Morning Star Testimony - Sermon Notes
The Final Shaking - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 04/10/24
This
message was originally recorded April 3, 2013.
What will be the conditions prior to the
second coming?
What should we expect to happen before the
rapture?
My
notes:
The
final shaking in the church deals with that of our old man which has not gone
through experiential crucifixion. It will be touched by the all-consuming fire
of God. This isn't about sin - it's about who we are in Adam - that which died
2,000 years ago yet continues to affect us. When we are living out from the old
natural man governed by the soul, we are living out from what is dead to God.
That shaking will lead to rapture.
The
final shaking described in Hebrews 12:25-29 is an unfulfilled prophecy as
related to the church. I wonder how many bible prophecy teachers are actually
teaching this as what must happen prior to the rapture of the church. We are to
be alert and be ready - but if we don't know this is what will occur, how can
we be? And if we don't understand the difference between the natural, earthly
man and the spiritual, heavenly man, how will we know what to put off and what
to put on? We are to put off the old and put on the new. We either learn to put
off the old now prior to the shaking, or it will be done for us. "... if
we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged." (1 Cor. 11:31)
"Now I say this, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." (1
Cor. 15:50)
"The
prince of the power of the air has varying degrees of access to the outer man,
depending on generational sin, the person's own way of life; ... access to man
through what he is by nature uncrucified. The cross removes everything from
Satan that gives him ground."
Our
transition from the natural man to the spiritual man will result in
resurrection life not only here in time, but will be made reality in our
resurrection bodies. "It will manifest the development and the formation
of Christ formed in us in this life; in the measure in which He's been formed
and expressed through our mortal bodies, then the resurrection body will
display the divine significance and reality and manifestation of who He
is." This explains what we read in 1 Corinthians 15 about the differing
degrees of glory that will be seen in our lives in eternity.
"Anything
that we are depending upon for our well-being, our spiritual life, that has its
source in uncrucified soul-life, is going to be removed" prior to rapture.
"Jesus says 'I'm going to vomit Laodicea out of My mouth'. Why? Because they're
living out of the soul; they're not living out of their spirit."
Though
those who believe in a mid- or post-trib rapture are warning us to prepare for
the Tribulation, we should note there will be this shaking - tribulation if you
will - just not the 7-year day of the Lord Tribulation.
Doug
mentions a couple times Russ Dizdar's book The Black Awakening. There is word this may be re-published soon as it is not on the market currently.
Link to today's audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/4-3-13+wed+edited.mp3
Maranatha!
John Mark
...hereby committing this unto the
providential care of the enthroned Head of the Church; whose Name is
blessed forevermore, Yeshua Mashiach - Jesus Christ!
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“Morning Star Testimony" - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 04/07/24
This
message was originally recorded October 15, 2003. Though I posted it for the
first time on the website a couple years ago, I believe it is definitely worthy
of revisiting.
What is a ‘morning star’? – What is a
‘morning star testimony?
Why did we choose the name for our local
church “Morning Star Testimony Church”?
My
notes:
o Morning
star testimony – this is what we as a local church sought to become – but never
suggested we’d arrived.
o
Picking up our cross each day relates to our
transformation into the image of Christ.
o
We need to allow (and cooperate with) the Lord
to bring us into conformity to who Jesus is – the revelation given to Peter
when the Holy Spirit clued him in: ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God.’
o
Transformation is the hope (joyous, confident
expectation) of the church – it’s the counterpart to Jesus on the mount of
transfiguration where it was revealed in a yet-to-be glorified body prior to
His death, resurrection and ascension.
o
Jesus won’t appear until the 4th
watch of the night to those who are watching for Him – the darkest hours from 3
to 6 a.m. – when the morning star (Venus) appears to announce the promise of
the coming day. This is what the remnant has to look forward to, the morning
star arising in our hearts.
o
We must want to go through to the end of God’s
purpose for the church.
o
Becoming partakers of the divine nature
culminates in transformation (not rapture, but a body not yet glorified).
o
(See 2 Peter 1:5-11) “We need to ask
ourselves, are these virtues of
excellence, knowledge, self-control, are
they increasing? Well, verse 5 says, ‘Now
for this reason, since God has made provision to become a partaker of the
divine nature, applying all diligence,
our part in faith, applying all diligence in faith’, start appropriating the promises of God and
allow the process of becoming a partaker of the divine nature to be a reality in your life.”
