Mess. 08: Letter to the Church in Sardis

Word given by brother Pedro Dong, transmitted by Instituto Vida para Todos, directly from the Conference in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, on 7/2/2023. Text not revised by the author.  

 

  1. It is as if we were dreaming when we see everything the Lord is doing in these two States: Bahia and Sergipe. We have to thank the Lord that we are living in the age of Revelation, in which we can enlist as last-hour workers to bring the Lord back. We have a dual mission: 1) to build the church, by weaving a fabric of love that will last for all eternity; 2) to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the entire inhabited earth to bring back the Lord. For this, we need an army prepared to fight for the Lord; so when you hear the call, go to GPC and be perfected. Church leaders do not fail to promote GPC. Today’s GPCers will be tomorrow’s colporteurs. 
  2. On the other hand, the brothers and sisters of the churches need to be prepared in their region to take care of the welcoming center, in order to receive the people contacted by colporteurs and  GPCers in the streets. This center will pass on the contact to the care network of each church. We need to be willing to take care of other people. We need to transform the result of our preaching of the gospel into people who will live together with us to fight for the Lord’s interests in the church  life.  

Rv 3:1; Zech 4:6; Rev 4:5; 1:20  

  1. The Lord who appears to the church in Sardis has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars  in His hands, to reveal that the One who is able to do the work of God is the Spirit. It is not by  human ability, organization, or experience, or even by biblical knowledge, but it is by the Spirit. In Zechariah 4:6 the Lord encourages Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,  says the Lord of hosts.” You have little strength; you don’t have power; you don’t have enough  financial resources. But do not worry, it is by the Spirit.  
  2. The church in Philadelphia has little strength. But today, in the end times, the Lord has sent His seven Spirits. Before we used to say, “the Spirit of God seven times intensified.” However, according to mathematics, any finite number multiplied by another finite number continues to be a finite  number, even if it is a very large number. The Spirit’s power is infinite, so the sevenfold intensified  Spirit is still limited. In mathematics, any number, no matter how large, divided by infinity is zero, that  is, any number compared to infinity is zero. Therefore, we should not speak of “the Spirit seven times  intensified,” but rather of the Spirit in His completeness, in His full strength. God, then, sent the  seven lamps of fire that burn before the throne of God (Rev 4:5), but now He wants to conclude this  age, so He wants to act with full force. We are privileged to witness the beginning of this time of the  seven Spirits.  
  3. He holds the seven stars in His hand. While today our Lord is the One who holds the Seven  Spirits of God in His hand, He also has the seven stars, which are the angels of the seven churches.  The angel is the messenger. How does God do His work in the church? Through His Seven Spirits and the seven stars. Who does the work? It is no longer done by the able leading brothers,  full of Bible knowledge, but by God’s faithful messengers. The one that does the work is the  message of God, that is His Word. We are only messengers, and the more faithful we are as  messengers, the more God can hasten His work. Therefore, in the end times, the Lord needs the  seven Spirits of God and the messengers.
  1. However, as we read in Revelation 3:1, the church in Sardis does not have this reality of the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. It emerges in the midst of a period of more than a thousand years of the degradation of the church in Thyatira, which heeded Jezebel’s teachings and ushered the church into a dark age of utter ignorance and superstition about the Word. God then used Martin Luther to bring about the Protestant Reformation. He read the Bible and received light on justification by faith, which manifests that it is not by external works, like paying penances  or practicing works of asceticism, that man achieves salvation, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  
  2. However, there was a lack of messengers to speak the prophetic word. As of Exodus 19:4, God has ruled His people through His Word. In order to have the word that governs the church, God needs a messenger, a channel, which Sardis lacked. They did not address the matter of the  government of the church, so they did not have the proper vessel to receive the light of the fully  restored revelation. Each one who saw light on a biblical truth made it the basis to form a church.  Therefore, there were many divisions in the period of Sardis.  

