Morning Star Testimony - Sermon Notes
The Kingdom of God and the Church - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 06/26/24
This
message was originally recorded August 23, 2015.
My
notes:
As we
are being conformed into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) and Christ is being
formed in us (Galatians 4:19) during our life prior to our receiving glorified
bodies, "The resurrection body will display the measure in which we have
been organically grown together and united with Christ in the likeness of His
death and His resurrection. And there are vast measures of differences."
We will not all be the same in resurrection. The kingdom of God will have
"from the least to the greatest" (Hebrews 8:11); "star differs
from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." (1 Corinthians
15:41-42)
When
we are born again, we are part of that new creation in Christ where there is
neither Gentile nor Jew. "There's no more roots as to what we are as
Gentiles or as Jews... In Him, both Jew and Gentile as a new creation are
reconciled to God... both disappear in Christ."
Some
may think it impossible or insane for Satan to believe he can defeat God. Doug
explains in detail the conflict of the ages that began long before man was
created. After Satan rebelled, he was cast from his lofty position as the
highest cherub that covered the glory of God. In so doing, God judged and
convicted him and those angels who followed him in rebellion as guilty and
sentenced them to the lake of fire. It was specifically created for them - not
mankind not yet created. Satan appealed his conviction. As a result, God
created man and the saga of this conflict has been playing out for 6,000 years.
The criterion for the denial of Satan's appeal is man, especially those God
created to be a part of His family, and the proof of Satan's guilt being the
violence against them, and the pathological attempt to exterminate mankind,
trying to prove God a liar. If there are no Christians for Jesus to come back
to, or if no Jews to rescue at the end of the day of the Lord, it would
establish a basis for acquittal. However, we know the end of the story and the
outcome of the conflict. Satan fails and the sentence is ultimately and forever
carried out. Obviously Doug tells the story much better. My "Cliff
Notes" version only scratches the surface. You can also learn a lot from
Doug's series The Celestial Court (on the Video Page).
Here's
something you don't hear every day - the actual name of the soon-to-be-revealed
Antichrist. Doug deciphers the scriptural reference to him in Daniel and found
consistent corroborating testimony from many of the SRA survivors he
counselled. Remember, in antiquity, the name of someone describes their nature
and character. Elsewhere Doug has established the Antichrist as well as the
false prophet to be Nephilim (hybrids) not fully human, who will be indwelt by
Satan to carry out their mission during the day of the Lord. Scriptural proof
can be seen comparing Hebrews 9:27 with Revelation 19:20. If they were human,
they would have to appear at the great white throne judgment before being cast
into the lake of fire.
Doug
also explains that during the day of the Lord when the mark of the beast is
required for all those who want to cooperate with the one world system, it will
be that which alters their DNA and cause them to become hybridized, thus no
longer being fully human, and therefore unredeemable. Some, present company
included, believe the current shot to be formulated during the tribulation to
become this agent to transform mankind into Übermensch Human 2.0. In the
October 1, 2018 issue of Forbes Magazine, an article titled "Faster
Than You Think. Will You Evolve with The Times?", Ray Kurzweil is quoted,
“The Singularity will represent the culmination of the merger of our biological
thinking and existence with our technology, resulting in a world that is still
human but that transcends our biological roots.” Anyone with any spiritual (and
even unspiritual) discernment can see we are on the precipice of the day of the
Lord.
The
church is being constituted as the administrative body of Christ to be
participants in the judgments executed during the day of the Lord. Doug
connects the 24 thrones and 24 elders in Revelation with the thrones set up in
Daniel for the destruction of Antichrist and his kingdom. The completed
priesthood of the church called to be kings and priests is given judgment over
the earth and of angels. "We are a scepter in the hand of the KING of
kings by which He exercises royal dominion... We are the extension of His
throne. That is, we in those characteristics as overcomers." When it's
time for Jesus to overthrow the Antichrist at the end of the day of the Lord,
"When He slays the Antichrist with the breath of His mouth, that breath
comes through a body that's glorified." The kingdom of Antichrist will be
judged and overthrown by the Son of Man, Jesus Christ in union with His body,
the church. "And we as church age believers have been created into that
one new man."
