The Church at Philadelphia - Law of the Open Door, Pt. 3 - Revelation: The Apocalypse

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

Those who are overcomers with a little strength, who keep God's word and do not deny his name, are going to be given strength.

An establishment.

A foundation that cannot be shaken.

God wants to establish you, church.

God wants to establish you, beloved, strength.

Today, Pastor Steve continues his series on the book of Revelation.

At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.

For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

We're going to turn to Revelation again.

We're in Revelation chapter 3.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

We've been looking at the seven churches.

Just again to give you a brief outline of the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation begins with the idea of the now and the not yet.

And we are in the now at that time, in the present tense of the seven churches.

There were seven churches in Revelation.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

Chapter 3 were the church at Philadelphia.

This is actually a church that really existed at that time.

What we've been discovering as we go through the seven churches in chapter two and chapter three is that with each church there is a local meaning, a translocal meaning, and historical meaning.

And so we've been looking at those churches that way.

But when we came to the church at Philadelphia, one of two churches where there actually is not one critique.

It's only a commendation by Christ.

And if you've got a red letter Bible, you'll notice that everything's in red.

So this is a vision that John has.

We believe in a cave on the island of Patmos.

And if you ever go to the island of Patmos, which is considered one of the more beautiful places in the world today, it wasn't then, you can go to the cave of St.

John.

And that's where they believe the apocalypse happened, that the revelation came, the vision came.

And there Jesus is speaking to these seven churches on the male route of Asia Minor.

And with the church at Philadelphia, he speaks of an open door.

And so we're talking about this idea, this principle, or maybe we might call it the law of the open door.

This is our third week in the church at Philadelphia, and I'm calling it the law of the open door because how many of you know that God opens and closes doors?

Now, here's what a lot of Christians I've found over the years don't realize is there's actually closed doors off in our life that could have been opened.

Now, don't try to understand the sovereignty of God and all that because you'll become schizophrenic.

But the reality is, is that I believe it's so strongly supported in Scripture that God is sovereign over closed doors, but men and women, there are doors that are closed, they're even locked to you, that God could open if you would trust him in a way that opens doors.

So that's what we're talking about.

So we're in Revelation chapter 3, verse 7.

Revelation 3:7

And to the angel of the church at Philadelphia, right, these things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David.

Now, if you're an underliner, underline that, or highlight it, or circle it, the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens, I know your works.

See, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it.

For you have a little strength.

I like that part, because I don't have a lot of strength.

I like to know that I may have a little strength, have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Here's the thesis.

Now, if you haven't been with us any in the last three weeks, this is this is part three.

This is the thesis of what I consider to be the law of the open door.

Listen closely.

The law of the open door is we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, but open doors are based on works alone.

Okay?

Open doors are based on works.

So if you go back, if you've got an open Bible or you're looking at your iPad or whatever, if you look back at all of the churches, the first thing that Jesus says to John again and again is, I know, I see your works.

Then, based on what he sees, he makes an observation.

Now don't miss this.

I'm not saying that we're saved by any other way, but by grace and faith alone.

Absolutely.

For by grace you've been saved through faith.

Not of yourself.

It is a gift of God, not as a result of works that no one should boast.

We are his workmanship, though.

Verse 10, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.

And the word is poema.

You're a poem of God, created by God for good works that he's predestined for you to inhabit and for you to experience and for you to be a part of, but there's a devil.

Devil.

Unbeknownst to most of our politicians today, there's evil.

There's actually evil in this world that is on a campaign to take you out, to ruin your family, to ruin your marriage, to ruin your life, to ruin your character, to ruin your morality through the works of the enemy.

And we've been given instruction, especially in the book of Ephesians, how to fight and how to battle.

So in past messages, I talked about three things.

I said, clinging to Christ, contending in prayer, contending in prayer.

We're going to hit those again here.

Martin Luther, the great theologian of the Reformation, said, we are saved by faith alone, but not faith that is alone.

We are saved by faith alone, but not faith that is alone.

And so Jesus says, I know your works, I know your works, I know your works.

And he says it to each church.

