THE LAODICEA CHURCH (THE RICH CHURCH) Beloved in the book of Revelation 3:14-22 reading from amplified bible and to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (the church) in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen the trusty and faithful the true witness, the origin and beginning and author of Gods creation. I know your (record of) works and what you’re doing, you are neither cold nor hot, would that you were cold or hot, so, because you are lukewarm and neither cold not hot, I will spill you out my mouth for you say I am rich, I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing, and do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. Therefore I counsel you to purchase from me gold refined and tested by fire that you may be (truly) wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes that you may see, Those whom I (dearly and tenderly) love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten (that is) I discipline and instruct them so be enthusiastic and in earnest burning zeal and repent- changing your mind and attitude, Behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears and listens to and heeds my voice and opens the door I will come into him and will eat with him and he (shall eat) with me. He who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant him to sit beside me on my throne, as I myself overcame (was victorious) and sat down beside my Father on His throne, he who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the (Holy) Spirit says to the assemblies (the churches). Dearly beloved, the Laodicea church was the seventh church in the book of revelation that the Holy Spirit spoke to when you study all the other churches in the book of revelation you will discover that what the angel showed Apostle John was the imperfections of those churches but for the Laodicea church their imperfection lied solely on money so please listen very carefully to what the spirit is going to say to us today because the church today is very rich and very wealthy and is likened to the Laodicea church so everything the spirit of the Lord told the Laodicea church also applies to the church of today. Hosea 12:8 Ephriam said, surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself, in all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that is sin. In verse 15 and 16 the spirit of the Lord says to the Laodicea church I know your works and what you are doing, you are neither cold nor hot, so because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot , I will spill you out of my mouth. When the spirit of the Lord said they were lukewarm meaning the Laodicea church was neither cold nor hot, not very eager and enthusiastic about the things of the spirit anymore why because they had become very comfortable, they had prospered and grown very wealthy and had need of nothing. Beloved listen to me very carefully the main reason why the spirit of the Lord was speaking to the Laodicea church was because the church had stagnated spiritually, because they were now so comfortable and having need of nothing, they were no longer making any meaningful progress by faith spiritually, that is why the spirit of the lord said they were neither cold not hot meaning they were no longer making any meaningful progress by faith. Please understand that the money the Laodicea church had came to them by faith towards God so God blessed them with riches but the problem started when God realized they had pitched their tent with these riches instead of moving forward with God to the next level of faith which of course will enable them to lay hold on eternal life so they became complacent and lukewarm in the spirit. Anytime a believer gets to the level that the Laodicea church was which is the place of comfort and having need of nothing the lukewarm attitude always sets in and before long spiritual stagnation begins in the life of that believer and God hates it when we as believers become lukewarm, why because at that point you begin to dwell comfortably in the flesh. Thereby operating in the flesh and when that begins to happen the faith life begins to die in you. This is what Jesus meant when He said in the book of Matthew 6:34 Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. I have explained extensively the evil thereof in my message WALKING IN THE SPIRIT PART 3 so if you have not read that message please do so. Satan likes it when believers stop walking by faith because the bible says without faith it is impossible to please God and also the just shall live by faith. In other words the life of a believer is tied solely to faith, this is the way God has designed it to be. Anything short of this then you are despising your life as a believer. Because to lay hold on eternal life will require a fight of faith and if you are not properly schooled by the Spirit of God, you cannot war against these satanic forces in your soul and overcome them. I have told you in my message on Obedience that the moment you fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life, Christ who is the hope of our glory as believers will be formed in you. And if Christ be formed in you, then you are no longer in the flesh but lives in the Spirit and at that point, redemption and salvation lies for any believer because you will no longer be subject to the law that controls this world, which is the law of sin and death. But instead, you will be controlled and governed by a higher law which is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. So anything happening on the earth at that time will not affect you as a believer such as the Anti-Christ Manifestation. I have explained in detail, the evil that lies ahead for any believer that continues to dwell in the flesh during the time of the Anti-Christ manifestation on earth in my message: Walking in the Spirit Part 3. Please I urge you once more, if you have not read that message do so. In verse 17 take note the spirit of the Lord said for you say in other words the Laodicea church said I am rich, I have prospered, grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing, signifying pride and arrogance so Laodicea church became so rich and very wealthy so much that the money God gave to them became an element of pride and arrogance before God. Beloved, please be very careful about money