Link
to Audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/8-23-15+Sunday+Assembly.mp3
Resource
mentioned: Why Did Jesus Call Himself the Son of Man?
Link
to Article by Don Stewart:
https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_793.cfm
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!
The Kingdom of God Within Us - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 06/23/24
This
message was originally recorded August 19, 2015.
My
notes:
As
Doug continues to teach on the theme of the Kingdom of God, we are encouraged
to "seek for that which demonstrates the rule and reign of God in your
life through Jesus Christ." The kingdom of God is not until we get to
heaven, or even when the millennial kingdom begins. The kingdom of God is
within us - the rule and reign of Jesus Christ who personally indwells every
believer. The kingdom will be externalized in the coming age when we return
with Jesus Christ as He establishes the church as His kingdom on earth, ruling
the nations with a rod of iron in and through Israel as its physical
headquarters.
Now,
during this church age, Jesus Christ is receiving His kingdom in us. "So
how does He receive that kingdom? Through the cross in our lives, everything in
us that dies to the natural and comes out of that which we are by nature in
Adam, and on to the ground of Christ in resurrection. He's receiving a kingdom
through that process. Only that which is on resurrection ground can qualify for
the kingdom which He is receiving." This does not mean as that kingdom is
being established in us that it's going to be easy. "For the rule and
reign of God to be established in our life, tribulation and pressure are
required... kingdom is attained through tribulation and perseverance."
You
(the church) are being prepared by God for the Kingdom, "and equipping and
constituting you so that you will be the means by which Jesus Christ will judge
the world." This requires enduring suffering, testing, travail, and even persecution
and afflictions, "so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of
God" (2 Thessalonians 1:5). "Now is the capacitation phase of that
kingdom. When Christ returns with His church, that kingdom glory will be
manifested in and through those that are ruling and reigning with Him as KING
of kings and LORD of lords... Ruling and reigning with Him, kingship, is an
attainment. It is a part of our inheritance. Kingship is not granted at
salvation."
At
the 2nd Advent, "when Jesus Christ comes back as King, He has an
internalized, fully formed kingdom, a sphere in which He manifests His rule and
reign as King." However, before this occurs, there is that which is yet to
come. "There is a shaking coming in the body of Christ to such a degree
that when everything's leveled to the ground, all that will remain is the
church that Jesus is building. There'll be nothing left but that."
As we
hear about the kingdom of God coming to Earth in the near future, we should not
assume God in the person of Jesus Christ is not ruling and reigning as King
here and now. Satan is called “the god of this age”, “the prince of the power
of the air”, but Jesus, as the Man in glory, is the absolute sovereign ruler of
heaven and earth. All things are under His feet - and under our feet as those
enthroned in and with Him at the Father's right hand, "far above all rule
and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in
this age but also in the one to come." That age to come is the Millennial
Kingdom.
Link
to Audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/8-19-15+Wednesday+Assembly.mp3
Recommended:
Kingdom Value
System by Bob Mumford
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7jvIZuvMfY&t=332s)
Note:
I recently began listening to Bob and am discovering a plethora of fatherly
advice and encouragement. This particular video (only 9 minutes) fits so well
with Doug’s series on the Kingdom of God. I have no doubt it will bless you.
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!
The Kingdom of God and the Coming Shaking - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 06/19/24
This
message was originally recorded August 16, 2015.
My
notes:
Tribulation
doesn't only refer to the 7-year day of the Lord. See John 16:33; Romans 2:9;
Romans 5:3; 8:35; 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; Revelation 1:9; 2:9, 10; 2:22.
Tribulation includes aspects of trials, suffering, judgment, and shaking, and
all these the church has or will encounter prior to the day of the Lord – and
certainly during the day of visitation. If you've been listening to Doug's
messages for any length of time, this will be review, but oh, so important to
consider and to have it fresh in our minds.
Doug
continues to remind us of the upcoming shaking that will come, first to the
church, and then to the world (i.e.: the tribulation). "Anything that is
earth-bound. If it's of earth, it's going to be removed. All denominations are
going to be removed before the rapture. There will be no denominations, there
won't even be church buildings. They're going to be gone... Everything that
represents division, it's going to be gone." All that which does not align
with the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17 will be removed prior to the Lord
coming for the church. For those saying Jesus might come any minute now do not
understand this judgment and shaking yet to come on the church before we meet
the Lord in the air.