So we're talking about God opening doors and closing doors.

He who has the key of David.

Interesting, the key of David.

So sometimes when I get home at night, it's dark, especially after this service, and I'm wasted.

And I have a keychain.

And on that keychain, I've got a fluorescent key tag so I can find it when it's in my ignition.

And so I pull it out and I'll get to the door, and sometimes we forget to put the porch lights on, and I'm fumbling with keys.

Have you ever tried to put a tundra key into your front door?

It doesn't work very well.

And so it seems like every time I put five keys in before I get the sixth key, which is the last one, which is the key that opens the door.

And he says, there's a key.

There's a key that opens doors, and he calls it the key of David.

What is the key of David?

What is it that opens locked doors that no man can shut, that being the key of David?

Well, the key of David, I believe, my opinion, the study of scripture, is the theme of David's life was intimacy with the Lord.

And so there's an intimacy that characterized David's relationship with God and God's relationship with David that is unique to David in the Bible.

There's no other man in the Bible where we have more references to the personal life of anyone than David.

David is so he's documented, his personal life is documented more than Jesus.

David gives us a glimpse into a man who has a heart after God.

Look at 1 Samuel 13, 14.

Look at 1 Samuel 13.

I believe 1 Samuel 13, 14 is a key verse for the open and the closed door.

We see a reference to two people here.

One, the door is closing on his life, and the other, the door is opening to his life.

Listen, based on his heart attitude toward God.

So look at 1 Samuel 13, 14, one of the great passages in scripture, in my opinion.

Speaking of Saul, he's speaking to Samuel, but he's speaking of Saul, who's the king of Israel, and he says, but now your kingdom shall not continue.

So he's speaking to Saul, who had come in as the first king of Israel, with all of the accolades and all of the celebration of one who was going to be an obedient first king of Israel, and he blew it.

Again and again, Saul's ambition, Saul's pride, and probably Saul's demonization got the best of him, and now God is shutting down that door.

Listen, because of his heart, because of his lack of obedience.

Then the verse continues with the law of the open door, and he says this the Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart.

And the Lord has commanded him to be commander over his people.

David's not searching for it.

David doesn't want it.

David's, as my great-grandmother would say, he was happy as a June bug in spring, being a shepherd boy, and God just yanks him out of the sheepfold, pulls him in, and begins to move him into kingship because he has a heart after God.

The key of David is our heart.

How many of you have gone through times in your life where every door it seems that you turn to is locked?

The things that you are praying about, the things that you are trusting God about continually don't seem to work out.

It might be your marriage, it might be your family, it might be job-related, doors seem to be shutting all around you.

We don't like that part, but it does say, and closes doors that no man can open.

And so at those times and in those places in our life, God calls us to a level of intimacy and worship and clinging to Him, as we talked about a couple weeks ago, the John 15 life, the life of abiding in the vine, the life of clinging to Christ and contending in prayer.

Clinging to Christ and contending in prayer.

And David is that young man.

David is a young man of somewhere between 13 and 15 years old in his life.

And all hell breaks loose when he gets anointed by Samuel.

When Samuel comes and says, you're going to be the next king over Israel, and he anoints, and the oil, I mean, it's just dripping.

I don't even know if the oil had gotten down from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet before trouble began.

And for the next 17 years, all David knows is how to run from people.

Running, you know, like a Monty Python movie or something like that.

Running hide, run away.

Another killer rabbit.

You know?

And so David just continually runs away as Saul is after him in the wilderness, and he goes on and on.

I mean, how would you like it?

If everything your boss has told you to do, you do better than he does.

You even worship with such anointing that the demons leave your boss.

And then he picks up a spear and throws it at you.

And then as soon as you go into the other room, he throws another one at you.

So sometimes abiding in intimacy means spears get thrown at you.

2 Chronicles 16, 9 says this: For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him.

So God is always on the lookout.

He's looking at you, young people.

He's looking at you that are older.

He's looking at you that are retired.

He's looking at you that are searching for a job.

He's looking for you that just feel totally like a failure.

And he's looking at your heart.

He's looking for loyal hearts.

