Pastor Nate Prazuch, lead pastor at Christ the Word Church in Lakeville, Minnesota, exposits the Scriptures of the Bible verse by verse. Expository teaching and preaching sermons and classes are available here at the Exposit podcast.
Christ the Word Church's content can also be found on YouTube, Facebook, and online at ChristTheWordChurch.net
The Scholar Series is a battery of multi-week Bible classes focused on a deeper dive into Scripture using an expository approach.
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[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I should I be this servant, I should the show, why should my heart be lonely?
[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And long for heaven and home.
[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_01]: When she is a snake, my portion, my flesh and fantasy,
[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_01]: His eyes are the several, and I know he was a tree.
[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it is a blessing.
[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And I know he was a tree.
[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think because I'm happy, yes I think because I'm free.
[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_01]: For his eyes and I know what just means.
[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Let not your heart be 12, it's in the words I hear.
[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And resting on his good day.
[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I lose my doubt and tears.
[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I try and closer to me from care he says, me free.
[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01]: He's a star of the devil, and I know he was a tree.
[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think because I'm happy, yes I think because I'm free.
[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_01]: I know he was a tree.
[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much, mom, and sis.
[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I grew up listening to mom saying, and so did you.
[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Good memories.
[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Well this morning, like I said, we're going through the 7 churches of Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_02]: And if we have some kids here today, by the way, you can be dismissed.
[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think your grandma, most of them, is going to go ahead and help you with that.
[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_02]: For the last, I guess, one that now it's been the 6th week.
[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_02]: And these churches we've been asking ourselves, are we like this church? Are we like that church in Revelation 2 and 3?
[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_02]: But actually on a more personal level, I'd like us to be asking am I like this church?
[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Am I heart like that church? Where do I fall?
[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_02]: We looked at how these different churches were related to what Jesus said about them.
[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_02]: And John the Apostle wrote these letters, while on a prison island of Patmos having heard those letters dictated to him and his vision of Christ.
[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_02]: So these letters go to these churches from Jesus, imagine getting a letter to this church from Jesus to you and to me.
[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Would we be excited about that? Or would we be nervous?
[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm sure these were real churches, and I'm sure these people were wondering what's in that letter.
[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Then I'm about to hear.
[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_02]: My mom and sister just saying, his eyes on the sparrow.
[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_02]: And today we're looking at a church that is like a sparrow.
[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_02]: We're looking at the church of Philadelphia.
[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_02]: And if you remember back, Ephesus was the first on the list.
[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_02]: They had good doctrine. They had a good church.
[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_02]: But they lost their first love. Can you remember a time where you lost your first love in your faith walk?
[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Or at anything else in your life? And then Smerna, Smerna was very persecuted church. They all were.
[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_02]: But in particular, Smerna was not reprimanded at all. They were told just keep the faith just hanging there.
[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I know what you're going through. Next on the list was Purgumum.
[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_02]: And Purgumum was reprimanded for compromising with the world, which led to, I think, in Thyrotatthyrotyrah, tolerating sin, even within the church.
[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_02]: The church in Sardis was admonished for looking alive.
[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_02]: But being dead.
[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_02]: And as we walked through from Ephesus where they were a great church, but they kind of lost their first love.
[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_02]: They lost their burning desire, their passion for the Lord.
[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_02]: What does that lead to? You could think, well, it might lead to compromise along the way.
[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_02]: And at Thyrotatthyrotatthyrotary, you're tolerating your compromise, you're tolerating your sin.
[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_02]: And then even though you look like a church, you really just dead.
[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_02]: And then you come to this fork in the road. These last two churches.
[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_02]: On the one hand is Philadelphia, which we'll read about today, which God only blesses. He doesn't reprimand them.
[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Or the last church, Leia Dicea, will see if he spews them out of his mouth.
[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Are you at a fork in the road today? In your faith, in your life, in your marriage.
[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_02]: We'll see what the Lord says about this church we read from Revelation chapter 3, verse 7,
[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_02]: If you're following along in your Bibles, we begin with the words of Jesus.
[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_02]: And He says in verse 7, end to the angel of the church and Philadelphia right.
[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_02]: The words of the Holy One, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one will open.
[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_02]: I know your works. Behold, I've said before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.
[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they're Jews and are not, but lie, behold.
[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I will make them come down at bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you because you have kept my word about patience and endurance.
[00:09:26] [SPEAKER_02]: I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world.
[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_02]: To try those who dwell on the earth, I'm coming soon, hold fast to what you have so that no one may seize your crown.
[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_02]: The one who conquers I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.
[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Never shall he go out of it and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem,
[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_02]: which comes down from my God out of heaven and my own new name.
[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_02]: He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.
[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's pray.
[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Do you learn once again before you are talking about words that you gave to these churches many, many years ago,
[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_02]: but we asked this morning that you show us how they are applicable to us to me.
[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_02]: You are Lord and we want to obey your words. We want to learn from them so help us Holy Spirit understand the messages that you have through them for us today, we pray in Jesus' name.
[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_02]: We might know this person.
[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Little Billy.
[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Little Billy was always picked last.
[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Each day at the orphanage, the children played kickball or red rover or tag.
[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_02]: They would line up and take turns choosing their teams.
[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_02]: You always pick the best players first.
[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_02]: The biggest, the fastest, the strongest, the smartest.
[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_02]: But little Billy was none of those things.
[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_02]: He was never picked first.
[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_02]: The other children would chuckle and whisper about how small he was and that neither team really wanted Billy on their team.
[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_02]: One day, little Billy's teacher went over to him and consoled him about always being picked last.
[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_02]: And she said, Billy, I'm so sorry that you're always the last one chosen.
[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_02]: What make you happy if I assign the teams for tomorrow?
