BIBLE STUDY AUDIO
TEACHIINGS FOR YOUR EDIFICATION AND BRINGING YOU TO THE FULLNESS OF THE STATURE OF CHRIST
Our Bible Study audio messages can be accessed from here. These are teachings recorded in the course of our weekly serialised Bible Study meetings for your spiritual edification and development.
Besides the audio, the conclusion/summary of the message is also displayed. This notwithstanding, the full Bible Study outline can also be accessed from the link indicated at the end of the conclusion/summary.
We pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to you as you listen.
The Assessment of the Churches (23.2): The Church in Philadelphia (To Whom Shall the Lord Open a Door? (2))
We have seen that to deny the Lord or the name of the Lord includes exhibiting traits of self-confidence rather than confidence in Christ; not praying when one should or not praying at all, thus making one a candidate for Satan's temptation; not wanting to be seen as associating with the Lord or not wanting to be labelled a fanatic, which amounts with following the Lord from afar; and seeking comfort and convenience in one's Christian walk. The end product is that when one exhibits these traits, he is exhibiting traits of disloyalty. Thus, not denying the name of the Lord is basically our undivided loyalty to the Lord!
We've also seen that growing in our knowledge of God manifesting as growing from the rudimentary saving faith to maturity in the Lord, growing from being told about Christ to experiencing Him firsthand, and growing from hearing about the Lord to developing intimacy with Him. Growing in the knowledge of God, which is another basis for the Lord opening the doors of heaven particularly, is essentially intimacy with the Lord.
Finally, we've seen that the Lord will open a door to those He has promised that He would open a door unto either directly, or indirectly, having told it to their ancestors. This was the case of Israel in regards to the Promised Land. God had promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land, and He did everything possible for them to inherit the land. Thus, the last criteria is not about the individual or the church, but about the integrity or faithfulness of God to keep His word.
In all, if the Lord is to open a door unto us, we must exhibit humility before God, purity of heart towards the word of God, loyalty that cannot be impeached unto God, and intimacy with the Lord. All four agree because it is impossible to have one without having the others. Also, even when the Lord opens a door unto a person or church because of His integrity/faithfulness in fulfilling His promise, without the first four we shall no sooner lose the blessing of the fulfilled promise of an open door. May the Lord help us to drill deep into our hearts, these four traits so that we can be beneficiaries of open doors that will never be shut and that will be of continual blessings on to us.
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The Assessment of the Churches (24): The Church in Philadelphia (See I Have Set Before You an Open Door)
The Lord had to announce to the church in Philadelphia that He had set before them an open door because:
1. Without the announcement, we wouldn't know that a door had been opened, since open doors don't usually appear open, and they are usually not marked 'OPEN'! The announcement is about us seeing things through God's lenses.
2. There are usually visible elements that will discourage the believer from proceeding any further. For instance, the Psalmist noted "<em>Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies</em>" and Paul spoke of a great and effectual door being opened unto him in Ephesus, but that there were many adversaries. What the Lord is saying to us is concentrate on entering through the door I have set before you and leave the enemy/adversary to Him.
3. It will require faith or spiritual courage to access the open door, particularly with the conditions of (1) and (2) above. We would need to trust God and listen for His instructions.
It is one thing to make the announcement; it is another thing to respond positively to the announcement. And although we are not told what the response of the church in Philadelphia was, we can learn from the refusal of Israel to enter the Promised Land when God first asked them to. Instead of simply going in as the Lord told them to, they were trying to make their own plans and they ended up rebelling when they saw the giants and people in the land upon investigation. It is, therefore, wise for us to just go in as the Lord has set an open door, and not try to work out our own approach, which will end up in a disaster as Israel's was in the wilderness—they ended up spending 40 years for an expected stay of only 2 years!
We should, therefore, pray for seeing eyes, hearing ears, and understanding hearts. We should also pray for spiritual courage, as well as ask the Lord in His mercy to end our wilderness wanderings today!
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The Assessment of the Churches (25.1): The Church in Philadelphia (The Two Assemblies (1))
The Lord called the synagogue of the Jews in Philadelphia the synagogue of Satan, implying that they were not worshipping God, but paying obeisance to Satan. We have seen that only in places where the church did not give Satan access into it, was there a synagogue of note, to be branded a synagogue of Satan. The implication is that where ever there is present the true church of God, there will also be a synagogue of Satan. It is therefore imperative that we are able to identify the true church of God, and anything that does not conform to that is counterfeit and a synagogue of Satan.