And as he searches for hearts, when he finds one, he comes to support it.

He begins to do a work in our lives that prepares us for him to also open doors.

Do you understand that?

Because that's important, because we can get so focused on the open or the closed door that we forget that what opens and closes the door is the key of David.

Intimacy.

Worship.

We're going to go into worship tonight.

And we're going to have busy minds.

This is a summer in Colorado.

You know?

I'm just so glad you're here, you know.

And so it's a summer in Colorado, and we have busy minds, and we're thinking about this thing and that thing and that thing and this thing.

And to be able to just dial it down and to focus and worship the Lord.

That's the key of David.

And that breaks open in the fourth dimension what affects the three-dimensional world.

Don't miss that, ma'am.

Don't miss that.

Most believers completely miss this.

That when we worship, something's happening.

That when we pray and we contend in prayer, something's happening in the fourth dimension.

Daniel 10 gives us a glimpse of that, which we talked about a couple weeks ago, that battle in the heavenlies to fight for the open door.

And we become so fixated on the here and the now in the three-dimensional world, skipping over the fourth-dimensional world that we can't figure out why our keys, well, I got a great education.

I said all the right things in the interview.

Why do I keep getting rejected?

Why do they keep overlooking me?

Because your eyes are too much on the locked door and not enough on the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who opens and closes doors.

He's in control of that.

I believe that's the key of David.

And I believe the key to David was a man who understood this abiding in Christ, this intimacy, this experiencing of God's love.

And so that was opened up to all of us, men and women.

Let us not forget that as Christ died, he said, as it is finished.

At the cross, he said, it is finished, and that curtain, that curtain that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies was ripped from the top to the bottom, opening up intimacy with the Lord.

And that curtain was four inches thick, a handbreadth is what this Talmud and other great Jewish writings.

Josephus said it was a handbreadth in width.

So this massive 80-foot curtain was ripped from top to bottom, opening up the holy place into the holy of holies, and that's available to us through the blood and the body of Christ.

That's why we have communion tonight.

That's why we do communion tonight.

Because what Christ did to open up intimacy through his blood at the cross.

That's the key of David.

That's the key to opening and closing doors.

I think the reason that the scriptures speak of despising the fellowship of one another is because something supernatural is happening when we come together, when you join corporate worship.

Paul, writing to the Corinthians, even said, some even sleep because they take communion, they take the Lord's Supper in an improper way.

And so I don't get that.

I mean, I don't understand all that.

But the fact is, is it's there.

And so God's doing stuff like that in our lives to create and develop in us intimacy.

The writer of the Hebrews says this, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened up for us through the curtain, the curtain that was ripped, torn in two.

That is his body.

So he's metaphorically saying the curtain is a representative of the body of Christ.

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.

So we can walk in fear or we can walk in faith.

I think I like to call it fearful faith.

Right?

Because I don't know that we're ever totally not fearful.

I mean, I'm fearful all the time.

And we walk in fearful faith.

And so, but that intimacy with Christ is a clinging to him, a loving of him, a passion for him, especially in those times when there's closed doors in our lives.

And so there's going to be closed doors.

The key of David opens doors.

So how do we do that?

Here's what he says: see, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it, for you have a little strength.

Man, do I like that.

A little bit of strength.

How many here feel like you just have a little bit of strength?

Everybody else is a liar.

You know it because we have to continually surrender to God's power, to God's will.

Paul writes to the Corinthians, a great and effective door has opened up to me, but there are many adversaries.

I believe there can be an open door, and we choose not to walk through it because we're not clinging to Christ and contending in prayer.

And so God opens doors, but we still have to go through it, and it takes courage, it takes strength, it takes faith, but not your own.

Not your own power, not your own strength, but the power of the Spirit of God through a surrendered life.

And we look at David, I mean, for the next 17 years of his life, all hell broke loose.

Everywhere he turned, he he had enemies after him.

And I believe God was building, it was a training camp for David.

It was a training for him to become the man that God needed him to become, to be the leader of the people God had commanded him to guide and to lead.

I think, I believe, men and women, that the scriptures are clear that you can be too strong for God to use.

