Morning Star Testimony - Sermon Notes
WARNING!!! To the Church
by John Mark on 03/13/24
Dear Saints,
I wanted to share a few thoughts that I believe the Lord has put on my heart. As we all have been blessed by the ministry God entrusted to Doug over the 40 years he was our pastor, that ministry continues in a sense as we continue to listen to past messages he gave. Doug’s primary responsibility as a pastor was to feed us sheep, and to protect us. Though he did so much more than that, I wanted to center in on these two aspects of ministry to the flock God assigned to Doug, those who continue to feed at this table.
Continuing the ministry of providing spiritual food, I think it is very important to consider what protection we might need in the days, weeks, and months ahead. I’m not including ‘years’ as I don’t believe we’ll be here on planet Earth that long. As Doug has so clearly taught us over the years (i.e.: https://www.dougriggs.org/
We all remember March four years ago – how could we forget? The world hit the brakes as it came under the spell of a well-contrived and devious plan. I believe in some ways it was a ‘beta test’ to see if the strategy would work. It was a clear example of the ‘Hegelian Dialectic’ – in order to reach a certain goal (i.e.: the world under the control of a single ruler), they produced the crisis and managed how it would be handled. It worked only too well. We all fell for it. The spirit of fear permeated the atmosphere around the globe. Churches closed; we were in lock-down; we were at the mercy of the dictates of the World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control, the World Economic Forum, pharma, etc., all in lock-step to shut everything down. Another example of the Hegelian Dialectic was to create the crisis (the sickness); manage the response (wear masks, social distance, etc.); and provide the solution (the shot heard round the world).
As this rapidly and unexpectedly unfolded, Doug did a lot of research to determine the best course of action. As we continued to want to assemble in our homes, it was recommended we all keep our phones at home, or at least turned off (I purchased a flip-phone for such use) so we couldn’t be tracked. It was believed that unlawful assembly could result in fines – and eventually the possibility of imprisonment. It’s happening in other countries; why not expect it to happen here? It happened in the January 6 event. In my Facebook account no one sees, I warned people before the event to not bring their cell phones. Look what happened to those who did. Many are in jail or prison for participating.
Doug also researched the shot we were all encouraged – and some mandated – to take. He warned us that this was not legitimate and it could bring much harm to those who got it. This proved to be the case (see VAERS Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System website). I invite you to peruse what was reported as to adverse events after taking the shot – estimated to be as much as 10% of cases down to 1%) here’s a link to the Excel spreadsheet: https://unpublished1.s3.us-
In my opinion, I believe the event four years ago was the beginning of the day of the Lord, but in God’s providence and patience, gave the ‘shot across the bow’ (pun intended) to let us know we need to prepare ourselves for what is coming. Doug truly was for us a ‘watchman’ on the wall (see Ezekiel 33). Another watchman has been pastor J.D. Farag. He does his homework and has faithfully been disseminating valuable information as to what we need to be wary of in these dark days of deception and lies. If you aren’t a regular listener to his weekly Bible Prophecy Updates, I’d recommend you listen at least to the last couple updates. I fully concur with him when he warns people to not take the flu or ‘covid’ shots.
Each of us are responsible to the Lord as to what we take into our physical bodies. As a stewardship, we have to protect these temples of the Holy Spirit (John 2:21 cp 1 Corinthians 6:19). But what about those who’ve taken it either in ignorance of what is in the shots, or were forced to in order to keep their jobs. I am convinced that in God’s grace, the One who changed water into wine, is the One who can change poison into water (2 Kings 4:38-41). My advice (in agreement with JD) is to not take another. For those who are threatened to lose their employment, I’d say we need to trust the Lord more than we trust our employer. If God was responsible in arranging for us to have this job, can He not be trusted to either overrule the threat, or even provide something better? For some of us, perhaps we need to endure the test and trial of loss of possessions. The point is, we need to fear the Lord more than we fear man. “The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted” (Proverbs 29:25).
I hope this brings more hope than dread as we consider where we are in history and what soon to expect.
"Ye Are Come to Zion" - by T. Austin-Sparks
by John Mark on 03/13/24
Dear Saints,
This message
originally posted September 21, 2014.
My
notes:
As
God placed Adam into the Garden of Eden and he was told to cultivate it and to
guard it, so we, also, when we are placed into Christ at our new birth,
"We have a stewardship and a responsibility to cultivate that life; to
cultivate that which will bring us into a deeper abiding union and fellowship
with Him, and then to guard it. We need to guard our relationship by the manner
in which we walk."
