need to repent!
We'll finish up our study tomorrow!