The true church of God is made up of sinners who have been saved, sanctified, and are being sanctified. The true church of God may in fact be few numerically, politically impotent, persecuted and even poor financially. The crucial thing about the church of God is that they keep the word of God, they do not deny the name of the Lord, and they are faithful to God till the end. Any assembly that is not keeping the word of God, that denies the name of the Lord by there lifestyle, and that will not remain faithful to God in the face of life's challenges and even death, is not a true church of God, but a counterfeit and a synagogue of Satan.
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The Assessment of the Churches (25.2): The Church in Philadelphia (The Two Assemblies (2))
We have seen that unpleasant situations and conditions are attempts by Satan to dissuade the true church from continuing with God and to seek a short-cut to obtaining the promises of God. We have also seen that Christianity is a personal walk with Christ and so, even if Satan has access into a church as in the cases of Pergamum, Thyatira and Sardis, there were some who kept their devotion and dedication to God. So, we should not seek men of God, rather we should seek after Almighty God and His Christ! Again, in fulfilling His promise that those who are of the synagogue of Satan will certainly come and bow to the true church of God, we note that indeed, sooner or later, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father.
Our counsel is that we should hold fast to the word of God and emulate those who were in Berea, who though, of the synagogue of the Jews, searched the scriptures after hearing Paul teach, and in the process saw the truth in the word of God and turned to God in faith. Let us endure hardship, remain humble, keep the word of God, be loyal, dedicated to God, and faithful to Him to the end, even unto death, and the Lord shall show to the world that we are loved regardless of our challenges and unpleasant conditions (<strong>John 14:21-24</strong>).
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The Assessment of the Churches (26): The Church in Philadelphia (Epilogue)
By the assessment of the church in Philadelphia, we have seen the importance and value of prompt obedience to God and of remaining loyal to God, no matter the challenges and difficulties. Also, the church in Philadelphia has debunked the myth of God's favour on mega-churches or wealthy churches; and, the church in Philadelphia tells us that God is in a small church as He is in a poor church, provided they keep His word and do not deny His name. furthermore, we have also learnt that not every gathering of people claiming to worship God is a church—it could be a gathering unto Satan!
In this study, we have seen that there are tremendous rewards for obedience to God, and sometimes, these are not known in advance, hence, the believer is counselled to always obey the word of God. Some of the rewards we saw include protection on the earth, eternal security, the kingdom of God, and the dynasty of descendants in a spiritual sense. We have also seen that we cannot be complacent, casual or careless because Satan is waiting in the wings for a moment of weakness in us—despair, depression, desire for what God has clearly warned us against, etc.
We have also seen that it is imperative that we endure the challenges and difficulties in life that may be thrown at us by Satan, till the end. If you are doing alright now, make sure that you continue till you go to be with the Lord—don't relax! Let us be reminded that all Satan needs is one chance to trip us up! Our small victories are worth celebrating, but we must never take our eyes off the endpoint. Satan does not mind you winning battles, as long as you don't win the war! Beloved, we are at war—always remember that—and it is God who will give the victory—so don't take your eyes off the Lord (<strong>Hebrews 12:2</strong>)!
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The Assessment of the Churches (27): The Church of the Laodiceans (Lukewarmness)
Most churches today are by the description for lukewarmness, lukewarm. The lukewarm church exhibit the following characteristics:
1. They focus on themselves and not on God—their programmes, activities, etc., which are not of God.
2. They are in competition with the world and with themselves—they are obsessed! We find them located in too close proximity to other churches, meeting at about the same time. What we need to have is cooperation; not competition (<strong>Colossians 4:16</strong>).
3. They believe and act like they own the church of God: father hands over to son; when husband founder dies, wife takes over; it is treated as a family affair or as an ethnic grouping—NEPOTISM!
4. They boast in themselves speaking "<em>pompous words</em>" not fearing God. We must distinguish between true prophecy and pompous words—the former is of God clearly; and the latter from men!
5. Their boasting is in their wealth and possession forgetting that it is God who gave it to them (<strong>1 Corinthians 4:7; Mark 10:24</strong>)!
6. They are self-sufficient, self-centred, and self-governing-they set their own rules and doctrines which have no scriptural basis most times. (<strong>Daniel 4:30-37</strong>)
7. They believe that they have no need for anything, including God. (<strong>2 Chronicles 16:12</strong>)
8. Their boasting in their wealth and possession is really a mask to hide their sorry state and depravity—their wretchedness, misery, being beggarly, blindness, and nakedness.