As
Brother Sparks speaks of our entering into God's rest, rather than inaction, he
adds, "if we are going to find rest in service, it must be very
heart-satisfying service. Well, that is home. It is the place of rest, it's the
place of abiding. These are the things, with many other features of what
"home" means, which we are supposed to find in Christ."
Speaking
about possessing our inheritance, Doug commented, "That garden (Eden)
represented a place where Adam was to exercise dominion. And so, we have to
dispossess principalities and powers to come into the fulness of our
inheritance in Christ... That inheritance is inherently characterological, not
just about knowledge, but about a nature to be possessed." Brother Sparks
adds, "[It is] to be possessed, in the first place, to be exploited; that
is, it's got to be taken up and made to yield its inherent and its intrinsic
values."
As
Brother Sparks was speaking of the battles we experience, even those in our
gatherings, he asserts, "We'd see changes in our gatherings if we are
sensitive enough to register the encroachment of death and know then that's the
time for us is to do something; not to accept it, but to do something: exploit
Life." However, I'm reminded of 2 Corinthians 4:11-12, "For we who
live are constantly being handed over to death because of Jesus, so that the
life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh. So death works in us,
but life in you." Not to contradict Brother Sparks, but this is 'the other
side of the coin'. There are those times we experience death, but when we know
life is registering in others because of it, we can endure and patiently wait
for the Lord.
"The
justification of Life is in the measure of Christ in others through us."
Think about this - re-read it. Why am I here? Why am I alive? What is my
purpose? What is the justification for me here and now? Can it be, that in some
way, other's measure of the reality of Christ in them is somehow connected to
me and my relationship to them? Remember Ephesians 4:16: "the whole body,
being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the
proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the
building up of itself in love." Brother Sparks continues, "That is
the justification of our existence, and the vindication of God in giving Life.
Life... oh, it's a challenge isn't it? It's a test, but here it is: the Family
is in view." Wow!
"Oh,
dear friends, covet above all things that you shall not be an end in yourself,
but there will be many who, by the grace of God, can attribute their spiritual
Life to you as a channel. You make it your real business in life to see that
there are many who have received Life through you. That is the justification of
our existence, that is the vindication of God in giving us Life at all. Indeed,
it is the vindication of the Cross of Christ." This so clearly identifies
what I am called to do as a 'joint of supply', a tiny little artery that
connects this vital spiritual food from Doug, Sparks, and others, via the
website and YouTube channel to saints all around the world. It is my joy, privilege
and honor. And, there are many of you who are joints of supply connecting
others to this ministry. Isn't it amazing how we are one body, connected to
each other this way??
Want
to know what "Zion" means? Doug goes into a helpful explanation
midway through this audio recording. "Zion is always the ideal of what
Israel should become." However, 'Zion' isn't a term limited to Israel. I
see Zion as it relates to the body of Christ, not as the church in general, but
as the remnant made up of overcomers, those conformed to the image of Christ
and Christ being fully formed in them. As you'll hear, both Doug & Sparks
go into much more than that. For example, "Zion, therefore, is not only
all that God has accomplished in Christ and all that Christ means in Himself of
God, Zion comes in the next place to mean a people in the good of that... we
have come to be a people in the good of all that God has provided and
accomplished in His Son. It is the sum of God's salvation enjoyed by a
people."
In
Doug's closing, we should consider praying with him, "Father, show each
one of us that as we live day in and day out, how do we cultivate this Life and
this place in Christ, and how do we guard it? Show us what it means to 'gird up
our loins for action'... and what it means to 'press for the prize of the
upward call of God in Christ Jesus'; what it means for us 'to apprehend that
for which we've been apprehended in Christ'."
DISCUSSION:
Doug
shared the impact another message he'd been reading by T. Austin-Sparks had on
him, The Church of the Firstborn
(https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/church_of_the_firstborn_the.html).
We
are not just to come to learn about our Lord, not to gather facts and fill
notebooks about Jesus Christ and not just be able to quote many bible verses or
pontificate on how much we know. We are to bear His Name. What we know about
Him is to become an experiential reality, so when people see us, they see
Jesus; when we speak, people hear Jesus; how we act when circumstances hit us
unexpectedly, people see Jesus respond. It will be the glory of Christ
expressed in us that will be manifested when He comes for us. 'We will enter
into the sufferings of Jesus Christ; that we will so become one with the nature
of Christ, the character of Christ, that wherever we go, we bear the Name of
Christ. And to bear the Name is a characterological reference to our whole
conduct and our whole being.'