3 John 9; At 20:29-30  

  1. In the 1st century, the Lord used Peter as His channel. Then He used Paul, so that the gospel  could enter among the Gentiles. However, even in Paul’s time, the enemy of God planted envy and  competition towards his ministry; this brought in many parallel messages and teachings. Breaches  were formed because they did not give full attention to the prophetic word, which came from Paul’s  speaking. With this, in John’s time, many heresies were introduced.  
  2. Unfortunately, in John’s time, there was no longer any reverent love for the prophetic word in the brothers, because the atmosphere in the church had become one of struggling for positions (3  John 9). Because of their lack of focus on the Word of God, they began to focus on the dispute for positions. Man likes preeminence because it brings privileges. Paul already predicted that this would happen in the church: “Ravenous wolves will penetrate among you”; “Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). Today  we have to fight against this.  
  3. The church is a living organism, not a human organization. In every human organization we see that man wants to be on top, he wants to climb up, and he fights to have a better position. In human society, there is nothing wrong with that, and it is even normal. However, in the church, there is nothing of human organization. The church is the Body of Christ and in it man does not organize  anything. God is the One who organizes. Let us each be faithful in our function in the church. We need to be taken up to another dimension: to seek things from above (Col 3:1-4). If you are lifted up to the celestial sphere, you will see that the church is a living organism.  

Rv 2:6, 15  

  1. When the Lord warned the church at Ephesus, He spoke of the works of the Nicolaitans, which  means: nico = victory, triumph over; laíta = layman, common people. It refers to a category of people  who consider themselves superior to the common people (clericalism). This is the hierarchy that  arose, unfortunately, in the second century of the church. In the church, there is no hierarchy, but there are different functions. At the time of the church in Pergamos, the situation is quite different:  there is already someone who teaches the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. When the apostle John slept in the Lord, God did not find another adequate channel to continue the prophetic word, because everyone was immersed in the quest for preeminence. If you have this ambition, God will never  choose you to be His messenger.  
  2. Those who accompanied the first-century apostles were denominated “the apostolic fathers,”  which suggests a human system of church government: “Since there is no channel to transmit  the Word of God so that the teachings of the first-century apostles not be lost, let us have the leaders govern the churches.” This is still human government. They went further: “But it is difficult to gather  the elders of all the churches, so let us differentiate the bishops from the elders.” However, this is  an error, given that bishops and elders refer to the same person in the Bible (Acts 20:17, 28). The meeting to govern the churches became an episcopal meeting – bishops governing the churches. This generated a feeling of contention: I am an elder; I will fight to become a bishop. This is a natural way for man to seek power. It facilitated the use of politics to climb positions.
  1. The Lord brought forth a scientist named Albert Einstein with the theory of relativity, which overturned many points of Newton’s laws and which states that space and time are not constant and can be represented by a physical number. A kilometer may no longer be a kilometer. Everything is  relative – time and space are relative – only the speed of light is constant in the universe.  Imagine, for example, two 20-year-old twin brothers. One is able to travel close to the speed of light and, because of that travel, he ages very slowly. The other twin brother stays here on Earth and is  now 60 years old. But the one that traveled close to the speed of light is now 21 years old. Time passes slowly, the closer you come to the speed of light. If you were able to travel at the speed of light, time does not pass. Then, you are in eternity.  
  2. As long as you are in this matter (earthly body), you will never be able to travel at the speed  of light. Light can because it is not matter, it is a frequency. God is in eternity, in another sphere.  do we see the church as a human organization? Are we struggling for positions? Brothers, God is in another sphere. He sees everything totally differently. So, if you do not go to God’s sphere, you  will think like everyone else thinks (human organization, disputes, etc.). Therefore, Paul told us to  seek the things that are from above.  

Ja 1:17  

  1. Every good, perfect thing is on high. Do you want to be perfect? You have to go up on high. Do you want to have the vision that God has? You have to go up. Nevertheless, you cannot do it in your earthly matter. Man was created by the breath of God, which comes from above and is not material. So, you can go to God’s sphere by the spirit, by faith.  
  2. Last week we had the Women’s Congress at Estância Árvore da Vida. The sisters who had  experience in the GPC of Lorena and in the PAC realized that they did things with a lot of difficulties. They had the concept that it is impolite to approach people while they are eating. But the team leader  told them to go and approach people. These sisters learned, through immersion in the Word, to be obedient. They obeyed, albeit reluctantly. They went to preach the gospel at the mall, even though they thought, “Not me! I’m going to get kicked out of the mall.”  
  3. Through immersion in the Word and obedience, little by little, these resistances were broken  down. After many experiences, all of a sudden, it seems like they left the earth – they were raptured,  to the point that they were in a sphere where they no longer cared if people were eating or if there were security guards in the mall; it only mattered that people received prayer and a spiritual book. In an experience like this, you do not turn to your earthly restrictions, so you see the church  as the Body of Christ.  
  4. God is light. He is the father of lights and dwells in eternity; He is at the speed of light, where  time does not pass. Therefore, God is always new. The secret of longevity is living in the sphere  which is above.  

