Morning Star Testimony - Sermon Notes

This was originally recorded July 31, 2016.

My notes:

This is one of Doug's shortest but most powerful messages on what God does to His people when they refuse to come under His authority and lordship and continue in idolatry, even though He warned them over and over. There is a point where one crosses the line, and incurs this judgment of God:

1) The instruction to not pray nor intercede for them, as God will not hear;

2) God's wrath poured out on His people (O.T.- Israel; N.T.- the church);

3) God brings inescapable disaster on them;

4) God will not listen to their cries;

5) Abandonment judgment (see Proverbs 1:20-33); God withdraws;

6) Results with sword, famine and pestilence (disease/sickness).

The background to this warning had to do with an SRA survivor who was not willing to come under the lordship of Christ. However, this message applies to all of us who are lured away from the Lord into idolatry and recurring failure.

Often we've heard that since Jesus paid for all our sins on the cross, that God remembers them no more - they're as far away as the east is from the west, it doesn’t mean that what we sow won’t be what we reap. There are consequences to sin – and this message addresses the more dire ones to consider. God’s forgiveness is no license nor is it an excuse to sin. God disciplines and scourges every son He receives. 'Discipline' means to child-train; 'scourge' is a whip made from strips of leather embedded with broken glass, metal shards, and what-not used to whip the back of the one punished, stripping away the flesh, exposing the bones. The term 'forty lashes less one' meant that 40 could kill the one being whipped, so 1 was withheld so that person doesn't die. In this message, Doug equates this very extreme judgment on His people as a visitation - and the day of visitation is here.

What should be our response in such a visitation? "The only response to something like that (i.e.: warnings of judgment) - a word like that - is humility and repentance."

Speaking of coming judgment, "If we have multiple-pronged asymmetric strategies against this nation; multiple biological, chemical, or even nuclear things going off simultaneously in different cities; multiple attacks through whatever it would be; 'Black Lives Matter' (which is a Marxist/Communist-run organization) - whatever the combination will be, it's considered asymmetrical warfare. It's not like the invasion of a top military force. That will occur first - break down the infrastructure, and then Russia will take care of the rest, according to Jeremiah 50 and 51." Doug reminds us, "There is no hope for America." So, what about the church of Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira and Pergamum? Since judgment begins with God's household first, what should we expect? How much of this will be before the rapture??? I believe some will be before - and the rest after we're gone. God will use this to sift out from the church what does not conform to the characteristics of Philadelphia. I also believe in the next couple months we will see drastic changes with reference to the unraveling of banking, infrastructure, food availability, pandemics, and societal disintegration… and very possibly worse.

But, we don't languish in hopelessness. Doug assures us, "There is hope for that which will represent a remnant church rising up in the midst of disaster. And in that day of visitation, what the revival will look like is the fullness of the Gentiles coming into the body of Christ out of disaster."

Link to YouTube video presentation: https://youtu.be/731d-_bBdZc

Resources mentioned:

Reagan on America's Spiritual Crisis, Part 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eISukqlIJ4)

Reagan on America's Spiritual Crisis, Part 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbA90h9lVQ4)

The Development and Significance of the Remnant in the Old Testament Prophets – article by Lionel Windsor (2003) (https://www.dougriggs.org/The_Development_and_Significance_of_the_Remnant.pdf)

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!

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.amazonaws.com/5-8-16+sunday.mp3

Resources mentioned:

T. Austin-Sparks: The Cross, the Church, and the Kingdom (https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/cross_the_church_and_the_kingdom_the.html)

Documentary: Furious Love (https://wpfilm.com/media/furious-love/)

The Development and Significance of the Remnant in the Old Testament Prophets – article by Lionel Windsor (2003) (https://www.dougriggs.org/The_Development_and_Significance_of_the_Remnant.pdf)

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!

This was originally recorded June  8, 2016.

