WEBVTT 00:00:01.039 --> 00:00:15.519 God, I just ask that that would really be something 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:17.800 that sits close to our hearts. God, help us to 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:20.899 be people who are faithful. People who are faithful 00:00:20.899 --> 00:00:25.989 every single day. Lord, I just ask that that 00:00:25.989 --> 00:00:28.789 would really be the song of our hearts is faithfulness. 00:00:29.129 --> 00:00:30.949 That would be what we are called to, that we 00:00:30.949 --> 00:00:33.170 would really find ways throughout our weeks to 00:00:33.170 --> 00:00:38.049 be faithful. And Lord, we ask you now, knowing 00:00:38.049 --> 00:00:39.950 that you are faithful and will do this, God, 00:00:39.990 --> 00:00:43.009 to quiet our hearts and to speak to us today 00:00:43.009 --> 00:00:47.149 as we look at Revelation 3, 7 through 13. God, 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:48.770 we are so thankful for this chance that we have 00:00:48.770 --> 00:00:53.340 to gather together openly and freely, God. And 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:55.979 Lord, we also just lift up believers around the 00:00:55.979 --> 00:00:58.000 world this morning who are not able to gather 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.600 together openly. God, we just ask that you would 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:03.880 be with them, that you would draw close to them, 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:07.099 Father. You give them protection from any threats 00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:10.140 or danger they might be in, God. And your spirit 00:01:10.140 --> 00:01:12.480 will be close to them today. I pray all this 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:16.709 in your name. Amen. Well, let me invite you to 00:01:16.709 --> 00:01:20.109 stand as we read Revelation 3, 7 through 13, 00:01:20.230 --> 00:01:23.329 the letter to the church in Philadelphia. It 00:01:23.329 --> 00:01:25.790 says this, write to the angel of the church in 00:01:25.790 --> 00:01:29.189 Philadelphia, thus says the Holy One, the true 00:01:29.189 --> 00:01:31.650 one, the one who has the key of David, which 00:01:31.650 --> 00:01:34.469 opens and no one will close, and who closes and 00:01:34.469 --> 00:01:38.329 no one opens. I know your works. Look, I have 00:01:38.329 --> 00:01:40.349 placed before you an open door that no one can 00:01:40.349 --> 00:01:42.859 close because you have but little power. You 00:01:42.859 --> 00:01:45.540 have kept my word and have not denied my name. 00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:48.299 Note this, I will make those from the synagogue 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:50.260 of Satan who claim to be Jews and are not but 00:01:50.260 --> 00:01:52.459 are lying, I will make them come and bow down 00:01:52.459 --> 00:01:54.299 at your feet and they will know that I have loved 00:01:54.299 --> 00:01:56.640 you. Because you have kept my command to endure, 00:01:56.859 --> 00:01:58.659 I will also keep you from the hour of testing 00:01:58.659 --> 00:02:00.959 that is going to come on the whole world to test 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:04.920 those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.120 Hold on to what you have so that no one takes 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:10.889 your crown. The one who conquers, I will make 00:02:10.889 --> 00:02:12.689 a pillar in the temple of my God and he will 00:02:12.689 --> 00:02:15.050 never go out again. I will write on him the name 00:02:15.050 --> 00:02:17.569 of my God and the name of the city of my God, 00:02:17.629 --> 00:02:20.069 the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:23.610 for my God and my new name. Let anyone who has 00:02:23.610 --> 00:02:26.870 ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to 00:02:26.870 --> 00:02:31.689 the churches. You may be seated. Hear that letter 00:02:31.689 --> 00:02:34.509 this morning from Jesus to the church in Philadelphia. 00:02:34.990 --> 00:02:36.889 And let me be clear, I am not talking about Philadelphia, 00:02:37.150 --> 00:02:39.129 Pennsylvania. Until I was probably about 12, 00:02:39.210 --> 00:02:41.409 I thought Jesus was writing a letter to the church 00:02:41.409 --> 00:02:42.870 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and it always 00:02:42.870 --> 00:02:45.069 left me a little confused because my only time 00:02:45.069 --> 00:02:48.430 in Philadelphia was also my first experience 00:02:48.430 --> 00:02:51.110 with my dad getting cut off really badly in traffic, 00:02:51.169 --> 00:02:52.750 and I thought to myself, this is not a place 00:02:52.750 --> 00:02:54.990 with a bunch of faithful Christians. These people 00:02:54.990 --> 00:02:56.969 are driving like maniacs. Everyone's speeding 00:02:56.969 --> 00:02:59.050 and going crazy and screaming at each other and 00:02:59.050 --> 00:03:01.530 honking. The town we're actually talking about 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:04.129 today is Philadelphia in Turkey, which is now 00:03:04.129 --> 00:03:08.080 known as Alessa here. See, the town was named 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:10.199 Philadelphia because a Greek king built the city 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:12.060 and then he named it after his brother whom he 00:03:12.060 --> 00:03:15.439 loved. So it is quite literally named Philadelphia 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.520 coming from two words, phileo meaning brotherly 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:20.939 love or loveless friendship, kindness type of 00:03:20.939 --> 00:03:22.699 love, and then adelphos which means brother. 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:25.599 So the city is kind of named like this. We can 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:26.939 either call it the city of brotherly love or 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:29.979 the city of kindness of brothers. It's a really 00:03:29.979 --> 00:03:31.400 interesting city, actually. It's administered 00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:33.599 by the same leaders as Sardis. If we want to 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.300 think about this in kind of American terms, Sardis 00:03:36.300 --> 00:03:38.860 is the county seat for Philadelphia. It's kind 00:03:38.860 --> 00:03:42.319 of a secondary city at the time. And so in turn, 00:03:42.340 --> 00:03:44.120 there were a lot of similarities between these 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:46.979 two cities. I don't know if you've ever traveled, 00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:48.819 maybe to a more rural part where county seats 00:03:48.819 --> 00:03:51.460 are a little bit bigger of a deal. But typically 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:53.539 when you do that, you start to notice people 00:03:53.539 --> 00:03:55.319 have big rivalries between their small towns, 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:58.020 but they're pretty similar, just to be honest. 00:03:58.810 --> 00:04:00.729 I will never forget moving to a small town in 00:04:00.729 --> 00:04:02.430 western Illinois, and everyone said, well, the 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:06.270 people in this other town are the worst. And 00:04:06.270 --> 00:04:07.889 then you go to the other town and say, the people 00:04:07.889 --> 00:04:10.629 in that town are terrible. And you look at these 00:04:10.629 --> 00:04:12.449 two towns and you think, wow, you guys are absolutely 00:04:12.449 --> 00:04:16.389 identical. In all practical ways, you guys are 00:04:16.389 --> 00:04:20.029 identical. And that's kind of Sardis and Philadelphia 00:04:20.029 --> 00:04:22.589 in a lot of ways as cities. They both engaged 00:04:22.589 --> 00:04:24.629 in the imperial culture, worshiping the emperor 00:04:24.629 --> 00:04:27.430 of Rome. They both have similar economies. They 00:04:27.430 --> 00:04:29.689 both have a lot of similarities. But there's 00:04:29.689 --> 00:04:31.730 one major thing that's different for the cities 00:04:31.730 --> 00:04:34.449 themselves. See, Sardis, like we saw last week, 00:04:34.470 --> 00:04:36.370 is now a small town full of shepherds. It's a 00:04:36.370 --> 00:04:38.910 town of about 5 ,000. On the other hand, Philadelphia 00:04:38.910 --> 00:04:41.370 grew and is now a pretty major town, actually, 00:04:41.389 --> 00:04:42.829 in this region of Turkey. It's about the size 00:04:42.829 --> 00:04:45.610 of Champaign today. It's a pretty prominent town. 00:04:46.529 --> 00:04:49.529 There's another thing that's different that we'll 00:04:49.529 --> 00:04:52.160 see. And that's how the churches function. Whereas 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:55.459 the church in Sardis is essentially dead, the 00:04:55.459 --> 00:04:59.560 church in Philadelphia is very much alive. Another 00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:01.980 way to look at this is Sardis is the governmental 00:05:01.980 --> 00:05:04.680 center of the region, but Philadelphia was the 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:07.339 more culturally meaningful city. Its nickname 00:05:07.339 --> 00:05:09.060 was the Gateway to the East, and it was known 00:05:09.060 --> 00:05:11.079 as a sending place for cultural exchange from 00:05:11.079 --> 00:05:14.000 the Roman Empire to Asia as a continent. We can 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.180 almost think of it as a hub for missions in a 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:18.439 way, just cultural missions rather than missions 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:22.620 to serve the Lord. So today as we see this church, 00:05:22.699 --> 00:05:23.699 there's something that we're going to see that's 00:05:23.699 --> 00:05:26.459 emphasized throughout. One word, we've sung it 00:05:26.459 --> 00:05:28.579 many times already, you're going to hear it many 00:05:28.579 --> 00:05:31.040 times today, and that is the word faithfulness. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:34.920 Faithful and faithfulness are the themes of this 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:38.420 letter to the church in Philadelphia. Our main 00:05:38.420 --> 00:05:41.399 point as we look at this church is that as Christians 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:44.500 we are called to be faithful followers of Jesus. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:47.379 As Christians we are called to be faithful followers 00:05:47.379 --> 00:05:52.259 of Jesus. If you hear nothing else from this 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:54.379 letter to the church in Philadelphia, and I hope 00:05:54.379 --> 00:05:57.949 you hear a lot more, please hear that. It is 00:05:57.949 --> 00:06:02.290 our job to be faithful followers of Jesus. Our 00:06:02.290 --> 00:06:05.529 job is not to be perfect. Our job is not to have 00:06:05.529 --> 00:06:07.189 everything pulled together at all times. Our 00:06:07.189 --> 00:06:10.930 job is to be faithful. Faithful to be obedient 00:06:10.930 --> 00:06:13.589 to Jesus. Faithful to follow Jesus in the way 00:06:13.589 --> 00:06:16.769 that Jesus has called us to. And so we start 00:06:16.769 --> 00:06:19.009 off in verse 7. You'll find this in your bulletin 00:06:19.009 --> 00:06:22.209 under point one, and it is Jesus is, and Jesus 00:06:22.209 --> 00:06:23.790 is going to introduce himself to this church 00:06:23.790 --> 00:06:25.509 in Philadelphia. His introduction here is a little 00:06:25.509 --> 00:06:28.290 longer, but it really matters. He shows a lot 00:06:28.290 --> 00:06:30.189 of what the church in Philadelphia needs to hear. 00:06:30.250 --> 00:06:31.629 So let me read that again to us. It says this, 00:06:31.769 --> 00:06:34.069 write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, 00:06:34.389 --> 00:06:37.850 thus says the holy one, the true one, the one 00:06:37.850 --> 00:06:40.430 who has the key of David, who opens and no one 00:06:40.430 --> 00:06:43.410 will close, and who closes and no one opens. 00:06:44.170 --> 00:06:45.910 So as he speaks to this church, he begins by 00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:47.930 introducing himself as three separate things. 00:06:48.149 --> 00:06:51.009 The holy one, the true one, and the one who has 00:06:51.009 --> 00:06:54.490 the key of David. Each of these three things 00:06:54.490 --> 00:06:57.269 matters for the believers in Philadelphia. First, 00:06:57.449 --> 00:06:59.750 in a city wrought with sinfulness and sinful 00:06:59.750 --> 00:07:03.230 ambition, in a city built around worshiping an 00:07:03.230 --> 00:07:06.230 emperor, in a city built around sin, really, 00:07:06.310 --> 00:07:08.689 Jesus reminds the believers that they follow 00:07:08.689 --> 00:07:12.709 the holy one. The one they worship is the sinless 00:07:12.709 --> 00:07:17.579 one. perfectly holy in every single way. Secondly, 00:07:17.620 --> 00:07:19.600 in a city that's known for its religious exchanges, 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:22.740 idolatrous behavior, Jesus reminds the believers 00:07:22.740 --> 00:07:26.699 that he is the true one. Sure, there's all sorts 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:29.519 of people traveling to and from, coming to share 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.180 religions and falsehood, but don't miss this. 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:34.120 Jesus tells the church in Philadelphia very clearly, 00:07:34.300 --> 00:07:40.680 I am the true one. I am the God. It's kind of 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:42.720 like John 14, 6, where Jesus tells his disciples, 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:45.579 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one 00:07:45.579 --> 00:07:49.459 comes to the Father except through me. That is 00:07:49.459 --> 00:07:51.620 who the church in Philadelphia is following. 00:07:52.579 --> 00:07:55.639 And thirdly, the major group persecuting Christians 00:07:55.639 --> 00:07:57.620 in Philadelphia, as we'll see in a minute, was 00:07:57.620 --> 00:08:00.740 the Jewish population of the city. And so Jesus 00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:03.519 hits on this with this last phrase, that he's 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:07.139 the one who has the key of David. Meaning he 00:08:07.139 --> 00:08:11.569 is the Messiah. Jesus slows down here and he 00:08:11.569 --> 00:08:14.750 singles out that he is the fulfillment of prophecy 00:08:14.750 --> 00:08:18.089 in scripture. He is the true fulfillment of the 00:08:18.089 --> 00:08:20.370 prophecy that these Jewish people claim to be 00:08:20.370 --> 00:08:24.370 waiting for. He's emphasizing his messianic role. 00:08:24.550 --> 00:08:26.490 And in the same breath, he reiterates that what 00:08:26.490 --> 00:08:29.790 he opens, no one can close. What he closes, no 00:08:29.790 --> 00:08:32.350 one can open. This is something we see in the 00:08:32.350 --> 00:08:34.590 gospels, throughout the gospels. And Jesus is 00:08:34.590 --> 00:08:38.049 reminding them right now that he has total authority. 00:08:40.949 --> 00:08:42.529 Cornerstone, you'll notice as we go through this 00:08:42.529 --> 00:08:44.870 letter that the tone is very different from what 00:08:44.870 --> 00:08:47.470 we saw last week. Last week we saw Jesus give 00:08:47.470 --> 00:08:50.549 a very direct, kind of in -your -face warning 00:08:50.549 --> 00:08:53.210 to the church in Sardis. Really left nothing 00:08:53.210 --> 00:08:56.769 to the imagination. Right? This assertion that 00:08:56.769 --> 00:09:00.110 the church has defiled their clothes. That Jesus 00:09:00.110 --> 00:09:02.970 will come like a thief in the night if they don't 00:09:02.970 --> 00:09:05.429 remember the gospel, keep the gospel, and repent 00:09:05.429 --> 00:09:08.950 of wandering away from the gospel. It was a warning 00:09:08.950 --> 00:09:10.860 letter. But this week, what we're going to see 00:09:10.860 --> 00:09:13.940 is a letter of encouragement. We see Jesus encouraging 00:09:13.940 --> 00:09:15.419 this church that's going through a difficult 00:09:15.419 --> 00:09:18.259 time by meeting them where they are. And here 00:09:18.259 --> 00:09:20.120 in this introduction, we see how well Jesus knows 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:22.620 this church. He knows the exact type of encouragement 00:09:22.620 --> 00:09:24.659 that they need. He knows that they need to hear 00:09:24.659 --> 00:09:27.100 that he is the holy one, the one with no sin 00:09:27.100 --> 00:09:29.460 at all. He is the true one that it's worth building 00:09:29.460 --> 00:09:31.919 your life on. And finally, he is the key of David 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:34.500 who comes to save the world and that he has all 00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:37.580 authority. And so that brings us then into verses 00:09:37.580 --> 00:09:40.740 8 and 9 where we see that Jesus sees faithfulness. 00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:42.919 That's the theme that Jesus sees from this church 00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:46.600 is faithfulness. He says this, I know your works. 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:49.379 Look, I have placed before you an open door that 00:09:49.379 --> 00:09:52.460 no one can close because you have but little 00:09:52.460 --> 00:09:55.399 power. But look at this. That seems like a bad 00:09:55.399 --> 00:09:57.539 thing, right? You have little power, yet you 00:09:57.539 --> 00:10:01.580 have kept my word and have not denied my name. 00:10:02.269 --> 00:10:04.309 And he continues on to say this, note this, I 00:10:04.309 --> 00:10:06.210 will make those from the synagogue of Satan who 00:10:06.210 --> 00:10:08.309 claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying, 00:10:08.429 --> 00:10:10.269 I will make them come and bow down at your feet 00:10:10.269 --> 00:10:14.970 and they will know that I have loved you. Just 00:10:14.970 --> 00:10:16.370 like all the other churches who have received 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:18.710 letters and all the churches everywhere throughout 00:10:18.710 --> 00:10:21.009 all time, Jesus knows the works of the church 00:10:21.009 --> 00:10:24.070 in Philadelphia. But look at what Jesus says. 00:10:24.169 --> 00:10:28.019 He doesn't give correction or rebuke. He doesn't 00:10:28.019 --> 00:10:29.620 say you're doing great in this area, but not 00:10:29.620 --> 00:10:32.659 in this. Instead, he promises an open door that 00:10:32.659 --> 00:10:36.179 no one can close because you have but little 00:10:36.179 --> 00:10:39.539 power. Now that seems like an oxymoron. You have 00:10:39.539 --> 00:10:41.460 little power, so how can you keep this door open 00:10:41.460 --> 00:10:43.899 and make it so that no one can close this door? 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:48.039 I kind of think of... kind of a day I was goofing 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:49.740 off at home as a kid, and I was pretty young, 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:51.700 and I was trying to keep my door closed, so I 00:10:51.700 --> 00:10:54.039 was holding onto the door to try and keep it 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:56.279 closed, and on the other side, my mom's like 00:10:56.279 --> 00:10:58.500 trying to open this door, and clearly she wins, 00:10:58.580 --> 00:11:00.679 and she pulls the door open. It's not that much 00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:03.639 of a fight to do as like a five -year -old. So 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:04.960 when you have a little power, it seems weird 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.159 that you've got this open door that no one can 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:08.700 close, because if somebody wants to close the 00:11:08.700 --> 00:11:10.379 door, they've got more power than you, they can 00:11:10.379 --> 00:11:13.570 do it. So what is Jesus getting at in verse 8? 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:15.529 Here's what we need to take away from it. The 00:11:15.529 --> 00:11:17.309 church in Philadelphia is not a huge church. 