The job of the Christian church is to be salt and light in the world by believing, preaching, and living out the uncompromised gospel that Jesus Christ is Lord over all. As the Seattle Symphony sang, “He shall reign forever and ever.” That this sounds too extreme to most pastors (!) today accounts for a recent meme that says, “If Paul were around today, the church would be getting a letter.” These texts from Revelation and Hebrews contain a letter of sorts, reminding us that the church has been overtaken by sin before and called to repentance, just as we need to be today. This message focuses on the state of the church in our country but includes exhortations for us locally