[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_02]: A little Billy looked up at her with a crinkled brow.
[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_02]: And he paused for a moment and replied, no ma'am, I'm already happy.
[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_02]: My new mom and dad are coming to pick me up today, so I won't be here tomorrow to play.
[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_02]: During his time at the orphanage, little Billy wasn't concerned about being picked last.
[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_02]: He didn't mind being small.
[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't bother him to be weaker or slower than the other kids.
[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Even though the other children looked at him as being inadequate, unremarkable and significant.
[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_02]: What was most important to Billy was some day having a family of his own.
[00:12:14] [SPEAKER_02]: Not being picked first, I'm a team.
[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_02]: His new adopting parents saw him as the child they thought they'd never have.
[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Worth more to them than his size or his speed and from that they forward.
[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_02]: They let him know that he would be always first in their hearts.
[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_02]: We're told in the scripture that the last shall be first and the first shall be last.
[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_02]: And if you're taking notes today, your first note says this,
[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_02]: the fact that in God's kingdom, the last shall be first,
[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_02]: shows us that there is a difference between how the world sees us and how God sees us.
[00:12:59] [SPEAKER_02]: That's a difference.
[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_02]: This might have been true for Little Billy but also in the way I think it might have been true for the church we're looking at today.
[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_02]: The church in Philadelphia, or even in our church.
[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Are we overly concerned about how we are sized up by the world or in our peer groups?
[00:13:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Should we perhaps be more concerned about how God views us, views me?
[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Remember that each church in this passage in Revelation 2 and 3 receives a letter from Christ through the hand of John.
[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_02]: And each letter has a different introduction about who Jesus is, about who's writing this letter.
[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_02]: In particular to that church and what they're going through.
[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Philadelphia is the sixth stop on this ancient mail route in Asia Minor or Western Turkey.
[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_02]: It was a smaller city, it was a smaller church when compared to the other six.
[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_02]: It was located actually on a geographical fault line and they had to deal with earthquakes and they had to deal with volcanoes.
[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_02]: So there was danger there and it kept the population smaller.
[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_02]: But by the same token it was also a blessing because they had rich soil which sustained that city for a while.
[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_02]: In fact, one historian remarks about how long it lasted. We'll get to that moment.
[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_02]: But just the name Philadelphia and not talking about the city in Pennsylvania of course.
[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_02]: This city is made up of two words, two Greek words, Philetto, which means Greek has about seven or eight words for love.
[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_02]: There's a love between an amount of life, there's a love between brothers, there's a love between man and God.
[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_02]: There's all these different words, they're very articulate about that.
[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_02]: This word here translated love, many places, Philetto is really a deep fondness like the fondness you'd have for a brother.
[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_02]: The second word that makes up the city's name Philadelphia is Adele Fas and it means brother.
[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_02]: This is why we know the city of Philadelphia as the city of brotherly love.
[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_02]: It was founded about 200 years before Christ was born.
[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_02]: And according to this 18th century historian Edward Gibbon, of all the seven churches, Philadelphia had the longest life as a Christian city.
[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_02]: He wrote this, he said, Philadelphia alone has been saved.
[00:15:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Among the Greek colonies in churches in Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, a column in a scene of ruins, a little church.
[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_02]: It was the longest to remain.
[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_02]: She's a dictated seven letters during that time when John was writing Revelation.
[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Only two of them came without reprimands.
[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Smurna, the most persecuted church in this church, Philadelphia, this feeble church in Asia Minor.
[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's look at verse 7.
[00:15:55] Excuse me.
[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Again, Jesus says, and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia right, the words of the Holy One.
[00:16:03] [SPEAKER_02]: The true one who has the key of David who opens and no one will shuts, who shuts and no one opens.
[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_02]: And we have to think now, if you can put your mind in the sandals of a first century here of this letter, what does that mean?
[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Who is the Holy One?
[00:16:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Who's the true one?
[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_02]: In Israel's history, who is holy but God?
[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_02]: In the temple, the priest would attend to their work in the Holy Place.
[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_02]: And within the Holy Place was the Holy of Holies.
[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_02]: And within the Holy of Holies, there was the Ark of the Covenant.
[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_02]: And upon the Ark of the Covenant, rested the presence of God, the most holy of all holy places.
[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_02]: The Mercy Seat.
[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Holy, which is maybe better understood by thinking about it this way, it's like otherliness.
[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_02]: There's nothing like being holy.
[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_02]: God is holy.
[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_02]: He's different than you and me.
[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_02]: We're sinful.
[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_02]: God is holy.
[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_02]: He's perfect.
[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_02]: But holy was how Jesus was recognized by His own disciples.
[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_02]: And John 6, they said, you're the Holy One of God.
[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_02]: And even the demons recognize Jesus as being holy.
[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_02]: They referred to Him as the Holy One of God and looked for.
[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_02]: If you go back to the Old Testament, you can remember from last week we talked about Isaiah 6 where Isaiah has his vision of God on his throne.
[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And what are the angels saying over and over about God?
[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_02]: But that He's holy.
[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_02]: Holy.
[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_02]: The prophet Jeremiah says about God, there's no one like you.
[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_02]: No one.
[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_02]: You're holy.
[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_02]: And if we had any doubt, Jesus goes further and he says, not only am I the Holy One.
[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_02]: And you know what that means.
[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm the true one.
[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm true.
[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_02]: He calls Himself truth in John 14.
[00:18:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Your next note here says, Jesus is holy and true.
[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_02]: And we can fully trust.
[00:18:11] [SPEAKER_02]: And should always obey His words to us.
[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_02]: We can't doubt Jesus.
[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_02]: We can doubt our friends and family members.
[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_02]: They're going to let us down.
[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to let my friends and family down.
[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm a human being.
