Revelation: How Jesus Identifies His Church!

(Go To Meeting)

Lyall Johnston–May 31, 2024

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How Jesus identifies His Church is very important, because when the world looks for the Church that Jesus Christ began to build, have a very difficult task.

Something happened after the death of the Apostle John. In fact, it began even before. I'd like to read you a little passage from a book called The Story of the Christian Church by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut. Now this is not written from a Biblical point of view, it's written from an historical point of view.

In chapter five, he calls this The Age of Shadows From the Martyrdom of St. Paul, 68A.D. to the Death of St. John in 100A.D.

So, here's what he has to say about the Church that Jesus Christ began and how history looked on it. We have the last generation of the first century from 68 to 100A.D., and again these are his dates, The Age of Shadows; that's what Hurlbut is calling it. He gives the reason:

From History of the Christian Church by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut—"The Age of Shadows,"
{https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=-CjxCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false}

…partly because the gloom of persecution was over the church, but more especially because of all periods in the history it is the one about which we know the least! We have no clear light of the Book of Acts to guide us; and no author of that age has filled the blank in history.

We would like to read of what later works by such helpers of St. Paul, as Timothy, Apollos and Titus, but all of these, and Paul's other friends drop out of the record…

So, there's no writing, there's no record, and what was happening in the Church from then really until the time of John, no record. That's what Hurlbut is lamenting.

For fifty years after St. Paul's life a curtain hangs over the church through which we strive vainly to look, and when it last it rises…

Now this is a very important part in this book we need to grasp:

…about 120A.D. with the writings of the earliest church-fathers, we find a church in many aspects very different from that in the days of St. Peter and St. Paul.

So again, historians recognize there was a change in the Church that was established by Jesus Christ and continued by the preaching of His apostles and the teachings of the Church at that time. It was the Church that this shadow, this curtain has come down on for that period of time from the end of Paul's life until all the writings of the early Church fathers.

With that we found that controversy began to come into the Church. The questing of the canonization of the Bible, in fact, Rome claims that they canonized the Bible throughout about 400A.D., which is a terrible absolute lie, because the Bible was only canonized—as we have been learning, as we've known for many years—in fact, the final canonization was done by John.

The Old Testament canonized canonization was primarily done by Ezra and his team. Now, let's turn back the Scripture in the Old Testament to show that these people are liars.

Those who claim the Bible was not canonized until say 400-500A.D., a total absolute lie by paganism!

Here is the word from God's Truth about who was responsible for the canonization of the Bible. You and I know, that it was Jesus Christ. Absolutely, totally no question about it! But here is how He did it.

Isaiah 8:16: "Bind up the testimony, seal the Law…"

What is the Law? Well, the whole Old Testament can actually be called the Law! It's the Law of God broken down into the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. Jesus confirms that in the New Testament. He says that is the Old Testament. He's confirming His perfect words, His seal of approval on that.

What's the testimony? There's one way you can look at that. The testimony, of course, is every word is printed in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. That's the testimony that has come from God. Because every word in Scripture—Old Testament and New Testament—is God-breathed!

As we know in the book of Revelation, how did we get the book of Revelation? God the Father gave the words to Jesus Christ, his Son. Then Jesus gave them to His angel who delivered them to John! The word came directly from God the Father!

Jesus Christ was and is and continues to be and always will be the Executor of the Law and the Commandments and the Teachings that come from the Father!

"Bind up the testimony…" Another way of looking at this is that God gave His Law. What do we find? God gives the record of ancient Israel and then the divided kingdoms! He gives us a testimony of what happens when the people that He chose to be His children in that physical sense, the 12 tribes, the testimony of what happens when they obeyed Him, they were blessed, and when they disobeyed Him, a curse came on them.

Verse 16: "Bind up the Testimony, seal the Law among My disciples."

This is Christ talking; He was the Word of God making this declaration, this proclamation. He's substantiating how the Bible would be canonized 'among the Roman Catholic cardinals and popes and priests.'

Is that what it says? No! "…seal the Law among My disciples.

Who were the disciples of Christ? The 12 apostles! Judas shipped out, but the other apostles appeared to God and Matthias replaced him.

