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Rick Joyner has authored more than fifty books, including The Final Quest Trilogy, There Were Two Trees in the Garden, The Path, and Army of the Dawn. He is also the Founder and Executive Director of MorningStar Ministries, a multi-faceted mission organization which includes Heritage International Ministries, MorningStar University, MorningStar Fellowship of Churches and Ministries. Click here to take a look at Rick's latest Rant #ricksrants |
The Church at Sardis (1400-1844) was proclaimed to be dead even though they had a name that they were alive, and so they were exhorted to wake up and strengthen what remained. This was a period of relative stagnation in the restoring to the church what had been lost through the Dark Ages. Yet the church responded to its wake-up call from the Lord. The next church period was one of the most remarkable, as addressed in Revelation 3:7-12:
Last week we covered the first key to understanding the Book of Revelation found in its first sentence: a revelation of Jesus Christ. This is also the most basic key to all understanding. It’s all about Jesus and all things will be summed up in Him. Therefore, the wise seek every day to know Him better and to be found in Him.
The next key is also found in the first sentence of Revelation—the revelation:
In John 15:8 the Lord said, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (NKJV). We begin to bear fruit as disciples, but when we go to the next level of relationship with the Lord—being His bondservant—bearing fruit by doing His work becomes our primary focus. Discipleship is mostly about us, us learning, and us growing. But becoming a bondservant requires us to apply all we have learned for His purposes, not our benefit.
And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep (see Genesis 1:2).
The Great Commission was to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,” not just individuals, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you...” (Matthew 28:18-19).
Our verse for this week is Ephesians 5:31:
If we are going to have a message that is relevant to our times, we must understand the times. For this reason we need to evaluate the significant events of our times, such as the recent elections from a spiritual perspective. They were, in many ways, a barometer of the spiritual condition of the nation at this time, as well as a precursor of the direction in which we are headed.
Our text for this week is Ephesians 5:10:
This simple statement encompasses the highest and most noble purpose of man. There is nothing we can ever do that is more important, more powerful, more fruitful, and have a longer lasting impact on the world, than living our life so we please the Lord.