9. God is not in these churches for He is actually knocking to be allowed in. (<strong>Revelation 3:20</strong>)
10. They are about to go cold and they don't even know it—iniquity and lawlessness abound!
May the Lord have mercy on today's church and deliver us from our fleshly and worldly lifestyle.
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The Assessment of the Churches (28): The Church of the Laodiceans (The Remedy for Lukewarmness)
In calling the church of the Laodiceans to repentance, the Lord was stern; yet it was not out of hatred for the church, but out of love for them. Thus, we have seen that a rebuke from the Lord is meant to bring people to their right senses and then to repentance. We have also seen that true repentance must take a person to the Lord Jesus, and not to a pastor or church!
We have seen that the Lord's counsel is what we need to listen to, and He counsels that we come to Him and get what is needed to remedy lukewarmness. It is only in the Lord Jesus that we have the remedy for lukewarmness—it is not present anywhere else. In the Lord, we have faith (represented as gold refined in fire), the robe of righteousness (represented as white garments), and revelation (represented as eye salve).
The hope for the lukewarm church lies in their overcoming through repentance. Many are unable to repent and thus will not overcome because of pride and their filthy garments of self-righteousness, etc.
And while the Lord is asking us to come to Him, He is right at the door of our hearts knocking through the agency of His word as anyone who will hear to open onto Him. The Lord's call to open up to Him is a personal call, and not a corporate one—even though it is made in a corporate setting, yet it is to anyone who would heed the call. May we heed the Lord's call, even as He keeps on knocking at the door of our hearts!
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The Assessment of the Churches (29): Closing Remarks
# If you are not bearing fruit that pleases the Lord, all your activities are meaningless.
# The axe is laid at the root of the trees (<strong>Matthew 3:7-12</strong>).
# A big church or a rich church is not what God is looking for—those are leaves—what God desires is a holy and loyal church—even though it may be persecuted, poor, and insignificant to men.
# If the Holy Spirit is not directing you, you'll end up in the congregation of the dead—a synagogue of Satan (<strong>Romans 8:14; John 1:12</strong>).
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Going Forward
The Lord is focused on the church bearing fruit, and this can only be achieved when it is planted by God, remains attached to Christ, have the life of Christ flow within it produced by obedience to the word of God, and fruit is produced as the church yields to the Holy Spirit operating on the word of God in the church.
Some of today's churches are operating on worldly principles and running on the flesh, while others are operating on a mixture of worldly principles and the word, and running on a hybrid of flesh and the Holy Spirit, whereas, the church needs to operate based on the word of God ONLY and be led by the Holy Spirit ONLY—no hybrids, which is syncretism. On these bases—obedience to the word of God and the Holy Spirit leading—must everything be done in and by the church if it is to be pleasing to the Lord. These include church doctrine, establishing of churches, church activities and programmes, appointment of church leaders, etc. Unless the Lord establishes a church it will eventually crumble as many are beginning to—in some others, cracks are beginning to appear—because they want to ignore the word of God and become politically correct and socially acceptable. We are beginning to see homosexuals in the church even as church leaders, racism, ethnicity, nationalism, avarice and greed, covetousness, thirst for political power, etc.
The church must take root in the love of Christ, otherwise, it cannot bear the fruit of the Spirit upward to be seen by all (<strong>John 13:35</strong>)! The church must keep eternity in view in all that they do and at all times, otherwise, it will fail and fall away. Two major watchwords for the church today must be 'Kingdom'—and by implication the King, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His reign and rule—and 'eternity'—eternal life and heaven on one hand and eternal judgment and hell on the other—otherwise, it will just be another religion or worldly institution!
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The New Way (1): The Temple
The temple in Jerusalem was symbolic of Judaism, the old way, and so it was inappropriate for Peter and John to be going there to pray. Besides, the Bible makes it aptly clear that God does not dwell in buildings built with human hands. Indeed, what God wanted and He asked Moses to erect, was the tabernacle in the wilderness. And having built it, it was finally brought to rest in Shiloh.
After the Ark was captured by the Philistines and eventually, returned to Israel, David desired to have it within close proximity in Jerusalem. After an initial disastrous attempt to move the Ark, it was finally taken to Jerusalem, where King David built a tabernacle for it. It was this tabernacle and not the tabernacle of Moses that God said He was going to rebuild. This rebuilding was a reference to the gathering of the Jews as well as the Gentiles into one body—the church.
