COLUMN: The church at Sardis

This is the third article on the churches in Revelation.
Revelation 3:1-6 says, “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know thy works that thou livest and art dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore what thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief and thau shall not know what hour I will came upon thee. Though 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. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothes in white raiment and I will not blot his name out of the book of Life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
As we look at what Jesus wrote to the church of Sardis, he said be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. I believe he is telling us to get rid of the sinful things in our life and come to repentance before God. Also, if we do not do this he will come like a thief in the night because we do not know when he will come. That means we should stay prayed up in repentance. He also tells us
if we do this he will not blot out our name out of the book of Life.
Look at Revelation 20:12-15: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, which is the book of Life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
I know I am called an old time preacher and I preach the whole Bible and I will not take it out of context. I try to preach the Bible by exactly what it says. I have heard a lot of people say that they do not read the book of Revelation because they do not understand it. The Revelation is full of things we should do to live for God through Jesus Christ, which we are given a choice. We can live for God and go to heaven or we can live for the devil. Which will you choose?