Ralph Martin - Orthodoxy Isn’t Enough – What Is?

[Music] hello brothers and sisters here we are again i'm doing a series now on what the spirit is saying to the church uh the last video i did on this subject was uh from revelations chapter two the message to the church at ephesus and i'd like to add just a few things to what i said in that video i ended up by saying the lord's warning us that if we don't repent if we don't return to our first love our lampstand will be removed and our lampstand is the protective presence of christ it's his favor it's his blessing [Music] one of the commentaries on on this passage it talks about the lampstand being removed uh also being expressed in a dispersion of god's people uh like uh no longer coherent no longer together around the lord no longer together with each other and unfortunately i think we're seeing something like that happen right now that god's people are not being held by a clear sound you know even in rome there isn't a clear sound from the trumpet there's back and forth there's contradictory things being said or being implied or being hinted at same thing here in the united states you know and there are some really brave bishops that are doing what they need to do uh by speaking clearly about a lot of these things and calling people to real repentance and real faith and real conversion but there's others um it seems like it's not just a few you know maybe it's 50 or 60 bishops who want to go in a different direction and the direction that we're talking about in these videos the direction that's in the catechism of the catholic church the direction that's in the words of jesus and the tradition of the church which is a very serious matter and there's some of these people in rome too no question about it i've spoken about this more in depth in my book a church in crisis pathways forward if you'd like to know more about what's really going on in the wider church and the very serious issues we're facing i'd recommend that book the church in crisis pathways forward well that means that the bishops in the united states aren't going to be able to with one voice speak a very clear or powerful word and so we need individual bishops individual pastors individual priests to not wait for other people to get on board with them but to be faithful to christ themselves and to start to speak out clearly and call people to repentance to conversion to what it really means to be a disciple of christ thanks be to god that's happening i talked about archbishop aquila's article on the eucharist and how important it is to approach the eucharist cleansed of syria's sin and how grave a problem it is not to and it's very distressing to still see so many bishops not willing to say that clearly which is such a departure from the faith it's almost another gospel another christ another eucharist anyway uh i wanted to mention that but there's a couple other things here from revelations chapter two the message to ephesus that i want to emphasize yet this you have so here's a commendation after the warning that the lampstand is going to be removed unless people return to their first love putting jesus first in their life with some urgency with some fervor with some fortitude with some zeal he says you hate the works of the nicolasians which i also hate the best scholarship says the nicolasians were into idolatry and were lacks concerning sexual morality boy are we ever experiencing this today people really are putting other things before christ other words before his words which is a form of idolatry picking and choosing from what religion what they like you know that's idolatry that's elevating yourself as lord of your own life and boy do we ever have laxity on sexual morality do we ever have people caving in to an agenda of anything ghost do we ever have people caving into the abuse of children you know somebody in the transgender community just published an article in new york times saying people are horrified that we're bringing our children to these gay pride uh parades where they're seeing all kinds of perverse sexual behavior uh kind of acted out in different kinds of ways including sadomasochistic things and things like that and and this this woman or this trans i don't know this this person uh is saying actually it's a good thing for us to bring our children to expose them to these things so they know there's lots of options and they won't freak out when they see certain things going on in their environments this is child abuse children's protective services should should look into this but there's a demonic power there's a demonic stronghold that's taken hold in our country that is somewhat silencing people allowing this outrageous abusive behavior and ideology to take root in our schools to take root in our universities to take root in our courts whoa lord have mercy on us so here we have it here's a community that's orthodox that is against idolatry that is against sexual immorality that's doing things right but what they're lacking is zeal is courage is fire that's why we last pentecost season we did a four-week seminar that's still available on our youtube channel on the fire of the holy spirit how we need fire in our soul we need zeal for the gospel we need to be cleansed by the fire of the lord the fiery coal that the angel held to the lips of isaiah we need to be cleansed by the fire of god's love the contemplative graces and the charismatic graces of pentecost with zeal for the gospel so you can go to our youtube channel just go to put in youtube renal ministries or youtube ralph martin you'll find us and uh if you're lacking that fire uh go through those four sessions uh that we we did for our pentecost uh mission just just a little while ago uh and and subscribe to our youtube channel so you can get notice every week of a new video on what it is peter herbeck and i each week try to do a new uh every other week try to give a new video and uh other special things like that pentecost mission or the lenten mission we did or the advent mission will let you know about those things and these are things that can strengthen you and a lot of you i know don't have a lot of support we want to be there for you we want to stand with you we want to walk the journey with you we want to be your fellow disciples we want to share what the lord's giving us to strengthen you so subscribe to our youtube channel sign up for our newsletter uh it's entirely possible that we may not be able to distribute these videos in the way we are