The Church of the Laodiceans Can Have Revival

The Church of the Laodiceans Can Have Revival!

Rev 3:14-22 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write. . . I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot . . . As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent . . . Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me . . .

It would be arrogant and ignorant should the North American Church think that we are the ruling majority of Pentecostals on planet earth. Our overseas churches and constituents far outnumber the Pentecostals of North America. However, we are the wealthiest. In our wealth, we have no equal. What if our precious brothers and sisters from Nicaragua or the Philippines could visit our North American churches next week. Would we look like Laodicea to them? May God help us to do right with our wealth. To whom much is given, much is required.

God observed the works of the church of the Laodiceans and saw lukewarmness. God's quarrel was not with what these saints were doing but rather the passionless way they went about their kingdom work. God never mentions a loss of first love as He did to Ephesus, neither did he point out any obvious sins. It was their lack of zeal that apparently nauseated Him to the point of vomiting them out of His mouth.

God looked at their works and then gave a scathing rebuke to this lukewarm church. Because you are lukewarm and unexcited and unenthusiastic about working for me I am going to spew you out of my mouth. The Laodiceans lack of passion gave God a sick stomach. God must be concerned about passion among His believers.

The name Laodicea means the rule of the people and suggests a democratic church that no longer understood or followed spiritual leaders. They had themselves a nice little democratic church. It was their church; the church of the Laodiceans.

It was so tragic that having such a great potential to bless, they had no passion to carry out the work of God. Because of this, in God’s eyes they were poor and pitiful and blind and naked. Warren Wiersbe said of the Laodiceans, "What a picture of the apostate church of today, with its prestige, wealth, and political power, yet all the while spiritually poor."

Christ is standing outside the door of this lukewarm body of believers. This church has all this wealth and power but no zeal for kingdom work. Please understand, they were certainly working, but without passion. However, God was willing to come into that lukewarm church if someone would only open the door. God could have broken down the door and demanded a meeting. This was His church that He had purchased with His own blood. Yet, He waited for someone to open the door.

Enough about the sad state of affairs in the Church of the Laodiceans. Is there any hope for such a church? I ask this question because the North American Church sure has a close resemblance to those first century believers in Laodicea. Yes, the church of the Laodiceans can have revival. After rebuking them soundly saying, "as many as I love I chasten" God said, "Be zealous therefore and repent." I have gold for you and I’m more than willing to sell it to you. I am not going to give it to you but I’ll sell it to you. Ah, real riches. I have white raiment for you, clothes of righteousness for you to put on so the shame of your nakedness will not appear. And I have some eye salve for you so you can see clearly.

Take a look at the hope in this verse. There is still time. What Laodicea needed and what we must have is passion and zeal. A great opportunity waits! Would someone please help me open the door? Yes, He could force His way in, He could bust down the door, but that's not His way. He waits for someone with passion to throw open the door.

Perhaps the key word for this turnaround is zealous. The word zealous means to have warmth of feeling for or against. It means simply to burn with zeal. You and I are for some things and we are against some things but do we burn with zeal about them?

I am often aware of the many glaring weaknesses in my life. I’ve got enough close friends and family that keep me from forgetting those weaknesses, some learned and hopefully some genetic. I do not consider myself a good administer. I am not the best at delegating. I have so much to learn about leadership. I don’t always deal with situations as quickly as I should. This is not trash talk, just the facts.

However, myself and some others had one great thing going for us in the early 70's when we walked out by faith into ministry. We had passion. We were zealous for the Lord's work. I wanted then and still desire today a book of Acts church. I still hunger to see the miraculous. One man said, "The proof of your desire is in your pursuit" and I am still pursuing. I'm aging and I may fight cynicism but I am still believing we will witness one more great move of God in North America. This will be a powerful move that will bring with it a demonstration of the spirit and power of God and restore righteousness to the body of Christ.

There were great men of God who helped stoke the fires of passion in my early days of ministry. Along with my father, there were others like the Manguns, the Kilgores, and the Pughs. This list is much longer that this. They preached with such passion that they caused us to truly believe that end-time revival was more than a possibility, it was going to happen.

Yes, the church of the Laodiceans can have revival. Be zealous therefore, and repent. Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. Get excited about whatever it is your doing no matter how small or how great the task. Do it with enthusiasm. I hope that in my short time of ministry I can impart a passionate vision into others. Pray for me!