The Church of Philadelphia

Yo yo, finger gun funding.

We are here.

Wild, wild west.

I don't know what the origination of the finger gun was.

I don't know.

You know how like now we like do knocks or you know whatever.

Do you think that was the thing back in the day that some you know cowboy came off and you're like, hey?

The greeting of the uh of the 1800s.

I'll be here.

Hey, we're glad you're here.

So glad.

Or there without here and there how the sound technology works.

We are that you're joining us this morning.

My name is Brandon.

I'm Cody.

Yep.

And we just addressed for helping me confirm that was my name.

Yeah, I was like, I have been my name for almost 33 years.

Yeah, it's good.

Just make sure you need that affirmation every once in a while.

You are Cody.

Thanks.

You are, I appreciate it.

Um and you are with us.

And this is gonna be an awesome morning.

We are so pumped.

God's taking move.

God's gonna move, and uh, we're just expecting big things, and so we're so thrilled that you're here.

If you've been tracking with us, you know we're in a sermon series uh from Revelation uh called seven and we're looking at yep, no.

No, not seven eleven, just seven.

But that's fine.

That would be a good man.

Put that in the back pocket.

Yeah, yeah, that's good.

7-Eleven from heaven.

Yeah, no, no, no, that's fine.

Um but we've been walking through uh the uh the seven letters that Jesus writes to, or John writes to the seven churches that Jesus tells him to write.

And so it's been so good.

Um, all right, real quick, I'm gonna go somewhere with this.

You know those driveways that are like super long, and you're kind of like, alright, let's get to it.

So this is like one of those.

This is one of those person, hey, we're diving back into that series today.

It's gonna be great.

We hope God speaks to you.

Um but before we do that, there's a couple things you should know.

Download the Church of the Grove app because it's important, and there are lots coming up.

Lots.

And we're talking about some of that today.

Lots of things.

Um yeah, if you download that if you haven't done it, it's um it's free, and some say it's exactly worth what you pay for it.

I'm just kidding, no one says that.

It's fantastic because you can just um stay up to date with everything that's going on.

Um you can uh take next steps, you can give, you can register for events, you can do all these things from your fingertips on a device.

Or on a Windows, or a Mac.

Or if you're still on Adele.

I mean, I'm on her like a Dell.

But like a computer, yeah, then you know you can access it.

Maybe there's a computer or the website or if you're desk having it probably a website.

But the app.

That's great.

I just want to do a drop way.

It's another one.

I don't know.

I feel like I have to fill this space with something because I don't know.

Just download it.

Do it.

Download the app.

It's worth it.

Get it done.

And if you do that, you would know all the things that you need to know he's about to talk about.

Yes, so make sure you do that.

Stay connected with what's going on in the life of the church.

A couple of things just off the top.

Uh, shop of the hero.

It is coming December 2nd, that first Saturday in December.

We say it all the time.

We mean it.

It's the best events we do all year.

It's incredible.

And so we get to partner.

We get to partner with local schools and systems and uh through the counselors and stuff.

That's why I say it all the time.

We do.

We do, we do all the time.

Um, and we get to just uh pinpoint some at-risk kids or needy kids in our community, and we get to partner uh with local heroes, law enforcement, firefighters, doctors, EMTs, all those heroes, and send kids on a shopping spree.

Like Army, that's Marine Corps Comp.

Yep, like lots of lots of heroes.

And it's so cool.

We get to send kids on a shopping spree with a hero, they get to provide Christmas for their family.

Um, it's just a really, really neat uh experience.

And so we would love to put that on your radar.

Please sign up for that.

We need volunteers.

It takes a ton of volunteers to pull this off.

So we need you there, and we also need uh if you feel like God is moving you to to give uh in a financial capacity because we're raising money to try to meet the needs of this event.

$20,000, I think, is what we're looking at.

And so we love to for you to partner with us in that.

So the shop with a hero December 2nd.

You will not regret being involved with that at all.

It's incredible.

Um, and then the other thing we just want to put on your radar, we are launching a third gathering at our Walnut Grove campus.

That's right.

In January.

April 3rd.

That's right.

And so in January, we're gonna be launching a 5 p.m.

service at our Walnut Grove campus.

Um, and that's because the Lord is moving.

