"I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God." (Revelation 3:1b-2 ESV) "Deliver us Lord, from the formalities that do not have reality. We pray that we may truly have the kind of spiritual reality that we confess in our faith in Jesus Christ." (S. Lewis Johnson, prayer) A group of us are studying through Jesus' words to the seven churches of Revelation (Rev chaps 2-3). We have found the messages given by Dr. Lewis Johnson back in the late-1980s at Believers Chapel (Dallas, TX) to be especially helpful. Following are some excerpts from his message regarding the church at Sardis: "One of the things that the Christian church must contend with is the fact that it is offensive to the world when it is being true to the word of God. And really, as one of my old teachers used to like to say, 'It is a terrib