I'm
reminded of that amazing passage in 2 Corinthians 4:6-11: "For God, who
said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our
hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing
greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted
in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but
not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body
the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in
our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death
for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our
mortal flesh." So, are people seeing the life of Jesus, the
treasure? ... or the earthen vessel – especially when we are afflicted,
perplexed, persecuted, struck down, and delivered over to death?
Link
to Audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/9-21-14+Sunday+Assembly.mp3
Link
to Discussion: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/9-21-14+Sunday+Assembly-discussion.mp3
"Ye Are Come to Zion" - by T. Austin-Sparks
by John Mark on 03/10/24
Dear Saints,
This series originally posted in September and October of 2014.
My
notes:
As Doug introduces us to this message from
Hebrews, he breaks down the word 'heritage' as another word for 'inheritance' -
a word we are much more familiar with and hear so regularly in Doug's teaching
over the years. The other point to be made is that that inheritance is ours,
even as the land of milk and honey was given at the beginning of Israel's
journey out from Egypt, but it had to be occupied and fought for - to be theirs
it required dispossessing the enemy and possessing the inheritance. For the
church, the heritage (inheritance) is ours in Christ and obtained through and
by Christ in us. "'You HAVE come' - with the fact and reality that you
remain there forever.
The concept of inheritance is two-fold: God has
us as His inheritance (Ephesians 1:18); and Christ is our inheritance
(Ephesians 1:14). As the inheritance is promised to us, it requires us to fight
for it and possess it. The promised land to Israel is the example we have.
Though the entire land was promised, they had to conquer it but dispossessing
the enemy and possessing the land. As we've heard Doug teach many times,
salvation is given to us as a gift without works; the inheritance is obtained
by conquest: "heaven suffers violence, and violent men [seize] take it by
force" (Matthew 11:12)
[Doug] "So our inheritance in Him is
complementary and completely dependent on Him obtaining the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in us."
[Sparks] "In Christ God has wholly, fully
consummated the redemption, the new creation, and you and I have no part
whatever in making that, but you and I are called to inherit it."
"God has in Christ compassed all that is bound up with man's glorious
destiny, and has offered it to faith."
[Doug] "When we're born again, we have a
responsibility to possess our inheritance - and to keep it and to guard it...
we have immense responsibility upon us to enter into and come to the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ."
Speaking of our entering into our rest, Jesus
Christ being God's rest, Brother Sparks adds, "If Christ has really become
our home in terms of rest, has He not become the very centre and sphere of our
delight, of our pleasure? ... Christ in Person and Christ's work: our pleasure,
our delight."
In our Father's house where there are many
abiding places, we "come to the place where we can abide forever and go
no more out and find eternal satisfaction and rest ... And where, in all God's
universe will that be if it is not in Christ? He is our abiding place."
"So Christ should be all this to us,
because He is all this to God. God has come to rest. God has come to settlement
and to certainty in the Person and work of His Son. God finds all His pleasure
in Him and all His interest in Him. All that. And God has given Him in all
these terms and senses to us as a heritage. It is a challenge to faith isn't
it? Is Christ to us rest, our delight and pleasure, our abiding place, our one
absorbing interest?"
In Doug's conclusion of this message, he
challenges us: "The message of Christ and His inheritance has to be true
of us. We can't be just people who believe we have an inheritance in Christ. We
have to be those that are actually coming into possession. We have to be in
some measure in possession of what we're reading here in this first
chapter."
Link
to Audio:
https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/9-14-14+Sunday+Assembly.mp3
The Discussion following the message went very
deep and includes Doug's very emotional testimony. This message by T.
Austin-Sparks obviously had a tremendous effect on the assembly.
Link to Discussion:
https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/9-14-14+Sunday+Assembly+-+2.mp3
The Testimony and Its Vessel unto the Time of the End - by T. Austin-Sparks
by John Mark on 03/06/24
Chapter 4 -
The Universal Range of the Eternal Purpose
Dear Saints,
This
message originally posted in December 28, 2014.