[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_02]: But when I come to the Lord Jesus Christ, what He says in His word, you can trust that.
[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_02]: You can believe that.
[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_02]: And this church was hearing from Jesus.
[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_02]: If they had any doubt, He says, I'm the one speaking here.
[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Believe what I'm about to tell you.
[00:18:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus goes on then to refer to Himself in this way.
[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_02]: In the second part of verse 7 he says, the words of the Holy One, the true one here it is, who has the key of David?
[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_02]: And no one who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, how do we understand the key of David?
[00:18:59] [SPEAKER_02]: What does this key of David?
[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Now the first century here might know better than we do.
[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_02]: We're coming from a large separation between time and space and culture.
[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_02]: What does this mean?
[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_02]: We would want to know what it means because it's the words of our Savior, our Lord.
[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_02]: What does it mean?
[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I think we might gain understanding from two particular places in Scripture about what this key of David means.
[00:19:21] [SPEAKER_02]: And why is it so important that this church hears it?
[00:19:26] [SPEAKER_02]: First we could make the connection to Daniel 4 or Daniel 12 or where,
[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_02]: while Daniel's receiving a message, prophetic message about the future, his distant future.
[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_02]: He's told to shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end.
[00:19:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Can you imagine getting a prophetic vision from the Lord?
[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_02]: And he says, I want you to write this down and you're excited to tell the people what's going to happen in the future.
[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_02]: What's coming?
[00:19:53] [SPEAKER_02]: And at the end he says, no, close it.
[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_02]: It's not for your time.
[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_02]: It's for the future.
[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_02]: But who has the key to open that?
[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_02]: The revelation we're asked, who's worthy to open this girl?
[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus here tells the city of Philadelphia.
[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm worthy.
[00:20:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I have the key.
[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_02]: And he's going to open it for them.
[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_02]: The other place to gain insight, I think, about what this key of David really comes from mostly.
[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_02]: As Isaiah chapter 22.
[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_02]: And again remember when Jesus is speaking or when the apostles are speaking in the New Testament,
[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_02]: a lot of times they'll refer back to the old.
[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_02]: So we want to take note of that.
[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Why did they refer to this?
[00:20:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Think about when Christ was hanging on the cross.
[00:20:37] [SPEAKER_02]: And he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_02]: He was quoting from Psalm 22.
[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_02]: So if you go back to read Psalm 22, that's a Messianic prophetic message about what's happening on that day when he's being crucified.
[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_02]: He wants us to go back and look and read for more color and understanding.
[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_02]: So we go back to Isaiah 22, which Jesus quoted in Revelation 3 to Philadelphia.
[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, he received a Lord giving a message to Isaiah.
[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_02]: He's giving a message to Isaiah about the chief steward in the palace of the King.
[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_02]: King has a caio.
[00:21:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Like a chief of staff, he oversees everything.
[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_02]: And so you can imagine as any chief of staff might kind of get a big head maybe potentially at some point about, hey, I run this palace.
[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Things are going to go my way.
[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think Jesus refers back to this passage for a few different reasons.
[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_02]: One is to show the people in Philadelphia about how what they're dealing with will be addressed swiftly.
[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_02]: People in Philadelphia were dealing with persecution certainly from the Romans, but also the Jews who, as we'll see, call themselves Jews.
[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_02]: But aren't.
[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_02]: They don't have the heart of Christ.
[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_02]: They're keeping the Christians under their thumb.
[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Their followers are the Pharisees and they're like the Pharisees.
[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_02]: And so as we read briefly from Isaiah 22, think about the faras' saical way.
[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_02]: These people were living.
[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_02]: And how it was a burden to these little church in Philadelphia.
[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Isaiah 22 verse 16 says this,
[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_02]: and it's the Lord speaking to this chief of staff.
[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_02]: This chief steward.
[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, what have you do here?
[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_02]: And whom have you here that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself?
[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_02]: You who cut a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock?
[00:22:45] [SPEAKER_02]: When I read this first, I thought this sounds like the temple.
[00:22:48] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, we have to be careful about how we interpret scripture.
[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_02]: But as we'll see, you think about the temple in Israel,
[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_02]: made of large stones, cut out a stones.
[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, you think you're running the show here in the King's Palace,
[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_02]: and you have this beautiful mansion.
[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, what you've done here, you've cut yourself a tomb.
[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_02]: It's kind of like when we say, well, you've made your bed.
[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Now you're going to have to sleep in it.
[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_02]: Look what you've done.
[00:23:15] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, what have you to do here?
[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_02]: What are you doing here?
[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Verse 17, behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently.
[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, you strong man. He's being sarcastic here.
[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_02]: He will seize firm hold on you and whirl you around and around
[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_02]: and throw you like a ball into the wide land.
[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And there you shall die.
[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_02]: And there shall be your glorious chariots again, sarcasm.
[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_02]: You shame of our your master's house.
[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_02]: You're the chief of staff.
[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_02]: What were the Pharisees, the stewards of the temple?
[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_02]: These connections are being made here today for us,
[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_02]: but in the first century, the connections are stronger.
[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_02]: They're saying that sounds like the Pharisees in the temple.
[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Stoards of their master's house.
[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_02]: They're going to be thrown out.
[00:24:02] [SPEAKER_02]: They're making shame of their master's house.
[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Verse 19, I will thrust you from your office,
[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_02]: and you will be pulled down from your station.
[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_02]: And what happened in 70 AD, the temple was destroyed,
[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_02]: not one stone left upon another.
[00:24:18] [SPEAKER_02]: He pulled them down from their station.
[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_02]: The Philadelphia Christians understood this.
[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Your next note here says,
[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_02]: it may appear.
[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like last week.
[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_02]: It may appear that you're doing righteous things for the Lord.