We're just we're out of space, like and we're trying to reach some new people in our community with an alternative gathering.

And so if you'd like to be a part of that, we'd love one to just invite you to any of our gatherings.

Um God has been moving.

There's something about being uh in the presence of God's people with the Lord.

So we'd love to invite you that, but just want to put that on your radar.

That's coming in January.

Lots of great things coming in January.

It's gonna be so good next year.

Um, yeah, and then also lastly, I know this is another long driveway.

That was weird.

Okay.

Uh another long driveway.

Story of my life.

Tonight, we would love to invite you to our Wanna Grove campus at 6 p.m.

because we are doing a night of worship and prayer.

It's gonna be all centered around Thanksgiving and gratitude.

And so we would play that song.

Gratitude.

We make us, I think.

Yeah.

Really?

I am at liberty to discuss uh not such things, but yeah, we're gonna play it.

Yeah, cool.

You know what would be really good in that song?

Like a Yodeling fellow.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

Bible says make a joyful noise, so I don't see why you can't.

There's nothing more joyful than if you have the talent of Yodeling, you should um email him and he'll put you on stage tonight.

Just kidding.

Um That would be funny.

That would be hilarious.

But we would love for you to be there.

Please come.

It's gonna be an awesome night.

Yeah.

Alright, well, speaking of worship, all hearts amounts clear.

Yep.

We're gonna jump into some worship.

Isn't there another part to that thing?

Ah, hearts amount clear.

You can leave the worship.

But you can't.

Oh my god, it turntables.

So we're gonna jump into worship, and then we will see you after the message.

That's right.

So now I want to buy.

But I wanna be on it.

It's a narrow road, take you out.

Thank you, I should have, never give up.

You've said you're crazy, it's always to love.

You sit too hard, never feel it for stay.

You stay upstairs, you call me yours.

You sit up your church, you love your boy, you never fail, I know that you never fail me.

All right.

Well, good morning, church.

My name is Russ.

If I hadn't had the chance to meet you, it is great to have you with us this morning at 9 a.m.

as we um kind of move into our our uh week, our Thanksgiving week.

A lot of people are on holiday uh with school and and different things this week, and and and all the teachers uh said amen and and hallelujah.

And um and so we're it's gonna it's gonna be a fun week.

I just want to encourage you with a couple of things um uh just in the life of our church to be aware of and to be praying about.

Um one of them is a a new gathering that we are going to begin in January, and so um uh many of you know that we're we're we're going into a building kind of program, into a stage in the life of our church where um we're we're gonna we're gonna build an auditorium right out here.

This building will be remodeled for children and youth, and and um and so we got our our very first renderings back.

Um and so I'm I'm uh you know really excited about that, but we're holding close to the vest right now.

Um before we share those, we'll share those with a big bang coming up soon.

And um uh but but see that's gonna take a little while.

We've got to we've got to raise some money.

Right.

We're a generous church family.

We've got to raise money so that can happen.

So we're looking at a couple years.

So so a lot of times y'all will notice here at 9 o'clock and 11, we're packed.

Now, this is this is a holiday weekend.

We're probably gonna be a little bit a little bit lurted in attendance um as we're going to this holiday weekend.

But but if you are here, you see how God is working, we're completely out of space and have been for a long time for kids' space.

And so um, so we've got to do something between now and the building.

And just listen, the heart, this is this this is the heart of the church.

This is the pastor's heart.

17 years ago, my heart was to plant a church for people who had never heard the name of Jesus.

I grew up unchurched.

I know what it's like to walk in and feel uncomfortable.

I know what it's like to grow up not knowing Jesus, not being familiar with the Bible.

And so as our culture moves farther and farther away from God, there are more and more people like that.

And and we I want us to be a church that reaches out to the people that are the least likely to go to church.

And so this new gathering that'll be Sunday evening at 5 o'clock, it's not about just having another gathering.

It's so we can reach more people.

People that have yet to be reached.

But what we need, what we need is some seed families that will say, you know what, I'll make that my service so I can come and serve, so I can be here, so I can love, and I can welcome, and I can provide a place for new people to be reached.

So I I'm I'm you know, that's my heart.

That's that's that's why we're building a building.

That's why we're moving forward with the um, and so uh, and so tonight we're we're having a night of thanks, and so we're gonna we're gonna have a night of really worship and prayer.