My notes:
As Brother Sparks instructs us of God’s eternal
purpose, he identifies that which is most important for today – the culmination
and consummation of the church age that will bring about the day of the Lord
and the millennial kingdom: “What the Lord is after, what the Lord needs, what
the Lord is seeking to possess Himself of is a vessel in such relationship to
Himself and His throne in the heavens, as will bring that throne and that
heavenly dominion and authority very mightily to bear upon the whole spiritual
system of His enemy, the principalities and powers and the world rulers of this
darkness and the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies, as they have control
of this cosmos; to register the throne of God upon those forces and upon the
cosmos.”
Doug refers to this as the purpose and reason for
Morning Star Testimony Church and its ministry to SRA survivors.
I wonder if most Christians think God’s eternal
purpose is getting people saved so we can go to heaven. Once we have that
‘ticket’ to glory, we can just sit back, enjoy God’s abundant life, and wait
for that glorious day Jesus comes for His church. Do many of us know there’s a
warfare we’ve been conscripted to fight in? Do we know there’s an enemy totally
invested in keeping us dumbed down and ignorant of our spiritual calling? Do we
believe that since it’s in the Bible and has been prophesied that it will automatically
happen? Didn’t Daniel believe Jeremiah’s prophecy that the captivity of Israel
would end after seventy years? Why pray for something that is going to happen
anyway?
“God does nothing but in answer to
prayer.” John Wesley
“It is on prayer that the promises wait for
their fulfilment, the Kingdom waits for its coming, and the glory of God waits
for its full revelation.” Andrew Murray (With Christ in the School of Prayer)
Daniel was God’s prayer instrument through
which the prophecy is fulfilled. Had Daniel just went with the flow there in
Babylon and decided he had more important things to do than pray three times a
day, day after day, God would have raised up another. Instead of seeking his
own interests, Daniel travailed for the Lord’s interest. Therefore, Daniel was
entrusted with such a far-reaching prophecy we are only now coming into its
revelation as to what will happen as Satan’s kingdom is destroyed and God’s
kingdom is finally established on Earth.
As Doug read, “The testimony of Jesus… (we are)
joined with Him in His heavenly position for that testimony not only to men,
but to men by reason of having dealt with the spiritual powers and
intelligences back of men”, he identified this as the purpose of our corporate
weekly prayer meetings for about 40 years.
“Not all the members of the Church which is His
Body are there, or are going on there, but the Lord will from His people obtain
a company which will be the vanguard of the whole, and which will go on with
Him and take the heavenly place and be His instrument for the breaking through
and leading a way for the others. That is the peculiar vessel upon which the
heart of the Lord is set.” If we don’t answer God’s call, others will, but will
result in our ultimate loss of potential reward. Spiritual infants will not be
those ruling and reigning with Christ in His soon-coming Kingdom. This is a
matter of sonship – those who attain to sonship in which God can entrust His
authority. “The vessel, the Church, the Body, will be the instrument of
administration; administrative in relation to the throne.” The “prodigal son”
for a time only sought for self-interest, but when he repented and returned to
his father in humility and submission, he could then, and only then, be
entrusted with the father’s robe and ring.
“We must be crucified to the world, and
crucified as men to the flesh, and thus must any ground of Satanic activity be
taken away from him so that he has nothing which is his essential occasion for
bringing about an arrest in the testimony. That is essentially the meaning of
our being in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” We must experientially come to an
end in who we are in Adam, dead in trespasses and sins, and experience
resurrection life in Christ with no ground, no foot-hold, no occasion for Satan
to thwart our purpose for being here in this particular time when Jesus is
finishing the process of building His church. Once that is complete, the
fulness of the Gentiles, the number of those chosen in Christ before the
foundation is reached, and the goal attained, “the unity of the faith, and of
the [full] knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect [mature] man [i.e.:
sonship], to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”, then the
day of the Lord can commence, and 7 years later the Lord and His bride come to
Earth to wipe out the enemies of the Kingdom and establish His rule and reign.
Satan is doing all he can to thwart that day – or at least delay it
indefinitely – but as prophesied, it will come to pass. It’s our opportunity to
hasten that day: “what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and
godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.” (1 Peter
3:11-12)
Link
to Audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/12-28-14+Sunday+Assembly+edited.mp3
The Testimony and Its Vessel unto the Time of the End - by T. Austin-Sparks
by John Mark on 03/03/24
Chapter 3 -
The Basic Principle of Spiritual Effectiveness
Dear Saints,
This
message originally posted in December 24, 2014.
