"The Church" Part 2 of 3 Kathryn Kuhlman Revelation Chapters 2-3

We have been talking about something that is most important, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I talked with you regarding this wonderful organism, we saw that the only way that Jesus can represent himself to the world today is through his body the church and it's just like that the only way that christ who is now in glory in position of great high priest can represent himself to the world through this his The church made up of born -again men and women. And you do not join his church. You do not join this great body. You are born into the body of Christ. And he is the head. Therefore, there could be no church, his church, until after Pentecost. We'll go right back to where I left you in our last heart -to -heart talk. We go to the book of the Revelation. John was instructed to write everything that he heard and he saw. And he begins with being in the spirit on the Lord's day. I heard a voice saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. What thou seest, write in a book. And being turned, I saw seven golden candle stands. These are not like the candlesticks in the temple and in the tabernacle. Those were seven -branched. Six side branches and the central shaft made the seven. What John saw was seven separate candlesticks. lamp stands Christ is represented by the seven branched candlestick in the holy place and the Spirit of God is represented by the seven lamps upon it but during his absence during the time of his priesthood in glory at the right hand of God the Father his People are to be lights for him in this world. And so John sees in this first lesion not one candlestick with seven branches, but seven distinct lampstands in the form of a circle. And in the midst of them, he says he saw one light under the sun of man girt about the breast with golden girdle. It is the Lord Jesus himself in the midst of his assemblies. Then we learn what these candlesticks, these lampstands symbolize. They picture for us the whole course of the church's history. until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ again. In his absence, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is responsible to keep a light burning in the midst of the darkness of this old world. You'll remember that while Jesus was on earth, he said, I am the light of the world. But one day, He said, it's expedient for you that I go away. But when I am come, the Holy Spirit will come unto you. I will send him. He will be the oil. He will be the power. He is the one who will equip you to keep the light burning in your life. I will not leave you defenseless. I will not leave you without power. I will send, I will give to you the equipment to make it possible for you to shine, to so live that you'll shine in a world of darkness. You'll be here in my stead. You will be the only Christ. The unbeliever will see. And you and I are here in Christ's bed. His body, the church, manifests Jesus to a lost and dying world. Then he added by saying, ye are the light of the world. Do you realize the responsibility of a Christian? Do you recognize your responsibility? In his absence, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is responsible to keep this light burning. That's your responsibility. That is my responsibility. Because we represent Him. Do you see the importance now of this wonderful body of Christ? Not as an organization, but as an organism. Now let's continue further. For the next step here in the book of Revelation, We have a picture of the seven stages of this wonderful organism into which men are born into. From the time of Pentecost right on down to the very day, the very hour in which you and I are living. The history, the testing of the church, comes in between the revelation of its original standing in the full blessing of God and its ultimate testing in association with Christ in glory. And you will see what a contrast there is. In the church, this great organism, the church that was and the church that is now. I will not have time to read the entire portion of the Word of God. You read it yourself. Everything that I am saying is found in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation. The seven stages of the church. Oh, beloved, go back in the book of Acts and see those early Christians. The wonderful power that was manifested. Do you know that when Peter got through preaching just one sermon, And I dare say that should he preach that same sermon today, he would be far from being a masterpiece. I don't think he'd ask to return the next Sunday if he preached that same sermon in many of our churches. It wasn't especially what he said. It wasn't his much learning. It wasn't his oratorical ability. It was the power of the Holy Ghost that spoke through lips of clay. And what was the result? Three thousand were born again. Three thousand men and women. I don't think they had a personal worker. I don't think they had a counselor. I don't think it was organized. What was it? It was the power of the Holy Ghost. It's not by might. It's not by power. It's by my spirit, saith the Lord. It's the Holy Ghost. He's the secret. He's the power. All that the Lord wants is an empty vessel. That's all. That's all that he needs. He doesn't need your ability. He just wants your yieldedness. There isn't anything that you have that God can't supply. He doesn't ask for golden vessels. asked for silver vessels he asks for a yielded vessel through which the holy spirit can work because after all it's the power of the holy spirit who does the work oh that early church it must have been wonderful it must have been wonderful i do not leave for one minute They had prayer cards. A long line for healing. I don't believe it. I believe that there was so much power. The presence of the Holy