WEBVTT

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We have been talking about something that is

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most important, the Church of the Lord Jesus

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Christ. And when I talked with you regarding

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this wonderful organism, we saw that the only

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way that Jesus can represent himself to the world

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today is through his body the church and it's

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just like that the only way that christ who is

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now in glory in position of great high priest

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can represent himself to the world through this

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his The church made up of born -again men and

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women. And you do not join his church. You do

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not join this great body. You are born into the

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body of Christ. And he is the head. Therefore,

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there could be no church, his church, until after

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Pentecost. We'll go right back to where I left

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you in our last heart -to -heart talk. We go

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to the book of the Revelation. John was instructed

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to write everything that he heard and he saw.

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And he begins with being in the spirit on the

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Lord's day. I heard a voice saying, I am Alpha

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and Omega, the first and the last. What thou

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seest, write in a book. And being turned, I saw

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seven golden candle stands. These are not like

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the candlesticks in the temple and in the tabernacle.

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Those were seven -branched. Six side branches

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and the central shaft made the seven. What John

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saw was seven separate candlesticks. lamp stands

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Christ is represented by the seven branched candlestick

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in the holy place and the Spirit of God is represented

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by the seven lamps upon it but during his absence

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during the time of his priesthood in glory at

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the right hand of God the Father his People are

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to be lights for him in this world. And so John

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sees in this first lesion not one candlestick

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with seven branches, but seven distinct lampstands

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in the form of a circle. And in the midst of

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them, he says he saw one light under the sun

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of man girt about the breast with golden girdle.

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It is the Lord Jesus himself in the midst of

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his assemblies. Then we learn what these candlesticks,

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these lampstands symbolize. They picture for

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us the whole course of the church's history.

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until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ again.

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In his absence, the church of the Lord Jesus

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Christ is responsible to keep a light burning

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in the midst of the darkness of this old world.

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You'll remember that while Jesus was on earth,

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he said, I am the light of the world. But one

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day, He said, it's expedient for you that I go

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away. But when I am come, the Holy Spirit will

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come unto you. I will send him. He will be the

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oil. He will be the power. He is the one who

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will equip you to keep the light burning in your

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life. I will not leave you defenseless. I will

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not leave you without power. I will send, I will

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give to you the equipment to make it possible

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for you to shine, to so live that you'll shine

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in a world of darkness. You'll be here in my

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stead. You will be the only Christ. The unbeliever

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will see. And you and I are here in Christ's

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bed. His body, the church, manifests Jesus to

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a lost and dying world. Then he added by saying,

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ye are the light of the world. Do you realize

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the responsibility of a Christian? Do you recognize

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your responsibility? In his absence, the church

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of the Lord Jesus Christ is responsible to keep

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this light burning. That's your responsibility.

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That is my responsibility. Because we represent

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Him. Do you see the importance now of this wonderful

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body of Christ? Not as an organization, but as

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an organism. Now let's continue further. For

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the next step here in the book of Revelation,

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We have a picture of the seven stages of this

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wonderful organism into which men are born into.

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From the time of Pentecost right on down to the

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very day, the very hour in which you and I are

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living. The history, the testing of the church,

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comes in between the revelation of its original

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standing in the full blessing of God and its

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ultimate testing in association with Christ in

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glory. And you will see what a contrast there

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is. In the church, this great organism, the church

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that was and the church that is now. I will not

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have time to read the entire portion of the Word

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of God. You read it yourself. Everything that

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I am saying is found in the first three chapters

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of the book of Revelation. The seven stages of

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the church. Oh, beloved, go back in the book

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of Acts and see those early Christians. The wonderful

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power that was manifested. Do you know that when

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Peter got through preaching just one sermon,

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And I dare say that should he preach that same

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sermon today, he would be far from being a masterpiece.

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I don't think he'd ask to return the next Sunday

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if he preached that same sermon in many of our

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churches. It wasn't especially what he said.

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It wasn't his much learning. It wasn't his oratorical

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ability. It was the power of the Holy Ghost that

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spoke through lips of clay. And what was the

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result? Three thousand were born again. Three

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thousand men and women. I don't think they had

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a personal worker. I don't think they had a counselor.

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I don't think it was organized. What was it?

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It was the power of the Holy Ghost. It's not

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by might. It's not by power. It's by my spirit,

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saith the Lord. It's the Holy Ghost. He's the

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secret. He's the power. All that the Lord wants

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is an empty vessel. That's all. That's all that

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he needs. He doesn't need your ability. He just

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wants your yieldedness. There isn't anything

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that you have that God can't supply. He doesn't

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ask for golden vessels. asked for silver vessels

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he asks for a yielded vessel through which the

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holy spirit can work because after all it's the

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power of the holy spirit who does the work oh

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that early church it must have been wonderful

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it must have been wonderful i do not leave for

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one minute They had prayer cards. A long line

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for healing. I don't believe it. I believe that

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there was so much power. The presence of the

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Holy Ghost was so great that people were healed

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just sitting in their seats. Mm -hmm. Sure. Look

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at the gate of the temple. Bless you. Begging

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for alms. What happened in the next second? They

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were running and leaping, completely healed by

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the power of God. The secret? The power of the

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Holy Spirit in the life of believers. They believed.