Some of us in the evangelical community, we're too strong for God to use.

I remember one time I had this guy want to take me to lunch, he kept bugging me at taking me to lunch.

I said, Man, I'll buy you sushi.

And he had asked me to lunch like five times, and when he finally said sushi, then I was I found time to go.

And so we go to sushi and we're at the sushi restaurant, and all he could talk about is how much he loved God.

Man, I just love God.

I just love Jesus.

And every other sentence was about how much he loved Jesus.

And finally I just got sick of it.

And I said, man, nobody loves Jesus that much.

That's weird.

He was like startled and everything.

I said, but I'm honest.

I said, dude, you're too, you're too strong for God to use.

Mallow out.

Now tell me what's going on in your life.

And it was cool because he, I don't know, maybe it was a God thing.

It probably was.

Most of the time it's not, but this time it was, and and he started opening up about his porn addiction.

He started opening up about some other stuff in his life.

But you see, he had created that religious facade of how much he loves Jesus.

And, you know, he probably had an ichthuse on his car, and he probably had one on his, you know, everything, and I love Jesus, you know, the kind that cut you off in traffic, those kind of guys.

And um, but here's what Paul says.

Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 12, and lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.

Concerning the thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, most gladly I would rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon me.

Therefore I take pleasure.

This is weird.

Okay, this is like, seriously, Paul is one weird cat.

He says this I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses.

For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

I don't think, Norman Vincent Peale quoted this very often.

I don't think Napoleon Hill probably uses this as the main runner.

For all of his positive mental attitude books.

The reality is, can you imagine living a life where you're so assured of the fact that all that all the power and all the goodness and all the grace, anything good that flows out of your life, is because of Christ that you could boast about all of your mistakes.

That when you got together, you just get a man, I'm a screw up, you know?

And you can't believe what I did this week.

But God gets the glory because he was so secure in his intimacy with Christ, men and women, that we might find ourselves there.

That it's in our weakness that God is his strongest.

That it's in our distresses that God is at his strongest.

That in our infirmities and in our sicknesses where God seemingly isn't even answering prayer, God will be your strength.

May we discover that.

I believe that's part of the law of the open door.

That we, if we would acknowledge, if we would be honest, if we would have vulnerability about our own weaknesses, God would show up in so much more, in so much greater mighty power.

And then he says this you have kept my word.

He says, first of all, he says, you have a little bit of power.

And then he says, You've kept my word.

King David probably spoke more about God's word than anybody in Scripture.

I have hidden the word of God in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Over and over and over again, the Psalms are full of David's relying on the Word of God, men and women.

And I praise God that I've still got this Bible.

This is a little King James Bible, my dad's Bible that he got when he was like eight years old.

And it's there in my office, and I put it on a table there, and it's and it's really weathered and stuff and got some underlying places and everything.

It's got little pictures and everything in it.

You know, one of those kinds, give an eight-year-old.

Because Dad determined early on that he was going to be a man of God's word.

We would be people of God's word.

Let me share a passage that I think is powerful.

Psalm 138.

Psalm 138, David says this I will worship towards your holy temple.

I will praise your name.

For your loving kindness and your truth.

Listen to this.

Don't miss this.

For you are magnified your word above your name.

Your word is above your name.

That's crazy.

I mean, can you believe that?

That the word of God says that the word is above the name of Christ because you can all do all kinds of things with the name of God now.

We've got men's Bibles, and we've got women's Bibles, and we've got sportsmen's Bibles, and we have outdoorsmen's Bibles, and we have teen Bibles, and now we even have the Queen James Bible.

Politically correct Bibles.

Where he's not Father God, he's mother God.

And so we now have an impotent, anemic Jesus who approves of any alternative lifestyle, has nothing about him coming back, has nothing about him judging sin, because if we judge sin, then we're messing with people's self-image.

Shouldn't talk about gender because God just keeps having component malfunctions.

Look what we've done to the name of Jesus.

How many of you worked any time in your life worked construction?

How many have wielded a hammer?

Anybody here gotten their thumb between the nail and the hammer?

