Pursue Love - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 08/27/24
My notes:
The background to this message by Doug was a satanic assault on the assembly they had gone through, that brought some real personal inventory by Doug as to his shortcomings and issues not fully aligned with those given by the example, Paul. We see Doug in humility and weakness dealing as a warrior on behalf of those he served for 40 years.
Doug clears up the scripture that has confused many regarding the spiritual gifts that would be done away with or would cease when "the perfect" comes. "It's the completed revelation that Jesus Christ gave Paul when he was in prison... the deposit ... the sacred trust." According to Colossians 2:1-3, "When the 'perfect' comes, you're fully assured in all the will of God." In 2 Timothy 1:14, it is referred to as "the treasure", literally, the good deposit; the sacred trust.
In an earlier message, Doug pointed out that the enemy has legal access to us to the degree we are still living out from the old humanity. He cannot touch the new man, as our lives are hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), but has authority in the realm of who we are in Adam, especially when we are living in the flesh. When it comes to survivors of abuse who remain to some degree dissociated, "The enemy has access to a person as long as they are still dissociated. That's part of the legal issue between God and Satan... God will measure as to just how far the enemy will go, but the enemy will always have access to anything that's still dissociated." Knowing this should be a great incentive to us to cooperate with the Lord to bring into the light all that is yet hidden in darkness. "The access is an opportunity for that person to get to what they need to get to characterologically that's not subject to Jesus Christ for whatever reason."
This message is all about abounding in love for one another, especially as it relates to assembly life. "This abounding in love will first of all express itself in their relations one toward another", and then expressed outwardly toward others. This applies to the coming of the Lord, as we read in 2 Peter 3:12. "There will not be a rapture until this occurs... In the final generation, there's going to be the final consummate move of God that will bring this to full culmination, and those that are not in this condition will be removed. They'll be vomited out of His mouth (Revelation 3). There will be the removal; there'll be the reduction, and that's the principle of the remnant." "When the Lord comes for His church, there will be a state of holiness; and what's not holy will have already been removed." It will be a surviving remnant that will be raptured, not just "those who remain" as some translations read.
This message was originally recorded May 8, 2016.
Link to Audio: https://dougriggs.s3.
Resources mentioned:
T. Austin-Sparks: The Cross, the Church, and the Kingdom (https://www.austin-sparks.
Documentary: Furious Love (https://wpfilm.com/media/
The Development and Significance of the Remnant in the Old Testament Prophets – article by Lionel Windsor (2003) (https://www.dougriggs.org/
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!