In 1
Thessalonians and 2 Peter, the phrase "like a thief" is used to
describe the beginning of the day of the Lord (i.e.: the 7-year tribulation).
However, in Revelation 3:3 there is a warning to the church: "if
you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what
hour I will come to you (literally: upon you)." This is later
described in verse 10, "the hour of testing, that hour which is about to
come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." Both
these verses warn that there is coming a time when many (most?) in the church will
be asleep and will be caught unprepared when judgment (the shaking) comes. This
idea of the church going through such a period of shaking is as far as I know
never taught by anyone today but Doug (and T. Austin-Sparks). The Apostle Peter
warns, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which
comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to
you" (1 Peter 4:12). No doubt the church is about to be terribly
surprised. The thief comes when least expected and with no warning. Remember,
"the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy". God will use
Satan to remove that in the church which is not according to Christ, that which
represents schism and division, as well as unrighteousness and conditions
warned of in Revelation 2 and 3.
Next
time we hear "Jesus can come any minute", we should remember this
warning clearly set out throughout the scriptures. "He will judge anything
that has spot and wrinkle (see Eph. 5:27); spot - defiled by sin; wrinkle
- anything that can die, anything that's old that's a representation of the old
creation Adam... the natural man, anything Adamic, anything that can find its
roots in Adam." "What cannot be shaken? That which is according to
Christ", the new man, the last Adam, the second Man.
Speaking
of kingdoms, Doug refers to the really great revelation in the Book of Daniel
that tells us the kingdom of the Antichrist will be crushed by the Kingdom of
God in and through the body of Christ - that's us, the church. This is another
proof text the church will be in heaven during the Tribulation and the end of
it when God crushes Satan under our feet.
Recommended: Erich Sauer - In the Arena of Faith
(https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/in_the_arena_of_faith.pdf)
T. Austin-Sparks - Stewardship of the Mystery - Volume II,
(https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/stewardship_of_the_mystery_volume_2_the.html)
and then Volume I
(https://www.austin-
sparks.net/english/books/stewardship_of_the_mystery_volume_1_the.html)
Link
to Audio:
https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/8-16-15+Sunday+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!
The Kingdom of God - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 06/16/24
This
message was originally recorded August 16, 2015.
My
notes:
What
is the kingdom of God? "The term kingdom represents a sphere and domain of
the divine rule... where God rules as King... The kingdom of God is the rule
and reign of God in the person of His Son, the King. The kingdom represents
those that are under that rule, and those who overcome share in that
rule." Not all born again Christians are going to rule and reign with
Christ as kings and lords. "Kingship is gained and earned; it's a part of
the inheritance... which must be possessed by conflict." "Everything
that we're going through now, whatever it is, is on-the-job training for ruling
and reigning with Christ."
Doug
quotes and explains one of my favorite verses about the kingdom, Matthew 11:12,
translating it as: "For the kingdom of heaven is forcefully entered; and
violent men seize it for themselves." I wonder how many actually realize
what this means. Instead, perhaps most of us say, 'I'm glad we don't have to do
anything to get our inheritance. Jesus paid it all.' 'I'm saved, so now I just
wait 'til Jesus takes me home.' As Doug has reminded us many times over the
years, 'Salvation is a free gift of God; the inheritance is only obtained by
conquest.' God's purpose for the church is not to get saved. God's purpose for
the church is for us to rise up and dispossess the enemy squatting on our
inheritance. As we disinherit him, we possess our inheritance in Christ. Not
all Christians possess the inheritance God allots to them (Col. 1:12); only
overcomers. It's interesting to note that the word translated 'seize' is harpaz?
- same word as is used to describe the rapture (to seize, carry off by force,
claim for one's self eagerly.) "That's radical faith! The kingdom of
heaven is entered by faith in Jesus Christ, but it's inherited by force... by
warfare and conflict."
Jesus
said, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed."