o
Our calling is to be transformed into the image
of Christ.
o
We chose “Morning Star Testimony” as the name
for our church because we wanted to make known Jesus in the power of His coming
(see 2 Peter 1:16). “This is the destiny of the Church in the manner and way in
which God will display His final testimony of the principalities and powers to
this world… This has been fought with the greatest satanic opposition that I
could ever imagine. I had no idea what aspiring to becoming this would cost.”
o
Might I say it cost Doug his life. He poured
out his life for 40 years for the flock God made him overseer of, and for those
he ministered to all around the world.
o
The less we feel at home here on Earth is an
indicator we are being transformed into the image of Christ and the morning
star is arising in our hearts.
o
Jesus’ transformation (what was seen by the 3
disciples on the mount of transfiguration) will be seen in transformed saints.
o
Morning STAR – a star is deity making
itself known; a star is also for navigation – it shows where one is and where
one needs to go to reach their destination.
o When
we reach ‘morning star status’, we’re ready to go Home.
Recommended:
Back To Jerusalem: Three Chinese House Church Leaders Share Their Vision to
Complete the Great Commission
Link
to today's audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/MSTC-1.mp3
Maranatha!
John Mark
...hereby committing this unto the
providential care of the enthroned Head of the Church; whose Name is
blessed forevermore, Yeshua Mashiach - Jesus Christ!
To opt out of
receiving these emails, please reply with a request to unsubscribe.
"Ye Are Come to Zion" - by T. Austin-Sparks
by John Mark on 04/03/24
Chapter 8 -
The Burden of the Lord
Dear Saints,
This
message was originally recorded October 15, 2014.
My
notes:
In
this message I counted 28 times the word "until". This reminds me of
Doug's series of 9 ByteShow messages I posted on the Video Page and YouTube
called Prerequisites for
the Lord's Return.
"'I
will not rest until this healing, this good health goes forth as a lamp that
burneth'. You see what the Lord is concerned about, what He is after? To have a
people in spiritual good health, whole, and sound, and vigorous, and free from
these maladies that put her out of condition."
Brother
Sparks spoke about the name, character, and reputation of Israel, what the Lord
was after and how He saw her, "something that is of tremendous value to
the Lord: "'a royal diadem in the hand of thy God'. Get the picture?
Something valuable, something precious, something that the Lord admires.
Something that the Lord delights to have, something upon which He dwells with
admiration." That reminded me of a wonderful article we read a couple
years ago, an article Doug recommended by Allan Halton, Segulah, God’s
Peculiar Treasure.
Be
sure not to fall for the word 'peculiar' as it's erroneously defined as
'strange, odd, or weird'. It's better understood as 'a purchased and possessed
treasure'. That’s what we are in Christ, that treasure in the midst of the
field Jesus purchased with His blood.
Brother
Sparks addresses us who attend corporate prayer meetings and challenges us to
go further than praying for our needs and those of others. "Ask the Lord
to lay His burden upon your heart... show you that this is His concern, it is
the Lord speaking, you see. And yet the Lord is not going to do it independent
of His people, of His servants, and their intercession." He asks us to
"safeguard the Lord's interests, and that which is precious to Him; to be
vigilant and to bear this burden in constant intercession, giving Him no
rest."
Recommended:
T. Austin-Sparks' The Supreme
Vocation
Link
to today's audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/10-15-14+Wednesday+Assembly.mp3
Maranatha!
John Mark
...hereby committing this unto the
providential care of the enthroned Head of the Church; whose Name is
blessed forevermore, Yeshua Mashiach - Jesus Christ!
To opt out of
receiving these emails, please reply with a request to unsubscribe.
"Ye Are Come to Zion" - by T. Austin-Sparks
by John Mark on 03/31/24
Dear Saints,
This
message was originally recorded October 12, 2014.