What we have to look at is another verse. We know what happened after that in 120A.D. One of the beginnings of those theologians who, with their theology and their definition of theology: faith seeking understanding; rather than seeking understanding from the Word of God! If they would have just read the Bible, if they hadn't thrown the Old Testament out:

• What would they have learned?
• What did David say? A good understanding have they that keep all of God's commandments!

Not faith seeking understanding, but reading the Word of God and by faith getting an understanding from what God says, not what men think devoid of the knowledge and relationship with God! That's another point that Hurlbut makes.

When you ask this question of any denomination—Roman Catholic, Protestant, any other religions of this world…

Here is the Word of God. Here is what God has to say:

Verse 20: "To the Law and to the Testimony!…." the Testimony and the Law (v 16)! He's talking about the same thing.

Could we consider that Ezra and the term that he used to canonize the Old Testament, could we not also call them the disciples of Christ? Christ was, at that time, the Lord God of the Old Testament! That's what I believe and I see that in the Scriptures.

Verse 20: "To the Law and to the Testimony…."

I know we read this often, but it's absolutely essential when you want to understand how Jesus Christ reveals His true Church. It's interesting, another thought: He reveals it to those He's calling,

To the rest of the world, like Paul said, 'The Gospel to the Greek is foolishness." What you and I believe—because God has revealed it to us through His Word—is the revelation of who and what the true Church of God is!

I watched a program on YouTube recently where one of their scholars was saying that the Roman Catholic Church was responsible for canonizing the Bible around 400A.D.. That is a total lie and it is NOT the Truth of God!

Verse 20: "To the Law and to the Testimony!…."

That goes to the entirety of the Old Testament. And because this is talking about the disciples of the New Testament, Christ here is confirming even the New Testament before it was written, before He came.

Verse 20: "To the Law and to the Testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them."

Did the Law and the Testimony continue into the New Testament? Absolutely it did! Jesus came and magnified the Law and the Testimony as it is in the Old Testament, as Isaiah also says, 'He came and He magnified the Law. He set it up on a much higher level, the ultimate level, which is the level of God's Spirit. To understand even the Old Testament, we need the Spirit of God!

Verse 20: "To the Law and to the Testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them."

What does that mean? They're spiritually blind! People can say they believe in Jesus, believe in the Bible, but Hurlbut points this out. He said, and I'm actually going to paraphrase this a little, because I'm going to say what he really is saying as we would understand it. What happened is that understanding of the Scriptures became an academic exercise, and not an exercise of the Spirit of God and obedience to the Law of God!

That's where all Protestantism and Catholicism is today. It's an intellectual exercise based on human nature, based on the spirit in man, not connected to God's Spirit:

• deciding for himself
• what he thinks the Bible should read
  • by the theological process
  • by the systematizing of errors, as Paul says to the Corinthians

We have a totally different Church as Hurlbut points out: after 120A.D. it was not the same body of people.

What happened to the true Church? In the past, and many of the Churches of God have got their histories, physical points about identifying the Church, but we have one that is in [transcriber's correction]:God's Plan For Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days.

I'm going to read portions of that to you, because I would like you to take that exercise of going to Appendix B in the back of the book:God's Plan For Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days, and it is, entitled, Identifying Signs of the True Church of God

Now, let's just rephrase that on the basis of the subject that we're talking about today. Revelation: How does Jesus Reveal the True Church of God?

So, that's very important, because it's really interesting. This is not saying it's the name of the Church, and there's this factor and this factor. This gives more of a spiritual understanding from God's Spirit, and what it means if people are looking for the true Church, they're not looking for physical signs.

They need to be looking to see what church is bringing forth the fruits of God's Spirit. That's how Christ identifies it! But the rest of the world doesn't recognize the true Church. As the Gospel is preached… The very first message that we read that Jesus preached was in Luke 4

This is the encounter where Jesus was being tested by Satan for His loyalty to God the Father. We know on those three occasions with the three questions in vs 4, 8 and 12 where Christ rebukes Satan, even when he offers Jesus the rulership and the glory of all nations.