I want to encourage you, our other campus will come up and join us.

Hopefully, uh it'll be it'll be a very special night as we spend really a majority of the time worshiping and praying as a church moving into this week of Thanksgiving.

And then I want to encourage you, many of you see these cards shot by the hero.

This is a ministry we've been doing for years, where we we we go to the public schools and they identify children who are at risk, and and and there's there's an explanation for that, and I won't go into that greatly, but they just have a lot of needs.

And so we identify them, we we partner with with heroes, that's that's uniformed people, that's that's firefighters, um, law enforcement, police, and and and we we love having people that serve EMTs and even nurses that come in their scrubs and the whole deal.

And um, and and what I'm hearing this year is that we're gonna have a couple football teams, even have some players uh in their in their uniforms represented to be a part of that.

And and what we do is we invest in in the life of 120, 125 kids, and we give them a gift card, and that they go shopping with the person, with a hero, and then we have volunteers in our church and um that also go and help, and and we wrap gifts.

It it's it it how many of you know about shop with a hero?

You've been a part of it.

It it is a it is such a blessing, and so we every year we have to raise money.

God always provides, we provide a gift card for every child.

Uh inflation, we've gone from a hundred to$125 card.

That's what we're doing this year.

We give we give a gift card to all the heroes, and so um, and so because you are such a generous church, need you to be praying about that.

All right.

All right, now we're jumping in.

Revelation chapter 3.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

Revelation chapter 3, verse 7.

Revelation 3:7

We're looking at the church of Philadelphia.

Now, let me kind of preface before we get into the to the message to the to the actual text.

There's there's a lot about a name.

There's a lot to say about a name.

A name says a lot about someone.

There is something in a name.

So my name is Russ.

My name is Russ.

Uh I'm often called Ross, Rusty, Roos.

I've been called, you know, my middle name is you know Russell.

So middle name's Russell.

Russ is short for Russell.

My first name is William, family name.

Not much interesting there, but my last name is Butcher.

What a name.

My last name is Butcher.

See, it's it's funny.

You go to the doctor's office, they never get it right.

It's it's it's butler, Mr.

Butler, Mr.

Butler, Mr.

Butcher, Mr.

Butcher, Mr.

Buttshare, Mr.

Buttschair, Mr.

Buttscher, Buttscher, yeah.

I don't um Mr.

Butcher, Butcher?

And so I I listen, uh all pronunciations, the worst part is my name is used as a verb for just messing stuff up, okay?

That's the so um if you're a lady in our family, if you're a young lady in our family, you love when you get married, your last name changes.

And so um that you know, my my daughter, my wife, not so fortunate, uh, she took the name on, but but there's something about a name.

A name is related directly to your identity.

It says a lot about you.

Some some people's names are funny.

There's funny things we can say about our names.

Some people, especially celebrities or people that are famous, they change their names or or or they go by one name.

They just become so well known.

Well known.

Um Adele, Beyoncé, Bono, Cher, Drake, Madonna, Magic, Moby, Oprah, Pele, Pink, Rihanna, Singh, Tiger.

I just want y'all to know I know at least a few celebrities.

There's probably some more, more, you know, more newer, more common names.

Here's some old famous people.

This is not a new thing.

Old people that are known by one name: Aristotle, Confucius, Elvis, Homer, Plato, Voltaire, and then probably one that's really important.

Jesus.

Jesus.

Can we just say that name together?

Jesus.

There's something about that name, isn't it?

There's something about that name.

Let's say it again together.

Jesus.

Now, some cities, some cities are known by their names.

Some even have nicknames.

There's Boomtown, Windy City, Sin City, Music City, the Motor City, the Big Apple, and the Big Easy are some.

The name of a city is important to its identity, just like a person.

When we see this reality, is Jesus writes his letter to all these churches, but but specifically to the church in Philadelphia in Revelation 3, Revelation chapter 3, verses 7 through 13.

Revelation 3:7–13

What we see in this passage is Jesus, Jesus opens doors.

Here's what we see in this passage: Jesus opens doors for people, for us to walk through, and as we walk through them, we'll always experience blessing.

Now, we'll also sometimes experience persecution or trials or tribulation.