1 Co 12:14-15, 18, 25-26; Ga 5:13-15  

  1. When you are taken into the sphere of God, you will see that the church is one body. We are many members, but we form only one body. Whether you are a hand, or a foot does not matter; the important thing is to be faithful. In the human sphere, a person wants a prominent  place, to have preeminence. This is the vision of those who live in the earthly sphere. Therefore, in  Paul’s time, many disputed with him over the function of being the mouth. It is God who places each  member in the Body. Miriam and Aaron asked Moses, “Does God only speak by you? Does He not  speak by us?” (Num 12:1-2). The natural man disputes and gets envious and jealous. 
  2. Those who live in the sphere that is above do not see the brother as a competitor. If one  member is fighting another in the body, that is cancer. In the midst of disputing, how will God produce  this fabric of love among us? God wants to end all disputes, envy, and rivalry so that only His love  will remain between us. Let us serve one another. God summed up the 10 commandments in one:  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal 5:13-15) Why should we continue to bite each other?  Let us not see our fellow brothers as rivals (competitors), but as brothers we love. When one suffers,  all of us suffer. When one is honored, all are honored.  

Rv 1:11-15, 20; Zc 4  

  1. John wrote the vision of the letters to the seven churches. The Lord walked in the midst of the lampstands, and He was wearing a robe and was girded around His chest with a golden band. The final result of all of God’s work is a net of love between us. The Lord, in the end times, has eyes like a flame of fire. He knows that we are very natural, we still live in the earthly sphere, and we like  preeminence. He comes to burn away these things. While we live here on earth, even in the church life, we face struggles – we are tried like bronze, which has to be refined in a furnace. More and more the funnel in the church will restrict our lives. The church life has to have reality. On the one hand, we are privileged to be in this end time; on the other hand, we will go through trials to refine the bronze. The Lord wants to make sure that only spiritual reality and love remain in the  church.  
  2. The church is that golden lampstand. The vision of Zechariah 4 shows us the Body of Christ, like the golden lampstand. Those who supply the oil are the two olive trees. They have two branches, which are connected to two golden pipes, which pour out the golden oil. These two golden pipes (spouts) refer to the prophetic word. The number two represents testimony. It is a single source pouring out the golden oil which does not fall directly onto the lampstand, but into the bowl, the recipient of the messengers of Rev 1:1. The apostle John, according to this passage, represents these two golden spouts, because he is totally united with Christ. Then this golden oil falls onto this group of servants, who are the messengers of the seven  churches. So, these seven angels of the churches supply the lampstand. Each lamp has a tube  connected to this bowl. If you are a faithful messenger of 2 Tim 2:2, the one who conveys the  golden oil in order for it to descend to others who are faithful and suitable, you are one of those tubes that faithfully convey the oil to the lamps for them to stay lit. The church’s testimony  stays alive and shining because the flow of the prophetic word has not stopped.
  1. God is faithful! It is through the prophetic word that the church is governed by God. Thus, He will not stop supplying us with golden oil. Who guarantees me this? 2 Pe 1:19. The prophetic  word will shine until the morning star rises in our hearts. The Lord will supply us with golden oil  until He returns. This is the process of building the church. This vision shows that the building of the  church is not done by man’s strength nor by his power, but by the Spirit of the Lord, through the Word (Zec 4: 6). So, it is evident that the church is not a human organization, but a living organism that functions, grows and is built up by the supply of the living Word of God, through Christ as Head.  

