We know we have been talking about the book of Revelation over many months. But we want to go a little further. We have been talking about artificial churches, spiritual abuse and a lot more, everything a church of Sardis can be caught up in.

Next up let’s look a little bit more deeply at things. We wrote a while back about the pulpit and how we want to hear from God and not innuendoes from man. Well sadly the pulpit is not just being abused from preaches and sermons, it is being abused in many forms.

For example, one church had come under scrutiny suspected of malicious practice. An investigation took place. We won’t go into what for, but at the end of the day they were put under investigation. Obviously, church has to continue, and the church carried on with their Sunday services until the investigation concluded.

While that investigation was under way, the church decided to put a little praise God campaign together. Cards were put on to every seat in the church and congregants were asked to write on them what they were thankful to God for and what they could praise God for. Cards like the one shown below. This campaign was announced from the pulpit.

What were they really up to?

Because the church was under investigation leaders were hunting for information. They wanted intelligence, they asked the congregation to write information down on these cards purely to fish for information and anything that could help them with the investigation that was going on behind the scenes. A complete manipulation of a fickle congregation.

This is a church of Sardis tactic. For those of you who don’t know what the church of Sardis is, let’s explain this to you. In the book of Revelation Jesus pointed out faults in churches. One of them was the church of Sardis. Jesus specifically told them that although they appeared alive, their church was actually dead. Here is the scripture specifically shown below.

Revelation 3

3 “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. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Because of the times we are in you will probably see more than one church of Sardis. When you see praise campaigns and cards left on your seat, think about such things, are they campaigns carried out with genuine motives to glorify God, or are the leaders who run the church so in fault and up to their necks in trouble they are just desperately in need of intelligence, and a little snippet of information can come from the congregation through writing on these cards that can be used to get them off the hook.

What are they doing? Manipulating a congregation and the congregation is fickle and oblivious to know what is really going on, and why they are being asked to fill in cards like the one shown above.

Pray and pray some more about deceitful schemes in the church. From fallen leaders or flat-out false prophets who do not care about the poor, do nothing to seek justice and are far from God. The church may appear alive but actually it is dead, and care about all of the things that are actually detestable to God.

Your prayers can help detract leaders from carrying out such deceitful campaigns, not trusting God for protection, but trying to save themselves in their own strength, or are a part of dark schemes to cause chaos in the church. Keep praying about such things because the Bible says no scheme of the enemy will ever prevail against Gods plans.

Before we get into this article, we want to say that there are good leaders out there, well done to all the leaders who work tirelessly to lead out of integrity. However, we are in a day and age where abuses do happen in churches because of leaders whose consciouses have been seared with a hot iron, as described in 1 Timothy 4 v 2.           

“Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”

We are going to help you spot self-deception in churches so that you will be wise not to be deceived. We are going to discuss Luke 16. In verses 14 to 15 Jesus has clearly ruffled the feathers of the pharisee. Here are those verses.

14 “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.”

Why did the pharisee ridicule Jesus? In the beginning of Luke 16 Jesus was talking about money like it is not the most important thing in this life or His, when you should actually be investing the gifts that you have for eternity.

What the pharisee believed was this, that the presence of wealth meant you had the approval of God. If you had lots of money, if you wore nice clothes or had lots of material possessions then people would look at you and would be like, wow, these people are blessed by God. They must be blessed by God. This is why the pharisee loved money.

But Jesus exposes what the pharisee are guilty of in Luke 16 v 15. The pharisee said that they justify the things they do, the things that they say, the things that they believe predicated on the fact that they have a lot of money or material wealth, so whatever they do is RIGHT. Jesus is saying that kind of thinking is wrong, He is saying that the pharisee are indulging in dangerous self-deception.

Does it apply to today’s times?

Absolutely. The church is full of leaders, they may not be called pharisee these days, leaders are called all kinds of things, from Pastors, Vicars, Priests, office managers, and the list goes on.

The point is are leaders justifying themselves before man, from media platforms such as the pulpit, social media and others to say look at all the money we have, see how blessed we are by God, everything we do is RIGHT. They post on social media and say things like, “that was such a powerful sermon delivered by this person”, and that Gods presence was undeniable here today.

They put out calls wanting people to get baptised, so that they can flaunt them in front of man saying we are blessed by God. But what they are doing is indulging in massive self-deception, not only deceiving themselves but deceiving others around them. These kinds of leaders are saying NEVER QUESTION US WE ARE BLESSED BY GOD! Adding to the artificial church.

Jesus was clear in the gospel of Matthew specifically in Matthew 7:15.

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

Again, God says it clearly once more about false teachers in 2 Peter 2, here is what Peter said.

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”

We must be ever careful and test everything that is said to us and submit them to God, whether that be things said by Pastors, Priests, office mangers or whoever. Why? Because Jesus once again was clear in the book of Revelation where he called out the church of Sardis.

Here is the scripture specifically detailing the problem at the Church in Sardis in Revelation 3 v 1 – 6.

“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. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Do you see? Churches and leaders out there could well look alive but inwardly are dead. They are the kind of churches that are indulging in massive self-deception. They think they are always RIGHT, because they have the designer clothes, the money, the material wealth, however Jesus says these things count for nothing in Luke 16 if your heart is not in the right place.

So, lets bring this plane in to land. If you think you are in a church that is dealing in self-deception and using big words to tell you they are blessed by God, or flaunting wealth, then there could be a problem. What do the pearls of wisdom say specifically in Proverbs 18:6.