Well, I've worked with these guys, you know, and I've been in those situations a part of my life, and I just hear, you know, Jesus Christ.

But I've never heard Buddha.

Oh, Buddha! Ah, Buddha! Ah, Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!

Ah!

Oh, ah! Mohammed! Oh, Mohammed!

I mean, that's proof enough that there's an enemy.

You have magnified your word above your name.

Men and women, it's the word of God that dictatorships and communist governments confiscate.

They confiscate the word.

Listen, don't miss this.

It's the word that interprets the name.

It's the word of God that interprets the name.

The name of Jesus means nothing without an interpretation of the word of God.

Men and women, build your life on God's Word.

If you're I would venture to say 98% of everything you need to know in this life is found in God's word.

Some of you may have heard of a man named Paul Cain.

Paul Cain was a great prophetic man, very controversial in the 40s and 50s, and then kind of resurfaced in the 90s.

I had the privilege of hearing him a few times speak, and just an incredible prophetic gift.

And I've seen him in one event that I was at with about 5,000 there, and just call out people.

Boom, boom, boom.

And they stand up and he'd just read their mail.

I mean, the guy was just unbelievable with the word.

And one time he was just tired, he was exhausted, he had been speaking, and this lady came up and she just kept almost screaming at him, you know, give me a word from the Lord.

Give me a word from the Lord.

And Paul Cain had his Bible and he says, Everything you need is right here.

And he threw it and he hit her in the face.

And she goes, And then she took it, she went, thank you.

And then she ran off with his Bible.

He never got it back.

Men and women, it's right there for all of us.

Are you spending regular time in God's word?

That's why we have the bookmark.

That's why we call it PBNJ, Prayer Bible Journal, Prayer Bible Journal.

He says here very clearly, you have kept my word to the church at Philadelphia.

You have kept my word.

You have a little bit of strength.

And that little bit of strength is because you've kept my word.

And so the Bible tells us, not men's opinions about the Bible, we believe in Jesus, the Savior of the world, who died at Calvary, who rose again on the third day, who came from the virgin birth of Mary.

Well, there's no virgin birth.

Can't believe there's a virgin birth.

It doesn't say anything about a virgin birth.

Well, you know, our outside critics can say whatever they want about the word until they read the word, and anybody with a first grade education can read it, and it says it very, very plainly and very clearly.

God's word, listen, God's word interprets the name.

We know who Jesus is because of his word.

Keeping his word.

Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and joints and marrow, discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Little strength.

Kept my word.

And then he says, You've not denied my name.

You have not denied your witness with others.

Men and women, don't despise that.

That witness to others is powerful.

Jesus said, I say to you, whoever confesses me before men, him, the Son of Man, also will confess before the angels of God.

But he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

And that was the passage that the early church clinged to during the persecution of Nero and Domitian and other emperors.

Well, what does it matter if you just deny his name and you don't really mean it, but you can save your life?

And the martyrs at that time said, no, no.

Even Jesus said to us, if we don't deny his name, he will not deny our name.

And so you've not denied his name.

And that kind of pressure was upon the church at Philadelphia.

Peter denied Jesus.

Every one of us in this room have denied Jesus at some point in our lives, and there's forgiveness.

Listen, church, there's forgiveness.

Revelation 12 says, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

Don't despise your testimony.

When we did our training, we did our evangelism training a few weeks ago before we did the Springs Initiative.

A lot of you were there.

Big crowd for that.

It was awesome.

Remember what he said?

He kept saying, your testimony's the key here.

And not just how you came to know Christ, but currently.

Do you have an up-to-date testimony?

What's God done in the last six months?

Share that.

Share that with others.

And so we're doing, we're doing part two the Thursday before the next initiative.

So on July the 7th, Thursday night, we'll be doing Evangelism Explosion Part 2.

So be here for that.

We're right here in the sanctuary on that Thursday night from 6 to 8, part two.

And if you'll, I'm sure we're going to hear again about testimony, knowing your testimony, being able to express your testimony in a simple way.

The power of our testimony opens doors.

Opens doors.

Tell you a fun story.