Hb 3:17-19; 4:2-3, 7-13  

  1. Although the Lord performed many miracles, the generation that left Egypt did not believe, they were disobedient. If we want to be the generation that will enter the good land of Canaan, we need to believe and obey. But to believe, you must be simple, just like a child. You have to  hear the word with simplicity and believe with faith. It is not believing after you pass the word through  your reasoning to be approved by your complex mindset. Faith is not of the mind but through the  simplicity of believing. Thus, things happen. It is not that things should happen in order for you to believe but believing in order for things to happen.  
  2. The rest for God’s people is to reign with Christ for a thousand years. Hope is what keeps us motivated to reign with the Lord. Before we enter the millennium, we can now enter into the aspect of the reality of God’s rest (v. 10). Today we can work in God’s rest. Our obedience is what will provide the basis for God to punish all disobedience (2 Corinthians 10: 4-6). Let no one fall into the  same example of disobedience as the generation that came out of Egypt (Heb 4:11).
  1. The way to enter that rest is by the Word of God, which is living and active (Heb. 4:12). In  every moment this Word operates. The worst confusion a Christian can make in the Lord’s work is  to serve by the soul separate from the spirit. Many seek to serve God with the good side of the soul,  that is, in the soul independent from the spirit. Many do not distinguish their soul from their spirit, but  the Word of God is able to divide the soul from the spirit. Many have been in the church life for so  many years and think they are serving in the spirit, but their service is the fruit of the soul-life. Let’s consider how we are serving (whether in the soul life or in the spirit) so as not to fall into the  condition of Mt 7:21-23, and not be approved by the Lord. Therefore, we need the word of God. Only  God can test our thoughts and purposes. All things are uncovered and open to the eyes of Him to  whom we must give account (Heb 4:13).  

Rv 1:4; 4:5; 5:6  

  1. The age of Revelation is the age of the Seven Spirits because God who speaks to the  seven churches is the One who is and who was and who is to come and He speaks from the seven  Spirits who are before His throne (Rev. 1:4). Seven is the complete or full number; it refers to the  Spirit in His completeness, fullness, and in His full strength to conclude this age. From the throne  came lightning, voices, and thunder, and before the throne burned seven lamps of fire, which are  the Seven Spirits of God (Rev 4:5). Does your heart not burn? The seven lamps of fire are burning  in the heart of each one of us to carry out God’s will.  
  2. In the midst of the throne stands a Lamb freshly slain, having seven horns and seven eyes,  which are the Seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth (Rev. 5:6). Therefore, the Lord opened  the African continent and Oceania to us. The Lord is sending us to several places: Central America,  the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, East Timor and, if the Lord desires, we will enter Asia through the  Southeast (Indonesia). The Lord is opening doors for us to preach the gospel, because the Seven Spirits were released and are moving over all the earth. Who are we to go to Africa? The  Lord is using us even though we have little strength.  

Rv 3:2  

  1. The work of the Reformation is of the Spirit. A better translation for the word “perfect” is “complete” (v. 2). The works of the church in Sardis were not complete; it was just the beginning,  the gateway to be freed from all the lies of Jezebel. However, they did not continue to foment those works – they are incomplete. With the reform under Martin Luther, a great truth was restored:  justification by faith, that is, man finally could have peace with God, through faith. Another great gift  that God’s people gained was the Bible was open and made accessible to all. However, there were  still many things to be restored and consolidated, for example, a church according to the model of  God in the Bible. The Lord did not say that its works were not good, rather, that they were not  complete or perfect.  
  2. For lack of vision according to revelation, the state churches, the Lutheran church, and later  the Anglican church, were established. With respect to the matter of the church, the Protestant Reformation followed the same model as Rome. They did not seek light from the Word about the  place of Christ as Head of the church, how to practice the government of the Spirit, how to practice  the unity of the church in each city, and about the leadership through the apostles.  
  3. Luther himself said that justification by faith was not everything; there was much more that  needed to be changed. Unfortunately, the reform stopped at this point and the issue of the church remained unresolved. In the period of the church in Thyatira, we saw a global church in  Rome; now in Sardis, following the same model, we have the state church of England and the state  church of Germany. Later, some dissenters who did not agree with the idea of the state church established private churches based on the doctrines they saw in the Bible: the Presbyterian  church was established on the truth that the church is administered by the elders; the Baptist church  was constituted on the truth of baptism; in the same way, the Wesleyan church followed Wesley’s teachings. The number of Protestant or Evangelical denominations at the beginning of the 20th  century had already reached 1500, and currently, in Brazil alone, this number must be above 25,000.
  1. Still, the Lord has bestowed blessings through His servants throughout those years. Each time  that the Lord granted blessings by the move of His Spirit people benefited from His grace. However,  in an attempt to conserve this grace, successive generations of followers end up with an empty cup,  that is, without the content.  