Indeed, when the Lord had an encounter with the Samaritan woman, He told her that the worship of God was not a matter of location—neither on one of the mountains in Samaria nor in Jerusalem. This will be the subject of further discussion in our next instalment.
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The New Way (2): The Temple of God
The temple of God is indeed not a building built with human hands but one that God builds and that temple is you and I—provided we are born again and sanctified and being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. We are thus the dwelling place of God (<strong>John 4:23-26</strong>).
For this reason, our priority must be to make our bodies and inner man habitable for God (<strong>1 Peter 1:13—2:12</strong>). Indeed the bible urges us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God (<strong>Romans 12:1</strong>).
Unfortunately, most ministers are devoting time, money, and energy in building physical structures rather than in building the temples that God wants to indwell. The error of mistaking a physical building for the temple that God desires, has led many ministers to pursue building projects instead of the real building of saved souls (<strong>Ephesians 2:19-22; 4:11-16ff</strong>).
We must never lose track of the truth that we are temples of God, and as such we must be holy in all manner of conversation: our thoughts, speech, and actions. This is the essence of the reiteration by God that we be holy!
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The New Way (3): Where and When Should We Pray?
When we look at the teachings and lifestyle of the Lord Jesus, we find that He exemplified secret private praying more than public praying. He always found a solitary or secluded place where He prayed—be it a mountain or some out-of-the-way place, where He would not be disturbed. And this is how we must pray—in private away from public glare. We must not seek to pray in public when we have not been praying in private!
Furthermore, we find that whenever the Lord went into the temple in His days on the earth, it was to teach, heal, chase out those desecrating the sanctuary, etc., but never to pray. We must never feel the need to substitute our private praying time for public prayer meetings.
And when it comes to when to pray, the Lord made it clear that we ought always to pray! The Bible tells us to "pray without ceasing". For the believer in Christ, we are to pray at any time—in the New Way there is no "hour of prayer"!
In summary, we are to pray at any time of the day, and in secret, at least when we talk of personal prayer—even within our hearts (<strong>Psalm 55:17; 4:3-4</strong>). What is crucial though is that we pray the will of God and for this to happen, we must be praying in the Spirit (<strong>1 John 5:14-15; Romans 8:26-27</strong>).
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The New Way (4): Man's Plans, God's Design
It is imperative that as believers in Christ, we appreciate that we are no longer in charge of our lives—Christ is! Therefore, we cannot live for ourselves anymore; we must live for Christ (<strong>2 Corinthians 5:15</strong>).
Many of us can attest that long before our salvation, God was at work in our lives directing the course of our lives, until He brought us to Himself. It will, therefore, be strange to expect that God will now leave us to our devices! (<strong>Matthew 6:9-10, 33</strong>)
The New Way is one of submission to the Will of God—"not my will but Yours" (<strong>Matthew 26:39, 42; Galatians 5:16-25</strong>)
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The New Way (5): Professors or Possessors
The professor is all talk; the possessor live the life. The professor is shallow; the possessor is deep. The professor has zeal without knowledge; the possessor has Christ alone. The problem with the old way was not the Law but the practitioners. When we come to Christ and choose to live the new way through Him, we are able to fulfill the Law as He guides us in the way.
The demands of the Law was not fully known by the Pharisees and the Scribes, as such their righteousness was not able to bring them into the kingdom. But when we have Christ in our lives we are able to live in the righteousness of God, which is Christ Jesus, and enter into the kingdom of God. Thus, by the old way—the way of the flesh—we cannot keep the Law, but by the new way—through Christ—we are able to fulfill the full demands of the Law.
If you possess Christ you are in the new way, else you are in the old way. The new way, therefore, requires that you be a possessor of Christ! If all you are doing is professing Christ without possessing Him, you no different from a Pharisee and therefore just a professor!
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The New Way (6): The Heart of the Matter
The heart of the matter of walking the new way is who is living in you—is it Christ or is it the old sin-loving nature? Can the Holy Spirit dwell in you? If Christ is living in you, then you will walk the new way with ease for it will be Christ walking the new way through you. If it is the old sin-loving nature, it will be sinful man trying to walk the new way and he will always trip up, no matter how much he tries.
Therefore, we need to submit or yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him do His work in us—His work of sanctification leading to obedience (<strong>1 Peter 1:2</strong>). When we have been turned around by the Holy Spirit, we become His residence—the temple of the living God—and are led by Him in all that we do; thereby walking the new way!
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