"The End Times Church" Kathryn Kuhlman Church Series Part 3

The only way that Christ, who is now in glory, in position of great high priest, can manifest himself to the world is through his body. The body of believers, his church. And the responsibility that is ours is beyond comprehension. I would to God. But in this heart -to -heart talk that every minister listening to me, that every Christian listening to me, I do not care whether you're Roman Catholic, whether you're Greek Orthodox, whether you're Protestant. I don't care who you are. If you are born again, if you have been born again, into his church and you are literally a part of his body. I pray that somehow you will get a glimpse of your responsibility. There was a day when Jesus here on earth said of himself, I am the light of the world. Then came the day when he left. But before he went away, he gave to us the greatest responsibility that he had ever given to human beings. And he said, ye are the light of the world. I am going away. I am assuming the responsibility. of great high priest. Now you are to be the light of the world in a world filled with darkness, with sin, sorrow, wars, distress, sickness, pestilence, humanity without hope. frustrated, struggling. You are the light of the world. You represent me. You are the only Christ these precious folk see. That, my friend, is the responsibility of the church. The greatest responsibility. that Jesus Christ gave human beings. Watch something. Turn, if you will, please, to the book of the Revelation. I shall refresh your memory for just a second because this is my third in the series of messages on the church. And we see here at the very beginning of the book of the Revelation, the first three chapters. And as you well know, the book of the Revelation is all about Jesus. But it begins giving us the history and testing of the church between the Revelation of its original standing, which was full of blessing. Oh, its original standing had God's favor and God's blessing. with the fruits and the gifts of the spirit being manifested in its midst from its original standing to the day and the hour in which you and i live what a contrast between what the church was and what the church is today. There was a day after the day of Pentecost with their complete reliance upon the Holy Spirit. For Jesus had said before he went away, Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. The Holy Ghost is your power. I will not leave you unequipped. I will not leave you faltering. I will not leave you without the power in your life to testify, to witness, to be overcomers, to go through life victoriously. No. I will send him, the mighty third person of Trinity, the Holy Ghost, the one who will be the oil in your lamp to keep your lamp shining brightly in a world of darkness. Ye shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you. What was the secret of Peter when he preached that sermon? When at the close of that sermon, more than 3 ,000 were added unto the church. What was the power in the lives of those early Christians? The power of the Holy Spirit. They were men and women with like passions and weaknesses. as we are today, for human nature is the same. But there was a secret. There was a secret in that early church. There was a secret in the lives of these early Christians. And their secret of power was this glorious third person of Trinity. I believe with every atom I might be that in that early church, they had all the manifestations of the... gifts of the spirit they had all of the manifestations of the fruits of the spirit what my friend has made the difference in the church then and the church now We have lost our vision. We have lost the secret. We have forgotten the purpose of the church. We have forgotten. that it's not by might, it's not by power, but it's by my spirit, saith the Lord. Oh, that early church was very power conscious. They were soul conscious. They were spirit conscious. But something happened, the first thing that happened among them. They lost their first love that was the first weapon that the enemy used. Ecclesiastical pretension, departure from their first love, characterized the close of the apostolic period. Next succeeded the martyr period. Which brings us down to the close of the tenth and the last persecution. That little church of Smyrna. Oh, what that little church went through. Then, decreasing spirituality. And with decreasing spirituality, there came the increasing of worldliness. For the two always go hand in hand. On to the 7th century. Then the papal church. Satan's great masterpiece on earth is witnessed in the assumption of universal authority and cruel persecution of the saints of God. This covers the Middle Ages. The moral characteristics of which have been well termed the Dark ages. Then came the Reformation. The Reformation was God's intervention in grace and power. And introduced into Europe the light which for 300 years has been burning with more or less brilliancy. Then came Protestantism. with its divisions, its deadness, shows clearly enough how far, how very far short it comes to God's ideal of the church in Christianity. That's the church at Sardis. Another reformation, equally the work of God, characterizes the beginning. of the last century, the church at Philadelphia. Until finally we come down to the very last state of the church, as it is today, and no spirit -filled, born -again Christian could write a clearer description of the church than we get from God's Word. If you have any spiritual insight whatsoever, you could not describe the church in its present state any better than it is described in the Word of God. The present general state of the professing church, which is one of lukewarmness, is the most hateful. nauseous of any yet described. And I left you in my little heart -to -heart talk, reading that portion of the Word of God. Here it is. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou wert cold or hot, one or the other. