Psalm 10

Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?  Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?  In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.  He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.  In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.  His ways are always prospers; he is haughty and your laws are far from him; he sneers at all his enemies.  He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me; I'll always be happy and never have trouble."  His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.  He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victims.  He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.  His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength.  He says to himself, "God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees."  Arise, LORD!  Lift up your hand O God.  Do not forget the helpless.  Why does the wicked man revile God?  Why does he say to himself, "He won't call me to account"?  But you , O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand.  The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.  Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out.  The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.  You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
Psalm 10 NIV

PRAYER

O LORD, you see my enemy's schemes and hear what my enemy speaks over me,
they walk in ungodly counsel, stand by sinners and join in with mockers.
They are full of pride, they think they are doing right by trying to ruin my life,
all they say to me are threats and curses.

I'm calling on you God to see my trouble and grief, please be my counsel, join in with me.
I'm committing myself and my family to you.
I'm reminding you that I to am fatherless, so I'm counting on you to be my helper.
I'm encouraged that you have heard my desires, my call for help.
Now I know you will defend me and I don't have to be afraid anymore.
Amen!

A Reputation May Be In Name Only

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.  Wake up!  Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.  Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, 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.  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.  He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white.  I will never blot out their name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Revelation 3:1-6 NIV

In the last house I owned, I had a wood burning stove in the basement and there were times in the winter that I would be able to get it so hot in that particular living room, you could walk around in a t-shirt and shorts on when it was -30c and snow storming outside.  If I loaded it properly for the night, it would burn evenly and steadily until the morning when I would be able to stoke the embers and with proper reloading, it would be burning hot again shortly, for the rest of the day.

There are churches that have a reputation of having a great pastoral preacher but they don't do anything in the community as far as evangelism ,or care for the widows and orphans (for instance).  These churches have a reputation of being alive, but God knows that they are "dead".

Just like my fireplace in the morning, I would give it the time and care it needed to be able to get hot and do the work that I wanted and needed it to do for me and my family, God in His grace gives the dead churches an opportunity to "wake up" and do again what they did in the beginning.

However, the consequences of the fireplace and the churches are far different.  If I didn't rekindle the fire I would just turn up my oil burning furnace and we would be warm, but if the church that God identifies as "dead" don't "wake up", He will blot out their names from the book of life.  The situation is urgent and we should not take lightly what God has written.

Repentance is not just a matter of being sorry that we got caught doing something wrong, it's an acknowledgement that we have acted, thought, or said something wrong.  Changes then need to be made so that it would not happen again.  Not only that, but we are then also expected to repay as quickly as possible, whenever or wherever we fail.

The eternal benefits outweigh the earthly temporal ones that we might be enjoying now.

Lets remember (communion) what we have "received and heard", obey it and repent.