[00:24:34] [SPEAKER_02]: But he knows your heart.
[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe you are.
[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_02]: But if you're not and you're doing it for any other reason,
[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_02]: he knows.
[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_02]: You might be fooling many people.
[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Verse 25 of Isaiah, or verse 20 of Isaiah 22.
[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_02]: The Lord continues.
[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, in that day I will call my servant, I like him,
[00:24:59] [SPEAKER_02]: the Son of Hilakaya.
[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_02]: And I will clothe him with your robe.
[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to take what you have.
[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to give it to him.
[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_02]: And I will bind your sash on him.
[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_02]: And I will commit your authority to his hand.
[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_02]: They're going to lose their place.
[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_02]: They're authority to someone else.
[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_02]: And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_02]: and to the house of Judah.
[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_02]: What tried to Jesus come from?
[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_02]: The tribe of Judah.
[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Might this be pointing ahead to Christ.
[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_02]: And what he would do to restore the true stewardship
[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_02]: of his father's house.
[00:25:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Verse 22, in I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David.
[00:25:45] [SPEAKER_02]: He shall open and none shall shut.
[00:25:47] [SPEAKER_02]: And he shall shut and none shall open.
[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_02]: And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place.
[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_02]: And he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.
[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Didn't Jesus do that.
[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_02]: And then we'll hang on him the whole honor of his father's house,
[00:26:07] [SPEAKER_02]: the offspring and the issue, every small vessel from cups
[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_02]: to all the flaggons, larger vessels.
[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_02]: In that day, declares the Lord of hosts,
[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_02]: the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give away.
[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_02]: That peg that was fastened in a secure place
[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_02]: will give away.
[00:26:36] [SPEAKER_02]: And it will be cut down and fall.
[00:26:39] [SPEAKER_02]: And the load that was on it will be cut off for the Lord has spoken.
[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_02]: And the letter to Philadelphia, the Lord Jesus refers to this passage.
[00:26:52] [SPEAKER_02]: We'll see in the next few verses Philadelphia was, person who did by.
[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_02]: People that said, where Jews?
[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Where have God?
[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Do what we say?
[00:27:00] [SPEAKER_02]: And they're small.
[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_02]: They're feeble.
[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_02]: What do we do?
[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_02]: We'll run to a pression.
[00:27:05] [SPEAKER_02]: We can't really do much.
[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_02]: But they weren't true followers of God.
[00:27:12] [SPEAKER_02]: They were followers of maybe the Pharisees or that system.
[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_02]: The stewards of the temple.
[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_02]: But the Lord said, I will evict them from my house.
[00:27:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Isaiah was foreshadowing what Jesus would do to his father's house
[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_02]: in his father's house.
[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_02]: The temple he came and he would clean house.
[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think in Philadelphia he's giving them message to.
[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_02]: We're going to clean house over there.
[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Hold fast.
[00:27:37] [SPEAKER_02]: I know you're not strong enough.
[00:27:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe to defend yourself, but I'm with you.
[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm with you.
[00:27:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I have the key of the house of David.
[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm the one who opens and shuts.
[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_02]: No one else.
[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus wants to fire us to call himself the door.
[00:27:50] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, I am the door.
[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Remember John 10?
[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm the door.
[00:27:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Your next note here says,
[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus is sovereign over who is permitted to enter the door of his kingdom.
[00:28:02] [SPEAKER_02]: He is the door.
[00:28:04] [SPEAKER_02]: He's the one that says so.
[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_02]: He opens, no one can shut it.
[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_02]: If he closes the door and no one's going to open it,
[00:28:11] [SPEAKER_02]: he's sovereign.
[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Well what door is this?
[00:28:15] [SPEAKER_02]: We're talking about these doors.
[00:28:17] [SPEAKER_02]: What is this door?
[00:28:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I think in the grandest sense it's the door of salvation.
[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_02]: What other door could it be?
[00:28:25] [SPEAKER_02]: The door to the kingdom of God.
[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_02]: He decides who enters and whom may not.
[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_02]: We hear people say things like back in 1972.
[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, no one in this room was born back then in 1972.
[00:28:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Goodness, that's so far away.
[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_02]: They might have said, I want to a campaigning,
[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_02]: and I accept the Jesus into my heart.
[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_02]: I accept the Jesus as Lord, but you're not going to find that language in Scripture.
[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think a closer reality is that Jesus accepts you.
[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_02]: When we talked about the garment,
[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_02]: the white robes, the wedding garment.
[00:29:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I think back to Matthew, the parable, the wedding feast.
[00:29:05] [SPEAKER_02]: The master of the feast finds someone in the feast
[00:29:07] [SPEAKER_02]: without a wedding garment. He's just how'd you get in here.
[00:29:11] [SPEAKER_02]: So I just came in.
[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_02]: I was eating and he threw him out.
[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_02]: And we talked about what is that wedding garment?
[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_02]: What is that? The white robe? What is it?
[00:29:20] [SPEAKER_02]: It's a significant. It's the righteousness of Christ.
[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_02]: If we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ,
[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_02]: wedding garment, white robes,
[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_02]: and you have access to the kingdom.
[00:29:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And he will accept you in.
[00:29:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Not because of you doing something,
[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_02]: earning it, working for it being nice,
[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_02]: is because of your faith in Christ.
[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_02]: It's because of nothing you did, but because of what he did.
[00:29:47] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, you're in.
[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_02]: The wedding garment.
[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_02]: And you're accepted eternally with that garment.
[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Versailles. Jesus is looking at the small church
[00:29:59] [SPEAKER_02]: and he says, I know your works.
[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Behold, I've said before you an open door,
[00:30:05] [SPEAKER_02]: which no one is able to shut.
[00:30:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I know that you have but little power.
[00:30:11] [SPEAKER_02]: And yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
[00:30:15] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, I know your works.