“The lips of fools bring them strife, and their mouths invite a beating.”

The pharisee’s did not heed this proverb, their mouths invited a beating with self-deceptive words. But it was Jesus who came out triumphant in His resurrection.

So, pray and pray some more. Leaders who have fallen will likely not adhere to scripture such as Matthew 18 v 15:

15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.

In other words, they won’t have the strength in God to have a face to face, a discussion, because, they will already have justified themselves saying look at how we are blessed by God, we are RIGHT in everything we are doing, so we don’t need to have any discussions. It is a form of spiritual abuse. They are as arrogant as the pharisee were as highlighted in Luke 16.

This is why praying is so important! So pray for your leaders because God will intercede for you. We know just how powerful praying for your leaders is to help the church. Let prayer be the engine of your life for the wellbeing of the church.

We are always vigilant in our prayers. We are a church here at Canton Community Church that prays fervently. Well, we have answers to prayers this week that have brought great joy to which the Lord deserves all the glory.

The Lord has healed two people. One of bowel cancer and the other of prostate cancer.

They have come through their treatment and have been told that the cancer they had is no longer present by professional doctors in the NHS. They are healed. Here are the prayers prayed over the last 8 months.

We serve a God who still heals today. We thank God for listening to prayer.

YES PRAYER WORKS! So, if you have a loved one, friends or a complete stranger you have heard of who is unwell, pray for them, and keep praying, because when you pray things happen. Here is ACTS 4 v 23 – 31, the disciples of Jesus prayed for healing, we should as well.

Acts 4 v 23 – 31

The Believers Pray
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one.

27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

In verse 30 they requested Jesus heal people in prayer. Jesus certainly did and has through our prayers. All we did was pray Jesus did the miracle.

We thank God for this wonderful news this last week.

Are we seeking Jesus for the easy life, for financial blessing and a life that is trouble free, basically we want to be rich and have pleasure after pleasure following the pattern of a fallen world.

If you are seeking prosperity and asking Jesus for a luxury lifestyle you are going to be disappointed. If you are seeking Jesus looking for miracle after miracle, then you’re again going to be disappointed. Jesus is not a tool to make you rich and live an extravagant life, or to provide you with thrill after thrill carrying out miracle after miracle. We are here to serve Him, and to pursue eternal life. He are scriptures that talk of eternal life spoken by Jesus Himself.

John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

John 4:14, “But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

When we have given our lives to the Lord, we are here to do His will in our lives, whatever that looks like. We must seek Jesus with genuine motives, and everything else will follow. Provision will be there for us to live our lives and miracles will come that are in line with Gods plans and purposes.

An answered prayer

Sometimes it can take a while to see a miracle happen. But when they do happen, oh the joy it brings! A prayer written down on 30^th January 2024 that contained a list of names asking God to save these people and lead them to His kingdom. We just learned that at least 4 of these people have come to know Jesus. Here is the written prayer.

Welcome to the kingdom Luke, Sean, Declan and Andrew.

What we are saying is this. Live the life God has called you to live seeking Gods plans and purposes for your life, not your own. Pray and continue to pray and the miracles will happen as and when they should. Don’t become a thrill seeker looking for miracle after miracle. Living a Godly life the best you can doing everything for Him, with Jesus at the centre will give you the kind of water that satisfies and causes you never to thirst.

If this article has stirred, you up then speak with a trusted leader. Seek if your motives in following Jesus are true and genuine receiving prayer. Jesus can help you on to the right path.

Here is a scripture that we all have to ask ourselves.

Luke 18:8

8 “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

When our Lord Jesus returns will he find faith on the earth? Will we individually have faith when He returns. What is true of the Bible is the Lord certainly does care more about the state of an individual’s heart. He cares about the small details. He doesn’t necessarily care about large numbers. Let’s justify what we are talking about through God’s word specifically in Mark 12. Here is the word talking about the the widow’s offering.

Mark 12 v 41 – 44

41 “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you; this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

Do you see what we are talking about? It is not about the numbers, it is not about the amount, it is about what the widow decided to give in her heart out of her poverty. This lady was not a wealthy person, but she gave what she could.

The Lord cares about everyone, not just a large crowd of people so that He could look good, big and powerful. Again, let us turn to the word to describe what we are talking about, specifically in the parable of the wandering sheep.

Matthew 18 v 10 – 14

10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. [11] [a]

12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.”

Do you see? Jesus will leave the 99 to go in search of the 1. It is not always about numbers, in fact it is never about numbers.

Remember that in Revelation Jesus spoke about the church in Sardis.

Revelation 3

3 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits[b] 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. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Jesus said there will be churches out there that will be artificial. They will look alive but in fact they are dead. But He does tell them to wake up and gives them time to change their ways.

If you are in a church that boasts in their size then always check with God that the church is following the Lord authentically, with correct motives, pray about it to God. It is not about the size it is always about the condition of the heart, that is what the Lord is interested in, a personal relationship and He is there through His Holy Spirit to help you with the deceits of the heart, including wanting to be a part of a church that looks big and powerful, however really, those churches are far from the Lord as were those in the church of Sardis. Go to a church for the correct motives, God is the one who protects you not the size and outward look of the church.

Will the Lord find faith when He returns? That is a question everyone should think about. Are we serving the Lord for prosperity and our own gain, or are we serving the Lord for His purposes and His plans for His will to be done, not ours. Pray about it He will always guide you in the right direction if you ask for His help.