Ghost was so great that people were healed just sitting in their seats. Mm -hmm. Sure. Look at the gate of the temple. Bless you. Begging for alms. What happened in the next second? They were running and leaping, completely healed by the power of God. The secret? The power of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers. They believed. I believe that all of the gifts and the fruits of the Spirit were manifested in that first church. All their first love. Everybody loved everybody else. Now, how long this continued, I do not know. I wish I knew. But sooner or later, the enemy came in. He always does. Always. And the first thing that came... into this body of believers to disrupt it was the fact they lost their first love. Oh, precious one, if you only knew what a great treasure you have in your first love. When you hear the name of Jesus spoken, And you can still cry. When you talk about the power of God, the manifestation of His power, and you can still weep. When you come into the service, and you see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and you see men and women coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you can still feel the tears. Falling down your cheeks. If you can read the Bible, the precious word of God, and it thrills your very being. Something you can't explain to someone who's never been born again, but there's something about the word that Jesus comes through. To know the word is to know him. To know the word. is to know god the father and you read a new thrill to it if you still have that thrill if you can still weep if you're still hungry for him there is no physical hunger that's greater than Spiritual hunger. Blessed is you, hungers and thirsts after righteousness. If you still have that hunger for spiritual things, then, my friend, you still have your first love. But when you can no longer weep, when you no longer love, when you can no longer forgive, Something has happened. And something did happen in the church when they lost their first love. Ecclesiastical pretension and departure from first love characterized the close of the apostolic period. The church at Ephesus. You'll find in the second chapter of the book of Revelation, the first seven verses. Next succeeded the martyr period, which brings us down to the close of the tenth and the last persecution. The church at Smyrna. Decreasing spirituality. Increasing worldliness. And wherever you'll find decreasing spirituality, your next step is increasing worldliness. And it went hand in hand from the ascension of Constantine and his public patronage of Christianity on to the 7th century. The church at Pergamos. That's the second chapter of the book of the Revelation. Verses 12 to 17. Then the papal church. Satan's masterpiece on earth. Oh, Satan got in a blow. It's witnessed in the assumption of universal authority. Cruel persecution of the saints of God. Man. Men. Its evil reign covers the Middle Ages, the moral characteristics of which have been well -termed dark. That's the church at Thyatira. Verses 18 and 29 of the second chapter. The Reformation followed. The Reformation was God's intervention in grace and... and introduced into Europe the light which for 300 years has been burning with more or less brilliancy. But still the Holy Spirit was quenched. Protestantism came next. Protestantism. with its divisions and its deadness, shows clearly enough how far short it comes of God's ideal of the church and Christianity. There is nothing as dead as a dead religious organization. Nothing. Mm -hmm. That's the church at Sardis, the third chapter of the book of Revelation, the first six verses. Another reformation, equally the work of God, characterized the beginning of the last century, the church at Philadelphia. Chapter 3. from 7 to 13. Now we come down to the present state of the professing church. And I read it to you exactly as it is in God's Word. Word for Word in that third chapter of the book of the Revelation. And unto the angel of the church of the Thessalonians write, These things saith the all men, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you're neither cold, you're neither hot, you're trying to play both sides. I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. knowest thou not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked i counsel thee to buy of me gold cried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anointed thine eyes with eyesab that thou mayest see as many as i love i rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent where now is this wonderful church that had its beginning at the day of Pentecost. The church to whom Jesus said, ye are the light of the world. The church to whom he gave this great responsibility, this wonderful responsibility. That body of believers who's to represent him. I want you to see the then and the now. Then, when a poor fisherman, illiterate, unlearned, but filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, stood up and preached under this glorious anointing, and when he gave an altar call, 3 ,000 were converted. They had nothing. When it came to material goods, they had nothing. They had nothing of which they could boast. Let's go to the now. What a contrast between the was and the now. Now there never was a time when the church... was as rich materially as it is this hour they can say of a truth we have need of nothing heavily in doubt so far as material things are concerned the church never was so rich but never was the church so blind so poor So naked, spiritually, as it is now, and this the darkest hour the world has ever seen, when the world stands challenging the church, the church has nothing to offer. She is without power. Will it remain so? The Lord Jesus Christ knows no defeat. Follow me in my next heart -to -heart talk. God bless you.