My
notes:
In
his introduction to this message, Doug recounts the history leading up to David
conquering the last and most formidable Jebusite stronghold, which then became
Zion, the City of David. It required the unification of the kingdom. Jump over
to the end of the church age and its final campaign to defeat the spiritual
inhabitants - squatters, principalities and powers in heavenly places - of the
stronghold of Zion now in the church, we read in Jesus' prayer that we may be
one even as He is one with the Father. This corresponds with Ephesians 4:13,
"until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the [full, mature,
complete] knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the
stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." This unification of the
church will only happen after 'that which can be shaken' (i.e.: that which is
not according to Christ) 'will be shaken'. Doug taught us the scriptures that
refer to this as the day of visitation yet to be fulfilled in these last days
of the church age. (Wow!... see how all this fits together??)
In
this chapter, Brother Sparks clearly defines Zion as it relates to Israel, and
then makes the distinction of that which is mentioned in the New Testament as
relating to the church, "to another one: a superior, transcendent Zion,
the heavenly Jerusalem, the spiritual Zion. 'Ye are come to Zion'. And coming
to Zion, amongst all the other things that it means, means coming to that very
thing, coming to the eternal counterpart of the temporal, that Divine choosing,
that Divine electing, that Divine calling, that Divine, that heavenly,
destiny." As Israel's kingdom was prepared for her from the foundation of
the world (Matthew 25:34), the church was chosen in Christ from before the
foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
As
Brother Sparks speaks of "election, choosing and calling", I'm
reminded of something he said in a different message about predestination, a
word that unnecessarily begets arguments and ultimately formation of opposing
denominations. When he said that wherever you find that word in the New
Testament, it doesn't apply to individual people, but only to the corporate
church. Instead of getting sideways with arguing about whether or not God
predestines those who will be saved and predestines (i.e.: pre-determines)
those who will go to Hell, it's not about that at all. It's the church that has
a predetermined predestined destiny - and that's what this message is about.
"...we are called, we are chosen, we are related to some tremendous
destiny"; and Doug adds, "that is, an eternal vocation that will
define our faithfulness on earth in time in the ages to come... who we became
in Christ in time." Our individual destiny is ours in Christ (i.e.:
positional), but the reaching of that destiny is determined by what choices we
made and how much we were conformed to the image of Christ (experiential).
[Sparks]
"'Look here: walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called'. Make
this something that comes into your every day life, and it will redeem your
every day life from the ordinary, from the monotony, from the trivial; it will
lift you right up on to another level. You know that you are, as a child of
God, related to some tremendous purpose. And you've got to live on the basis of
a great purpose."
Brother
Sparks reminds us of the importance of corporate relatedness, that our
Christian life is not independent nor isolated from other members of the body
of Christ. "And it's in that relatedness that we shall come into our
purpose in God, and we shall come into this mighty sense that God is after
something. He's after something, and that we are related to that. It's
relatedness, you see, that is essential to this motive, to this purpose."
Brother
Sparks defines 'Zion' in many ways. Here are a few examples, "Zion is a
means to God's larger, greater ends." "Zion is the testimony, living
testimony to, and expression of, His Son in fulness." "Zion is that
which will be the occasion of the overthrow of the whole kingdom of
satan." "God must have a ground of argument with satan, Zion is
that." Doug adds, "It's where God's eyes are; it's where His heart
is; it's where His dwelling place is; where He is central and at home."
Recommended:
T.
Austin-Sparks' The Cross and
Higher Ground
Filled Unto All the
Fulness of God
Watchman
Nee's The Normal Christian Life
Link
to today's audio:
https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/10-12-14+Sunday+Assembly.mp3
Maranatha!
John Mark
...hereby committing this unto the
providential care of the enthroned Head of the Church; whose Name is
blessed forevermore, Yeshua Mashiach - Jesus Christ!
To opt out of
receiving these emails, please reply with a request to unsubscribe.
"Ye Are Come to Zion" - by T. Austin-Sparks
by John Mark on 03/27/24
Chapter 6 -
The Controversy of Zion
Dear Saints,
This
was the second of two messages from October 8, 2014.
My
notes:
As
Brother Sparks speaks of the controversy of Zion, Doug mentions the fact that
"Zion is being contested, and now Satan occupies Zion - right now - that's
the Temple mount." There is no way Brother Sparks knew of this controversy
as pertaining to SRA and the satanic stronghold that occupies the place
underground of the Temple as reported by survivors countless times in countless
counseling sessions.