00:11:17.350 --> 00:11:18.990 It is not a mega church by any stretch of the 00:11:18.990 --> 00:11:21.269 imagination. You know, talk about how last week 00:11:21.269 --> 00:11:22.269 we probably would have gone to the church in 00:11:22.269 --> 00:11:24.210 Sardis and on the surface not noticed that anything 00:11:24.210 --> 00:11:26.289 was wrong. We would show up in the church in 00:11:26.289 --> 00:11:28.149 Philadelphia and probably say, oh, this church 00:11:28.149 --> 00:11:31.049 is really not okay. They're really small. They're 00:11:31.049 --> 00:11:37.049 not doing great. But Jesus says this. He says 00:11:37.049 --> 00:11:39.269 this, I'm going to keep that door open even though 00:11:39.269 --> 00:11:42.490 you have little power. Why? Because he sees that 00:11:42.490 --> 00:11:46.649 they are following him faithfully. That's what 00:11:46.649 --> 00:11:49.409 Jesus is getting at. You have kept my word and 00:11:49.409 --> 00:11:51.730 have not denied my name. That is faithfulness. 00:11:51.750 --> 00:11:54.389 That is living out their faith in the face of 00:11:54.389 --> 00:11:57.190 all sorts of issues. They don't have a massive 00:11:57.190 --> 00:11:59.889 church to go to on Sundays. They don't have all 00:11:59.889 --> 00:12:02.360 the power in the world yet still. They follow 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:05.120 him faithfully. They keep his word in difficult 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:08.139 situations. They do not deny his name, even when 00:12:08.139 --> 00:12:12.019 it would be convenient. This is our job, too. 00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:15.559 It's our job to be faithful. We can't always 00:12:15.559 --> 00:12:18.200 control results or control exactly how something 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:21.200 goes, but we can control whether or not we are 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:23.399 faithful. And what we're seeing in Revelation 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:25.899 3 .8 is Jesus' encouragement to these believers 00:12:25.899 --> 00:12:29.549 to be faithful. He promises this open door that 00:12:29.549 --> 00:12:33.610 can never be closed. Well, what is this open 00:12:33.610 --> 00:12:37.250 door, and why can't it be closed? Let's start 00:12:37.250 --> 00:12:38.889 with this. Let's answer the second question first, 00:12:38.929 --> 00:12:40.730 because it's fundamental for us to understand 00:12:40.730 --> 00:12:42.990 the church in Philadelphia. We've already established 00:12:42.990 --> 00:12:45.889 this is a smaller church that's faithful, but 00:12:45.889 --> 00:12:48.210 here's another way to look at this. This church 00:12:48.210 --> 00:12:51.049 isn't really relying on themselves. Instead, 00:12:51.190 --> 00:12:53.549 they're focused on faithfully following God. 00:12:54.669 --> 00:12:56.590 As Jesus continues to remind us, and as I keep 00:12:56.590 --> 00:12:58.669 going back to, they've kept his word and have 00:12:58.669 --> 00:13:01.129 not denied his name. Whereas the church in Sardis 00:13:01.129 --> 00:13:03.350 has this big reputation, they have one thing 00:13:03.350 --> 00:13:06.610 in Philadelphia. They faithfully obey. They keep 00:13:06.610 --> 00:13:09.450 the word of God close. They're walking in faith. 00:13:10.129 --> 00:13:12.769 And so Jesus promises he'll keep this door open, 00:13:12.870 --> 00:13:15.789 not because of their strength, but because of 00:13:15.789 --> 00:13:19.669 Jesus's strength. Now, what is this open door? 00:13:20.269 --> 00:13:22.639 It's a great question. It's kind of two main 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:24.340 ways to look at this open door that we're going 00:13:24.340 --> 00:13:27.159 to see here. First, it could be a promise that 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:29.820 Jesus will greet us in eternity. It's a promise 00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:32.120 of what is to come, so Jesus is encouraging these 00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:34.100 believers with what they have to look forward 00:13:34.100 --> 00:13:38.519 to. Listen, church in Philadelphia, I know that 00:13:38.519 --> 00:13:40.700 you know me and that you follow me, and I will 00:13:40.700 --> 00:13:43.480 greet you when you come to heaven. I think that's 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:45.279 true, but I think there's something else going 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:48.559 on here also. See, the wording in this verse 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:51.850 is the exact same wording as 2 Corinthians 2 00:13:51.850 --> 00:13:55.190 .12, which is a verse on evangelism. I think 00:13:55.190 --> 00:13:57.629 this is also a promise that Jesus will move in 00:13:57.629 --> 00:14:00.470 the hearts of the people of Philadelphia. It's 00:14:00.470 --> 00:14:02.049 not just an open door for the sake of an open 00:14:02.049 --> 00:14:04.289 door, an open door saying, someday when you're 00:14:04.289 --> 00:14:06.669 dead, then you'll have this open door. It's also 00:14:06.669 --> 00:14:10.190 an open door to reach people. Jesus is promising 00:14:10.190 --> 00:14:12.129 that he will open a door so that the church in 00:14:12.129 --> 00:14:14.809 Philadelphia can faithfully reach people, and 00:14:14.809 --> 00:14:17.370 so they will see the power of God on a daily 00:14:17.370 --> 00:14:21.120 basis. Let's be clear on what this open door 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:24.940 is not. Jesus is not promising an easy life. 00:14:25.299 --> 00:14:28.559 Jesus is not promising them a perfect life. Jesus 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:31.919 is promising them something even better. Jesus 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:34.919 is promising them the chance to see God transform 00:14:34.919 --> 00:14:39.659 and save many people. And what better encouragement 00:14:39.659 --> 00:14:42.620 for a faithful church? What better encouragement 00:14:42.620 --> 00:14:45.600 for a group of disciples who long to see God 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:48.470 and to know God more? than to see more disciples 00:14:48.470 --> 00:14:51.769 being made and to see more lives being changed. 00:14:52.370 --> 00:14:55.389 This actually goes one step further. See, Jesus 00:14:55.389 --> 00:14:57.149 knows that the city of Philadelphia, that city 00:14:57.149 --> 00:15:00.929 is a missionary city. And Jesus is saying this, 00:15:01.110 --> 00:15:03.389 church in Philadelphia, I'm commissioning you 00:15:03.389 --> 00:15:06.129 to be my missionaries. I'm going to send you 00:15:06.129 --> 00:15:08.629 as my missionaries, missionaries of the Holy 00:15:08.629 --> 00:15:11.940 One, the true one. the key of David. It's kind 00:15:11.940 --> 00:15:14.100 of like Matthew 4, 19, where Jesus calls out 00:15:14.100 --> 00:15:16.039 to a group of fishermen and says this, follow 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:19.240 me and I will make you fish for people. Friends, 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:22.480 please see this with me. Jesus has given Philadelphia 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:25.139 an open door for fruitfulness, not because they 00:15:25.139 --> 00:15:27.340 are so amazing, but because they're willing to 00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:31.600 faithfully follow him and trust him. They follow 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:34.000 Jesus and Jesus brings the fruit. It's the same 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:37.059 thing for us. If we want to see fruit, if we 00:15:37.059 --> 00:15:39.419 want to see our neighbors reach for the gospel, 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:41.740 if we want to see lives transformed by the power 00:15:41.740 --> 00:15:43.700 of Jesus, if we want to see people connecting 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:46.240 with Jesus, which is our mission here, then we're 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:50.759 called to do something. Be faithful. Be faithful 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:54.620 on Sunday. Be faithful on Monday, on Tuesday, 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:57.620 on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday. 00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:02.840 It's not just be faithful in convenience, be 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:06.850 faithful at all times. Notice that part of verse 00:16:06.850 --> 00:16:12.250 8. You kept my word and you have not denied my 00:16:12.250 --> 00:16:14.950 name. That means that on a daily basis they are 00:16:14.950 --> 00:16:17.470 being faithful to follow Jesus. And then what 00:16:17.470 --> 00:16:20.149 Jesus promises is fruit. So although from an 00:16:20.149 --> 00:16:22.049 earthly perspective their church looks pretty 00:16:22.049 --> 00:16:25.090 insignificant, God says it is not insignificant 00:16:25.090 --> 00:16:30.269 to me. Continue to be faithful. In Cornerstone 00:16:30.269 --> 00:16:32.659 that is what we are called to do. We are called 00:16:32.659 --> 00:16:35.179 to be faithful. Now look at verse 9 with me. 00:16:35.220 --> 00:16:37.320 It says this, Note this, I will make those from 00:16:37.320 --> 00:16:39.159 the synagogue of Satan who claim to be Jews and 00:16:39.159 --> 00:16:41.299 are not but are lying, I will make them come 00:16:41.299 --> 00:16:42.740 and bow down at your feet and they will know 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:45.220 that I have loved you. Like I said, the church 00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:47.000 in Philadelphia is dealing with persecution from 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:49.740 the Jewish residents of the city. These people 00:16:49.740 --> 00:16:52.860 hated the idea of Jesus being the Messiah because 00:16:52.860 --> 00:16:54.179 it means that they've missed the mark, that they're 00:16:54.179 --> 00:16:56.320 not understanding what the Bible is saying. So 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:58.419 they try to silence the believers. But Jesus 00:16:58.419 --> 00:17:01.090 sees this and he does something else. First, 00:17:01.210 --> 00:17:03.370 he rebukes them as the synagogue of Satan, or 00:17:03.370 --> 00:17:06.049 literally those who gather to worship Satan. 00:17:06.869 --> 00:17:08.410 See, the synagogue was something that was formed 00:17:08.410 --> 00:17:10.910 during the exile and became very common during 00:17:10.910 --> 00:17:13.309 this time period. It's where Jewish people would 00:17:13.309 --> 00:17:15.369 gather together for fellowship and for worship 00:17:15.369 --> 00:17:17.369 of God while the temple was either destroyed 00:17:17.369 --> 00:17:19.430 or while they were too far away to get back to 00:17:19.430 --> 00:17:22.910 the temple consistently. Notice that phrase here. 00:17:22.950 --> 00:17:24.849 Jesus has used it one other time in chapter 2. 