The Church You Need To Know Series Part 17
The Church of the Resurrection, as the Lord Jesus Christ intended it to be
Much can be said about the order of the Churches in Revelation 2 and 3; like everything else about God's word, it's perfect. Ephesus began well, but like everything in a sinful world, it deteriorated and died in the worst possible way. The high note that Ephesus hit, according to Jesus, was that they hated the Nicolaitians' deeds regarding the sins of immorality.
Smyrna is a Church about dying to self, which is bookended between a church that hated evil deeds and a Church that turned those deeds into a teaching of evil. We will revisit that Church next week.
Smyrna is the Church with its eye upon Jesus, the supreme example of dying to self for all the right reasons. He appeared before the Church in this way. "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life..." The Father of our Lord devised a plan to elevate righteousness, His Son, invite His children into the Divine Family and vanquish any possibility of sin forever. Christ agreed and fulfilled the plan through the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, which meant He would have to first go to the grave. The other five Churches of Revelation, not so much.
Let us make no mistake: the suffering Church is surrounded by anything but a Church that pleases Jesus Christ. Jesus said," 'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you will be tested and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." It is not people who head up the attack upon truth and Christ's plan for His Church; it is the devil, which Christ calls a synagogue of Satan.
The Church of the Resurrection at Face Value
After my conversion to the faith in 1967 through the preaching of Billy Graham, years were lost because I did not know a single Christian who could disciple me in the faith. Eventually, I joined a church and began my indoctrination in the 20th-century version of an American Christian Church. From that time to this, there has been a growing and nagging pain in my conscience that Church, as I have come to know, was wrong and growing worse. There is no doubt in my mind that the Church in Eastern nations suffers at the hands of Anti-Christian religions, and no doubt, will be rewarded for their suffering when Christ sets up His earthly kingdom.
Following many conversions that took place in the forties, fifties, and sixties, how many were authentic? I have no idea; people were ushered into churches but were not necessarily disciples. Lone Pastors ruled along with deacons who made decisions regarding everything but the spiritual welfare of the sheep. Ignorance has always prevailed in the pew, and the pulpit has been a mixed bag of hired hands that care little to nothing for the sheep, ignorance, arrogance, and worked to death over-schooled zealots who knew little about what must be done. I apologize for sounding critical and skeptical, but have you surveyed the Christian landscape in America? Do you think that Jesus is pleased with the likes of our present evangelical communities?
The Fake Church of the Resurrection Exposed
The Crystal Cathedral was founded by Pastor Robert Schuler, who canvased the neighborhood to fill his Church by asking people what they were looking for in a church. Then he gave them what they wanted. The problem with this church system is that it is light years away from the Church that Jesus built through His Apostles and the first generation of believers.
Then there is Saddle Back Church, founded by Rich Warren, from where the seeker-sensitive churches got their names. They seek to befriend the world and seduce them into a quasi-Christianity with a dumbed-down Gospel and theology. Filling Churches with unbelievers and thinking you're doing something because of numbers is spelling the end for Christianity in America.
Church system after Church system has sprung up during the previous thirty years, and all of them have no respect for the word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or winning souls to Christ and saving them from hell. A better life now is the montra of the 21st Century Church. The Church of the Resurrection is a Church that calls sinners to come out of the world, to have faith in Christ, and to participate in church membership with loving accountability.
Church system after Church system has sprung up during the previous thirty years, and all of them have no respect for the word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or winning souls to Christ and saving them from hell. A better life now is the montra of the 21st Century Church. The Church of the Resurrection is a Church that calls sinners to come out of the world, to faith in Christ, and to participate in church membership with a loving accountability.
Do the final words of Jesus to Smyrna make it look like Christianity in America is listening to Jesus Christ and living a life of self denial? "Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you will be tested and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."
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