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. You make me sick, the Lord said. You cause me to vomit. Because you're playing politics. Because you're trying to ride the fence. You're trying to please people. Because you are neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest I am rich, and who is there who can dispute the fact that there never was a time when the church was as rich? as it is today. There never was a time when we had so much money for building programs, bigger and better, enlarging what we have. There never was a time when we had more comfortable pews catering to the desires, the comforts of the people. Because thou sayest I am rich, increased with goods, and have need of nothing. Oh, the smugness of it all. We have need of nothing, not even the power of God. We have need of nothing, not even the Holy Spirit. We have need of nothing, not even God's Word. We are self -sufficient. We are rich in this world's goods. We are rich in prestige and much learning. We have need of nothing. Knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor? and blind, and naked. That's God's opinion. That's God's conception of the church today. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. I'll tell you what the church needs today. I'll tell you what Christians need today. They need persecution. They need some good old -fashioned persecution. They need to stand up and be counted. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in fire, that thou mayest be rich in white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesab, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. That is the picture of the church, this body of believers that the Lord himself left to represent him in a world of darkness. The tragedy of it all is just this. We're in the darkest night the world has ever known. And in the darkness, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ should be standing up and challenging the world. There should be such power in the church that the church should be able to meet the needs of human beings. The church should be able to give hope, to give comfort, to give eternal life, to give encouragement, to give faith. Should manifest the transforming power of the Son of the Living God. A broken home. Father, that mother should never have to turn to a psychiatrist, but to the church. And the church should be able to give the answer. And while the world is challenging the church, the church is. Powerless because there are those who have even gone so far as to deny the deity and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. How can you give hope to a lost and dying world when you're not quite sure what you believe yourself? And it's just like that. No nation is stronger than its spiritual forces. Our own nation is no stronger than the church today. But watch something. This is a dark picture I've been painting to you. But remember something. Our Lord knows no defeat. Never. You take the flood, go right on down from the beginning of mankind, right on down to the very end of this dispensation, right on through to glory, until the very coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory. Our God knows no defeat. Jesus Christ will never go down in defeat. The church will never die. Never. I'll tell you why the church will never die. In spite of its falling away. In spite of its backslidden condition. It will never die because it has a living head. Jesus being the head of the church, it cannot die. Jesus being the head of the church, it must go through victoriously. And when we have the great catching up, when we have the rapture of the church, believe me, beloved, the church will never go out in defeat. And I have a glorious word for you. There's that little book of Joel in the Old Testament and the whole picture of the end time of this present age. the times of the gentiles is given in this little book in the old testament i read it to you that which the palmer worm hath left hath the locust eaten and that which the locust hath left hath the canker worm eaten and that which the canker worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. And that is what we have in these seven stages of church history. But something happens. Even though the canker worm has been eating, even though the locust has been eating, there is still life. there life in the head life there it will never die and i will restore to you the years that the locust have eaten the canker worm and the caterpillar and the palmer worm my great army which i stand among you And it shall come to pass that I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And upon my servants and upon my handmaids in those days will I pour out of my spirit. The church is going to go out in glorious victory, in marvelous victory. You say that's the Old Testament. I know, beloved. But I turn to the second chapter of the book of the Acts. And Peter, standing up at the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words. It shall come to pass in the last days. And we are living in the last days, the closing moments of this dispensation. We're coming now to the end of the church age, the church dispensation. We're making a complete cycle now. We're coming right back. The church is going to go out in glory. with all the fruits and all the gifts of the Spirit being manifested. The same glory that the church had when Jesus said, Ye are the light of the world, it will be restored to its original glory before the great catching up. It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and that's the reason. You're going to see this great outpouring, not upon those in the church, but outside of the church. For God himself said, because of your lukewarmness, I will spew thee out of my mouth. I'll go out in the highways. I'll go out in the byways. Where there are hungry hearts, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams, and all my spirits and all my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. Whether this will be for a month, a matter of weeks, I do not know, but this I know, when the church goes out, it will go out in glory.