00:17:25.250 --> 00:17:29.930 He calls it the synagogue of Satan. Not the synagogue 00:17:29.930 --> 00:17:34.210 of God Most High. Not the synagogue of people 00:17:34.210 --> 00:17:37.609 who are so friendly to the gospel. It's the synagogue 00:17:37.609 --> 00:17:42.250 of Satan. See, rather than worshiping the true 00:17:42.250 --> 00:17:46.309 God, the Holy One, the true one, the key of David, 00:17:46.430 --> 00:17:48.690 the promised Messiah, these people are gathering 00:17:48.690 --> 00:17:50.390 together and they're really worshiping a fake 00:17:50.390 --> 00:17:52.109 version of God that they've made in their own 00:17:52.109 --> 00:17:58.250 image. A few years ago, I had the chance to go 00:17:58.250 --> 00:18:00.230 see the Dead Sea Scrolls when they were in Denver. 00:18:00.329 --> 00:18:02.950 It was a really cool thing. I just finished up 00:18:02.950 --> 00:18:04.609 Hebrew. I was starting to learn a little bit 00:18:04.609 --> 00:18:06.589 of Aramaic. It was super fascinating to go through 00:18:06.589 --> 00:18:09.809 and read and be like, oh, that's so cool. One 00:18:09.809 --> 00:18:11.069 of the most heartbreaking things was they would 00:18:11.069 --> 00:18:12.970 put you in groups of maybe like 20 people to 00:18:12.970 --> 00:18:15.309 kind of go through this with. And one of the 00:18:15.309 --> 00:18:19.230 other families there was a Jewish family. They 00:18:19.230 --> 00:18:20.890 took us over to a scroll that was from the book 00:18:20.890 --> 00:18:25.650 of Isaiah, from Isaiah chapter 9. And as we stood 00:18:25.650 --> 00:18:30.079 there, The guy looks at his kids and goes, someday, 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:33.359 someday we're going to have a Messiah who comes 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:40.640 and fills all these prophecies. It took everything 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:42.539 in me in that moment not to just break down in 00:18:42.539 --> 00:18:45.839 tears. Or just look at me like, he already came. 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:51.480 You're missing it, but he already came. See friends, 00:18:51.579 --> 00:18:54.150 what happens is We can look at the scripture 00:18:54.150 --> 00:18:56.029 and the Jewish people look at the scripture and 00:18:56.029 --> 00:18:58.769 they don't see the truth that is in front of 00:18:58.769 --> 00:19:01.950 them. In essence, this church, this synagogue 00:19:01.950 --> 00:19:06.029 of Jews in Philadelphia is worshiping a fake 00:19:06.029 --> 00:19:08.650 version of God that they have made. A version 00:19:08.650 --> 00:19:10.329 of God that will send them aside that looks exactly 00:19:10.329 --> 00:19:12.829 like what they want. Not like what Jesus came 00:19:12.829 --> 00:19:15.450 to do. And in response to this, Jesus explains 00:19:15.450 --> 00:19:18.940 that they will be humbled. And this brings up 00:19:18.940 --> 00:19:20.640 one of the more fascinating dilemmas for us in 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:23.079 these seven churches. What do we do when someone 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:25.720 hates us? How do we respond? And when you first 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:27.759 read this verse, it's easy to think this. When 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:29.339 someone doesn't like me because I'm a Christian, 00:19:29.660 --> 00:19:32.000 I should ask for revenge or for them to come 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:36.150 and to be bowing down at my feet. No. Listen, 00:19:36.230 --> 00:19:38.369 the church in Philadelphia is not seeking revenge. 00:19:38.710 --> 00:19:41.509 They're seeking the gospel. They're being faithful 00:19:41.509 --> 00:19:43.390 day after day after day after day after day. 00:19:43.549 --> 00:19:45.829 They want these same people who are oppressing 00:19:45.829 --> 00:19:47.990 them to get saved and to go to heaven with them. 00:19:48.529 --> 00:19:50.769 And Jesus is ultimately promising that the members 00:19:50.769 --> 00:19:52.609 of this so -called synagogue of Satan will come 00:19:52.609 --> 00:19:55.589 face to face with the reality of who Jesus is 00:19:55.589 --> 00:19:58.089 and that Jesus is the Savior of the church in 00:19:58.089 --> 00:20:01.279 Philadelphia. It's kind of like the image that 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:04.220 Paul gives us in Philippians 2, 10 and 11 where 00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:06.859 he says this, so that the name of Jesus every 00:20:06.859 --> 00:20:11.220 knee will bow and in heaven and on earth and 00:20:11.220 --> 00:20:14.059 under the earth and every tongue will confess 00:20:14.059 --> 00:20:19.160 that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:23.039 the Father. Jesus' name and only the name of 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.839 Jesus will be lifted high. And when that happens, 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:29.160 every single knee will bow. Every tongue will 00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:32.180 confess that he is Lord. And Jesus reminds the 00:20:32.180 --> 00:20:35.319 church in Philadelphia that is part of this promise. 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:39.279 He's encouraging them, take that seriously. Know 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:42.440 that this synagogue of Satan who does not follow 00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:45.420 me, who oppresses you, who persecutes you, know 00:20:45.420 --> 00:20:50.180 this. Know that one day they will come face to 00:20:50.180 --> 00:20:53.220 face with me and they will understand who it 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:56.910 is that you worship. There's some solace and 00:20:56.910 --> 00:20:58.710 encouragement there. Because there's a lot of 00:20:58.710 --> 00:21:00.309 people we can share the gospel with in our lives 00:21:00.309 --> 00:21:04.150 who will not get saved while we know them. But 00:21:04.150 --> 00:21:05.849 that doesn't mean it's not worth telling them 00:21:05.849 --> 00:21:08.769 about who Jesus is. Because one day, one way 00:21:08.769 --> 00:21:11.269 or another, they will come face to face with 00:21:11.269 --> 00:21:14.950 their creator and their savior. It should be 00:21:14.950 --> 00:21:16.690 on our hearts, it should burden us that we want 00:21:16.690 --> 00:21:19.210 that to be a happy reunion like what we will 00:21:19.210 --> 00:21:23.680 have. Where we are with our savior forever. I 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:25.099 think a great example of this is a guy named 00:21:25.099 --> 00:21:29.519 Richard Wurmbrand. Richard was a pastor in Eastern 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:32.140 Europe during the beginning of the Cold War, 00:21:32.259 --> 00:21:37.019 right after the fall of Nazi Germany. And his 00:21:37.019 --> 00:21:40.299 country was divided back out and it was put underneath 00:21:40.299 --> 00:21:42.500 the Soviet sphere of influence so it naturally 00:21:42.500 --> 00:21:44.640 became a communist country where religion was 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:50.680 persecuted. And Richard, as a Christian pastor, 00:21:50.819 --> 00:21:53.359 became a target of this persecution. On multiple 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:55.220 occasions, the local government would come to 00:21:55.220 --> 00:21:57.339 him and offer him a deal. We'll leave you alone 00:21:57.339 --> 00:22:00.380 if you just tell your people just to do exactly 00:22:00.380 --> 00:22:03.059 what we say. And just stop with this whole God 00:22:03.059 --> 00:22:05.039 thing. Just use your church service to tell people 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.480 about how good we are, and we'll leave you alone. 00:22:08.140 --> 00:22:10.619 And it's not that hard. Just give like a 40 -minute 00:22:10.619 --> 00:22:12.779 politic talk every Sunday. It's not that bad. 00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:16.759 Time after time after time, he would resist that, 00:22:16.779 --> 00:22:18.740 and he would say no to that. He would find himself 00:22:18.740 --> 00:22:21.359 being thrown in prison. And each time the prison 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:22.720 would get a little bit worse and a little bit 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:24.359 worse and a little bit worse, and his health 00:22:24.359 --> 00:22:26.319 would decline a little more and a little more 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:32.779 and a little more. And yet, as he was in prison, 00:22:32.859 --> 00:22:35.420 the one thing he did that just always blows me 00:22:35.420 --> 00:22:38.119 away, the only two things he would do is, one, 00:22:38.180 --> 00:22:40.380 he would pray for the very people who were torturing 00:22:40.380 --> 00:22:42.799 him on a nightly basis, which is really humbling 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:45.380 to me at least. if someone was literally torturing 00:22:45.380 --> 00:22:47.519 me, I don't know that I would have it in my heart 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:50.539 always to pray for that person. The second thing 00:22:50.539 --> 00:22:52.799 he would do is he would stand in his jail cell 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:55.539 and he would preach sermons, not knowing if anyone 00:22:55.539 --> 00:22:56.980 could hear them or not, but he would preach sermons 00:22:56.980 --> 00:22:59.019 to remind himself of the faithfulness of God. 00:22:59.660 --> 00:23:01.420 And there's records of people actually getting 00:23:01.420 --> 00:23:03.119 saved, other prisoners, and even some prison 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:05.160 guards getting saved just from hearing these 00:23:05.160 --> 00:23:06.920 sermons he's preaching in a solitary confinement 00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:08.640 cell where he doesn't even know if anyone can 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:15.349 hear him. Eventually, a group from Sweden was 00:23:15.349 --> 00:23:17.650 able to work out a temporary visa that allowed 00:23:17.650 --> 00:23:20.210 him to eventually defect out of this country 00:23:20.210 --> 00:23:24.450 and move into more of the free world. So he probably 00:23:24.450 --> 00:23:27.690 assumed that after he made it out, he left all 00:23:27.690 --> 00:23:29.690 that behind and moved on and did other things 00:23:29.690 --> 00:23:34.680 with his life. But he didn't. Instead, he continued 00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:36.779 to send people back to this country, continued 00:23:36.779 --> 00:23:38.579 to pray for this country, continued to raise 00:23:38.579 --> 00:23:41.440 up people across the world to be praying for 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:43.500 places where they don't know Jesus and where 00:23:43.500 --> 00:23:45.700 Christianity is oppressed. And he started an 00:23:45.700 --> 00:23:47.359 organization that you might have heard of before 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:50.359 called Voice of the Martyrs that focuses entirely 00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:54.460 on just raising awareness and prayer for persecuted 00:23:54.460 --> 00:23:58.660 Christians around the world. See, friends, it 00:23:58.660 --> 00:23:59.839 would have been easy and we probably would have 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:02.579 forgiven him for escaping this oppression and 00:24:02.579 --> 00:24:04.079 decided what it meant to be faithful was to live 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:07.240 a comfortable life. You know, come to America, 00:24:07.339 --> 00:24:10.180 move to Florida, live a good life, live a comfortable 00:24:10.180 --> 00:24:13.240 life. But friends, that's not what faithfulness 00:24:13.240 --> 00:24:16.380 is a call to. Faithfulness isn't a call to comfort. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:18.880 Faithfulness is a call to following Jesus more 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:21.380 and more every single day, regardless of whether 00:24:21.380 --> 00:24:23.420 it's in a good time or a hard time. And so here's 00:24:23.420 --> 00:24:24.859 the central point of what we do when we face 00:24:24.859 --> 00:24:27.819 oppression. We don't hunger for revenge. Instead, 00:24:27.900 --> 00:24:30.079 we hunger for those same people to get saved. 00:24:30.299 --> 00:24:32.440 We hunger for the people around us at all times 00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:36.339 to get saved. We offer lots of forgiveness while 00:24:36.339 --> 00:24:38.539 knowing full well that God is fully just and 00:24:38.539 --> 00:24:40.640 that in God's perfect judgment, he will protect 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:43.160 us. And we rest in the best news ever that Jesus 00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:47.140 loves this. And understand this, Jesus doesn't 00:24:47.140 --> 00:24:49.619 just... phileo love us. He doesn't just kindness 00:24:49.619 --> 00:24:52.900 love us or think fondly of us. Jesus agape loves 00:24:52.900 --> 00:24:55.680 us by sending his son, by coming to earth to 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:59.380 die for us. Jesus gave himself up in this totally 00:24:59.380 --> 00:25:04.400 consuming, self -sacrificing love. And we rest 00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:06.240 in the same process when we face these difficult 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:11.859 times, knowing that Jesus will reign victoriously. 00:25:12.750 --> 00:25:14.809 So look at verses 10 and 11 with me, and we're 00:25:14.809 --> 00:25:18.170 going to see how Jesus rewards endurance. How 00:25:18.170 --> 00:25:22.170 Jesus rewards endurance. It says this, because 00:25:22.170 --> 00:25:24.430 you have kept my command to endure, I will also 00:25:24.430 --> 00:25:26.150 keep you from the hour of testing that is going 00:25:26.150 --> 00:25:28.210 to come on the whole world to test those who 00:25:28.210 --> 00:25:32.150 live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on 00:25:32.150 --> 00:25:35.069 to what you have so that no one takes your crown. 00:25:35.710 --> 00:25:37.970 Here's the next part. Jesus encourages this church 00:25:37.970 --> 00:25:41.920 because they've kept his command to endure. The 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:43.859 church in Philadelphia is standing strong. They're 00:25:43.859 --> 00:25:46.099 not large. They're not the most powerful church, 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:49.880 not the most influential church. No one's sharing 00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:52.359 their reels on Instagram or on Facebook, but 00:25:52.359 --> 00:25:55.359 they're faithfully standing strong. And just 00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:57.519 as they've been faithful, Jesus will be faithful 00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:00.819 also. Just as He has opened a door for them to 00:26:00.819 --> 00:26:03.380 continue being faithful, He's also promised them 00:26:03.380 --> 00:26:07.359 that He will not abandon them. Look at this encouragement. 00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:09.380 In fact, he says this, that he will keep them 00:26:09.380 --> 00:26:13.039 from the hour of testing. I want to be really 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:15.799 clear on something here. These are two incredible 00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:19.400 verses, but it is so easy for us to get bogged 00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:22.019 down in an end times or eschatological conversation 00:26:22.019 --> 00:26:25.599 about these verses. It's so easy for us to start 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:28.460 trying to make this fit a pre -millennial position 00:26:28.460 --> 00:26:30.740 or pre -tribulation or post -tribulation or a 00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:33.710 there -is -no -tribulation point of view. But 00:26:33.710 --> 00:26:36.589 when we do that, we miss one of the most important 00:26:36.589 --> 00:26:41.470 parts of Revelation 3, 7 through 13. This passage 00:26:41.470 --> 00:26:44.089 is stressing something, a theme, faithfulness 00:26:44.089 --> 00:26:47.230 in unfaithful times. That's what we can take 00:26:47.230 --> 00:26:49.029 away from these verses, from verse 10 and 11, 00:26:49.210 --> 00:26:53.730 that Jesus rewards faithfulness. It can be so 00:26:53.730 --> 00:26:55.329 easy for us to get caught up in what I like to 00:26:55.329 --> 00:26:57.569 call decoder ring Christianity, where we watch 00:26:57.569 --> 00:26:59.529 the news and then open Revelation and start trying 00:26:59.529 --> 00:27:04.839 to fit events into specific spots there. There's 00:27:04.839 --> 00:27:07.200 kind of two flaws to that. First, people have 00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:08.960 been doing that since the book of Revelation 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:12.380 was first sent as a letter. Okay? So a lot of 00:27:12.380 --> 00:27:15.519 people have been wrong. We need to approach Scripture 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:18.980 with humility. But secondly, I would argue this. 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:22.480 When we get so caught up on trying to make a 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:25.960 passage of Revelation fit with a specific hermeneutic 00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:27.720 of what the end times is going to look like, 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:30.720 or with exactly this event or that event, we 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:33.440 lose sight of the promises of God in Scripture. 00:27:35.180 --> 00:27:37.420 It's not bad to understand the end times. It's 00:27:37.420 --> 00:27:39.680 not bad to look into those. But hear this, we 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:42.279 absolutely cannot lose sight of the real promise 00:27:42.279 --> 00:27:44.819 that's going on here. Jesus makes a promise to 00:27:44.819 --> 00:27:46.740 this church and to all believers, and here's 00:27:46.740 --> 00:27:49.599 what he promises. He promises that he will be 00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:53.819 faithful. I will also keep you from the hour 00:27:53.819 --> 00:27:55.299 of testing that is going to come on the whole 00:27:55.299 --> 00:27:57.819 world to test those who live on the earth. That 00:27:57.819 --> 00:28:02.720 is a promise of faithfulness. In verses 8 and 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:06.319 9, we see our call to be faithful. Let our works 00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:09.220 be faithful. Let our lives be faithful. And here 00:28:09.220 --> 00:28:11.980 we see Jesus promise faithfulness back to us. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.619 Let me actually encourage you, as you think about 00:28:14.619 --> 00:28:17.839 Revelation as a whole, as a book, see the faithfulness 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:20.440 of God throughout it. Not just a series of events 00:28:20.440 --> 00:28:23.240 that are prophesied. Not just this escalating 00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:24.880 theme of what's going to come next, or next, 00:28:24.980 --> 00:28:28.019 or next, or next, or next. See the faithfulness 00:28:28.019 --> 00:28:32.210 of God. See the faithfulness of God here in Revelation 00:28:32.210 --> 00:28:35.670 chapter 3 to the church in Philadelphia. See 00:28:35.670 --> 00:28:40.930 the faithfulness of God as you look on your own 00:28:40.930 --> 00:28:43.230 at Revelation chapter 4 and see the throne room 00:28:43.230 --> 00:28:45.930 of heaven. See the faithfulness of God as you 00:28:45.930 --> 00:28:50.349 look at the book of Revelation. Let me encourage 00:28:50.349 --> 00:28:53.569 you, verse 11 reminds us of that yet again. I 00:28:53.569 --> 00:28:56.549 am coming soon. Talk about the faithfulness of 00:28:56.549 --> 00:29:02.200 Jesus. He is coming soon. And I know, I know, 00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:05.119 I know, I'm a history teacher. I taught a lot 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:08.079 of history classes. 