What does that tell us? That even then, even while Jesus is on the earth as the Son of God—and also a term He liked to use about Himself, the Son of man, because He came in the flesh to:

• bring to us the Truth of God
• to suffer for us
• to be crucified
• to be resurrected
• to go to the Father

Where He was able to send forth the Holy Spirit, so we could be called by the preaching of the Gospel. This is the message that the Church has, and we're going to continue preaching this Gospel to all nations. Most will not recognize it, but we're not preaching it to convert the world.

We're preaching it so that those whom God is calling will respond. That God, like He did on the first Day of Pentecost, struck the conscience of the Jews when Peter said to them, 'You have killed, you have crucified:

• the Messiah
• the Lord
• the Son of God
• this Son of man

Who came to save you.'

Then they repented, 3,000 baptized in one day. We don't see that today, but much of what is happening in that era and that function, we don't really see it. We see what's happening in the fellowship that God has placed each one of us in, which we call the Christian Biblical Church of God, just like He's placing others in other Churches of God.

We can reflect back on these seven churches in Rev. 2:3. Jesus Christ was the Head of those seven churches, and He had a message for each of those churches, specifically to each church and specifically to each individual in that church. Even though the churches existed, the people were converted:

• What was Jesus' message to most of them? Repent!
• What does that tell us? It tells us that daily that those who are the true Christians, those who are part of the true Church of God, the true Church of Jesus Christ, we are going to be repenting on a daily basis!

Searching out, we're going to be asking God the Father: Is there something that is within me that I have not repented of? Or is there something that I'm aware of?

Well, I've been praying this, and this morning I had a phone call. God revealed something to me that had happened that I was involved in, that I was responsible, because I had the wrong information.

Now as a result, and I'll be open about this, I actually unknowingly offended one of Christ's little ones. Today it was brought to my attention, and I'm so grateful to God. Because you see what happens then, you're going to think, now how can I answer this? How can I get around this? That you see, God's going to be testing me to see whether I'm going to do it the way He says I should do it in His Word. I need to go to that person and openly and wholeheartedly tell them that I have offended them because this particular person has suffered so much in this life that there's a great deal of fragility.

But I'm going to go to that person, and I'm going to apologize, and I'm going to ask her if she will forgive me, because I need to repent on that. And remember, God is watching me  how I handle that! I've already made the decision, I'm not going to try to wiggle out of this.

Even though it was done unknowingly, because I had the wrong information, I'm still going to go ahead and do what I know I have to do in order to obey God and to make sure that I'm going to do it in a way that's pleasing in God's eyes.

Not something that would suit me, not something that would make me look good. No, that's not the way we go about it. We do it in a manner that is pleasing to God, and that is the way that we go towards the perfection that Paul talks about in Hebrews. That word perfection is really worth doing a word study on that, particularly in the writings of the New Testament.

Verse 14: "Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee; and word about Him went out into the entire country around. And He taught in their synagogues, and was glorified by all. And He came to Nazareth…" (vs 14-16).

• What did Jesus say about the prophets in his own country? He couldn't do any miracles there!
• Why? Because:
• the people knew Him
• they didn't accept Him.
• they didn't believe Him

Verse 16: "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and according to His custom…

He says 'a prophet is not without honor except in his own country or his own town or his own city,'

"…and according to His custom, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day… {v 16).

If you see explanation, the note there, you'll find that this is not referring to a weekly Sabbath. This is referring to an annual Sabbath, which just happened to be the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Pentecost.

Here we are, we're just three weeks away from keeping the 49th day. And the very next day, that is 'on the morrow,' we'll be observing the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Pentecost.

What else is it called? Well, as this points out, let's just go in there:

{the following is the footnote explanation of this phrase "on the Sabbath Day" found in The Holy Bible In It's Original Order, A Faithful Version.}

Footnote: The words "on the Sabbath day" are translated from the Greek words------. A literal translation would be, "now on the day of the Sabbaths," or "Now on the day of the weeks."

So here the Greek terminology reflects that this is the Day of Pentecost. This is the day Christ was beginning His Gospel in Galilee, in His own town.

What happened? Let's see what happened when He preached the Gospel!

Verse 17: "And there was given Him the book of the prophet Isaiah; and when He had unrolled the scroll…

This is Christ, the Son of the Living God, but the people didn't know it. They knew Him as Jesus, the carpenter Who helped His father.