Rv 3:3  

  1. The Lord reminds this church that it was given an open Bible and that it should keep what is  written therein. It was so anxious to break free from the church of Rome that it failed to turn to the  pure Word of God about church practice.  
  2. Submission to the Word of God will surely become a richer source of blessing for our souls,  than the mere seeking of blessings for ourselves by ignoring God’s thoughts concerning the church  and the unity of all believers, even as He has revealed to us in the letters of the apostles.  Unfortunately, however, one often hears, “There are good things in all denominations, but none of  them are all good and right. […] But however plausible this may sound, it can only be applied to  human religious systems. God’s system must be perfect, and no system that is not perfect will find approval from Him” [Andrew Muller – Vol. 3, page 96]. If it is not perfect, it’s because it is not from God. If it is of God, it must reach perfection.  
  3. If the church does not watch, the Lord will come as a thief. It is regrettable the condition in  which this church finds itself, unconcerned with respect to the coming of the Lord. By the  prophetic word, we know that the dawn has already begun (Ps 110:3), and the church in Philadelphia  is already preparing for the coming of the Lord.  

Rv 3:4-5  

  1. According to Andrew Miller, “Obedient submission to the Word of God and separation from the world are things little known about Protestantism as it developed.” [Page 97]. They  did not concern themselves with submission to the prophetic word. In Sardis they did not talk about  it, but in Philadelphia they did. It is the world that defiles the Christian’s garments. Without a proper church life, there is no way to have spiritual reality. Garments in the Bible refer to what we are  in our living and our walk. The grace we receive comes from the flowing river of grace, through the  prophetic Word in a normal church. This spiritual supply will fill us with the life and reality of Christ,  even unto the fullness of God (Eph. 3:17-19). If it is the Lord’s church, we need to seek spiritual  perfection and reality. Christ needs to fill every void in our being.  
  2. There are in Sardis a few people (“onoma” – proper names), that is, a few names. The overcomer will not have his name erased from the Book of Life (v.5). They will walk with me in white garments, for they are worthy. The color white indicates purity as well as approval. The most important thing is to be approved by the Lord in order to reign with Him. It is not a matter of  having your name erased, for all who are saved have their names recorded in the Book of Life, but  rather whether your name will be confessed by the Lord before the Father and His angels. It is a  matter of being approved as an overcomer, in order to participate in the millennial kingdom. It is sad  to have one’s name in the Book of Life and to be excluded from the manifestation of the kingdom of  heaven.  
  3. The overcomer will be dressed in white garments. We cannot delude ourselves by living a  life of appearances and serving the Lord in a religious, traditional, and conventional way. We will all have to appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so that each one may receive according to the good or evil that he has done through the body (2Co 5:10). Therefore, we use our bodies to  preach the gospel. I hope that we are not taken by surprise on that day and the Lord says to us  explicitly: I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity. Only those who do the will of  the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 7:21-23).  
  4. Hence we see the importance of walking as those who are wise, by knowing the will of the  Lord, by filling ourselves with the Spirit, and by speaking until the Word of Christ dwells in us richly  (Eph 5:15-19; Col 3:16), that is, by instilling the Word of God in our heart and loving the Lord with all our being (Dt 6:4-9). Following, then, the truth [reality] in love, let us grow up in everything  into Him who is the Head, Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined together and strengthened by  the supply of every joint, according to the share of each part, works its own increase for the  edification of itself in love (Eph 4:15-16).
  1. Those approved will participate in the marriage of the Lamb as the bride adorned and dressed  in fine linen, bright and clean. For the fine linen are the righteous acts of the saints (Rev. 19:7-9).  Moreover, they will follow Christ as His army in the fight against the Antichrist and the kings of the  earth with their armies. They will be dressed in fine linen, white and clean (Rev 19:11-21).  

Rv 3:6  

  1. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (v.6). The Spirit has spoken, but not all have ears to hear. Jesus came to sow the Word of the kingdom, but people’s hearts are hardened; they refuse to hear with their ears and close their eyes. Blessed are the eyes of the one that sees and the ears of the one that hears, because he understood with his heart, turned, and was healed by the Lord (Mt 13: 9,16-19). 

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