[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I know your story.
[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_02]: I know what you're going through.
[00:30:23] [SPEAKER_02]: I set before you an open door that no one's going to shut.
[00:30:29] [SPEAKER_02]: In the granted sense, I believe this is pointing
[00:30:32] [SPEAKER_02]: to that door of salvation.
[00:30:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Matthew 25, all those who pass through this door
[00:30:41] [SPEAKER_02]: will hear these words.
[00:30:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't you want to hear these words well done?
[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Good and faithful servant.
[00:30:49] [SPEAKER_02]: You have been faithful over a little.
[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Ephesus, I'm sorry, full of doubt.
[00:30:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, Philadelphia was faithful over a little.
[00:30:59] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, I will set you over much.
[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Enter in to the joy of your master.
[00:31:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Enter in what through that door.
[00:31:06] [SPEAKER_02]: That door of Christ.
[00:31:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I think this is a message that the people
[00:31:10] [SPEAKER_02]: and Philadelphia those Christians
[00:31:11] [SPEAKER_02]: could really relate to.
[00:31:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus says, you have little power.
[00:31:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I know.
[00:31:18] [SPEAKER_02]: But you kept my word.
[00:31:21] [SPEAKER_02]: You haven't denied my name.
[00:31:23] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, that's what's important.
[00:31:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Not being picked first.
[00:31:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I know you're small.
[00:31:30] [SPEAKER_02]: You're a faint light in the darkness.
[00:31:33] [SPEAKER_02]: You may be few, but my powers with you.
[00:31:37] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm with you.
[00:31:41] [SPEAKER_02]: You may not be numerous.
[00:31:43] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, what's your faithful?
[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_02]: You may not be impressive to the world.
[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_02]: But you're faithful.
[00:31:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Your next note here says, in your life.
[00:31:58] [SPEAKER_02]: And in your church,
[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not seeking the approval of men,
[00:32:03] [SPEAKER_02]: but the approval of God.
[00:32:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Speaking about being impressive to the world.
[00:32:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Last week we said regarding the church and thaiatirah
[00:32:14] [SPEAKER_02]: that looks can be deceiving.
[00:32:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Isn't that true?
[00:32:16] [SPEAKER_02]: We all know that.
[00:32:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Looks can be deceiving.
[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_02]: And you know, that cuts both ways.
[00:32:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Because thaiatirah look really good.
[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_02]: They look alive and it would be like a church
[00:32:26] [SPEAKER_02]: people would say, this is a great church.
[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_02]: A call live it is.
[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_02]: There's always something going on over there.
[00:32:30] [SPEAKER_02]: And there's always cars coming in and out.
[00:32:32] [SPEAKER_02]: There's balloons and there's everything.
[00:32:33] [SPEAKER_02]: It's great, but inside their dead, Jesus said they're dead.
[00:32:38] [SPEAKER_02]: But on the other hand, you could be a church where no one even knows you exist
[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_02]: and be alive.
[00:32:49] [SPEAKER_02]: A real church.
[00:32:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Not overly not worthy in any way.
[00:32:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Just a few normal people ordinary.
[00:32:58] [SPEAKER_02]: But real.
[00:33:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I couldn't help but be reminded about how the Lord doesn't
[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_02]: pay the same attention to things that man does.
[00:33:07] [SPEAKER_02]: And I thought of a few examples.
[00:33:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Remember, back when Samuel went to a night, David is king
[00:33:12] [SPEAKER_02]: and Jesse didn't even bring it all his sons because he thought,
[00:33:15] [SPEAKER_02]: well, it must be one of these young men of mine
[00:33:17] [SPEAKER_02]: strapping lads.
[00:33:18] [SPEAKER_02]: David's out in the field somewhere.
[00:33:20] [SPEAKER_02]: He's just a kid.
[00:33:22] [SPEAKER_02]: And Samuel came by and said, no, this isn't the one.
[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_02]: I think it might be this one.
[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_02]: No, no, no, no.
[00:33:26] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, do you have any other kids?
[00:33:29] [SPEAKER_02]: And Jesse said, well, he's just a kid.
[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_02]: He's out in the field.
[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Samuel said, bring him.
[00:33:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe he's the one.
[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_02]: The young David.
[00:33:38] [SPEAKER_02]: He was the one.
[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Even the man of God, the prophet of God thought it might be
[00:33:47] [SPEAKER_02]: this one, that one, these look like any of them could be
[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_02]: the new king.
[00:33:52] [SPEAKER_02]: But God says, no, I don't see them how you see them.
[00:33:59] [SPEAKER_02]: What about when David slew the glieth?
[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_02]: No one gave much hands.
[00:34:04] [SPEAKER_02]: But he did it.
[00:34:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Why?
[00:34:05] [SPEAKER_02]: Because God was with him.
[00:34:09] [SPEAKER_02]: What about when Gideon defeated 135,000 soldiers
[00:34:13] [SPEAKER_02]: with 300 men?
[00:34:15] [SPEAKER_02]: No one gave much hands.
[00:34:18] [SPEAKER_02]: But God was with him.
[00:34:22] [SPEAKER_02]: By the looks of it, they didn't stand a chance.
[00:34:26] [SPEAKER_02]: What about the idea of the mustard seed?
[00:34:28] [SPEAKER_02]: The tiny seed in the garden.
[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Big tree and a mustard seed.
[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Or the acorn.
[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_02]: You look a little acorn.
[00:34:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, no big deal.
[00:34:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Big tree comes over an acorn.
[00:34:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Philadelphia was a diamond in the rough.
[00:34:47] [SPEAKER_02]: It was an ugly duckling.
[00:34:48] [SPEAKER_02]: And man's eyes.