Doug explains. "Wait a minute! Matthew 24, Mark 13 is filled with signs
that accompany and precede the second coming of Jesus Christ. What is He
talking about? He's talking about that form of kingdom that will be invisible
for a time," alluding to the church age. "When we were born again, we
were transferred to the kingdom of His Son, Jesus Christ." As for this
kingdom, "We (the church) are royalty. The body of Christ is the only royalty
on earth today." This explains my resistance to recognize the 'royal'
family in England. From what has consistently been reported from survivors of
generational SRA, they are anything but royal!
Doug once again addresses the 'Hebrew Roots' movement and those who consider themselves 'Messianic Christians', distinguishing themselves from those born as Gentiles. "You try to be perfected by the law through any practice of law, you have been severed from Christ, Christian. You haven't lost your salvation; you've been cut off from grace - you've fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:4). "That company in the end - there will be no 'Hebrew Roots' movement. There will be no one that will be identified as this Gentile group over here - this Hebrew roots movement ... that's all going to be burned off... There'll only be that which is according to Christ, and Christ in heaven today - He's neither Jew nor Gentile. He's not a Jew. When He walked this earth, He was a Jew. When He died on the cross as the last Adam, He took with Him Jew and Gentile." When Jesus was raised from the dead, "He comes out in resurrection as the second Man... That second man has no vestige of the first Adam... He's the head of a new creation." We should consider the fact that the root of our Christian identity is Jesus Christ as the second Man, the last Adam, completely separate from any Gentile or Jewish root. We are a new creation (Gal. 6:15), created in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10).
For those that may
feel offended as they listen to Doug address this subject, be it known that
there is no animosity or ill will against our brothers and sisters caught up in
this movement. For those who enjoy observing certain days for worship or
celebration, Romans 14 addresses this and we have the freedom to do so without
judging one another, nor having contempt for those who choose not to. That's
when the problem emerges with disunity and schism.
Link
to Audio:
https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/8-16-15+Sunday+Assembly-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!
Are we Living Expressions of Christ Worthy to be Imitated? - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 06/12/24
This
message was originally recorded March 22, 2015.
My
notes:
"Remember
those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result
of their conduct, imitate their faith." (Hebrews 13:7) Doug asks a
vulnerable question, "Is there any faith that I have that gives evidence
to that which you could imitate?"
The
Gospel of Mark records James and John asking Jesus to let them sit with Him on
His throne, one on the right and one on the left. They had no knowledge of the
revelation of the mystery, that the not-yet created body of Christ would be in
Christ IN His throne. (Revelation 3:21) "We're called to sit with Him IN
His throne. That's higher than any Kingdom position that would be offered to
the Jew." Remember, we were chosen in Christ BEFORE the foundation of the
world (Ephesians 1:4); the kingdom was prepared for Israel FROM the foundation
of the world (Matthew 25:34).
"Exanastasis
(Philippians 3:11 - translated "resurrection") will be the evidence
in time of Jesus Christ as the morning star, who represents who He is as the
current King of kings and Lord of lords in all of His glory as a Prophet,
Priest and King. The exanastasis is the evidence that the Jesus Christ
of Revelation Chapter 1 can be seen in that saint. The Jesus of Revelation 1
morally and spiritually seen - experience known - that will be the closing
testimony of the church age." This is what was revealed in a
representative way of Jesus Christ manifesting glory in His yet-unglorified
physical mortal body on the mount of transfiguration.
As
for those in the ministry today, after breaking down the scriptures relating to
Paul's ministry in his day, "The Apostolic mind of ministry is very
different from what we see today. To gain a seminary degree without this
reality that we see in Paul in 2 Corinthians is a sham... it's just a sham;
it's a shallow caricature of that which God intended those who stand in the
pulpit to represent." The coming day of visitation will certainly address
this deficiency and lack of reality. Jesus Christ addresses those He holds
accountable in Revelation 2 and 3, the pastors of local churches, those who to
God will give an account (Hebrews 13:17)
Resource
Mentioned: Day by Day by T. Austin-Sparks - March
22 (https://bookministry.wordpress.com/2024/03/22/)
(you can sign up there for daily emails)
Audio
Link:
https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/3-22-15+Sunday+Assembly+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!