But we can always trust Jesus that in the end we have victory.

Right?

Alright, let's stand together.

Let me read this passage.

Let's stand together.

Read this.

We'll read the whole passage, then I'm going to just share a few things.

So here's what Jesus says.

He's been writing these letters through the Apostle John to all of these churches in Asia Minor.

Verse 7, write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.

This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David.

What he opens, listen, talking about Jesus opening doors.

What he opens, no one can close, and what he closes, no one can open.

I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close.

You have little strength, yet you have obeyed my word and did not deny me.

Look, I will force those who belong to Satan's synagogue, those liars who say they are Jews but are not, to come and bow down at your feet.

They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.

Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of the testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.

He says, I am coming soon.

Hold on to what you have so that no one will take away your crown.

All who are victorious will become pillars in the temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it.

And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God.

And I will also write them on my name.

Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

So, Father, we pray that you would work by the power of your Holy Spirit.

God, God, we want to be people living in the fullness of the life that you alone can bring.

Open our hearts, open our minds.

God, let us see the open door and the doors that you have for us to walk through.

God, may we trust you even when it involves suffering and difficulty and trials and tribulation.

Father, bring us through all the circumstances that we have blessings and difficulties.

And God, may we walk in victory and that we would be faithful.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

And everybody said together, Amen, amen.

Have a seat, have a seat.

So in Revelation 3.12, now I know I'm going to toward the end of the passage.

John records Jesus' words to a church in Asia Minor.

So we we we've we've hopefully you've been here for one or two of these messages, and you've heard us kind of talk about how the apostle John, who had followed Jesus, met Jesus when he was young, followed Jesus his whole life, was involved helping starting churches, and he was persecuted.

He was boiled in a vat of hot water, boiling water, by one of the Roman emperors, and they tried to kill him, but they couldn't kill him, so they exiled him to this island called Patmos.

And he Jesus comes to him in a vision and he begins to share what he wants John to write in these letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor, and hopefully we'll show you the picture.

Just always love giving you an image of this modern-day area of Turkey that has the seven pictures there.

There we go.

So this is modern-day Turkey.

Back then it was known as Asia Minor.

The GNC is to the left of that picture, and you see the seven churches, how close really they are, not very far from one another.

That area is a significant area.

And so John, John, Jesus writes these churches through the Apostle John.

And so Philadelphia is the city for this passage.

And it was a city that had an identity crisis.

It was a city that had an identity crisis because it had been named and renamed many times.

Philadelphia sat on a geological fault.

And so there were earthquakes and volcanic activity that were happening, constantly forcing evacuations, unexpected death, and devastation.

They're constantly rebuilding.

I've heard just recently of earthquakes in Nepal, earthquakes in Afghanistan, threats of volcanic activity in places around the world.

We know that things happen like this.

And every time the city had to rebuild, the Empire of Rome renamed the city over and over.

And it was sometimes renamed a new name, new names, something in a name.

Names are important.

They speak into our identity.

And so Jesus writes this incredibly meaningful letter to a city living with an ever-changing identity.

Constant anxiety because of the volcanic activity, earthquakes, and the everyday reality of unrelenting persecution that just comes from the Roman Empire, that came from a Jewish synagogue in their same city.

And so imagine being in Philadelphia when the pastor stands up and reads these words.

This is verse 12.

All who are victorious will become pillars in the temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it.

And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God.

And I will also write on them my new name.

The significance of a name.

Jesus says, I will change your name to an unchanging name, one that has and will stand forever.

You will live in a, as a citizen in an eternal city that cannot be shaken.

You'll never have to move, you'll never have to relocate.

You'll never have to hide.

You'll never have to pick up and evacuate.

You'll never have to leave, board up, pack up, pick up, or rebuild again.

Now think about what's going on in our world.

And how Jesus wants to be able to speak into the lives of all the individuals in our world that are struggling.

And so can you imagine sitting in that little congregation?

This was one of the smallest churches, one of the smaller cities, smallest churches that Jesus writes through John.

And here it's a few things.

I think Jesus speaks to us through this letter in Philadelphia.

And the first thing is this that Jesus opens doors.

Jesus opens doors.

Jesus opens doors for us to walk through.

So if you want to imagine, this is a door.

This is the doorway.