Years ago, I was I was a new believer, and I think I'd been a Christian about two years because I went to a wine and cheese party at my dad's church, a Lutheran church.

So we're all hanging out, and everybody's in there and all, and the wine and cheese is flowing.

And I'm just standing there, and this gal comes up and she starts hitting up on me.

And um and starts telling me about her escapades water skiing the past weekend.

And so I'm listening, and I'm thinking, I mean, man, she thinks I'm like, you know, in the party.

And so I'm just listening, and finally I said, you know what?

That seems like a dumb party you were at.

I think I said something like that.

And she goes, What?

And I goes, Well, man, we had a blast.

I was ski, I was slaloming drunk.

And I go, wow, that's that's an amazing feat.

I said, but um I found that the greatest joy is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

And I went, oh no.

I just said that and I went, oh Steve, you just you just ruined everything.

And and and here's what's cool about it.

Because I don't remember all the details, it was a long, long time ago.

But she said to me, she said, Do you she stopped the whole conversation slowed down to almost slow motion, and she said, Do you really believe that?

And I said, I do.

And if you'd like to know him, I'll talk to you tomorrow about it.

And she came over to my house, and in our living room, I let her to the Lord.

Okay, pretty cool story.

So she came to know Christ, and I thought, ah, she's playing up to me.

I don't know if this is real, I couldn't tell.

She was born again.

So she she called me and she said, You said something about that Christmas conference that's at the Hilton in Atlanta.

I said, Yeah, I'm going to Mars.

She says, I want to come.

I said, All right, let's go.

So Josh McDowell, y'all have heard of Josh McDowell.

So Josh McDowell was speaking there, and he was doing something on apologetics.

And I mean, this girl could not take notes fast enough.

And so we afterwards we went into the lobby.

I shared with her, you know, how um how to know Christ, assurance of salvation, a bunch of stuff that I went through with her.

And then she just went over and bought every tape she could get, and she listened to them all the way back to the, she went to the University of Charleston.

No, College of Charleston.

Went back to the College of Charleston, and then I kind of lost touch with her for like two months, and then I got a call from a campus crusade staff guy to say, hey, there's this girl on our campus that has started a campus crusade here at College of Charleston.

We've never had it before, and she's got like 200 students coming.

And I said, What?

And he said, She said you led her to the Lord.

And I went, Well, yeah.

I mean, I have I've had like uh all together like two hours with the person.

She goes, Well, man, she's on fire, dude.

And I said, Is she real?

I mean, he's like, is this real?

And I went, I don't know, man.

200's pretty good, though.

You know?

And so as she went on and um and is walking with the Lord today, has nine kids, married a really godly guy that she met through the ministry, and it exploded there.

A little revival broke loose.

Kind of like a woman at the well or something.

Word of our testimony.

That's all it was.

And I mean, I was like, oh, I don't want to say this.

Uh Jesus is the only way.

You know, his way of truth and life.

What'd you say?

His way of truth and life.

But she was prepared by God, you know, she was there, and there's so many open doors, men and women, they're all around us in supermarkets and at your work and in your family.

Even that mean old uncle who's always, eh.

I don't want to ever talk about religion or politics.

I don't think there's anything worth talking about but religion and politics, quite frankly.

You know.

Verse 9.

Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they're Jews and are not, but lie, indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you.

Now, this is a really weird passage because he's calling the Jews in Philadelphia the synagogue of Satan.

And they were putting pressure on the Christian church at that time.

And so the synagogues had actually become one of the key components in the persecution of the church in the first 300 years.

And so those, and part of it, think about it, it'd be like, you know, you know, a prophet's not welcome in his own family.

You're, I mean, your really your worst place when you first get saved is your own family.

I mean, give me anybody but my family, right?

Because you, you know, they know you.

And you know, that little that little nose picker says he's an evangelist or something now?

Are you kidding me?

You know, and you got said you've got a better chance with everybody else.

But everybody knows your stuff, and they know.

I remember one time one of our relatives said to one of my kids, he's gonna end up in prison.

You know, because he scratched one of their kids or something.