2 ,000 years is a long time. 00:29:08.539 --> 00:29:11.039 From our human perspective, 2 ,000 years does 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:14.680 not seem soon. If I was to send Joe a text tomorrow 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:18.279 and say, I am coming to see you soon, and then 00:29:18.279 --> 00:29:21.579 I waited 2 ,000 years, he'd be very confused 00:29:21.579 --> 00:29:26.119 and also we'd both be very dead. But understand 00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:30.059 this. Jesus is not talking in human time. Jesus 00:29:30.059 --> 00:29:33.559 is talking in his God eternal time, and he is 00:29:33.559 --> 00:29:37.099 coming soon. So let me challenge you. The next 00:29:37.099 --> 00:29:40.359 time you see some crazy thing on the news, don't 00:29:40.359 --> 00:29:42.059 jump the gun and start panicking. Don't go do 00:29:42.059 --> 00:29:43.319 one of those things where people are selling 00:29:43.319 --> 00:29:44.579 their houses and selling everything they own 00:29:44.579 --> 00:29:47.500 because the end times are here. No. Remember 00:29:47.500 --> 00:29:49.839 the faithfulness of God, the faithfulness of 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:53.359 Jesus, that he is coming soon. Here's what I 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:55.299 love about that. That is a promise that is true 00:29:55.299 --> 00:29:57.619 for us here in Champaign, Illinois. And it is 00:29:57.619 --> 00:30:00.299 a promise for believers who live in Nigeria and 00:30:00.299 --> 00:30:02.400 face Boko Haram coming to their villages to kill 00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:04.759 them. No matter where we live, no matter what 00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:08.319 it is that we face, Jesus is faithful, and he 00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:12.000 is coming soon. Look at verses 12 and 13 with 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:14.440 me. In verses 12 and 13, we see Jesus' final 00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:16.299 encouragement to this church, and I think my 00:30:16.299 --> 00:30:18.859 favorite promise that he gives to this church. 00:30:18.980 --> 00:30:21.079 He says this, the one who conquers, remember 00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:23.359 that can also mean endure, or my favorite definition 00:30:23.359 --> 00:30:26.079 of that, the one who wins. the one who walks 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:29.799 with God for life, I will make a pillar in the 00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:33.039 temple of my God and he will never go out again. 00:30:34.140 --> 00:30:36.559 I will write on him the name of my God and the 00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:38.880 name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:41.920 which comes down out of heaven from my God and 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:44.819 my new name. Let anyone who has ears to hear 00:30:44.819 --> 00:30:46.460 listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. 00:30:47.619 --> 00:30:50.819 Yet again, we see Jesus stress faithfulness. 00:30:51.559 --> 00:30:53.980 He is faithful, and he promises that for the 00:30:53.980 --> 00:30:55.779 one who conquers, the one who endures, the one 00:30:55.779 --> 00:30:58.539 who stands with Jesus, they will be a pillar 00:30:58.539 --> 00:31:02.700 in the temple of God. That promise is especially 00:31:02.700 --> 00:31:06.039 fitting for Philadelphia. Across these seven 00:31:06.039 --> 00:31:08.119 churches, we've kind of seen a trend. I think 00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:09.500 it shows us something more on a geographical 00:31:09.500 --> 00:31:12.259 scale about Turkey, that there's a lot of earthquakes 00:31:12.259 --> 00:31:15.160 over there. And Philadelphia was another town 00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:17.039 that had major earthquakes that went through 00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:20.269 it. Major earthquakes. And there's a kind of 00:31:20.269 --> 00:31:22.130 a legend, I don't think it's actually true, but 00:31:22.130 --> 00:31:24.730 there's a legend that in fact one of the earthquakes 00:31:24.730 --> 00:31:27.009 caused all of the temples in Philadelphia to 00:31:27.009 --> 00:31:29.210 collapse, but it left the pillars standing upright. 00:31:29.849 --> 00:31:31.369 Once again, that sounds like a real legend to 00:31:31.369 --> 00:31:34.289 me, not fact. However, there's kind of an allusion 00:31:34.289 --> 00:31:36.230 to that. But I think there's something else. 00:31:37.250 --> 00:31:40.230 When you see a pillar, you see strength. And 00:31:40.230 --> 00:31:42.130 this church in Philadelphia to the outside world 00:31:42.130 --> 00:31:45.640 does not look strong. It looks weak. It looks 00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:47.339 like something if the earth shakes too hard, 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:50.940 if things crumble at all, it will collapse. But 00:31:50.940 --> 00:31:53.200 Jesus promises that those who follow him, those 00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:56.819 who know him, will not crumble. And in fact, 00:31:56.839 --> 00:31:58.619 instead of crumbling, instead of failing, they'll 00:31:58.619 --> 00:32:01.119 become a pillar in the temple of God. And then 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:04.559 one more thing, they'll receive a new name. They 00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:07.359 will be identified by and with God and Jesus. 00:32:07.460 --> 00:32:09.740 Their new home, new Jerusalem, will be close 00:32:09.740 --> 00:32:12.599 to God. It will come out of God. That is a beautiful 00:32:12.599 --> 00:32:15.549 thing that we are striving for. We aren't Christians 00:32:15.549 --> 00:32:17.230 because it's always easy. We aren't Christians 00:32:17.230 --> 00:32:18.690 because we just want a sky genie that we can 00:32:18.690 --> 00:32:21.029 say, hey, sky genie, I could really use $100 00:32:21.029 --> 00:32:23.529 today. We aren't Christians just because we want 00:32:23.529 --> 00:32:26.250 another identity to call ourselves. Being a Christian 00:32:26.250 --> 00:32:28.609 isn't just an earthly identity. Instead, it's 00:32:28.609 --> 00:32:31.829 a heaven -given new identity to be known as one 00:32:31.829 --> 00:32:36.349 of Jesus's. It's a heaven -given new place to 00:32:36.349 --> 00:32:39.170 live, to live for eternity with our Creator and 00:32:39.170 --> 00:32:45.670 with our Savior. Friends, fellow image bearers 00:32:45.670 --> 00:32:50.029 of God Most High, followers of God, fellow royal 00:32:50.029 --> 00:32:54.569 priests, chosen believers. This is really a promise 00:32:54.569 --> 00:32:58.490 of faithfulness, that Jesus will be faithful, 00:32:58.670 --> 00:33:03.150 that he will not forget his own. I've shared 00:33:03.150 --> 00:33:04.650 this before. There's a song that I listen to 00:33:04.650 --> 00:33:07.890 a lot when I get sad, and it's got a line in 00:33:07.890 --> 00:33:12.190 there that just says that so simply, Jesus won't 00:33:12.190 --> 00:33:17.279 forget his own. I don't know about you, but I'm 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:19.220 going through a difficult time. It starts to 00:33:19.220 --> 00:33:24.180 feel like Jesus has forgotten me. Jesus, if you 00:33:24.180 --> 00:33:26.680 really remembered me, you wouldn't let this happen 00:33:26.680 --> 00:33:32.220 right now. Jesus, if you really were with me, 00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:36.900 why is this going on? Well, friends, when you 00:33:36.900 --> 00:33:38.940 start to despair, when you start to feel that 00:33:38.940 --> 00:33:44.420 way, remember this promise in verse 12. That's 00:33:44.420 --> 00:33:45.819 not a promise of someone who's been forgotten. 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:51.400 You know, when I was looking at seminaries, I 00:33:51.400 --> 00:33:53.200 toured the campus of Southern Seminary, and they 00:33:53.200 --> 00:33:55.259 are most famous for a couple things, one being 00:33:55.259 --> 00:33:57.480 the flagship seminary of the SBC, probably the 00:33:57.480 --> 00:33:59.059 second most famous thing being their pillars, 00:33:59.220 --> 00:34:00.519 which sounds like a weird thing to be famous 00:34:00.519 --> 00:34:02.799 for, but all across this campus in Kentucky, 00:34:02.900 --> 00:34:05.640 they've got these massive white pillars everywhere 00:34:05.640 --> 00:34:08.920 you go. I can promise you this. The guys who 00:34:08.920 --> 00:34:10.679 made those pillars didn't just put them there 00:34:10.679 --> 00:34:12.820 and then forget that they'd made a pillar. You 00:34:12.820 --> 00:34:14.260 don't just forget a pillar that you've built. 00:34:15.699 --> 00:34:17.380 And I can promise you that around the University 00:34:17.380 --> 00:34:18.820 of Illinois campus where there's pillars, people 00:34:18.820 --> 00:34:20.500 didn't just forget that they built a pillar. 00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:24.739 They know there's a pillar there. Friends, Jesus 00:34:24.739 --> 00:34:27.539 is not going to forget you. Instead, he promises 00:34:27.539 --> 00:34:29.420 that if you endure, if you stay with him, if 00:34:29.420 --> 00:34:32.320 you walk with him, that he will make you a pillar 00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:37.119 in the temple of God. both as believers, and 00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:38.900 I will also challenge us on a corporate level 00:34:38.900 --> 00:34:41.659 as a church. If we are faithful to walk with 00:34:41.659 --> 00:34:45.800 God, to cling to God, friends, like the church 00:34:45.800 --> 00:34:48.579 in Philadelphia, we have that promise. We are 00:34:48.579 --> 00:34:51.440 not forgotten. And look at what Jesus says yet 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:53.619 again as he closes out this letter. Let anyone 00:34:53.619 --> 00:34:56.099 who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit 00:34:56.099 --> 00:34:59.019 says to the churches. This morning, hear what 00:34:59.019 --> 00:35:01.349 Jesus says to the church in Philadelphia. Hear 00:35:01.349 --> 00:35:03.590 Christ's encouragement. Hear about Jesus's deep 00:35:03.590 --> 00:35:07.329 love. Hear God's faithfulness and hear this encouragement. 00:35:07.690 --> 00:35:10.429 He will never forget you. He will not overlook 00:35:10.429 --> 00:35:12.570 you. He will not say that church down the street's 00:35:12.570 --> 00:35:13.889 a little bit bigger, that church down the street 00:35:13.889 --> 00:35:15.329 has a little more of this or a little more of 00:35:15.329 --> 00:35:19.250 that. Friends, he sees you. So walk faithfully. 