My notes:

"There's a certain quota of sufferings that must be realized in the body of Christ corporate before the end can come." (see Colossians 1:24; Philippians 3:10.) This connects us, not with Jesus dying for our sins, but with Jesus Christ as the last Adam. This is an opportunity in addition to what Peter refers to as a means of hastening the coming day of God (2 Peter 3:12). Quoting F.F. Bruce's Commentary, "Suffering on behalf of the people of Christ, he (Paul) was entering into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings... Christ continues to suffer in His members." The Apostle Paul first discovered this on the road to Damascus when Jesus confronted him with, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting ME?" This concept should go deep with survivors of horrific abuse who called out to God for help and didn't get it. Where was God? He was right there, suffering along with you (Isaiah 63:9). Quoting another scholar, "The head suffers in all His members... All those that were persecuted (i.e.: the saints at Damascus), it was directed against the Lord Jesus."

"We really don't understand our sufferings until we understand this" - what Doug is teaching from the word along with various commentators explaining the Greek language used. "We complain and murmur - and 'where's God in all this?' - He's in the suffering!" Throughout this message, Doug cites the Apostle Paul as our example of what this suffering is all about - why we as Christians are called to suffer. And we need to remember the silver lining to this cloud: the eternal heavy weight of glory for those who endure, along with the appointment to rule and reign with Christ in the age to come.

We are also given the ministry of consolation to help others who are suffering. "If somebody is suffering, you can only comfort them in the measure in which you have shared in their sufferings, or been one with them in their sufferings. You cannot impart anything else. You can quote all kinds of verses, and God can use them; but you yourself can only be an instrument and release of the parakl?tos, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to the degree that you've shared in the sufferings of that individual."

"God has called us as an assembly to go in to those places where Jesus is suffering most."

Link to Audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/6-8-16%2Bwednesday.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!

These were originally recorded June 3 & 5, 2016.

My notes:

Recommended before listening to Doug's message from 6-5-16:

Doug's (27 minute) reading from excerpts of Day by Day with T. Austin-Sparks: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/6-3-16%2Bsuffering.mp3

Link to excerpts:

May 22: https://bookministry.wordpress.com/2024/05/22/may-22/

May 23: https://bookministry.wordpress.com/2024/05/23/may-23/

May 24: https://bookministry.wordpress.com/2024/05/24/may-24/

May 25: https://bookministry.wordpress.com/2024/05/25/may-25/

May 26: https://bookministry.wordpress.com/2024/05/22/may-26/

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If you are planning to observe the Lord's Table, this is a wonderful message to listen to in preparation for it.

What is it to share in the sufferings of Christ; to share in His cup of suffering? Jesus told the disciples that they would share in that cup - being baptized in His baptism. Participating in the Lord's Table (Communion) is "me saying 'yes' to the meaning of what it means to drink the cup." It's not just a prescribed ritual Christians do every Sunday (or now-and-then) to satisfy some tradition. Some of us pray that when we arrive at the bema seat that we want full reward. Doug asks, "Do we know what we're asking? ... Full reward - that is, the eternal inheritance - involves a cost; and there are varying degrees and levels of that inheritance." It will cost us our soul-life. "The cup represents the effect of that which it means to be incorporated and identified, or baptized into Christ's sufferings... If we're to be filled unto all the fullness of God, that means there has to be a corresponding emptying in us."

Speaking of the cup the body of Christ is called to suffer and endure, Doug shares, "There is no deeper cup than to come into identification with someone who is coming out of generational Satanic ritual abuse... That's the deepest that Satan can penetrate into a human life, and to infect and inject his nature right into the soul, and even attach to the human spirit in such a way that there is such a realm of death - layered death - that 99% of preachers and the body of Christ know nothing of the sufferings of Christ that are represented in people that are coming out of generational SRA/DID; they know nothing... But, at the core of this suffering is the sufferings of Christ in His members."

"There is an allotment of sufferings for every member, and for the body of Christ corporate before the rapture can occur."

"There's suffering according to the will of God; and there's that which is imposed by the enemy. We have to know the difference." Doug gives an example of how to pray when we are experiencing suffering and are unsure why, or where it's coming from. I've been learning this since I injured my back last year and have encountered a lot of bodily affliction and pains. I do spiritual warfare - and if that doesn't change anything, I bless and thank the Lord for allowing me to suffer. After all, as Jesus learned obedience through sufferings, who am I to think it isn't going to be the same for me. And with this teaching, I know I can suffer and not know why, and endure it, knowing I may be taking on the sufferings of Christ that He is experiencing in His body. Another comfort when we suffer is that Jesus is experiencing suffering along with us, for "in all our afflictions, He was afflicted" (Isaiah 63:9). And are our afflictions and suffering just about the here-and-now? No! "The measure of glory in eternity will be the measure in which we share in His sufferings on earth in time."