right now and the only way that we'll be able to let you know where we are and how to get these videos is if we have your email address so go to our website and uh just sign up for our monthly newsletter it's free and that will let us let you know uh where we're gonna be in case we can't be here anymore how we're speaking to you right now so basically here's a church that's orthodox that is against sexual immorality that is against idolatry it's orthodox it's liturgically correct but the lord has something against it it doesn't have the fire it doesn't have the priorities right it doesn't have uh it's complacent it's lukewarm now most of you know the famous passage in revelation chapter 3 where the lord says i know your works and i know that you're neither cold nor hot this is revelation chapter 3 verses 15. i know your works you're neither cold or hot whether you were cold or hot so because you're lukewarm and neither cold or hot i will spew out of my mouth oh my goodness that is so strong the holy spirit is trying to wake us up to fervent zeal for the lord for his gospel if you don't have it ask god to give it to you time after time teresa of avila says things like this she says unless you have a very great desire for god you won't make much progress but then she goes on to say if you don't have a great desire for god ask god to give it to you and he will we can't be passive about this we can't stand around waiting for something to happen to us we have to go after it that's why it says the lord says through one of the prophets when you seek me with all your heart then i will let myself be found by you we need to be actively seeking him with all our heart we need to be crying out to him in prayer we need to start having a personal prayer time if we don't teresa of avil also says unless you have a very great determination you won't make much progress in the spiritual life but then she says if you don't have a very great determination ask god to give it to you and he will but we need to be active in asking for what we need to persevere as disciples of christ so let's go on now to revelations chapter 2 starting with verse 8 the message to the church at smyrna remember all these seven churches spoken to here were thriving churches in new testament times and all of them had their lampstand removed because they didn't pay attention to the word of god and to the angel of the church and smyrna write the words of the first and the last who died and came to life i know your tribulation and your poverty but you're really rich you're poor and worldly goods but you're rich in the things of god and the slander of those who say that they are jews that are not but are a synagogue of satan a lot of the opposition to early christians came from from jews who hardened their hearts against their messiah against their fellow jews who had accepted the messiah so do not fear what you are about to suffer behold the devil is about to throw some of you into prisons some of us may in the years ahead be thrown into prison or fired from our jobs or deleted from social media or sort of rejected by family members or even children it's possible jesus has warned us that not only is it possible but it will happen to some the devil's about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and for 10 days you will have tribulation this is a limited period of time be faithful unto death and i will give you the crown of life he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches he who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death there is a lot in these few verses we will be tested there's a lot of references in the old testament and the new testament to the lord testing us why would the lord be testing us because he wants to see who really want him who really want eternal life who are willing to take the medicine of immortality who are willing to follow jesus in his emptying of himself and his trust in god so that they end up through death in the resurrection from the dead eternal life is such a precious gift and the lord wants to know who wants it and it's a free gift that's freely offering but it requires the price of our cooperation of our willing to take up our cross every day and following jesus of our willingness to put him first in our life and be loyal to him our loyalty to him will be tested it will be tested by the world it will be tested by the culture we're living in we will be tempted to deny we are a follower of christ in many ways in the days ahead we have to be willing to humbly but bravely acknowledge our love for jesus our faith in him even when we may be mocked even when we may be excluded from certain social circles and we must be willing to pass that test we're going to be tested by the culture we're also going to be tested by our own flesh our own disordered desires the guilt of original sin has been forgiven we've been reconciled with god through baptism and the sacraments of through faith through continuing to live in the state of grace and turn away from serious sin but the wound of original sin is still there concupiscence is still there uh avarice is still there greed is still there fear is still there lust is still there anger is still there the capital sins the roots of the capital sins are still there so we're going to be tested by our own weaknesses we're going to be tested by our own weakened flesh and we need to be willing to say no to sinful desires we need to be willing to say no to lazy desires that would keep us from putting christ first we need to be willing to say no to angry desires and passions be willing to forgive those who who hurt us we need to be willing to deny our natural hatred as a response to people who hate us and pray for those who persecute us we need to be willing to deny our disordered desires our disorderly passions we need to be willing to be crucified to the world and the world crucified to us we need to be willing to die with christ to those disordered desires so that we may be able to live with him forever we need to also be willing to be tested by the temptation of the devil it's not just the world it's not just the culture it's not just our disordered desires but we're going to be tested and tempted by activity of satan he's going to every now and then well more than every now and then as it says in ephesians chapter 6 we need the shield of faith to extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one all day long the devil is firing fiery darts of temptation to to lust to greed to anger to hatred uh to