That was Isaac, by the way.

He's far, you know, he's not in prison now, but you know, but so there's a synagogue, he he calls them a synagogue of Satan, I believe, because they're being used satanically.

In other words, Satan was using the Jews at that time to persecute the church.

But let us not forget, especially in the book of Revelation, we're gonna get there in months ahead.

It's a way on down the road during the Great Tribulation, but but there is going to be a day of great revival in Israel.

Don't miss this, men and women.

Right now, if you're in Israel and you're a believer, you you will be persecuted.

I mean, you will be persecuted.

And it's and it's bad.

It's bad in Jerusalem.

I've been there, it's bad all around Israel.

Um, it's almost as bad as uh is a Muslim country, the persecution the Jews put on the Christians.

The irony is evangelical Christians are just pouring money into Israel.

Very supportive of Israel.

Most of you here are probably very supportive of Israel, but actually Israel's not very supportive of Christianity.

But there's gonna come a day, Romans speaks of it.

Paul says, there's gonna be come a day when all of Israel will be saved, that there's gonna be a great revival in Israel.

Don't miss that, don't forget that.

And so and so there's a work of God that hasn't been completed.

There's a work of God coming in Israel.

But at this point, and even today, the enemy's using Israel in many ways.

But God loves Israel.

He's not turned his back on Israel, he loves the nation of Israel.

Because you've kept my command to persevere, verse 10, I will also keep you from the hour, and it's important, the definite article, the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

Now, this gets into a lot of stuff that we're gonna cover later about pre-tribulation rapture, mid-tribulation rapture, post-tribulation rapture.

And I believe it's clear what he's saying here.

He's saying that there is a day coming, the hour.

With the definite article, he's speaking of the great tribulation.

There's going to be a tribulation.

Matthew 24, Jesus says, a tribulation like the world has never seen before.

That's coming upon the earth.

Now, I happen to be a pre-tribulation.

I believe God's going to rapture us before the hour, the final hour.

But I'll tell you what, men and women, I have great love and compassion for those of the other persuasions.

A lot of scripture to support stuff on both sides, on all sides of this.

Because we will go through persecution.

That's clear.

We will enter the kingdom of God with great persecution, Jesus said.

So we are going to go through persecution.

He's talking about the hour, the hour of trial, the final day.

And so as we move into Revelation 4 and 5 and others, we're going to see the church is just like not it non-existent in there, but we're going to see martyrs dying for their faith.

And so there's support on all of them.

So it's not something that I'm going to split hairs over.

And if you're a mid-tribulation or the post-tribulations or pre-tribulations, you're welcome here.

Because I don't know.

I figured it out.

I'm not real smart.

I'm from Georgia, but I figured this out.

It hasn't happened yet.

So we don't know.

And so we take this by faith.

And the reality is that I believe what Jesus is saying here is true.

Because you've kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you.

I will watch over you.

I'll rescue you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world.

So he's not speaking of Asia Minor.

He's not speaking of the Roman province.

He's speaking of the whole world.

We haven't seen that yet, but it's coming, men and women.

That's why we read the Bible in one hand and we read the newspaper with the other, because we have a divine intelligence report.

And the word of God is briefing us on what's going to be happening.

It's going to get more unstable, church.

It's going to get more unstable.

What an awesome time to be studying the book of Revelation during such unstable times.

Verse 11 says, Behold, I am coming quickly.

2,000 years ago.

Behold, I'm coming quickly.

It's written 2,000 years ago.

God's view of coming quickly is obviously different than ours.

But not that different from a pastor one time who had never preached before in this church.

He was a new church, he was a new pastor, and the old pastor had been there for many, many years.

And he had retired.

So the new pastor got up and he worked so hard on his sermon.

And so he he just prepared, he was ready, and he wanted to show just how intelligent he was that he didn't even have any notes.

All he had was the word of God.

So he got up to the podium and he says, Behold, I come quickly.

And he couldn't remember what to say next.

So he walked back.

And he came up to the podium and says, Behold, I come quickly, hoping that that would restore his memory.

But nothing came.

So he walked back.

He says, Behold, I come quickly.