Our sufferings are His sufferings; His sufferings are our sufferings. This is joining with Christ in His afflictions as He is joined with us in ours.

Link to Audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/6-5-16%2Bsunday.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!

This message was originally recorded May 15, 2016.

My notes:

What is the supreme purpose and reason the Holy Spirit came? "He came to reveal the things of Christ; He comes as the person and presence of Jesus Christ corporately in the body and bride of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is physically in heaven; but spiritually, through the Holy Spirit, He's in every member of the body of Christ."

As we consider what it is to worship God in spirit and in truth - becoming experientially that bride of Christ without spot (sins) nor wrinkle (the old man), making herself ready for His coming, we also need to consider the effect of idolatry. This doesn't only pertain to unbelievers. What about believers caught up in idolatry? "There's no way that God's fullness and blessing can be with His people as long as there's idolatry." The Old Testament is full of examples of God's judgment on those in covenant relationship with Him involved in idolatry. "Idolatry is death to anything of God. Idolatry is displacing God as the source of life, the source of blessing, the source of everything."

"Anything that displaces - or is a substitute - for God having first place in our hearts and life is, in principle, idolatry... Idolatry is worshiping the creature rather than the Creator."

As I listen to this message about how Satan, the dragon, has captured the morning star in members of the body of Christ who were (are) part of the Genesis-6 Project, I wonder who else in the world has this perspective? How many bible teachers know the depth of the spiritual hijacking taking place in the body and bride of Christ to keep that morning star from arising in our hearts, continuing Satan's attempt to corrupt the church so Jesus will have no bride to come for, one without spot or wrinkle. We know He will have that bride who prepares herself, but there may be many casualties who do not come out from the idolatry, deception and captivity of the enemy. "Satan has captured worship that should go to the only true uncreated being in this universe, God."

A couple posts ago, in my notes on Inheriting a More Excellent Name, I referred to Satan's right to rule and reign over this earth. Doug continues, "It is his legal right - this world. That's why we are not of the world, even as Jesus is not of the world. To whatever degree we're of the world - or worldly - Satan has dominion over that. (If) we're in the flesh, Satan has dominion over that. When we're in the spirit, he can't touch us."

As Doug is certainly appealing to any who have been caught up in Satan's captivity to worship him in rituals, those of us who don't have that history might be tempted to zone out and say, "That's not me." We should consider the fact that anything that comes in between our utter devotion and worship of the Lord Most High is idolatry. Even "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (divination), and stubbornness (insubordination) is as iniquity and idolatry" (1 Samuel 15:23).

Doug confronts our unwillingness to share the gospel with strangers - or especially those we consider friends. I am not saying I've arrived - I'm far from arriving - but there is one way I've used that seems to be effective. As the opportunity arises with servers at restaurants, especially when I'm with another believer, I might say, "My friend and I like to pray before we eat. Is there anything you'd like us to pray about?" Other times I'll notice someone's name and if I know what it means in Hebrew or Greek, I'll comment and let them know. Sometimes it breaks the ice and we can talk. Perhaps you might think to use these in your interactions.

Doug uses the Old Testament to give the background of the result of idolatry in our lives - ultimately it is our premature removal from this life; the end of our days before we finish our course; the loss of reward and the inheritance God intended for us to have for eternity. This applied to Israel as it was delivered from Egypt and given the land of promise. However, idolatry drove them out of the land and they forfeited their inheritance. Clearly in the New Testament, we have many warnings against idolatry and the same warning - the loss of reward and inheritance. We are once again reminded to put off the old man, the sin nature prone to idolatry; and to put on the new man in Christ - the nature of Christ expressed in us to love and worship God.

Link to Audio:
https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/5-15-16+sunday.mp3

Link to Discussion: http://d1kefhswa49zcj.cloudfront.net/assemblies/5-15-16+discussion.mp3

Resources mentioned:

Doug's article, The Brokenhearted (https://www.dougriggs.org/The_Brokenhearted.pdf)

TETELESTAI – IT IS FINISHED! PAID IN FULL!
https://preceptaustin.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/tetelestai-it-is-finished-paid-in-full/

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!