The Church at Philadelphia

This is the church I want to be in. And this is the kind of life I want to live. Search your own heart and see if you are like this church. We all need to let the Father take out of us everything that He does not approve. Ask the Holy Spirit to take the place of what is taken out so the devil will not come back in and find an empty spot to inhabit.

 

The letter to the church in Philadephia (3:7)

Rev 3:7 "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.* What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door *that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars–I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.

11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

12 Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.* Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.

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

Key phrase: I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name

Being on a major trade route it had an open door for evangelism.

Jesus holds the key of David, quoted from Isa 22:22, that is absolute power and authority over who enters his kingdom, see Rev 1:18. Eliakim the palace administrator.   Philadelphia, meanwhile, was on the main trade route between East and West, a situation that presented the believers with an open door for the gospel into the region beyond. Although they were a tiny group with little strength, theirs was a door that God had provided and therefore no-one could shut.

A synagogue of Satan is also referred to in the letter to Smyrna (2:9), the Jews follow Satan, whose name means slanderer, in slandering God’s people, clearly the Jews in particular were troubling these early churches as Acts demonstrates, Acts 13:45, 14:2, 17:5, 18:6, 25:7.

This wonderful fact of Christ’s love for us is central to our faith, (Rev 1:5, 3:19, Eph 5:2). These Jews considered themselves and themselves only to be God’s people and therefore loved by God, they despised the Philadelphians who they considered to be Gentiles and therefore out of Gods covenants. Jesus is saying that he will vindicate his elect and demonstrate to these slanderers who are really his beloved people.  Note that Philadelphia in Greek means brotherly love, Jesus will demonstrate who are really his brothers. The word for Jesus’ love here is agapao which refers to a self giving love Jesus has for his people which he demonstrated by dying for them. There are a number of OT references to God vindicating his people in front of their enemies (Isa 43:4, 45:14, 49:23, 60:14).

The hour of trial is mentioned in Dan 12:1, Mark 13:19 and it is likely that it is depicted by the seven trumpets and Ch 7-19 later in Revelation. The hour of trial is for the world not for the church. Some people think that this means that the chosen people [Jesus’ own] will be taken out of this world before the Tribulation starts. Some think they will be taken out of this world after three years of the Tribulation. Some think that the church [people] will be sealed with a mark on their foreheads, and that the angels who bring the plagues of the Tribulation will not be touched by them because they have this mark.  This fits in with the time in Egypt when God had the Israelites to put blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their houses so the death angel would pass over them and not hurt them or their children.  No one knows for sure. But the main thing is to be ready for anything. 

 Are you covered by the blood of the Lamb? This is the salvation we have in Jesus Christ when He shed His innocent, pure blood on the cross.  When we are born again by accepting and confessing Jesus as our Lord, we enter into the blood of Jesus. That means that we are covered in the  sight of God. We are as if we had never sinned. And this is how we can come to God. He cannot look upon sin, and we would not be able to come to Him in prayer if we were not covered with the blood of Jesus.  Romans 10: 9-13

Some people think they can just tell Jesus that they accept Him privately. But the Word says that we must confess Jesus before two or three persons.  It must be a public confesstion. Jesus says if you will confess me before men, I will confess you before the Father. [dont have the scriptures right now] After confessing Jesus before men, you must enter into the baptism of the believer. Jesus show us this as an example of what we are to do. He didn’t need to be baptised, but He went into the water to show us that we must follow His example. When the dove lit upon Jesus as He rose from the water, that signals to us that the Holy Spirit enters into our lives after we are beptised.  I experienced this. It is wonderful.

The church is the pillar of truth, the temple of my God is the church. The New Jerusalem, is the church, coming down from heaven, see Rev 21:2, in Ezekiel’s vision the name of the city is ‘THE LORD IS THERE’ (Ezek 48:35) cf. Rev 21:3, 22:3. The temple of God will be the New Jerusalem because that is where God will dwell. What is being said here is that he who overcomes will be permanently part (i.e. a pillar) of the New Jerusalem, he will belong to God and to Christ, and he will be intimately known.  Philadelphia was opposed by a synagogue of Satan, but each who stood aloof [apart of the pull of Satan] should be given a permanent place in the temple of God. He who did not deny Christ’s name on earth shall bear His new name for ever.

New name, this is the same as the new name written on the white stone (Rev 2:17), it indicates a special intimacy (Rev 22:4). Just as there is a new Jerusalem, and a new heaven and new earth so they have a new name.

I know this is a long entry, but it is very important. We all need to heed what is said here.  I hope you are reading this and will continue to grow in spiritual maturity as you spend time with the Father and listen to the Holy Spirit.

 

 

 

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The Weak are Strong

I have given out many cards with the address to this site to people of my church and others in my area. I just wonder how many are coming to this site?  If you are, please add a comment in the visitors space, or you may write a comment on what I write.  I fear in these days of spiritual need, there are many who do not think they need to read and study to grow stronger in their spiritual life. The day is coming when all we will have is what we have in our spirits. We will need every lesson the Father, our Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit has taught us to stand in the last days.  We can’t afford to be lazy or unaware.

 

Here is a scripture that may spur on those who think they just don’t have a chance with their limited knowledge and power.

 

"And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." I Corinthians 1:37

 

This does not mean those who are babies in the spirit. It means that those who are not recognized by the world as being the strong ones are often the ones God uses the most to get His work done.

 

In the history of God’s work, you will nearly always find that it has started from the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but the steadfastly true to Jesus Christ.

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Message to the Church at Sardis

As you check your own church, see if it is like this church. Many churches are very busy doing things. But are those things what God desires?  Will those thing make God approve of this church?

 

The letter to the church in Sardis (3:1)

3:1 "To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete [meeting the requirements of My God or perfect in His sight] in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. [dressed in white=  White garments indicate holiness, white robes are worn by the great multitude in heaven, 7:9, white clothes are worn by the armies of heaven who accompany Christ at His return.  In 19:8 fine linen, bright and clean, stands for the righteous acts of the saints. Therefore soiled clothes refer to sin. In connection with his second coming Jesus says ‘Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed’ (16:15).]

5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

 Revelation is about two groups of people those whose names are written in the book of life and those who are not.  Sardis was defiled and dying. Each who kept himself undefiled now shall walk in pure white garments in the day of glory. He that triumphed over spiritual death shall never lose spiritual life: his name shall be retained in the book of life. The threat here is that if they do not wake up their names will be blotted out of the book of life.

We all need to take heed of what is said here.  Remember the verses about the 10 virgins who kept their lamps.  Five of them kept their lamps ready, filled with oil [Holy Spirit] and the wicks trimmed. Five were foolish virgins who didn’t pay attention to what God was saying. When the Lord came, they begged the other five for some oil, but it was too late for them.

Today we have so many people who are not paying attention to what God says. Indeed, Christians are hated and mocked. People want to do away with Christianity. But we who are God’s people know that will not happen. Yes, we will endure some maybe bad times, but we will endure. We all want to stand before God ready for the return of our Jesus. I am so sad when I see people in the church who are just playing church. Their behavior and attitude makes it clear that they are not spiritually mature, maybe not even born again. It is hard to see people like this in places of leadership.

Let us continue to read our Bibles, spend time with God, look at the life of Jesus when He was on this earth. We should desire to imitate Him and all that He did.

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