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I believe that all of the gifts and the fruits

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of the Spirit were manifested in that first church.

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All their first love. Everybody loved everybody

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else. Now, how long this continued, I do not

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know. I wish I knew. But sooner or later, the

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enemy came in. He always does. Always. And the

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first thing that came... into this body of believers

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to disrupt it was the fact they lost their first

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love. Oh, precious one, if you only knew what

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a great treasure you have in your first love.

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When you hear the name of Jesus spoken, And you

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can still cry. When you talk about the power

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of God, the manifestation of His power, and you

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can still weep. When you come into the service,

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and you see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,

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and you see men and women coming to the Lord

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Jesus Christ, and you can still feel the tears.

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Falling down your cheeks. If you can read the

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Bible, the precious word of God, and it thrills

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your very being. Something you can't explain

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to someone who's never been born again, but there's

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something about the word that Jesus comes through.

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To know the word is to know him. To know the

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word. is to know god the father and you read

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a new thrill to it if you still have that thrill

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if you can still weep if you're still hungry

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for him there is no physical hunger that's greater

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than Spiritual hunger. Blessed is you, hungers

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and thirsts after righteousness. If you still

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have that hunger for spiritual things, then,

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my friend, you still have your first love. But

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when you can no longer weep, when you no longer

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love, when you can no longer forgive, Something

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has happened. And something did happen in the

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church when they lost their first love. Ecclesiastical

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pretension and departure from first love characterized

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the close of the apostolic period. The church

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at Ephesus. You'll find in the second chapter

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of the book of Revelation, the first seven verses.

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Next succeeded the martyr period, which brings

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us down to the close of the tenth and the last

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persecution. The church at Smyrna. Decreasing

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spirituality. Increasing worldliness. And wherever

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you'll find decreasing spirituality, your next

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step is increasing worldliness. And it went hand

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in hand from the ascension of Constantine and

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his public patronage of Christianity on to the

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7th century. The church at Pergamos. That's the

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second chapter of the book of the Revelation.

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Verses 12 to 17. Then the papal church. Satan's

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masterpiece on earth. Oh, Satan got in a blow.

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It's witnessed in the assumption of universal

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authority. Cruel persecution of the saints of

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God. Man. Men. Its evil reign covers the Middle

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Ages, the moral characteristics of which have

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been well -termed dark. That's the church at

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Thyatira. Verses 18 and 29 of the second chapter.

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The Reformation followed. The Reformation was

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God's intervention in grace and... and introduced

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into Europe the light which for 300 years has

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been burning with more or less brilliancy. But

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still the Holy Spirit was quenched. Protestantism

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came next. Protestantism. with its divisions

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and its deadness, shows clearly enough how far

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short it comes of God's ideal of the church and

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Christianity. There is nothing as dead as a dead

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religious organization. Nothing. Mm -hmm. That's

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the church at Sardis, the third chapter of the

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book of Revelation, the first six verses. Another

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reformation, equally the work of God, characterized

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the beginning of the last century, the church

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at Philadelphia. Chapter 3. from 7 to 13. Now

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we come down to the present state of the professing

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church. And I read it to you exactly as it is

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in God's Word. Word for Word in that third chapter

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of the book of the Revelation. And unto the angel

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of the church of the Thessalonians write, These

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things saith the all men, the faithful and true

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witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

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I know thy works, that thou art neither cold

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nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or hot.

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So then, because thou art lukewarm, neither cold

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nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. I

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will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you're

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neither cold, you're neither hot, you're trying

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to play both sides. I will spew thee out of my

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mouth. Because thou sayest I am rich and increased

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with goods and have need of nothing. knowest

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thou not that thou art wretched and miserable

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and poor and blind and naked i counsel thee to

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buy of me gold cried in the fire that thou mayest

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be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be

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clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do

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not appear and anointed thine eyes with eyesab

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that thou mayest see as many as i love i rebuke

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and chasten be zealous therefore and repent where

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now is this wonderful church that had its beginning

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at the day of Pentecost. The church to whom Jesus

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said, ye are the light of the world. The church

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to whom he gave this great responsibility, this

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wonderful responsibility. That body of believers

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who's to represent him. I want you to see the

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then and the now. Then, when a poor fisherman,

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illiterate, unlearned, but filled with the power

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of the Holy Ghost, stood up and preached under

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this glorious anointing, and when he gave an

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altar call, 3 ,000 were converted. They had nothing.

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When it came to material goods, they had nothing.

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They had nothing of which they could boast. Let's

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go to the now. What a contrast between the was

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and the now. Now there never was a time when

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the church... was as rich materially as it is

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this hour they can say of a truth we have need

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of nothing heavily in doubt so far as material

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things are concerned the church never was so

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rich but never was the church so blind so poor

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So naked, spiritually, as it is now, and this

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the darkest hour the world has ever seen, when

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the world stands challenging the church, the

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church has nothing to offer. She is without power.

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Will it remain so? The Lord Jesus Christ knows

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no defeat. Follow me in my next heart -to -heart

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talk. God bless you.