Awake Glorious Bride and Shake Off The Dust – Part Two

What Church Are You?

In Part One of this series, I asked the question: What church are you? I am not asking you what denomination you may belong to. I’m literally asking you about the person of You!

This is the same question we will ask throughout this series. In Part One, we addressed The Dead Church. If you have not seen that post or listened to that podcast, click on the link and you will be directed there.

As mentioned in Part One, in over 20 years in ministry, it has been a common theme among Christians to affiliate themselves with a Church building or a denomination, but rarely do we meet people that have taken the time to think about themselves as being “the church.” We hear, “You should come to my church.” or “At my church, we do this…” or “My church is best known for its worship music, drama” etc. Whatever the message may be, it’s rarely (if ever) about their person as being the church of Christ.

In this post series, we are sharing some scriptures about four specific types of churches and you may be surprised to find that none of them have anything to do with a building or denomination, but rather about the people themselves and where they are in their lives. As you read about these people groups (church), you are encouraged to really take the time to do a self-examination about what church you believe you are.

In the Bible, Jesus addresses seven churches in the Book of Revelation and gives a very stern warning to them followed by a promise of salvation. Of the seven churches, the people He addresses fall into one of four categories.

1. The Dead Church

2. The Sleeping Church

3. The Sleep-walking Church

4. The Glorious Church

Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ is coming for His glorious church—a people clothed in garments of righteousness. In His infinite grace, mankind has been given this soulish thing called ‘free will’. Along with this free will is an opportunity to do a self exam and make a decision as to what church we choose to become. If you find yourself as a partaker of the dead, sleeping, or sleep walking church, it’s an honest starting place. You get to make the decision to turn away (repent) from those mindsets and set your mind and heart on the goal of becoming the Glorious Church. God clearly states in His word that we can repent and reap the rewards. There is absolutely no condemnation for those who love Jesus and want to get on track with Him. It is only the lack of repentance that leads to the harsh reality that if we are not the Glorious Church, we will have missed it all together and we will fall into the category of: “You called me Lord, Lord, but I never knew you.” and we can cry out all we want saying, “but Lord, we prophesied in your name, we cast out demons in your name, look at all these works we did in your name” and He will say, “I never knew you.” Below is the scripture:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

However! Jesus did not stop there…He continued speaking:

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25)

Take note of Jesus’ words ‘whoever hears these sayings of Mine’ as we continue.

“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:26-27)

Jesus was making it known in the above scriptures that those who had been led astray by false teachings and false prophets would have a chance to repent and return to the sound doctrine. He warned the people to beware of the false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. As for the false prophets and false teachers (Pharisees), as well as those who fell under their teachings/doctrines, if they did not repent, they would not be entering the kingdom of heaven.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:15-20)

The entire reason God (Yahweh) sent His Son, Jesus, to this earth when He did is because mankind had gotten to a point of total spiritual destruction as a result of not only their sins, but the deception they were under by the scribes and Pharisees who were responsible for teaching them the ways of Yahweh. God knew this would happen and in keeping a promise He made to Himself to not destroy the world again as in the days of Noah, and to have a people called unto Himself, He sent a deliverer, Jesus Christ, to restore Truth and reconcile mankind back to God from their fallen state. True repentance, however, was required. People had to make a decision to turn from the ways they had been taught under the bondage of deception and follow Jesus. It is the same exact for us today! It’s important to know that while cultural religion and lifestyles change, Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. Jesus will reveal Himself to every generation through His word and Holy Spirit and until His second coming, each generation will have the mercy and grace to repent and follow Him. Sadly, only a remnant will choose to do so.

Let’s now look at the second of four types of people groups (aka church):

The Sleeping Church:

We know from scripture that Jesus gives a stern warning to those of the Dead Church that have defiled their garments but still do outward works that make them feel as though they are alive and earning brownie points with Jesus. In other words, those who have not remained faithful to Jesus Christ are considered ones who have defiled their garments. In Revelation 3:1-6, the Word says that if they do not repent, they will get their name blotted out of the Book of Life (that is eternal life with Jesus).

You see, many people add Jesus to their life (or think they have added Jesus to their life) because it is a culturally social thing to do, but few truly submit their life fully to Christ and make Him King over their life. The blessing that comes with the reward of turning from unfaithfulness to total surrender to Jesus Christ is the promise of being clothed in white garments, having one’s name confessed to the Father and His angels by Jesus, and their name remaining in the Book of Life. This is the goal. It is a promise and Jesus is true to His word.

So then who is the Sleeping Church and how do you know if you are it?

Jesus spent His time on earth demonstrating that He is the way, the truth, and the life. He proved that He is the fulfillment of prophecy spoken of in the Old Testament as the “one to come.” He also emphasized the importance of being awake and not being deceived by false teachers and doctrines of man. Jesus addresses the Sleeping Church in several scriptures but we will focus on the church addressed in Revelation and then look at some corresponding scriptures to back it up.

And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot, I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’–and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and with garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:14-22)

We see right off the top that Jesus is telling the angel to announce to the people who He is! He is the Amen, In Hebrew, Amen is pronounced (ah-Mane or ah-main) and means “truly.” It comes from the verb aman, meaning to confirm, support, or uphold. He is the Faithful and True Witness, meaning He is true to His word, will confirm and uphold His word, and He sees and hears everything. No one can con Him. And He makes the proclamation that He is the beginning of the creation of God, meaning he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. This first sentence is summed up in Colossians 1:15-18 and beyond.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He many have preeminence.” (Colossians 1:15-18)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1:-2)

Jesus then goes straight to the heart of the matter. “I know your works, that you are neither cold or hot.” and then proceeds to say, “because you are neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” He goes on to address their pride in their wealth and their ‘I can handle it all on my own’ mentality. Sort of like the modern day self-help mindset, ‘I am master of my own universe or I have full control of my life and have no need of anyone to help me.’ It’s pride-lust of the flesh, pride-lust of the eyes, and pride of life! This mindset is a stench to Jesus and to the Father to the point of making Him want to vomit.