00:35:20.550 --> 00:35:22.550 Now this morning as we close out, we've got three 00:35:22.550 --> 00:35:24.929 quick points of application. Here's our first 00:35:24.929 --> 00:35:29.030 one. Forgiven and forgivers. Forgiven and forgivers. 00:35:29.869 --> 00:35:32.449 I love what 1 John 1, 9 says. It says this, if 00:35:32.449 --> 00:35:35.250 we confess our sins, he being Jesus is faithful 00:35:35.250 --> 00:35:37.849 and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse 00:35:37.849 --> 00:35:42.010 us from all unrighteousness. That is the gospel 00:35:42.010 --> 00:35:45.210 boiled down into one verse. That here we are 00:35:45.210 --> 00:35:48.289 as humans, each guilty of sin, each guilty of 00:35:48.289 --> 00:35:51.389 breaking the law of God. That we each have fallen 00:35:51.389 --> 00:35:54.010 short at one time or another and that sin and 00:35:54.010 --> 00:35:55.530 that sin alone is enough to separate us from 00:35:55.530 --> 00:36:02.130 God for eternity. But there's still hope. See, 00:36:02.190 --> 00:36:04.650 Jesus came to earth. He lived a perfect life, 00:36:04.670 --> 00:36:06.789 a life without sin, the only person to ever do 00:36:06.789 --> 00:36:11.590 that. He died on the cross for our sins, paying 00:36:11.590 --> 00:36:14.869 the ultimate price for you and me. And then he 00:36:14.869 --> 00:36:18.510 rose again on the third day. And I'm calling 00:36:18.510 --> 00:36:22.409 you today, if you're here and you have never 00:36:22.409 --> 00:36:24.789 entered into a personal relationship, I'm calling 00:36:24.789 --> 00:36:27.030 you to do that today. There was a song we sang 00:36:27.030 --> 00:36:29.829 during VBS. And it's been in my head all week. 00:36:29.949 --> 00:36:33.230 This is bad, actually. My Spotify rap, I'm going 00:36:33.230 --> 00:36:35.869 to say I'm like the top one overall listener 00:36:35.869 --> 00:36:40.010 to those VBS songs. But it's got this great reminder 00:36:40.010 --> 00:36:43.750 of what it is to be saved. It says this. Admit 00:36:43.750 --> 00:36:46.610 to God that you're a sinner and repent. Or bring 00:36:46.610 --> 00:36:48.210 your sin to God and say, God, I don't want to 00:36:48.210 --> 00:36:49.210 do this anymore. I'm going to turn around and 00:36:49.210 --> 00:36:51.809 walk differently. It says believe that Jesus 00:36:51.809 --> 00:36:55.530 is the only way. That putting your faith in Jesus, 00:36:55.590 --> 00:36:57.250 the Son of God who died on the cross and rose 00:36:57.250 --> 00:37:00.010 again for us, is the only way. And finally, confess 00:37:00.010 --> 00:37:04.289 your faith. That's not just a mental, yeah, Jesus 00:37:04.289 --> 00:37:06.670 is that. That's your entire life. Confess your 00:37:06.670 --> 00:37:09.969 faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. And 00:37:09.969 --> 00:37:12.489 that comes directly out of Romans chapter 10. 00:37:12.929 --> 00:37:15.389 So we call on you today to do that if you've 00:37:15.389 --> 00:37:18.389 never done that before. Admit that you're a sinner 00:37:18.389 --> 00:37:21.590 and you need to be saved. Believe in Jesus. and 00:37:21.590 --> 00:37:24.530 confess your faith in him today. Confess that 00:37:24.530 --> 00:37:28.130 Jesus is Lord. That's the first part. That's 00:37:28.130 --> 00:37:30.110 the first word of that. That's what it means 00:37:30.110 --> 00:37:32.630 to be forgiven. Let me encourage you to take 00:37:32.630 --> 00:37:36.070 that gift and to be forgiven. The church in Philadelphia 00:37:36.070 --> 00:37:38.650 has experienced that, but there's another part, 00:37:38.789 --> 00:37:40.869 something else we see from this church in Philadelphia, 00:37:40.969 --> 00:37:42.829 and that's this idea that they are forgiving. 00:37:43.369 --> 00:37:46.050 They're forgivers. That's why our application 00:37:46.050 --> 00:37:49.139 is forgiving and forgivers. See, in Matthew chapter 00:37:49.139 --> 00:37:51.719 18, Jesus tells a parable. It's about 15 verses 00:37:51.719 --> 00:37:53.519 long. Let me encourage you to go look at it later 00:37:53.519 --> 00:37:56.420 on. Basically what happens is a servant borrows 00:37:56.420 --> 00:37:59.280 money from a king and he can't pay it back. And 00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:00.619 the king says, well, don't worry about it. I 00:38:00.619 --> 00:38:03.579 got your back. And it's a huge sum of money, 00:38:03.619 --> 00:38:05.219 way more than any human could ever pay back. 00:38:05.559 --> 00:38:08.519 The king says, I'll forgive it. The servant goes 00:38:08.519 --> 00:38:10.420 out into the hallway and he runs into another 00:38:10.420 --> 00:38:13.199 servant who owes him money. This guy owes like 00:38:13.199 --> 00:38:15.400 maybe a month and a half of money. It's not that 00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:18.710 much money, right? Really, you can do with that 00:38:18.710 --> 00:38:21.190 when all of the debt in your life just got forgiven. 00:38:22.849 --> 00:38:25.090 This first servant takes the second one and basically 00:38:25.090 --> 00:38:26.690 pins him up against the wall and starts screaming 00:38:26.690 --> 00:38:28.309 at him and orders him to be taken off to jail 00:38:28.309 --> 00:38:31.050 and thrown in prison for not paying back the 00:38:31.050 --> 00:38:35.070 money that he owes. That's not forgiveness at 00:38:35.070 --> 00:38:39.550 all. In fact, the parable ends with Jesus saying 00:38:39.550 --> 00:38:41.210 that then the king finds out about this and throws 00:38:41.210 --> 00:38:43.409 the first man in prison. This is the second one 00:38:43.409 --> 00:38:47.980 free. Let me challenge us that just like the 00:38:47.980 --> 00:38:49.920 church in Philadelphia was called to forgive 00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:52.539 those who are persecuting them and to give them 00:38:52.539 --> 00:38:54.679 into God's hands, we are called to do the same 00:38:54.679 --> 00:38:56.440 thing. Just as we have been forgiven, we are 00:38:56.440 --> 00:38:59.380 called to forgive others. We're called to forgive 00:38:59.380 --> 00:39:01.380 and to leave it in God's hands. Now let me be 00:39:01.380 --> 00:39:02.900 clear, that doesn't mean you forgive and then 00:39:02.900 --> 00:39:05.519 make the same decision over and over to put yourself 00:39:05.519 --> 00:39:07.300 in a spot where you're hurt by the same person. 00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:10.380 But that does mean that you forgive them and 00:39:10.380 --> 00:39:14.079 you trust God and leave it alone. So let me challenge 00:39:14.079 --> 00:39:15.719 this. People who are called to be forgivers, 00:39:15.900 --> 00:39:18.420 let's forgive other people quickly and let's 00:39:18.420 --> 00:39:20.760 pray for them. Let's pray for their salvation. 00:39:20.920 --> 00:39:22.820 Let's pray that they will come to know Jesus 00:39:22.820 --> 00:39:27.500 who loves them so much. So we are forgiven. We 00:39:27.500 --> 00:39:29.579 are called to be forgivers. Point number two, 00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:34.159 faithful, not frustrated. Faithful, not frustrated. 00:39:35.659 --> 00:39:38.880 Church in Philadelphia is not commended for being 00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:43.329 just absolutely fastest growing church in the 00:39:43.329 --> 00:39:46.210 known world. The church in Philadelphia is not 00:39:46.210 --> 00:39:48.329 making any top 10 lists for fastest growing church 00:39:48.329 --> 00:39:52.670 in their region. I actually knew a church that 00:39:52.670 --> 00:39:55.210 made one of those lists and it was so funny because 00:39:55.210 --> 00:39:56.909 they kind of lost sight of what had gotten them 00:39:56.909 --> 00:39:59.170 on there because they stopped being faithful 00:39:59.170 --> 00:40:03.519 and they started being a factory. Friends, we're 00:40:03.519 --> 00:40:04.960 called to be faithful, not frustrated. I know 00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:06.739 it's hard. Sometimes it's easy for us to get 00:40:06.739 --> 00:40:09.139 frustrated when we are reaching out to our neighbors 00:40:09.139 --> 00:40:12.900 and we don't see fruit right away. We say, but 00:40:12.900 --> 00:40:14.780 God, I've talked with that person three times. 00:40:15.739 --> 00:40:19.940 How much more do I have to do? Friends, be faithful. 00:40:20.599 --> 00:40:24.679 Don't be frustrated. And understand that God 00:40:24.679 --> 00:40:26.340 is going to open that door and he will keep that 00:40:26.340 --> 00:40:29.750 door open. And there's a specific way. Really, 00:40:29.789 --> 00:40:31.670 in particular, I want to apply this to us very 00:40:31.670 --> 00:40:34.809 practically today. You know, we're launching 00:40:34.809 --> 00:40:36.230 Cornerstone Collegiate this fall, and we are 00:40:36.230 --> 00:40:38.969 super excited about it. And part of it is because 00:40:38.969 --> 00:40:40.989 that is part of us being a faithful church that 00:40:40.989 --> 00:40:43.329 reaches our missions field on a daily basis. 00:40:44.429 --> 00:40:46.489 It's not just enough for us to sit back on the 00:40:46.489 --> 00:40:48.250 sidelines. We want to be a faithful church that 00:40:48.250 --> 00:40:51.969 is reaching every single day. And so here's my 00:40:51.969 --> 00:40:55.510 practical takeaway for you. Help us be faithful. 