Victorious Pillars

Connect: Welcome and introduce.

Rev 3:7-13 is incredibly rich

(I stopped counting after 57 Old Testament allusions and references)

Read: Rev 3:7-13

Express: In Christ, we are Victorious Pillars

Pray

Tell: Info about Philadelphia

Unstable: Subject to frequent earthquakes.A.D. 17 destroyed the city and was followed by a series of intermittent shocks which led the people to continue living outside the city for years because of the structural instability of many of the buildings and walls.

Name Changes: The city was rebuilt and the city had its name changed to Neocaesarea because Emperor Tiberius assisted in the process of rebuilding the city. Then later on it took an imperial name under Vespasian, Flavia. But Philadelphia became the name that persisted the most. So historically, we see a lot of instability in this city including instability of the name of the city.

The beauty of this letter is how Jesus addresses these things through the hope of His permanent name. (vs. 12)

One thing we see about this letter is that there is no correction, the church in this city didn’t fall for false teachings, they were faithful and overcame much of what was thrown at them. (vs. 8)

SHIFT

(7-8)

I wanna summarize these two verses this way:

The only way To the King is Through the King

Jesus, the one who has the highest authority, the one who is the most trustworthy, is the only way you and I get to experience eternal life.

Not only that, but we get to partner with Him in the ministry of the hope of eternal life.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek

The most useful tool we have to operate our Ministries is not, budget, creativity, space, but it is the Gospel.

Are you and I taking full advantage of this power everywhere we go? Or are we operating on our own little power that does nothing to save anyone?

(9-11)

We as the Children of God, the true Israel now have victory over all of the enemies of Jesus Christ. Both Gentiles and Jews who confess Jesus Christ will have dominion with Him and until then God promises to offer spiritual protection through great tribulation (10).

The promise of spiritual protection comes with the call to endure. We combine this with the previous verse that says “you have kept my word and have not denied my name” (8).

Endurance refers to keeping faithful to the message of the gospel and living in a way that reflects its power.

There are so many things that might cause us to fall short of enduring.

Sickness, loss of a family member, marital issues, mental health, fill in the blank,

but verse 11 gives us great hope and calling

(11)

Some of us are just waiting for the doorbell to ring with Jesus on the other side of it saying, Here I am let’s go now.

But he calls us to hold on to what you have.

You and I have Jesus Christ, we have promise of His comfort of His peace

You might be battling sickness, but hold on to Jesus

You might be dealing with financial issues, but hold on to Jesus

You might be afraid of the future, but hold on to Jesus

Are you hearing what the Word of God is saying to you today?

The word for crown is Stephanos it refers to a wreath on the head. It is connected to victory and triumph.

You don’t have to earn victory because you already have it

Victory doesn’t look like healing, victory doesn’t look like enduring through pain, victory means to belong to Jesus.

The forces of evil cannot succeed in taking your crown, your sickness cannot take away your crown, your debt cannot take away your crown, your emotional pain cannot take away your crown, because it has been firmly established on your head by the blood of the lamb and His resurrection.

Walk in victory knowing you are a child of God.

(12-13)

This passage was so important to the Philadelphia church. They were known for earthquakes, buildings and walls collapsing, they were a city of instability, and they had their name changed a number of times, but Jesus declares that even in the midst of instability and change, there is stability and permanence in His Name

You might be in a place of instability right now, not knowing what the future holds for you, feeling like pieces of your life are just falling apart, but Jesus says to the one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. I will write on him the name of my God.

Jesus promises that you can trust in a trustworthy savior to always belong to Him even through the hardest seasons of your life, He is yours and you are His.

In Christ we are victorious pillars, we are more than conquerors, and if we would just cling to Him with every fiber of our being, He will show himself to be trustworthy and faithful.

And that’s why you and I are where we are today. Because there is a diverse generation that is coming through our buildings on Sundays and throughout the week that is in need of stability.

And we have a savior who has the keys to open the door for them to experience stability and no one can close that door.

Is your ministry, is your life an expression of the stability of Jesus Christ.

Pray

Encourage people to share the parts of their unstable lives with others so that can find healing.