[00:34:52] [SPEAKER_02]: A little boy in the sidelines.
[00:34:56] [SPEAKER_02]: An unsightly lump of clay.
[00:34:58] [SPEAKER_02]: But put in the hands of the ultimate artist,
[00:35:02] [SPEAKER_02]: the ultimate sculptor, God,
[00:35:04] [SPEAKER_02]: becomes a work of art.
[00:35:06] [SPEAKER_02]: And God's eyes.
[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Like Jesus' words to the church in Philadelphia,
[00:35:13] [SPEAKER_02]: a Paul sent similar words to the young pastor Timothy,
[00:35:16] [SPEAKER_02]: remember in 1 Timothy 4 when he said,
[00:35:18] [SPEAKER_02]: let no one despise you for your youth.
[00:35:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't let him mock you because you're young.
[00:35:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Because I'm with you.
[00:35:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't do it.
[00:35:29] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, the world's good at making us feel
[00:35:31] [SPEAKER_02]: and look insignificant overlooked.
[00:35:39] [SPEAKER_02]: But as a child of God.
[00:35:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Or a small group of believers.
[00:35:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't let anyone tell you you're too small.
[00:35:50] [SPEAKER_02]: You're too young.
[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_02]: You're too old.
[00:35:56] [SPEAKER_02]: You're too weak.
[00:36:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Your next note is a question.
[00:36:05] [SPEAKER_02]: The question isn't the note says,
[00:36:06] [SPEAKER_02]: do you measure up to the world's expectations?
[00:36:09] [SPEAKER_02]: That's not the question.
[00:36:11] [SPEAKER_02]: The question is, are you faithful to Christ?
[00:36:16] [SPEAKER_02]: It's different.
[00:36:18] [SPEAKER_02]: God says, I don't care what the world says about my people.
[00:36:21] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't care.
[00:36:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Why should they care?
[00:36:24] [SPEAKER_02]: You're not big enough.
[00:36:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Strong enough.
[00:36:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Smart enough.
[00:36:29] [SPEAKER_02]: But are they faithful?
[00:36:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[00:36:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Are you faithful?
[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Because I know you give that self-talk to yourselves and you beat yourself up.
[00:36:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Let alone let in the world beat you up.
[00:36:44] [SPEAKER_02]: We all do it.
[00:36:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Question is, is it am I good enough?
[00:36:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Remember the old steward smallie?
[00:36:51] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm good enough from smart enough.
[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_02]: World is going to tell you that you're good enough.
[00:36:56] [SPEAKER_02]: You're smart enough.
[00:36:56] [SPEAKER_02]: People like you know.
[00:36:57] [SPEAKER_02]: They're going to beat you down.
[00:37:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't worry about that.
[00:37:04] [SPEAKER_02]: God doesn't care about that.
[00:37:05] [SPEAKER_02]: They're going to talk.
[00:37:06] [SPEAKER_02]: What is the saying, hey, there's going to be a hate.
[00:37:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't listen to it.
[00:37:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Doesn't matter.
[00:37:15] [SPEAKER_02]: God says, on judgment day, re-efeatful to me.
[00:37:19] [SPEAKER_02]: That's the one question.
[00:37:21] [SPEAKER_02]: You better have a good answer to.
[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_02]: If you have any hope of entering that door.
[00:37:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Was I faithful?
[00:37:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Am I now faithful?
[00:37:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Or am I too worried about being faster stronger?
[00:37:34] [SPEAKER_02]: More successful?
[00:37:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Look in the best.
[00:37:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Are you faithful?
[00:37:38] [SPEAKER_02]: What does that word mean?
[00:37:40] [SPEAKER_02]: Faithful.
[00:37:40] [SPEAKER_02]: Full of faith.
[00:37:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Are you full of faith?
[00:37:44] [SPEAKER_02]: When times are tough and hard and it looks like there's no way out.
[00:37:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Are you still full of faith?
[00:37:50] [SPEAKER_02]: While even if I die here, I'll still have my eternal life.
[00:37:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Do you have that much faith?
[00:37:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Do you really believe what Jesus says?
[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_02]: He's true?
[00:38:01] [SPEAKER_02]: He's God?
[00:38:04] [SPEAKER_02]: He's opened up a door wide for us.
[00:38:06] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, in John 10, I am the door.
[00:38:09] [SPEAKER_02]: And he says, if anyone enters by me, he'll be saved.
[00:38:14] [SPEAKER_02]: No matter what religious leader around the world says about how many ways there are to Christ or to God,
[00:38:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus says, I'm the way.
[00:38:23] [SPEAKER_02]: And if you enter by me, you'll be saved.
[00:38:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Verse 9.
[00:38:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus says, behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews but are not but lie.
[00:38:34] [SPEAKER_02]: I will make them come and bow down before your feet.
[00:38:38] [SPEAKER_02]: And they will learn that I've loved you.
[00:38:41] [SPEAKER_02]: The synagogue of Satan, what was that?
[00:38:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Remember last week we heard about this.
[00:38:45] [SPEAKER_02]: The synagogue of Satan earlier, I mentioned about what the Pope said a week ago about how all religions lead to God.
[00:38:59] [SPEAKER_02]: What would Jesus say about that?
[00:39:04] [SPEAKER_02]: What did Jesus say about that?
[00:39:09] [SPEAKER_02]: In verse 9, Jesus says, they say they're Jews but they're not.
[00:39:15] [SPEAKER_02]: They say they are people of God.
[00:39:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus says, but they're not.
[00:39:20] [SPEAKER_02]: It's easy to say that.
[00:39:22] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, talk is cheap but he says, they're of the synagogue of Satan.
[00:39:29] [SPEAKER_02]: If you bring any other gospel as if there is one as Paul would say in Galatians, anything else is Satanic.