00:40:56.139 --> 00:40:58.880 Join in and be faithful with us in reaching this. 00:40:59.360 --> 00:41:01.119 And let me be clear, I'm not expecting everyone 00:41:01.119 --> 00:41:04.400 to just show up on campus every day. Like, if 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:06.699 you want to, that's fine. That might also be 00:41:06.699 --> 00:41:08.780 a little weird at times. I'm not expecting you 00:41:08.780 --> 00:41:11.019 to do that. But we do need your help, and here's 00:41:11.019 --> 00:41:12.579 a great way you can do it. This week, we are 00:41:12.579 --> 00:41:14.760 focused on a week of prayer. We'll be sending 00:41:14.760 --> 00:41:17.880 out one prayer emphasis each day from today through 00:41:17.880 --> 00:41:21.000 next Saturday. Let me encourage you, be faithful 00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:24.199 by taking a minute to pray for what God is going 00:41:24.199 --> 00:41:27.019 to do on this campus. The first one will be sent 00:41:27.019 --> 00:41:30.300 out at 11 a .m., so in 35 minutes. You can check 00:41:30.300 --> 00:41:32.960 your phone and you'll see that. And then tomorrow 00:41:32.960 --> 00:41:35.320 you'll get one at five in the morning. So there's 00:41:35.320 --> 00:41:37.400 no excuse. We all have that extra minute before 00:41:37.400 --> 00:41:40.059 work that we can stop and take a minute and pray. 00:41:40.519 --> 00:41:44.099 So please join us in praying for what God is 00:41:44.099 --> 00:41:47.000 going to do on campus. Be praying that God shows 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:50.460 us the open doors he's given to us. Because listen, 00:41:50.539 --> 00:41:52.559 we're doing this not relying on our own strength 00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:55.139 because our own strength is insufficient. Instead, 00:41:55.219 --> 00:41:56.920 our mindset is that of the church in Philadelphia, 00:41:56.920 --> 00:42:00.320 that we want to rely on God's strength. And so 00:42:00.320 --> 00:42:02.199 here's a way that you can join with us today 00:42:02.199 --> 00:42:05.719 in praying. Today, we are focused on praying 00:42:05.719 --> 00:42:08.159 for our returning students, our students who 00:42:08.159 --> 00:42:09.719 are coming back for their sophomore, their junior 00:42:09.719 --> 00:42:12.139 year, their senior year. We're praying for our 00:42:12.139 --> 00:42:13.880 students who have been gone over the summer, 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:16.579 that they would come back and be a faithful influence 00:42:16.579 --> 00:42:20.360 for the gospel. Let me encourage you with another 00:42:20.360 --> 00:42:25.630 practical part of this. visiting students. We're 00:42:25.630 --> 00:42:26.329 going to have new students here. We're going 00:42:26.329 --> 00:42:27.530 to have students who have been here for a while 00:42:27.530 --> 00:42:30.570 here. Let's be welcoming. Let's be inviting. 00:42:31.230 --> 00:42:33.349 I don't just mean like ask their name, what year 00:42:33.349 --> 00:42:35.130 they are in school, and what they're studying. 00:42:35.429 --> 00:42:36.809 I'm sure you can ask our students. That's like 00:42:36.809 --> 00:42:38.289 the number one thing you get asked in college. 00:42:38.809 --> 00:42:40.550 Name, year, what you're studying, maybe what 00:42:40.550 --> 00:42:43.710 dorm you live in. Try to build a relationship 00:42:43.710 --> 00:42:46.829 with somebody. Invite them to sit with you. Say, 00:42:46.889 --> 00:42:49.269 hey, come sit with me. Listen, you never know 00:42:49.269 --> 00:42:53.659 how God will use that. For me, when I was in 00:42:53.659 --> 00:42:55.960 college, I was invited to church my first Sunday 00:42:55.960 --> 00:42:59.659 at a smaller church called Grace Baptist, a little 00:42:59.659 --> 00:43:03.539 bit smaller than Cornerstone, and I showed up 00:43:03.539 --> 00:43:06.800 there with my friends, and as soon as I walked 00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:09.340 in the door, I had a huge bloody nose, like just 00:43:09.340 --> 00:43:12.639 all over the place, like exploding, like all 00:43:12.639 --> 00:43:15.829 over. It was terrible. And I'm sitting there, 00:43:15.909 --> 00:43:17.909 brand new freshman, like, I am so embarrassed. 00:43:18.190 --> 00:43:20.210 Like, I am never going to live this down. I'm 00:43:20.210 --> 00:43:22.030 going to have to hide myself. Like, I can never 00:43:22.030 --> 00:43:24.610 be around any of these people again. One of the 00:43:24.610 --> 00:43:27.110 guys I came with was a guy named Nick. And Nick 00:43:27.110 --> 00:43:29.010 had every reason in the world to have been frustrated. 00:43:30.289 --> 00:43:32.389 See, Nick was in his, I think it was his sixth 00:43:32.389 --> 00:43:34.550 year of college. He had to come back for two 00:43:34.550 --> 00:43:37.730 final classes, and he had to have major ACL repair. 00:43:38.449 --> 00:43:41.250 That was why he was still in college. That was 00:43:41.250 --> 00:43:43.690 what his semester was, was have his ACL redone. 00:43:44.320 --> 00:43:47.840 and take two classes. Not exactly the most exciting 00:43:47.840 --> 00:43:51.199 thing. That day, as I was sitting in the bathroom 00:43:51.199 --> 00:43:54.260 with my nose bleeding all over me, trying desperately 00:43:54.260 --> 00:43:56.460 not to embarrass myself any further in front 00:43:56.460 --> 00:43:59.980 of this church that I was visiting, Nick went 00:43:59.980 --> 00:44:02.099 into the bathroom, and he sat with me for the 00:44:02.099 --> 00:44:05.019 full service, for the hour and a half of service, 00:44:05.099 --> 00:44:07.719 and he just sat there with me, and we talked, 00:44:07.739 --> 00:44:10.960 and he was faithful. He was faithful to see a 00:44:10.960 --> 00:44:14.510 freshman who was absolutely panicking about whether 00:44:14.510 --> 00:44:15.690 or not they're even going to make it through 00:44:15.690 --> 00:44:18.349 freshman year. I understand the joke in my family 00:44:18.349 --> 00:44:19.849 was that from the day I showed up on campus, 00:44:19.889 --> 00:44:21.650 I was going to transfer, and I just never got 00:44:21.650 --> 00:44:25.530 around to it. By the end, I kind of loved Wyoming, 00:44:25.650 --> 00:44:27.789 but it was rough at the beginning, and yet he 00:44:27.789 --> 00:44:30.190 saw that, and he was faithful to meet me in that. 00:44:32.130 --> 00:44:34.369 Friends, Nick would later go on and join staff 00:44:34.369 --> 00:44:36.210 at the campus ministry, but Nick was not on staff 00:44:36.210 --> 00:44:38.210 at the time. Nick had no reason that he had to 00:44:38.210 --> 00:44:41.250 do that. He found just that he wanted to be faithful. 00:44:41.800 --> 00:44:43.639 So let me encourage you, be faithful by praying 00:44:43.639 --> 00:44:46.119 with us and be faithful by building relationships 00:44:46.119 --> 00:44:49.239 with students and all visitors that come in. 00:44:49.500 --> 00:44:52.659 Let's be faithful in that, not grow frustrated. 00:44:53.420 --> 00:44:56.219 On a daily basis, let me encourage you to invest 00:44:56.219 --> 00:44:58.619 in the people around you, to invite them into 00:44:58.619 --> 00:45:01.119 our own lives, to involve them in our walk with 00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:03.280 God, and to ignite with them to reach more people 00:45:03.280 --> 00:45:06.099 together. Let's as a church be faithful, not 00:45:06.099 --> 00:45:07.820 frustrated. Here's the final one, fellowship 00:45:07.820 --> 00:45:11.059 forever. Friends, I love this part of the letter 00:45:11.059 --> 00:45:12.940 to the church in Philadelphia because it's a 00:45:12.940 --> 00:45:14.739 reminder that we are going to be in fellowship 00:45:14.739 --> 00:45:18.650 with our Savior forever. This point is entirely 00:45:18.650 --> 00:45:20.409 designed just to remind us of verse 12, that 00:45:20.409 --> 00:45:22.170 we will be given a new name, a new identity, 00:45:22.230 --> 00:45:25.250 a new home, a new body, a body without any pain. 00:45:25.670 --> 00:45:27.769 That means a body for all of us who've had surgery 00:45:27.769 --> 00:45:29.730 on a joint before, where we do not wake up when 00:45:29.730 --> 00:45:31.889 the weather changes. A body where we are not 00:45:31.889 --> 00:45:34.349 in pain when we tweak that wrong. Instead, we 00:45:34.349 --> 00:45:36.929 will live with our Savior forever. So let me 00:45:36.929 --> 00:45:40.449 encourage you, grasp this, hold on to this, cling 00:45:40.449 --> 00:45:42.110 to this. If you're in a season of transition, 00:45:42.389 --> 00:45:46.980 remember this. Let me encourage you also, as 00:45:46.980 --> 00:45:48.920 we've got new students coming in, to encourage 00:45:48.920 --> 00:45:52.280 them in this too. Of what it looks like to have 00:45:52.280 --> 00:45:57.000 fellowship forever with God. This semester on 00:45:57.000 --> 00:45:58.579 campus, we're going to be going through the book 00:45:58.579 --> 00:46:00.860 of 1 Peter on our Wednesday nights together. 00:46:01.280 --> 00:46:02.539 We're talking about what it looks like to live 00:46:02.539 --> 00:46:05.340 as sojourners in a world that isn't our home. 00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:07.699 How living in a world that's not our home should 00:46:07.699 --> 00:46:10.320 make us long and look forward to our true home. 00:46:11.159 --> 00:46:12.500 Friends, it's the same thing with Revelation 00:46:12.500 --> 00:46:16.750 3 .12. I don't know about you. But I long to 00:46:16.750 --> 00:46:20.369 spend eternity with Jesus. I long to be a pillar 00:46:20.369 --> 00:46:25.070 in the temple of God. I long to have that new 00:46:25.070 --> 00:46:27.769 body where I'm not in pain anymore, where there 00:46:27.769 --> 00:46:29.309 is no sorrow in the world, where there is no 00:46:29.309 --> 00:46:34.730 hurt. I long to be with God forever. And friends, 00:46:34.909 --> 00:46:38.250 let's remember that at the end of the day, Jesus 00:46:38.250 --> 00:46:40.829 is faithful to provide that fellowship forever. 00:46:40.969 --> 00:46:44.980 Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much. for 00:46:44.980 --> 00:46:46.860 your faithfulness. Thank you for this passage 00:46:46.860 --> 00:46:53.360 that challenges us to grow in faithfulness. God, 00:46:53.440 --> 00:46:56.119 I'm just so humbled by what you promised the 00:46:56.119 --> 00:46:59.739 church in Philadelphia. Father, I just ask that 00:46:59.739 --> 00:47:02.579 you would be with us and that you would encourage 00:47:02.579 --> 00:47:05.500 us with this. God, help us to be faithful day 00:47:05.500 --> 00:47:07.639 after day. God, help us to be faithful in whatever 00:47:07.639 --> 00:47:09.780 we're doing, whether we're at work or at home 00:47:09.780 --> 00:47:13.670 or with family. Wherever we might be, God, in 00:47:13.670 --> 00:47:16.610 class, God, wherever we are, help us to be faithful 00:47:16.610 --> 00:47:22.250 forever. God, help us not to grow frustrated 00:47:22.250 --> 00:47:24.889 as we follow you. God, we know that the church 00:47:24.889 --> 00:47:26.449 in Philadelphia had every reason that they could 00:47:26.449 --> 00:47:28.949 have become frustrated, but they didn't. They 00:47:28.949 --> 00:47:32.110 continued to follow you faithfully. Help us to 00:47:32.110 --> 00:47:37.369 do the same thing. And God, I ask that when we 00:47:37.369 --> 00:47:40.690 hit those hard seasons, you would help us to 00:47:40.690 --> 00:47:43.099 fix our eyes forward. The fact that we will have 00:47:43.099 --> 00:47:47.179 fellowship with you forever. Help us never to 00:47:47.179 --> 00:47:49.679 lose sight of that, God. In your name we pray. 00:47:50.199 --> 00:47:50.539 Amen.