Jesus opens doors for us.

And I love that the door is facing the cross.

And so he opens doors.

Look at the way John starts the letter, verse 7.

He says, write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.

This is the message from the one who is holy and true.

Jesus is holy and true.

The one who has the key of David.

What he opens, no one can close, and what he closes, no one can open.

Here's what Jesus is saying.

He said, It's my name.

That's my name.

My name is holy, and my name is true.

I am the transcendent one.

He is a holy God.

He is other than us.

He says, I'm the unchanging one.

I'm the eternal one.

I am I have an incredible view from above.

I can see all things.

I know all things.

I am the real deal.

You can trust what I'm about to say.

I am sovereign and I'm in control.

And it says, he says, I hold it.

He says this, I hold the keys of David.

And in this passage, he's referring to a prophetic passage in Isaiah 22.

And Isaiah 22, 22 records a prophecy that the coming Messiah would hold the keys.

He would hold the keys.

And it said, I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David.

What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts, no one can open.

Jesus says, I hold the keys to the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God will set up residence in any willing heart.

The kingdom of God will set up residence in any willing heart.

He says, I hold the keys to life and death.

I hold the keys to heaven and hell.

I open doors at my discretion.

I close them at my discretion as well.

He says, No one can lock down what I've opened up.

No one can probably open what I've shut.

And so as I study this passage, I thought to myself, we miss so much when we attempt to do things in our own strength.

We miss so much when we go our own way.

We have someone who's holy and true opening doors for us, yet we still go our own way.

You know why we go our own way?

Because of sin.

We just there's this human rebellion inside of all of us that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when humanity, Adam and Eve, just said, God, we know better than you.

Okay, I know you've given us the garden.

I know you've given us the word.

I know you've given us these two trees.

And so God often tries to get our attention and lead us through another door, the right door, but we can't hear him because we're obsessed.

We're trying to figure out how to open another door that he closes.

Isaiah 53, 6.

All of us like sheep have strayed away.

We have left God's path to follow our own way.

Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

The Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

It's the gospel.

Jesus took all of the sins upon himself.

All the punishment that we deserve.

See, we try all kinds of combinations and all kinds of keys, and we stand banging our heads on the door because that's the one we want to walk through.

But Jesus says, Come on.

Come on.

Come on.

I know the right door.

I know the right way.

I know what's best.

I have this incredible view from above.

Trust me when I open a door.

Step through it and follow me.

So many people say they want to find God's will for their lives.

And we listen, people do crazy things trying to find God's will.

We'll be driving down a highway and we'll say, God, God, I need you, I need you.

And we'll look at a billboard and say, Oh, God's spoken to me.

Or we're we're we say, God, I had a message in the sky.

Or let me let me just kind of, you know, let me just open the Bible and put my finger down right here.

But it's not about finding God's will.

It's about following God's voice.

And Jesus says in John 10, he says, My sheep know my voice, and they follow me.

Jesus says, just follow me when I open the door.

Just step through the door.

My sheep know my voice.

God has a perspective.

God has a view from above.

God has a perspective.

And I know all of you, all of you are not sports fans.

I understand that.

I try not to use too many sports, you know, analogies or or or or illustrations, but here's one.

So hearing Jesus' voice, you know, there's this uh in the NFL, sometimes if you're watching football in the NFL, I know some of you don't watch sports or watch football, especially in the NFL.

Um, so you'll notice, man, the fans are loud, man, stuff, loud stuff going on in the stadium, and you'll notice the quarterback put his hands over the ear holes in his helmet, and he's trying to hear.

See, there's a little speaker in the helmet, and there's a coach that's high above in a box in the stadium looking over the field with a whole different perspective than that quarterback has down on the field.

And he is listening to his coach call a play.

And so this coach can see things people can't see from the sidelines.

What players can't see on the field, all the quarterback has to do is listen to the voice in his helmet and follow the play.

Give the play to the other players, follow the play.

Now that is a that's not the best way, probably to illustrate how God speaks to us.

But it's a picture.

God has a perspective that is so far above our perspective in life.

And he and Jesus said, I'm holy and I'm trustworthy, and I've got an incredible view from above.

Just follow my voice.

And so Jesus, Jesus opens doors.

The next thing that we see is Jesus calls us to walk through the open doors.