[00:39:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Because it leads away from God, away from salvation.
[00:39:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Is any other gospel able to save than the gospel of Christ?
[00:39:48] [SPEAKER_02]: So if it doesn't save you, what happens on judgment day?
[00:39:51] [SPEAKER_02]: You're in or you're out.
[00:39:56] [SPEAKER_02]: We heard the same language in Revelation 2 to the church in Smerna and its strong language.
[00:40:01] [SPEAKER_02]: And I would dare say it's the strongest language used by our Lord.
[00:40:07] [SPEAKER_02]: To describe people that say they're of him.
[00:40:12] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, don't use my name like that.
[00:40:16] [SPEAKER_02]: It puts you in what Jesus calls the synagogue of Satan.
[00:40:21] [SPEAKER_02]: These people who call themselves Jews certainly were probably of Jewish ancestry, Jewish culture,
[00:40:28] [SPEAKER_02]: and followed some semblance of that religion.
[00:40:32] [SPEAKER_02]: But they weren't true Jews.
[00:40:34] [SPEAKER_02]: We heard about in Romans 2, Paul says, a Jew, a real Jew that the way God reckons a true person of God is one inwardly of the heart.
[00:40:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Not all of them.
[00:40:44] [SPEAKER_02]: They claim to be people of God, but they're persecuting Christians.
[00:40:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Does that make sense?
[00:40:54] [SPEAKER_02]: And Jesus assures them.
[00:40:54] [SPEAKER_02]: These people who are the vain of your existence, they're going to bow the knee and they're going to understand that you're my people.
[00:41:06] [SPEAKER_02]: And that might be through their own repentance.
[00:41:09] [SPEAKER_02]: But it might be on judgment day after they refuse to repent, but they're going to bow the knee.
[00:41:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus tells him that.
[00:41:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Verse 10 says, because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world.
[00:41:29] [SPEAKER_02]: To try those who dwell on the earth, I'm coming soon.
[00:41:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Whole fast to what you have so that no one may seize your crown.
[00:41:38] [SPEAKER_02]: He's telling him, hang in there.
[00:41:41] [SPEAKER_02]: I know you're putting up with it.
[00:41:44] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, just keep putting up with it for a little while.
[00:41:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm coming.
[00:41:49] [SPEAKER_02]: And he knows you put up with it too.
[00:41:51] [SPEAKER_02]: All of us, you put up with it.
[00:41:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Whatever that is.
[00:41:55] [SPEAKER_02]: And you probably ask yourself, why do I put up with this?
[00:42:01] [SPEAKER_02]: And you look up and he said, got how long have I put up with this?
[00:42:10] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, just a little while longer.
[00:42:12] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm coming soon.
[00:42:14] [SPEAKER_02]: He hasn't forgot about what you're putting up with.
[00:42:18] [SPEAKER_02]: He's here.
[00:42:18] [SPEAKER_02]: He knows you.
[00:42:19] [SPEAKER_02]: He knows your situation.
[00:42:24] [SPEAKER_02]: If we desire to model our self after the church in Philadelphia, the small church, I think Christ would tell us be patient.
[00:42:33] [SPEAKER_02]: And endure.
[00:42:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Be patient and endure.
[00:42:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Those are small, easy words to say.
[00:42:42] [SPEAKER_02]: But there's power in those words if you walk it out.
[00:42:46] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, harder is to be patient.
[00:42:48] [SPEAKER_02]: It's easy to be patient for about two seconds.
[00:42:51] [SPEAKER_02]: What if you're in a drive through line that takes more than four minutes?
[00:42:54] [SPEAKER_02]: You're not patient anymore.
[00:42:56] [SPEAKER_02]: It's hard to be patient.
[00:42:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Easy to say.
[00:42:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Be patient.
[00:42:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Hard to be patient.
[00:43:01] [SPEAKER_02]: And you're walking through things in life that are real things.
[00:43:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Big things and deep things.
[00:43:06] [SPEAKER_02]: It's even harder to be patient.
[00:43:08] [SPEAKER_02]: You say, God, I got to put up with more of this.
[00:43:12] [SPEAKER_02]: I just got to let her and I found that this has been the last for three more months.
[00:43:17] [SPEAKER_02]: He says, be patient.
[00:43:19] [SPEAKER_02]: And that word endure.
[00:43:22] [SPEAKER_02]: It's a concept someone aside with character and wisdom.
[00:43:27] [SPEAKER_02]: He wants to give us more character and wisdom.
[00:43:28] [SPEAKER_02]: And we're supposed to count these things as all joy.
[00:43:30] [SPEAKER_02]: James says, go through this junk.
[00:43:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Kind of blessing to go through this stuff.
[00:43:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus commends them for patiently enduring, for putting it up with it all.
[00:43:49] [SPEAKER_02]: And he promises to keep them from that hour trial that is coming.
[00:43:52] [SPEAKER_02]: On the whole world, he says,
[00:43:55] [SPEAKER_02]: The whole on and the most comforting thing about that is that he is actually the one that's holding on for us.
[00:44:04] [SPEAKER_02]: And he's actually the one that holds on to us.
[00:44:06] [SPEAKER_02]: And he's the one in June that says, I'm able to make sure that you don't stumble.
[00:44:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank God for that because I know we all would.
[00:44:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Last two verses, verse 12.
[00:44:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus says, the one who conquers.
[00:44:25] [SPEAKER_02]: I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.
[00:44:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Never shall he go out of it.
[00:44:30] [SPEAKER_02]: And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God.
[00:44:34] [SPEAKER_02]: The New Jerusalem, which comes forth, comes down from my God out of heaven.
[00:44:39] [SPEAKER_02]: And my own new name.
[00:44:41] [SPEAKER_02]: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
[00:44:45] [SPEAKER_02]: This message is for us too.