How many of you like to drink coffee? If you are like most, you either like your coffee nice and hot, whether black, with cream and/or sugar, as a latte or cappuccino. Or, you like it nice and cold as in an iced-coffee, iced latte, or a frappuccino. It’s that in between state of a lukewarm sip of coffee that brings out the bitterness of the drink and causes one to want to spit it out.

So in his address to this people group, Jesus used the analogy of lukewarmness because of the water in Laodicea, as He knew it would get some of their attention. Their water had to be piped in from a hot spring five miles to the south of the city. By the time it arrive in Laodicea, it was lukewarm and not very appealing or useful. It wasn’t hot like the wonderful hot springs of nearby Hierapolis that were healing, nor was it ice cold and refreshing like the nearby cold springs of Colassae, but rather something you’d want to spit out of your mouth. In addition, Laodicia was well known for its wealth and make no mistake, it’s pride of wealth. The people of Laodicia were so prideful that when an earthquake hit in 60 A.D., they turned down offers of help from Rome because they believed they were invincible. God had a way of humbling them in their pride.

Jesus goes on in His spirit of counsel to the lukewarmers and encourages them to buy from Him that which is gold, refined in fire.

“I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that your may be rich; and with garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” (Rev. 3:18-19)

We can surmise by how the people of Laodicea had fallen dull in their senses had sett their hearts on something other than the Truth of which they had been taught through the teachings of Paul, that they had succumb to the cultural ways of thinking. Their works had shown to Jesus that they had become indifferent in their beliefs and lacked any reverence toward God. Yet he loved them so much that He gave them an opportunity to repent and turn back to Him and His ways. It worked! As many did repent and Jesus continued to bless those who overcame.

Jesus says, “I stand at the door and knock, If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me.” As followers of Jesus, we are susceptible to worldly distractions that will dull our senses and cause us to not hear His voice. You will remember that at the beginning of this teaching, we asked you to take note of the words spoken by Jesus “He who hears these sayings of Mine…” (Matthew 7)

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, our life as a Christian is a call to action based on faith, belief, and grace. It is not by performance works. In other words, if we can not hear the voice of awakening (Jesus Christ) and then step out in faith with works (for works without faith are dead) then we will wax in our faith and belief and fall into a lukewarm state of mind. This only comes as a result of us listening to another voice and believing a doctrine of man or gospel that is not of the One True Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of all mankind and rose again unto resurrected eternal life so that we can share in that eternal life with Him. He is the Faithful and True Witness and make no mistake, no matter how we try to hide our nakedness (true heart identity) from Him, He will uncover it and reveal it.

So we ask you, have you gotten yourself more caught up in the outward appearances of worldly wealth, politics, strange doctrines that preach another Jesus (and yes, there a many). Or do you open, read, and understand the New Testament in the Holy Bible and who the One True Jesus is? Do you hear the voice of Jesus and know when He is speaking to you? The only way to not be deceived is to actually read your Bible and spend time meditating on the Word and pray. Make this year the year you focus on building your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. He is the only way to the Father. Please do not put your trust in what the words of man are telling you. Read the Bible and repent, therefore and return to the true word of God and be saved and can sit with Jesus on His throne, just as He overcame and sits at the throne of God.

Don’t misunderstand the Word of God! Jesus does not say wealth or having money is wrong, He says the ‘Love of money (making it your god) is the root of evil.’ If you take your identity in how much wealth you have or toys you have, you have set up idolatry in your heart. Modern day culture will have us believe the fleshly lie that ‘he who has the most toys or wealth when he dies, wins.’ The truth is, you can gain the world and loose your soul. What then does it profit you? If you take your identity in the good works you do whether they be in certain organizations, helps in your church, events you plan or conferences you attend rather than you who are in Christ Jesus, you have idolatry in your heart. You need to repent and turn back to God.

Jesus does not say all works are bad, He says there are works that will lead to death (works of the law-and works of the flesh – see Galatians 5:19-21) and there are works that lead to abundant life here on earth and eternal life (based on faith through grace, and the fruits of the spirit – Galatians 5:22-26). Those who do the will of God…those works are what He is looking for.

If after you have done a self-exam and determine you are the Sleeping Church, we encourage you to wake up, shake off the dust and pray. Do not be dismayed but rather confess where you have turned lukewarm in your life and ask Jesus to forgive you, and then get back on track and no longer conform to the ways of the world that have dulled your spiritual senses. Ask Jesus to send His Holy Spirit to fill you and anoint your eyes with the healing eye salve so that you may have eyes to see what/or who the temptations are in your life so that you can repent and turn away from them once and for all. (See teachings on the Beatitudes to help you get on the right path to Jesus)

We want to leave you with a parable Jesus spoke about the Wheat and Tares as it refers to the Sleeping Church:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way, but when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matthew 13:24-30)

“Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” He answered and said to them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man (Jesus Christ). The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom (heirs of the kingdom/the Bride), but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13:36-43)

In part three – we will look at the Sleeping-walking Church. Until then, be encouraged and know that you are loved. Blessings to you, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Garry and Norma