[Sparks]
"Zion (if you like: Jerusalem) will be the scene and the occasion of the
final, consummate conflict of the ages of this world. It will be upon Zion that
everything is focused." Doug adds, more specifically, the Temple mount.
As
I'm listening to this message about Jerusalem and its significance as "A
sign of the times so far as the world is concerned, so far as the nations are
concerned", just the other day a good friend was talking about those who
quote Matthew 24:36 that "of that day and hour no one knows" as a
challenge to those seeking to know the timing of the rapture. He corrected them
by letting them know this passage speaks of the 2nd Advent, not the rapture.
The church was at that time a mystery. Additionally, there is no prophecy
related to the time of the rapture and the beginning of the 7-year day of the
Lord (i.e.: Tribulation; Daniel's 70th week).
It's
interesting as we read of or hear the headlines and news reports out of Israel
these last few months how they coincide with Brother Sparks as he speaks of
Zion and Jerusalem, "The convulsions, the upheavals, the conflicts, the
unrest, the frustrations in national and international affairs, are all related
to this testimony of Zion." Doug adds, "The church is right here in
the midst of all that's going on... Israel is there, but the primary reason for
the convulsions is the fact that the church is still on earth; it has not
attained its goal yet, the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
[Sparks]
"Just as the nations will vomit out the Jews and be glad to get rid of
them, as did Egypt, so the nations will. So, so, a true people of God in this
earth will make this world sick that the world will want to get rid of them.
And the sovereignty of God will make that very attitude of antagonism and
hatred and expulsion His, His own way of securing His people. He is working in
the nations." As I was listening to him saying this, I thought about
Revelation 3:16, "So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I
will spit (vomit) you out of My mouth." Wow! I never made the connection
to Egypt vomiting out the Israelites and Psalm 2. Isn't it interesting how the
church, especially that which is not bearing the testimony of Jesus is so criticized
and hated by the world? It is God that will be behind this vomiting out - this
expulsion of what is assumed to be Christianity, but in reality is apostasy and
lukewarmness. We haven't experienced this here in the west yet - but we will
... soon. This is the great shaking that will come upon the church prior to it
coming upon Israel and the nations in the day of the Lord.
Brother
Sparks spends quite a bit of time contrasting the "Christianity" that
has its origin in the flesh - the old adamic nature - and that which originates
from Jesus Christ. He says, "you cannot draw even a thin line between
man's soul and its ambitions and its activities and its heat and what is
really, purely of the Spirit of God. It is all so mixed up and people don't
seem to be able to discriminate or discern between the two. Therefore many,
many innocent people are carried away by the semblance of things, thinking that
it is something quite good and quite right! Everything is indistinct; confused,
with very limited revelation." This speaks of much of what we find in
today's pulpits.
I
really like what Brother Sparks says about how so mixed up people get as
denominations form out of distortions and misunderstanding of scriptures,
especially when taken out of context. "Take any bit of Scripture and use
it to support something that is entirely in conflict with another thing based
upon the same Scripture. It needs the Holy Spirit's interpretation,
enlightenment, witness, and government to bring us to the truth of the Word,
but in the realm of Christian profession, there is not such a capacity or
faculty."
Without
going into detail, this message really encouraged me and went well with some of
my personal journey leading up to y'all reading this and listening to Doug's
recorded messages. "...this ministry of Zion is constituted by a drastic
work in the vessel, a deep work in the vessel. This is not something that we
can take up apart from something that has been done in us, that God is doing in
us: the undoing of us, the taking of us to pieces, the stripping of us, the
emptying of us, and bringing us to zero and starting from there all over again
with us. That's the sort of thing connected with Zion and Zion's
ministry." This corresponds to 2 Timothy 4:11 when Paul called for John
Mark to be sent to him as he believed finally at that point he would be useful
to the ministry.
I
stand into Doug's closing prayer in this recording.
Audio
Link: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/10-8-14+Wednesday+Assembly+-+2.mp3
Maranatha!
John Mark
...hereby committing this unto the
providential care of the enthroned Head of the Church; whose Name is
blessed forevermore, Yeshua Mashiach - Jesus Christ!
To opt out of
receiving these emails, please reply with a request to unsubscribe.