Verses 8 and 9, I know all things that you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close.

You have little strength.

You have obeyed my word and did not deny me.

Look, I will force those who belong to Satan's synagogue, those liars who say they are Jews but are not, to come bow at your feet.

They will acknowledge that you are the ones that I love.

So in the New Testament, open door speaks of opportunity, opportunity for God to work in your life, for ministry to flow through you.

Jesus is the Lord of the harvest.

Jesus is the head of the church.

It is he who determines where and when his people shall serve, shall represent him.

So he gave the church at Philadelphia a great opportunity for ministry.

But how could they take advantage of it?

There were at least two obstacles to overcome.

The first obstacle is being their own lack of strength.

Their own lack of strength.

They are the smallest church among probably the seven churches.

Small city, small church.

And so, but they are faithful.

They're a faithful church.

God commends them for being faithful.

I love what Warren Wearsby says.

He said, It is not the size or strength of a church that determines its ministry, but faith and the call and the command of the Lord.

God's commandments are God's enablements.

If Jesus Christ gave them an open door, then he would see to it that they were able to walk through it.

They're small.

They have some weakness.

I love the Apostle Paul speaks about his own weakness.

In 2 Corinthians 12, I'm not going to read the whole passage, but he says, I've got a thorn in the flesh that keeps me weak.

But God gave me that thorn to help me depend more on the strength of Jesus.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I love what Elizabeth Elliott says.

Suffering is having what you don't want or wanting what you don't have.

So their first obstacle is lack of strength.

Second obstacle was the opposition of the Jews in the city.

And so you've heard before we talked about the synagogue of Satan.

Synagogue of Satan.

And these are Jews.

Now you need to understand when Christianity was born, there was a close relationship to the Jewish people.

As a matter of fact, in the eyes of the Roman Empire, Christianity was just a sect of Judaism.

And so they didn't suffer the persecution because they weren't considered a new religion.

But by the time this, but by this time, 95 A.D., by this time, they have their own identity separate from the Jewish people, and the Jewish people have turned against them along with the Roman Empire.

And so not only is Jesus call us to walk through open doors, he gives us strength for the task at hand.

Verses 10 and 11 and 12, he said, Because you've obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will become upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.

I'm coming soon.

Listen, listen, church, I'm coming soon.

Hold on to what you have so that no one will take away your crown.

And all who are victorious will become pillars in the temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it.

And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God, and I will write, I will also write on them my new name.

Verse 13 anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit, understand what he's saying to the churches.

And so what Jesus, our Savior, He's giving three wonderful and encouraging promises.

First, he's gonna take care of the enemies.

He's gonna take care of that.

Second, he's gonna keep them from tribulation.

So this is surely when he's talking about tribulation, very likely he is talking about the tribulation that is described beginning in Revelation chapter 6 and then the next several chapters, all the way really up to Revelation 19.

Revelation 6 · chapter mention

It's referred to as the time of Jacob's trouble.

This is not speaking about some local trial because it involves them that dwell on the earth.

And so the immediate reference would be to the official Roman persecutions that would come, but the ultimate reference is to the tribulation that will encompass the earth before Jesus Christ returns to establish his kingdom.

In many Bible scholars' understanding, Revelation 3.10 is a promise that the church will not have to go through the tribulation, but will be taken up to heaven before it begins.

Now, before you get all, you know, upset or overly encouraging, I know there's different interpretations about the end times.

Is the church gonna be taken up pre-tribulation?

Is the church gonna be taken out of this world mid-tribulation, or is it gonna be taken up post-tribulation?

I like the fact that we're gonna be taken up pre-tribulation.

That emotionally feels better to me.

So I'm choosing that interpretation.

And I say that kind of joking.

That's where I land, at least right now in my in my life.

The third promise is that the Philadelphians, to the Philadelphia, that God would honor them.

He would honor them.

It's especially meaningful to the people that lived in constant danger of earthquakes, constant danger of instability.

And he says, listen, the stability of a pillar that's mentioned in the scripture means there's no need to go out or flee because you're gonna be in a heavenly city.

You're gonna be in a heavenly city where nothing can be destroyed.

See, ancient cities often honor great leaders by by erecting pillars and putting their names on them.