"…and when He had unrolled the scroll, He found the place where it was written… [He's preaching to his own people] …'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; for this reason, He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel…'" (vs 17-18).

It doesn't say it here, but we know the Gospel was the Kingdom of God—or Heaven as it is in Matthew—and repentance.

That means that preaching repentance, anyone who repented, then the way was open to them toward conversion. Nobody, not one single Jew at this point in time was converted!

• Were there Jews who were devout? Yes!
• Who were they?
• How about Mary, the mother of Jesus?
• How about Joseph?
• How about John the Baptist?
• Could you say John the Baptist was devout?
• How about John the Baptist's parents? His father was one of the priests!
• How about the two that were in the temple?

Simon, his name was, and Anna, devout. Here was Anna in there, fasting and praying. An old lady doing the work of God, praying. Simon had had a revelation from God about the Messiah, and he knew that this baby was the Christ. He knew that this was the Messiah that God had promised.

Look at the prophecies those two made. Were there devout Jews the moment of that time? Absolutely! But when you go down to the hierarchy, when you get down to the high priests… That's interesting in itself, high priests, it's not the same as one high priest. Anyway, they had all the high priests, all these other priests, the priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes. They were the bitter enemies of Jesus!

• Did they accept Him as the One Who was going to be building the Church of God? No!
• What about the Jews today? Same story!
• Are there any devout Jews? Yes, of course there are!

But when they get down to the hierarchy, that's the whole story. Actually, if you want to listen to some of the things on the latest Caravan To Midnight where John Walls is interviewing Fred, if you listen to some of the chatter before and after from John himself, he has some very interesting comments about Jews and Judaism and Zionism today. Fred did not seem to disagree with that.

Verse 18: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; for this reason, He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor."

These are the people that God is concerned about. These are the people that God the Father sent to this earth, this planet, to reach out to these people. He new it was pointless trying to get to the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees—the religious leaders and those that were the devout followers of them—that they were the devout.

Here Jesus talks about them. This is probably who He went to. This is taught that in His day He was going to the Jews, only to the house of Judah, because that's to whom He was sent. Later the disciples would take it elsewhere, to the rest of the world.

 "…He has sent Me to heal those who are brokenhearted…" (v 18).

Have we got any brokenhearted people in our midst? Yes, we have! I've got one that I have to go and apologize and ask for forgiveness. I will do that, because if I don't, what do you think God is going to do to me? We know the lesson" 'what goes around comes around.' So, if I don't go and apologize, then I will be paying a penalty. It will come upon me automatically from God the Father and Jesus Christ Himself. I don't want that! And I want to settle things so this is between me and my brother or sister. I don't want any barrier between myself and any brother or any sister. IF I do have, THEN I'm not walking in the way of Jesus Christ.

That requires deep, heartfelt repentance. Without that, I may as well say I better prepare for the second death, because that's where this ends up IF we just let these things go, become complacent and say, that 'I can deal with that some other time. I don't really have to do this, do I?' Yes, I do!

"…to proclaim pardon to the captives…"

Are we or were we once captives in bondage to Satan? This is who Jesus was preaching to:

• He knew all those who would reject Him
• He knew those who were planning and plotting to kill Him

"…and recovery of sight to the blind…" (v 18).

Those who are blind can't see. They read the Word of God like a Jew of His day. They read the Word of God, but they couldn't see it. Why? Because the Spirit of God had not yet been sent!

It was only given to those that God wanted to give it to, needed to give it to, in order that His work would continue to be done and the unfolding of His Plan could be accomplished.

"…to send forth in deliverance those who have been crushed" (v 18).

Does that tell us something about the work that the Church is to be doing today? We're talking here primarily about the work of the Truth of God and the Gospel of God to reaching out by preaching the Gospel to the nations of all those people who are blind and fit into these categories that God was calling. He wants them to receive that message.

Are we responsible for that? Or can we say that

• we'll just leave that to when Christ comes,
• we'll leave that to the two witnesses
• we'll leave that to the angel that's finally preaching the Gospel in the end-time

The Scripture says that that's not the way. it's to be done!

Verse 19: "To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

Verse 18[transcriber's correction]: "…preach the Gospel…"

That's the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God!

