Letter 6
7 Letters to the 7 Churches • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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This morning we continued with our series of the 7 letters o the 7 churches
I hope you have enjoyed this series
That yes these were letters to specific churches in specific cities a long while ago
And they also hold something for us today as members of a church in a specific city today
As well as a believer in Jesus Christ
So there are things we as a church can be taking and apply to our church life and things we as individual
Last week we saw Jesus send a letter do what we could consider a dead church
We could have certainly looked at what causes a church to die or to no longer be effective but instead we focused on the fact the only way to become alive is through Christ
Whether the church is dead or dying we could list out how it got there, but that doesn’t help us if it has already happened
What does is that face that Jesus wrote the letter
2 ‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. 3 ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.
If you will recall from last week
Those 5 things
Wake Up
Strengthen what remains
Remember what you have recieved and heard
Keep it
Repent
This morning we move to letter number 6
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: 8 ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 ‘Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. 10 ‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 ‘I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 ‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. 13 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
As we look as this letter this is the church everyone is probably striving for
Philadelphia is an important city as it set on a major trade route
The gateway to the east
So the people continued to come to the city
It was destroyed and rebuilt
It was loyal to Rome so you can imagine there was probably some persecution
But as we see through out this entire letter they remained faithful to God’s word
They stood strong when the community around them folded
This is the church we strive for in that they stayed faithful to the Word of God
Yes Philadelphia means brotherly love and in today’s world that has been associated with Jesus
The world would have a church believe that the message of Jesus is Love
It is but the world has left out the rest
The message of Jesus is that He loved you so much that He took the thing that would separate you eternally from Him and dealt with it
He paid for your debt of sin and my debt of sin
And for believers we have accepted that gift by repenting and trusting in Him
His charge and mission and command to us is to love people so much that we can’t help but share with them the greatest news of all time
People think if you love them you have to accept them
To love them is to tell them their house is on fire and they need to get out
To love them is to tell them they are driving very very fast to a cliff and they need to stop now
To love them is to tell them they are sinning and that Jesus loved them enough to pay for their debt of sin
To love them is to tell them to accept what Jesus did on the cross you must repent and trust in Jesus
To love them is to explain what repenting is and what trusting in Jesus is
Church that is the message of Jesus and this church stood firm in that message to a lost world
So as we dig into this letter this morning
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:
This shows us the might and the power of Jesus
Jesus is Holy
Jesus is true
Jesus is the one who opens the door when no one else can
Jesus is the one who shuts the door that no one else can
What power and might that is
This is the mighty warrior Jesus who willingly went to the cross for you
This is the mighty warrior Jesus who created everything we see
Jesus has a message and has this to say
8 ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
I know your deeds
I know what you have done
I know your history
to the church who has remained faithful
I know because I know your deeds
To the dead church like last week I know
Because I know your deeds church
We can’t try and hide things from Christ
We can’t try and mask things from Christ
Like last week we can’t be saying we are alive when we are actually dead
We can’t say we are all about the Gospel and have nothing to do with sharing the Gospel with the lost
We can’t say we have a heart for the lost and do nothing to prepare ourselves to share the Gospel with a lost world
9 ‘Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. 10 ‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Remember the power and might of Jesus
That same Jesus has out back during those times of persecution
When people start to lie and say nasty things about you because of your faith in Jesus
When you start to experience persecution because of your relationship with Christ
Jesus is saying I have your back
I will make them come and bow at your feet
And they will know that I have loved you
First, Jesus loves you
You need to know that and trust in that fact
Jesus didn’t die for your sins just to say good luck making it through this life
Jesus said I am going to die for your sins and then I am going to walk with you through this life
Jesus is telling the church in Philadelphia I have your back
I am with you
People will know that I the creator of the universe have loved you
Why
I am so glad you asked
Again church its because they remained faithful to Gods word
They remained faithful when it wasn’t cool
They remained faithful when other churches weren’t
They remained faithful when a city 25 miles away couldn’t be faithful
They were faithful to the entire Word of God not just the easy parts not just the non offending parts
They were a church preached and taught the entire word of God
How refreshing it is to know that God has our back when we walk with Him
This is a promise that you and I need to underline and stand on during those difficult seasons of life
So what does it look like to remain faithful to the Word of God
It means the focus is on Jesus and not the numbers coming it
It means staying focused on Jesus in word and action even when society you are in starts to look down on you
Mike Stachura says “The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity”
Jesus will have our back if we remain faithful to the Word of God
It is not just what comes from the pulpit but what are we as a people doing with it
We have long said if you just show up and listen and do nothing with it then we are just a book club on a cruise ship
When scripture calls us to be soldiers on a battle ship
Church which are you
As we have seen thus far in the letters it is not what you say you are
But what does your action say about you
Jesus will keep us from being tested
Jesus has your back
11 ‘I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
If what is going on in the world is not a reminder of the truth that Jesus is coming back and He is coming soon
Jesus says I am coming quickly
Time is running out
you had better get your affairs in order so that you are ready to stand before God Almighty
And to understand that we the church
That we as individuals need to stand firm in being obedient to Christ
12 ‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. 13 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
For those who overcome
For those who are not being obedient to the entire word of God
Repent
To those who are not being faithful to the Word of God
Repent this morning
That is what it is to overcome
God will use you
God will use the church who repents and remains faithful to the Word of God
God will put you as a pillar in the Temple of God
the New Temple
If you have an ear you had better listen to this
Because Jesus is coming quickly
Church
This is a church who is on fire for Jesus and has passion, has right doctrine
Who has a heart for the lost and is doing something about it
This is a church who has put action to their faith in Christ
Let us be that church
Let us be a church on fire for Jesus
Let us be individuals on fire for Jesus
Let us be a church that is putting action to our faith in Christ
Let the actions of this church reflect what we teach and preach
Let our individual actions reflect what we believe and say about our relationship with Jesus
CLOSING
As we move to our time of invitation
The band will come forward
And as they do
Maybe this morning you are here and have under conviction of the Holy Spirit realize that you are not being faithful to the Entire Word of God
Yes you have a person relationship with Jesus
If that is you this morning I would invite you to the front to spend sometime in pray repenting
Or maybe this morning you understand that Jesus is coming quickly and you do not want to be on the wrong side of the creator of the universe
I would invite you to the front to speak with someone
They will show you are a sinner in need of savior and Jesus did just that
How Jesus is the only way to be saved and set free from sin
Or maybe there is another decision you need to make
the altar is open