My notes:
Once again Brother Sparks challenges where we
are in terms of moral correspondence with Jesus Christ, not in the positional
sense as to who we are in Christ, but who we are in our day-to-day life and
experience. "No life can be spiritually effective, can count for God in
the spiritual realm, bring in the government of God, can uphold or maintain or
advance the testimony of Jesus, stand against the powers of darkness, bring the
consummation of the ages nearer, which is the overthrow of the whole satanic
kingdom and the bringing in of the universal rule of the heavens, only in so
far as that life is in a position of absolute separation from everything in
that realm against which that testimony of Jesus stands. If you have one link,
one point of contact voluntarily with that system through any medium, you are
crippled, you are paralyzed."
If you break down this sentence into a list of
our potentiality as to sonship, those who are spiritually mature and equipped,
it’s a real eye-opener. You’ll hear Lori in the Discussion referring to this
also:
ü
bring in the government of God (i.e.: the
personal rule and reign of Jesus Christ in the millennial kingdom – see 2 Peter
3:12);
ü
uphold the testimony of Jesus;
ü
maintain the testimony of Jesus;
ü
advance the testimony of Jesus;
ü
stand against the powers of darkness;
ü
bring the consummation of the ages nearer;
ü
overthrow of the whole satanic kingdom;
ü
bring in the universal rule of the heavens (now
as well as the millennial kingdom).
"Just think, that all the mighty power of
the God of the heavens, the kingdom of the God of the heavens is suspended in
our lives if there is a questionable thing between us and the Lord, a thing
about which we have doubt. Yes, we bind the hands of heaven if we are not
absolutely clear on every detail with the Lord and there is not the most
complete break at every point with that whole system against which we are here
as a vessel of the testimony. Holiness is necessary, separation is necessary;
an uncompromising attitude between everything that the Devil offers as a link
between us and his system." As Daniel "purposed in his heart" -
and he didn't even have the indwelling Holy Spirit as we do - so may we purpose
in our hearts to be separated from the world, the devil, and the flesh and live
our lives as those who honor God - vessels of honor.
This message goes down deep into the core of
our souls – or shall I make it personal? – it went down deep into the core of
my soul. Am I hearing from the Lord as He touches that in my life that needs
adjustment, correction, or even painful circumcision? Am I willing to discover
those issues in my life corrupted with an earth-touch – or worse, a satanic-touch?
– and am I willing to cooperate with the Lord as He ‘scourges’ me and make the
adjustments and corrections He puts His finger on?
“My
son, do not regard lightly the [instructive] discipline (child training;
‘whipping was accepted, along with other disciplinary measures’) of the Lord,
nor faint when you are reproved* by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He
disciplines, and he scourges (‘to beat with a whip’) every son
whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:5-6)
This
is again repeated in Revelation 3:19, “Those whom I love (phile? - ????? – a
relationship love; ‘a love founded in admiration, veneration, esteem’), I
reprove* and discipline.”
*Note:
reproved – “generally with a suggestion of shame of the person convicted;
by conviction to bring to the light, to expose; to reprehend severely, chide,
admonish, reprove; to call to account, show one his fault, demand an
explanation; to chasten, to punish.
"You want God to come in? God will come in
in the measure in which you go out. The heavens will come in in so far as we
are emptied and stripped of all natural resources, and if we are emptied out to
the last drop, that may be God's way of making room for a larger manifestation
of heaven."
"When you are weak and conscious of
personal helplessness, that is not the time to throw up your hands and say: ‘I
am no good for anything and never shall be,’ that is the time to say there is
plenty of room for the Lord, and to exercise faith in the Lord to come in, and
the Lord's providences and sovereignty operate along the line of weakening us
to make us strong."
This message has so much to do with the cross.
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross
and follow Me.” This is discipleship – being a follower of Jesus. The cross is
the negative side of discipleship – but resurrection is the result. As the
cross was not the end of Jesus’ life, the cross is not the end of ours; it’s a
means to an end. Our decrease results in the increase of Christ in our lives.
I believe you will also enjoy listening to the
discussion that followed.
Link
to Audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/12-24-14+Wednesday+Assembly.mp3
Link to Discussion: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/12-24-14+Discussion.mp3