To give all these people who are downcast, who are depressed, who are oppressed, give them the hope of the Gospel that he had come to pay the penalty for their sins so they could enter into that hope!

Like all those we have record of in Heb. 11; they died in hope not having received the promises.

Here Jesus Christ was wanting to do the same thing for these people.

Matthew 28:16: "Now the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain, which Jesus had appointed for them to meet Him…. [we know this historically] …And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted…. [some of the disciples] …And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying…" (vs 16-18).

Mark well what Jesus is saying here, and the responsibility He's giving to His apostles at this stage.

• this commission
• this work
• this statement
• this responsibility

He's giving to His disciples who were the apostles when the Mathias was added that made 12. This then was to continue even after the death of the last of the apostles: John. This is the message what the true Church has, the authority that the true Church has, so that the Church itself knows who they are!

Even though the world does not, we only come to understand the true Church when God reveals it to us.

Verse 18: "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.'"

When we're praying—when we're talking with God the Father and Jesus Christ—we can recognize there is the ultimate Supreme Authority that we are talking to. Here the 11 were able to talk face-to-face to Jesus. You and I can talk to both God the Father through the veil, which is Christ's body, like the very throne room of God, where we're able to in spirit talk to our Father, the Great God of the universe, face-to-face in that sense. In faith, we know that we're in God's presence! Quite a thought!

Jesus is saying that because I have been given 'All authority in heaven and on earth…'"

Verse 19: "Therefore you… [now 'you' is not there, but that's the intention] …go and make disciples in all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Says nothing here about the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, or repentance, though it says that elsewhere. That's the implication. This is totally included in this statement, because how are you going to baptize if you're not preaching the Gospel and if you're not you need to repent.

Verse 19: "Therefore, go and make disciples in all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son…" That's by the power of the Holy Spirit, as we know!

So, the Father gives us the Spirit, both of the Father and Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Executor that does all the work with us on behalf of the Father. He's been given the power by the Father to do that in your life, my life, and all those that God has called is calling and will call.

Verse 20: "Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even until the completion of the age.' Amen."

Mark 1:14: "Now, after the imprisonment of John, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time has been fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is near at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel'" (vs 14-15), Then He called the disciples and they followed Him!

So, we preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and repentance, and that repentance leads or should lead to total repentance, baptism, laying on of hands, receiving God's Spirit, and then becoming a true member of the true Church of God. So, God has revealed to each one of us and to those who need to be baptized in that same manner, they will then, it will be revealed to them that they are a part of the true Church of God, which collectively are called the Churches of Christ.

But not only that, that is a special calling. God has called us to continue the Gospel as Jesus told His disciples here, the 11. We are a part of that responsibility. We each have our own task and our own job to do.

• What was the task of Anna in the temple when the baby Jesus was brought there? Fasting and praying!
• Was she doing the work of the Gospel at that stage? She was doing the work that she was called to do!

Those examples are just so inspiring! So uplifting! Here are two older people, devout. God had given them knowledge and understanding at that time. It's very clear that they were God-fearing people. Very clear that God was working with them and was in them, even though they were not told whether they had the Spirit of God or not. God had revealed something to them about Who this was.

(inaudible) for you and for me, just show the person that this indeed is the Son of God that has come into this world and did come to pay for your sins and for mine.

Well, there's so much and enough here for many, many sermons as all those speakers who (inaudible) sharing with the church collectively. All those who are speaking need to be able to speak in a manner where we have got different levels of conversion. We've got babes in the Church. We've got those who are going up into young children and then into teenagers, then into young adults, then to the elderly.

We've also got those in the various levels of understanding of the Scriptures. Some who need the 'milk' of the Word and those who need the strong teachings of the Word. There are some that just need to get that basics settled first. Once they've got those settled, then we go into the stronger food, solid food is the way that it's put by Paul in Hebrews. The solid food, of course, is the going on to perfection!

It's getting rid of all those attitudes, all the works of the flesh that are still in there niggling away at us, and from time to-time we give in to them.

So, we go before God the Father, we repent, and we ask Him to hear of us, what is in there that was not pleasing in His sight, bring it to our attention so we can repent of it. By the help of His Spirit and His Word we can overcome it until the next time when something else is revealed, and we can overcome that.