God's pillars are not made of stone because there's no temple in the heavenly city.

His pillars are faithful people who bear his name for his glory.

So can I just stop for a second?

Can I ask you?

Can't you hear these children?

See, I like it.

I like it when they're like, yeeha! This is fun.

I you know, I don't like the screaming and the crying.

It happens.

But I want to ask you a question.

Listen to me.

We may not be threatened by literal earthquakes, but there are circumstances possibly in our life that feel like emotional earthquake.

You know what?

You're just hurting.

There's upheaval in your life.

There's insecurity in your life.

There's anxiety.

And there's there's trouble, there's pain, and there's hurt.

I'm just asking some of you, listen, I know some of you.

You need to listen to the voice of God.

You need to be encouraged by the Spirit of God.

And I just want to read this over you, and then we close, okay?

This is later in the book of Revelation, way later.

Revelation 21, verses 1 through 4.

Revelation 21:1–4

This is for those of you that feel like there's earthquakes happening in your life.

There's instability.

There's hurt, there's pain, there's anxiety, there's trouble.

He says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

For the old heaven, the old her old earth had disappeared.

And the sea was also gone.

And I saw the holy city.

The holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, Look, God's home is now among his people.

He will live with them, and they will be his people.

God himself will be with them.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.

All these things are gone forever.

Hallelujah! That's why we sing, that's why we shout.

So I want to ask you a couple of questions.

What's your door that you need to walk through?

Is your door the door of salvation?

It's to understand for the first time that Jesus came and he gave his life for you.

He died on the cross.

In doing so, he took sin upon himself.

And when you put your faith through him and walk through the door of salvation, you believe.

And you're a new creation in Christ.

The old has passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

2 Corinthians 5, 17.

Is that your door that you need to walk through?

What's your door?

Is your door a door of obedience?

Do you need to grow deeper in your faith?

You need to become more rooted.

Is there something that God is speaking to you about?

From his perspective.

Five o'clock service on sunny night.

Five o'clock service on sunny night.

I'm not joking.

Give.

Serve.

Is it the door of healing?

Some of you need prayer, and you you just you sit there, and there's some of us that are available to pray for you.

There's somebody else in this church that can minister to somebody else in this church and pray for you.

Let's bow our heads.

Father, we come to ask for you to speak, for you to work.

God, you know us, you know our life.

You know our, you have a perspective.

You are holy.

You are above us.

And so we ask that you would work and speak.

God, God, lead us through the door of salvation if necessary.

Lead us through the door of obedience.

Lead us through the door of generosity.

Lead us through the door of mission.

May we be a people, even though we're not a large church.

But God, may we be a faithful church and continually be about your business.

It's in Jesus' name.

I pray.

I pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Would you stand with you?

Hey, thank you guys so much for worshiping with us this morning.

And we hope that you're challenged, encouraged by God's word.

And we just want to say we want to partner with you in whatever next steps you feel like God is calling to you this morning.

We believe that no matter where you're at on spaith journey, God is always calling us to a next step.

And so we would love to partner with you in that.

So if you would text start to follow to 97000.

Start to follow all one word at 97000 so we can start a conversation with you.

Give you some resources for your journey.

Come on, guys.

Yeah, we'd love to do that.

Awesome, awesome.

So glad that you guys chose to hang out with us this morning.

There's anything that we can do for you.

Let us know.

We would love to help out.

Anyway, um, don't forget tonight, worship be there, bring your old link friends.

It's gonna be a great time.

Um tonight worship, we're gonna do Shop for the Hero, Water Grove, 6 p.m.

6 p.m.

Shop for the Hero, December 2nd.

Right.

Be there if you can't give of your time, talent, and treasures.

Um service coming in January.

New service coming in January.

Thanks.

Yeah, buddy.

Yeah.

Cool.

Alright, okay.

Well, if that was the way that we greeted people.

Bring it up, bring it home.

Bring it home.

Like, land the plane.

Cross that well done.

Well done.

Wrap it up.

Well this is that.

Wrapping it up.

Thank you guys so much for joining us.

We hope you have a great week.

We love you.

If we could pray for you or serve you in any way this week, let us know.

Oh, you already did that.

Okay, cool.

There we go.

But speaking of like all good things coming through you, Joe City.

Okay, wait.