one of the terrible things that money breeds is pride and arrogance in the life of a believer and God hates pride with every fibre of His being. I will not comment so much about pride because I have already spoken about it in detail in my message WHO IS THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN if you have not read that message please do so. Beloved in the book of Matthew 6:24 Jesus said no man can serve two masters; you cannot serve God and Mammon. Take note Jesus called God master and money master, meaning on earth the only thing that equals God is money not even the devil, you need to be very careful about money not because God does not want you to have money but because money has the tendency to become your master, to control, to rule and enslave your life. When money takes the place of God in your heart it becomes your idol, anything you idolize that is what you survive by and whatever you survive by controls your life. Beloved, you need to understand that this earth was created by God and He put both man and money in it. So, I want you to see money as a test for you by God. God wants to know where your true allegiance lies; If it is with Him (God) or with vanity. I have written extensively about money in my message, Walking in the Spirit Part 2 Please if you have not read that message please do so. In the book of ECCL 7:12 the bible says wisdom is a defense and money is a defense but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to them that have it. Now you know the reason why God wants to give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him so you can have proper understanding on how to use this thing called money so it does not take the place of God in your heart. In the book of 1John 5:21 Apostle John says my little children keep yourselves from idols. An idol can be defined as an image set up to be worshiped as a god. Now the next line of verse 17 says and do not realize that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. Take note when the spirit of the lord said this to the Laodicea church he was referring to the state of the souls of each and every believer that was in the church, the spirit said their soul was miserable, wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. Because a miserable soul is a poor soul, an unsaved soul is a very poor soul, if all that attracts you are the carnal things that the gentiles seek heaven sees you as someone who is poor in your soul. A soul that is poverty stricken in the spirit cannot inherit eternal life. To inherit eternal life you must be filled with the riches of the glory of God in your soul and Christ is the riches of the glory of God. The moment Christ is formed in you heaven sees your soul as a rich person. In the book of Galatians 4:19 the Apostle Paul says my little children for whom I labor in birth again until Christ be formed in you and Christ cannot be formed in you until you have the fruit of the spirit dwelling abundantly in your soul. In the book of 3John 2 Apostle Paul says beloved I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers. Meaning your prosperity physically is tied to the prosperity of your soul as a new testament believer. Any soul that is not prospering the prosperity of that person destroys him. In the book of Proverbs 1:32 The bible says the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. Who is a fool? One that has no wisdom, if you have not been enlightened with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him you are poor and you will never know the riches of His glory of His inheritance in the faith. Verse 18 the spirit of the lord said I counsel you to purchase from me gold refined and tested by fire meaning real redemption is the salvation of your soul and this is what the lord calls true wealth. Apostle Peter talks about this in the book of 1Peter 1:7-9 Take note the spirit says I counsel you to purchase from me gold refined and tested by fire meaning the genuineness of your faith must be tested by fire. If you want to be glorified with Christ you must as a believer be ready to suffer with Christ. As believers we glory in our sufferings. If you shy away from your sufferings as a believer you will be despising your life because in your sufferings lies your perfection. 1Peter 4: 12-19 and white clothes to clothe you meaning receiving your crown of glory and salve to put on your eyes that you may see meaning the eyes of your understanding been enlightened with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. In verse 20 the spirit says behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears and listens to and heeds my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will eat with him and he will eat with me. Beloved take note the Lord Jesus says He is standing at the door, the question is what door? The door of your spirit when you were born-again the spirit of the lord quickened your spirit and gave life to your spirit and made you sit together with Him in heavenly places. So the lord is comfortably standing at the door of your spirit knocking at the door of your soul, the reason He can’t come into our soul yet is because our soul has in it the works of the flesh and these are unclean spirits now the Lord will keep knocking until we get rid of all these unclean spirits because the lord Jesus will not dwell with unclean spirits. The responsibility lies on us as believers to fight the good fight of faith. And get rid of these unclean spirits from our soul so the Lord can come into our soul and dwell in it. In verse 21 the spirit says he who overcomes (is victorious) I will grant him to sit beside me on my throne, as I myself overcame (was victorious) and sat down beside my Father on His throne. Take note beloved, the Lord Jesus says He who overcomes? The question is overcomes what? For heaven to call you an overcomer it means that you must have overcome or come over the spirits in the air (principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places) to the throne of God. In other words you must deal with the works of the flesh in your soul, so your ability to overcome the spirits in the air guarantees your soul seat with Jesus and His Father on the throne.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 14:09:11 +0000
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