And this time he pushed so hard on the podium that it fell off the stage and landed on five people on the front row.

And so everybody's just a pile of stuff.

So he's pulling, everybody's getting pulled off.

And there's this little old granny.

And her glasses are all smushed and everything.

He said, I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

And she said, Well, you don't have to be.

You warned me three times.

Behold, I come quickly.

Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.

He who overcomes.

I love this.

He who overcomes.

In the NEV, it says, He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.

Now, this area of Asia Minor, and specifically Philadelphia, was well known for its earthquakes.

I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out.

No more.

I will write on him the name of my God.

Men and women in Greek culture, famous people had their name written on the pillars of the temple.

Anybody been to the Crystal Cathedral?

You remember the Crystal Cathedral?

I guess that thing cost a lot of money.

And so you can, you could, if you gave a certain amount, you had little bricks with your name on it.

Okay.

Well, in Greek culture, they had pillars with the with a person's name on it.

It was famous for something.

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 I will write on him my new name.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Men and women, it's very interesting.

It's over commerce that in Solomon's temple, if you've seen the pictures of Solomon's temple, when you entered, there were two large pillars.

There was the pillar of Boaz, and there was the pillar of Jason.

And the pillar of Boaz meant strength, and the pillar of Jason meant to establish.

Those who are overcomers with a little strength, who keep God's word and do not deny his name, are going to be given strength and establishment, a foundation that cannot be shaken.

God wants to establish you, church.

God wants to establish you, beloved, with strength.

Establishing strength in our lives that we might be his witnesses.

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 I will write on him my new name.

This was not just the temple colonnade.

This was not the temple precinct.

This was not the outer court.

But in that inner part of the temple, the temple, the pillar of Boaz, the pillar of Jason, establishing strength.

Men and women, we have a new name, and our new name is beloved child of God, friend of God.

We have a new identity.

You are loved.

You are forgiven.

A new address.

Heaven.

That's now our home.

Seek first the kingdom of God, and all that we long for will be added unto us.

And a new destination, which is the new Jerusalem.

Listen, if you're not a Jesus follower, this is as good as it gets.

It's only downhill for you.

So, man, get everything you can because this is as good as it gets.

If you're a Jesus disciple, this is as bad as it gets.

It's only gonna get better.

Isn't that awesome?

This is the worst it gets.

It only gets better.

You have a new name, we have a new identity, we have a new destination, we have a new address.

My address is not Colorado Springs, my address is the kingdom of God, and there's gonna be a new Jerusalem, and there's gonna be a new heaven and earth created, and man, I want some land.

I want like some really good hunting land.

I want some really good trout streams.

And the word says, I'm gonna get it.

Do you want it?

So as we obey God and we know that we're beloved in Him, it only gets better.

If we're not following Jesus, it only gets worse.

So do the smart thing.

Follow Christ.

Give it everything you've got.

We say at the road, building wholehearted disciples.

Be wholehearted.

Don't be half-hearted.

Half-hearted really stinks.

You ever seen half-hearted basketball players?

You ever seen half-hearted baseball players?

You ever seen half-hearted tennis players?

They get smashed in the face.

It's not pretty.

Be wholehearted.

Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And your neighbors, yourself.

Watch what God will do.

I'm willing to wager that virtually every person that went to the Amazon, went to Brazil, came back with joy in their heart.

I'm willing to wager that everybody that was a part of the Springs Initiative and gave up that Saturday morning to paint that house and to fix up that yard came back with joy in their heart.

Because when we give, we get back so much more.

So give.

Give.

You say, well, I don't want to give because if I give, it's to get.

Yes, it is.

Because Jesus said it.

It's not some word faith preacher.

Jesus said it.

That when we give it, it comes back pressed down, shaken, and spilling over.

That's the joy of the Lord, that's our strength.

And so the church at Philadelphia had figured that out, and it was, and God was opening doors for them.

And so walk through the open doors.

God has opened doors as we walk in intimacy with Him.

You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

We hope you have been blessed by today's message.

To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.

If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.

Go to theroad.org, click on the Ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.

Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.