As we have been covering, the church at Pergamos faced one of the greatest trials of all—going from one of the worst periods of persecution to being elevated to the highest position of authority in the empire. It also dwelt at the place of “Satan’s throne.” As the church and state “married” during this period, the church took on many of the ways of the world and adopted the Empire’s hierarchal form of government.

Each morning as I pray over the different ministries in MorningStar, I am confronted by the truth that what we are doing is far beyond my ability to control. I could spend all of my time with any one of the eight major ministry divisions and it would not be enough, yet I can only give each one a tiny fraction of my time. I am also challenged by the fact that each of these ministries can have an impact on Christians around the world because of the influence that we have.

     “There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” James Madison

It is interesting to note that Adam and Eve did not think it was strange that a serpent spoke to them. From this we can deduct that before the Fall, man could communicate freely with the creatures, and they with him. The Fall caused the corruption of one of man's greatest gifts—the gift of communication.

        The greatest Christian who will ever live will be the one who loves God the most. This is why the greatest souls to ever walk the earth are those who lived a life of pursuing God, seeking to do His will. This is because doing God’s will is proof of the true love of God, not merely a whim of human emotion.

Old and New Treasures

        We have been covering how having koinonia is essential for the true New Covenant life for fulfilling The Great Commission to make disciples, not merely converts. In the New Testament, every new believer’s discipleship began with being “added to the church.” There simply is no other biblical way to walk with God that does not also include being connected to the body of Christ as a member of His church. We cannot be properly connected to the Head without also being properly connected to His body.

On Sunday, December 5, 2004, MorningStar Fellowship Church met for the first time in its newly acquired facilities at Heritage International Ministries (H.I.M.). Local news stations called it “a historic meeting” as the two services broke records for our Sunday attendance, and people had to be turned away at the 11:00 a.m. service, even in these much larger facilities.

         Over the last couple of weeks, we opened the issue of divorce, which is one of the most important issues of our time. I have addressed this in more depth in our television program, Prophetic Perspectives, and will address it in much more depth in a work I am preparing. However, it deserves much more space than we can give it in this Word For The Week format. I hope I provoked some questions for which there are sound, biblical answers that in no way compromise the Scriptures.