to lying to fear to cowardice uh to greed all day long fiery darts are coming in taking advantage of our own weaknesses but adding to it demonic temptation we need to be willing to resist it scripture says resist the devil and he'll flee from you that costs something that costs something a decision is needed an action is needed to renounce attempting pleasure for the sake of fidelity to christ so we will be tested the lord says here in what he says to the church of smyrna you're going to experience tribulation you're going to be tested but be faithful unto death i will give you the crown of life this is so important jesus himself says he who perseveres to the end will be saved it's not enough to be excited about jesus right after a cursillo or our life in the spirit seminar or a nation retreat or some moving experience that the lord has given us it's not enough we need to persevere to the end we need to dedicate ourselves to the lord purifying us and growing in holiness that's why i wrote the book the fulfillment of all desire the subtitle is a guidebook to the journey to god based on the wisdom of the saints this is the best wisdom the catholic church has about how we can grow in holiness how we can grow in a stability of fervor stability of zeal fortitude courage endurance so that we'll have what we need to pass the test we will be tested by the world and we need to pass it we need to be tested by our own flesh we need to pass that test when it will be tested by demonic deception and allurements and and temptation and we'll just need to be able to say no to the world say no to our own disordered desires and say no to demonic temptation and deception in order to be faithful unto death we need to set ourselves for the long haul i said this before i'll say it again the christian life is not a sprint it's a marathon we need to set ourselves for daily faithfulness getting up each day and being faithful to the challenges and the opportunities of that day jesus says sufficient for the day or the troubles thereof don't worry about tomorrow expect god to give you the grace that you need today don't worry about whether you can endure or stand it for another day or another week another year or the rest of your life take it a day at a time trusting in the lord's grace for that day we say in the lord's prayer give us this day our daily bread and our daily bread comes not just in the eucharist but our daily bread comes in god's provision for us every day whether we're able to go to the eucharist or not or all the eucharist is such an incredible special gift of strength and we should go as often as we can then it goes on to say he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches he who conquers there's a battle going on there's a war going on we have to conquer jesus has already conquered he's already defeated all these powers all these forces but he's allowing them to operate at a certain level so we may share with him in his conquering over the world the flesh and the devil yes he wants to give us a real role in our own salvation he wants to give us an opportunity drawing on his strength with him dwelling in us thanks be to god the glory of the lord has not fled from the temple of our own bodies if we've been faithful to christ the glory of the lord the presence of the lord is there christ in us is our hope of glory and christ is in us if we're living with hearts turn towards him let him hear what the spirit says to the churches he who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death now you may find this a little strange but i said to my wife this morning when we were brushing our teeth i'm really looking forward to the next phase of our life when we die and go to heaven now neither of us have any illness that we know of that's terminal or anything like that we have the usual little aches and pains of this and that but uh i'm looking forward to the battle being over i'm looking forward to the the conflict being resolved forever i'm looking forward to the incredible promise that god is making to us to make us partakers in the divine nature to to be in a place where there's no more suffering no more sorrow no more conflict but the perfect peace and love of god filling the universe filling all of us and bringing us into communion with each other now i'm really happy each day to be doing what i can to serve the lord i just want to get up each day and do something to help somebody i just want to get up each day and do something to love the lord i want i wanna struggle with my prayer time i wanna i wanna be kind to people i wanna repent when i'm impatient i wanna i wanna try to live the christian life every day i'm happy to do that for many many years to come but i'm really looking forward to when the battle's over i'm really looking forward to the next phase of our life which is the best phase of our life when we go and be with the lord forever trusting him for the timing of that trusting him for the method of that trusting him for what the last days the last illness whatever it might be would be trusting that we're we're going to hear those words god willing well done good and faithful servants maybe we all desire to hear those words may we all persevere to the end and recognize that if we conquer if we overcome with the help of jesus himself and the help of the holy spirit the help of the communion of saints and the help of one another the trials and the tests that we have to undergo we will not be hurt by the second death now let's end by talking about what is this second death well let's take a look at revelations chapter 20 beginning with 7 15. you know what i i think we've done enough right now i i think we're gonna save the second death for the next video lord i ask you to let your holy spirit fall on my dear brothers and sisters who you've led to this video strengthen them enlighten them call them out of any complacency or lukewarmness help them to actively seek you thank you lord for the amazing promise you've given us but also the amazing understanding about what we have to go through and how we can go through it so that we end up reigning and ruling with you rather than experiencing the horror of the second death amen [Music] you

Channel: Renewal Ministries

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Keywords: Christianity, Jesus, Christ, Evangelism, Mission, Spirituality, Evangelization, Religion, Catholic, Church, God, Trinity

Id: sfFccbp6FmY

Length: 23min 55sec (1435 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021