The more mature we become, the more we are able to get up to speed and grow in grace and knowledge at a greater speed. But we still have to be careful what Paul said. 'Let he/she who thinks they stand take heed least he/she fall!'

We should never get to that place! As John says about the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pretentious pride of the physical life! We are all prone to that 24/7! Satan is there, placing the power there, 'the prince of the power of the air' wanting us to give in! Wanting us to get up!

• What do we say?
• How can we answer Satan?

Matt. 4:4, Luke 4:4—'…It is written, Satan, you shall not…'—whatever the temptation is. That's a spiritual weapon. That's a spiritual thought.

The Word of God (Heb. 4:12). That's how we fight the enemy. Just those little thoughts; that's where they're coming from.

One of the greatest difficulties I have is with modern day music. I made the poetry short, but to me it's just a cacophony of noise. It's like it fries the brain. Just can't handle it. I don't think that's just because of age. I hope and I think and I pray that that's God's Spirit rejecting all this satanic mumbo jumbo cacophony of noise. Well, that's what it is for me.

All right, now I've got a lot more here. What I want to do is come down to this paper from Appendix B: Identifying Signs of the True Church of God from God's Plan For Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days [transcriber's correction]

There's actually a statement made by Winston Churchill. This is what some people do when maybe they've come to find the true Church. They see the Truth, but this is what happens.

Winston Churchill was saying this about a previous prime minister. Apparently he made this comment in 1936 or about then. He's talking about Stanley Baldwin, previous Prime Minister in the United Kingdom.

Occasionally he [Stanley Baldwin] …stumbled over a truth. Occasionally, stumble over a truth that he always picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened.

Just to make a suggestion that's possibly what happens to all too many people. They've got too many other things on their mind. It reminds us of the parable of the sower of the seed, the seed falling on the grease types of ground.

Of course, the first one falls on the hard ground and here it comes along. Then Satan comes along and picks it off.

Appendix B
God's Plan For Mankind
Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days

Identifying Signs of the
True Church of God

There are thousands of churches claiming to be "Christian." But how does the Bible define and describe the true Church of God? Listed below are major characteristics of the true believers who make up the Body of Christ:

Which is the true Church of God. Talking about each member, this is talking about you and me, and the rest of the saints, our brothers and sisters worldwide, many of them we don't know, in other Churches of God, where they have truly repented, they've been baptized, had hands laid on. They have God's Spirit.

That doesn't say that everyone in the Body of Christ has the Spirit of God, because:

• we know there are those who are tares
• we know those who have never been converted
• we know those who do not accept the doctrines and they're still (attending) in the Church

What does that do? It helps us to determine by checking or testing the fruits whether they are of God or not! It defines for us who of those who are the followers of Jesus Christ, and who of those that may be a tare, or just a religious hobbyist.

Hopefully we don't have too many of those, but we've had them in the past, and we saw what happened as a result of that, when it affected the whole Church.

1. Has an unwavering belief in Jesus Christ as personal Savior—as One Who was born of the virgin Mary, was God manifested in the flesh, and was crucified for the sins of the world as the perfect sacrifice from God the Father on the Passover day in AD 30; believes that after three days and nights in the grave Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of the Father and ascended bodily into heaven to be received by God the Father as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world on the first day of the fifty-day count to Pentecost; and that He returned…

So, the day after the Sabbath He went to the Father as Fred addresses this again to remind us and preach the Holy Days in season

…to the earth that same day to show Himself to the apostles and give them additional instructions for 40 days—and was finally received up into heaven again to sit at the right hand of God the Father as Savior and High Priest…

After the order of Melchisedec; the whole book of Hebrews delves into that so that we can understand who Jesus Christ is, as our High Priest and His role as we personally deal with Him, and the Father through Him. One Who understands our every need,

…to intercede and mediate for His people.

So what's this saying? Trying to understand who is a member of the true Church, and, that we are walking after the words that we have been given both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

That's showing us what the proof of the true church is by revelation. It has been revealed to you and to me. It's not been revealed to the whole world, but the time is coming when Jesus Christ returns on the Day of Trumpets to this earth. We have already been resurrected on Pentecost, just before that Trumpets, the last trumpets and here we come with Christ.

Those who remain on the earth, who knew we were part of the Church of God, and we kept the Sabbath Day, the Passover and the Holy Days, and they see us. If there's any, if not then, well in the 100-year period, think of those hundreds, thousands of people, that knew you, and now they look at you.

They're going to be absolutely astounded. Now they're going to understand why you and I seemed to be so strange to them. Now they'll probably say, 'Oh, I wish I had listened to you.

2. Believes that salvation is by grace through faith in the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ—on the condition of deep repentance of past sins and baptism by full immersion in water, after which God the Father gives the begettal of the Holy Spirit to the believer.

3. Has the love and faith of Jesus Christ and keeps the commandments of God.

That one point alone stands out like flashing red lights, and people want to stay away from that one, don't they? This is why the true Church, from the time we were (inaudible) is the hidden part of the Church, the world doesn't recognize it/us.

Those who want to do what they did with Jesus. I think it was after that sermon he gave to Nazareth they took Him outside, and wanted to kill Him, they wanted to throw Him down. They were the townspeople. They talk about Jerusalem and the slaughter that went on in that city during the days of the Prophets and also the days of the early Church.

Blood was running red in the streets. A very 'Holy' city, not then, but it's the place where God is going to place His Throne. Then it will be Holy! It is not Holy right now.

4. Holds to the testimony of Jesus Christ…

Everything that Jesus said! Every word—Old Testament/New Testament—now magnified by the Spirit (Isa. 42).

…and the spirit of prophecy—meaning they will understand the prophecies contained in the Scriptures as Jesus Christ reveals them…

ongoing process

…awaits the return of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, at which time all who have died in Christ—with the saints who are still alive—will be raised to immortality to rule and reign with Christ on the earth.

5. Faithfully keeps the seventh-day Sabbath…

God is blessing us today, because we're keeping the day that He has commanded, the day that He sanctified, the day that He blessed for you and me and the rest of His Family.

…the Christian Passover…

These are the things after 120A.D. we had the controversy of the Passover 14th or 15th and the they did away with it completely and changed Passover into the Easter. Eucharist or whatever!

…and the annual Holy Days of God according to the God-ordained Calculated Hebrew Calendar. A true Christian…

Meaning a part of the true Church that God will use to reveal Who He is, and Who Jesus Christ and His true Church is.

…will also reject Sunday-keeping and the religious holidays of the established Roman Catholic Orthodox and Protestant "Christian" religions.

All the religions come from none other than the remade, remolded, ancient Greek Babylon, now Babylon the Great. God says to you and to me, even though we're in the Body of Christ, even though we're in the church, IF there's any particle, any corner of our minds and our lives or our hearts that is following Roman, that is following Romanism, that's following Catholicism or Protestantism, what does God say to you and me? Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins!

Let us praise our God. Let us thank Him that He's called us and is continuing to call us out of this world and making us more confirmed, substantiating us day by day as those solid members of the Body of Christ. We are the Body of Christ. Each one of us is a member of His Body and Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church.

No pope, no man who's claiming to be the branch and also claims to be in the Church of God, who also claims to be Elijah, who also makes hundreds of prophecy when Christ is returning and failing time and time again.

But we know God has true us. He's placed us in the true Church and that, brethren, is a special revelation that God has given to you and to me. Let's praise God. Let's thank Him that He's just looked down to you and me and pull us out of this world that's helping us to come out of it and to become more and more a part of the family, loving one another.

Let's get rid of any hostility, any attitude we'll have against a brother or sister. Let us come together in the fullness of God's Spirit and the Word of God and love one another because the days are coming very, very darker all the time.

Scriptural References:

• Isaiah 8:16, 20
• Luke 4:4, 14-19, 18
• Matthew 28:16-20
• Mark 1:14-15

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Hebrews 11
• Matthew 4:4
• Luke 4:4
• Hebrews 4:12
• Isaiah 42

Also referenced: Books:

• History of the Christian Church by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

{https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=-CjxCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false}

• God's Plan For Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days {truthofGod.org}

Appendix B: Identifying Signs of the True Church of God

LJ:bo/po
Transcribed: 8/6/24

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