[00:44:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Another great piece of news, he conquers for us.
[00:44:53] [SPEAKER_02]: He says to the one who conquers, you know what?
[00:44:55] [SPEAKER_02]: He conquers for us.
[00:44:58] [SPEAKER_02]: And once we enter through that open door, we're there.
[00:45:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Securely forever and he says, no one will go out.
[00:45:09] [SPEAKER_02]: It says, never shall he go out of it.
[00:45:11] [SPEAKER_02]: You walk through that door of Christ, that door of salvation.
[00:45:15] [SPEAKER_02]: You're in.
[00:45:17] [SPEAKER_02]: You'll never go out.
[00:45:20] [SPEAKER_02]: He claims us as his own.
[00:45:22] [SPEAKER_02]: He writes, his name upon us.
[00:45:24] [SPEAKER_02]: He writes, our new eternal address on us, where we belong.
[00:45:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Who's we are?
[00:45:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Your next note here says, don't let the world's analysis of you.
[00:45:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Be what counts for you because it's not what counts for God.
[00:45:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't allow how the world sizes you up to matter to you.
[00:45:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Because it doesn't matter to God.
[00:45:52] [SPEAKER_02]: We allow that too much to ourselves.
[00:45:54] [SPEAKER_02]: We just agree to that, those terms.
[00:45:59] [SPEAKER_02]: The church in Philadelphia may have thought about themselves as ones that didn't stand out really.
[00:46:07] [SPEAKER_02]: The ones that didn't stand a chance, the ones always pick last.
[00:46:15] [SPEAKER_02]: The ones that are always overlooked, unremarkable, insignificant,
[00:46:21] [SPEAKER_02]: small, feeble, you get the point.
[00:46:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Perhaps a little bit like a town you may have heard of in Israel.
[00:46:32] [SPEAKER_02]: So briefly mentioned by Micah in Micah chapter 5 verse 2,
[00:46:37] [SPEAKER_02]: where the prophet writes, oh Bethlehem Ephirtha,
[00:46:41] [SPEAKER_02]: who are too little to be among the clans of Judah.
[00:46:46] [SPEAKER_02]: From you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel,
[00:46:51] [SPEAKER_02]: who is coming forth as from old, from ancient days,
[00:46:59] [SPEAKER_02]: little town of Bethlehem, would bring forth the Savior of the world.
[00:47:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Who knows what will come forth from this body or from your life?
[00:47:14] [SPEAKER_02]: We don't know.
[00:47:18] [SPEAKER_02]: God's people aren't concerned about being picked last by the world.
[00:47:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Not concerned about that.
[00:47:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes I find myself slipping into that,
[00:47:30] [SPEAKER_02]: but really I can't be concerned about that.
[00:47:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Well really counts, in the eyes of God, is the heart full of faith in Him.
[00:47:41] [SPEAKER_02]: That's what the gospel is all about.
[00:47:45] [SPEAKER_02]: And that's why it's good news because you don't have to look a certain way
[00:47:49] [SPEAKER_02]: or have lofty stature or be well educated
[00:47:52] [SPEAKER_02]: or have all these material possessions or be fast or be rich.
[00:47:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't have to have that.
[00:47:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Don't have to be that.
[00:47:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Only have faith, like Randy said, simple, believe in Christ.
[00:48:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Have faith because on judgment day he'll look to you and say,
[00:48:13] [SPEAKER_02]: what was your bank account?
[00:48:15] [SPEAKER_02]: No.
[00:48:17] [SPEAKER_02]: How many degrees you have?
[00:48:18] [SPEAKER_02]: No.
[00:48:19] [SPEAKER_02]: How fast were you?
[00:48:20] [SPEAKER_02]: How much did you make in the NFL?
[00:48:24] [SPEAKER_02]: He's gonna say,
[00:48:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Did you have faith in my son Jesus Christ?
[00:48:29] [SPEAKER_02]: That's an easy one.
[00:48:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Trust in Him.
[00:48:35] [SPEAKER_02]: That his perfect life was given for you on the cross.
[00:48:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Reliant, him alone by your faith.
[00:48:45] [SPEAKER_02]: And you'll be saved from eternal judgment and you'll be given eternal life
[00:48:48] [SPEAKER_02]: and you'll be given entrance to that kingdom forever.
[00:48:52] [SPEAKER_02]: He'll grant you eternal life.
[00:48:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Jesus Christ is the only way.
[00:48:59] [SPEAKER_02]: There's an author door that leads to salvation.
[00:49:00] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't care what anyone tells you.
[00:49:04] [SPEAKER_02]: The only door for salvation is Jesus Christ.
[00:49:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Simple.
[00:49:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Please stand with me as we close and prayer.
[00:49:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Dear Heavenly Father, there are so many things we could be thankful for.
[00:49:26] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think sometimes we should thank you for things that we wouldn't normally thank you.
[00:49:30] [SPEAKER_02]: And we thank you Lord today that we're a new church.
[00:49:36] [SPEAKER_02]: We're a small church.
[00:49:38] [SPEAKER_02]: We might not even be aware.
[00:49:43] [SPEAKER_02]: The city might not even be aware of us right now.
[00:49:45] [SPEAKER_02]: But Lord guide our minds to understand that that's not what's important.
[00:49:49] [SPEAKER_02]: What's important is do we believe?
[00:49:54] [SPEAKER_02]: And if we do that, you'll bring the people in that need to hear from you.
[00:49:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Help us to be bold as we go forward and proclaim your name, your gospel.
[00:50:02] [SPEAKER_02]: We'll keep these people in your hands.
[00:50:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Let this light grow and go out from this small town so that it can be a big impact on your kingdom.
[00:50:11] [SPEAKER_02]: We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen.