Revelation chapter 3, beginning at verse 7.
And to the angel of the church in
Philadelphia write, These things saith he that is
holy, he that is true, he that has
the key of David, he that openeth, and
no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man
openeth.
I know thy works, behold, I have set
before thee an open door, and no man
can shut it.
For thou hast a little strength, and hast
kept my word, and hast not denied my
name.
Behold, I'll make them of the synagogue of
Satan, which say they are Jews, and are
not, but do lie.
Behold, I'll make them come, and worship before
thy feet, and to know that I have
loved thee.
Because thou hast kept the word of my
patience, I also will keep thee from the
hour of temptation, which shall come upon all
the world, to try them that dwell upon
the earth.
Behold, I come quickly, hold fast that which
thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
He that overcometh will I make a pillar
in the temple of my God, and he
shall go no more out.
And I'll write upon him the name of
my God, and the name of the city
of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which
cometh down out of heaven from my God,
and I will write upon him my new
name.
He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says unto the churches.
In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 13, the
apostle Paul says, Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that you may be
able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand.
This was the desire of Paul for his
church, for his own life as well, that
having stood for the gospel of Jesus Christ
in the midst of whatever kind of a
generation may come his way, that when it
was all over, and of course God fulfilled
this in Paul's life, he was a man
who was able to say at the end
of his days, I have run my race,
and I have finished my course, and from
this time forward there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, not for me
only, but to all those who love his
appearing.
It can be rightly said that among the
churches of revelation in its area, Philadelphia was
and is the last man standing.
It's worth looking into this church, because it's
a church that has in effect, in the
physical respect at least, withstood the test of
time.
I want to read to you something from
the pulpit commentary that tells us about this
church in Philadelphia.
In Roman times, it was not equal to
Ephesus or even Laodicea.
And for law courts, the citizens of Philadelphia
had to go to Sardis.
Nevertheless, it has outlived all these three and
still continues on the same site, perhaps within
the same walls as of old.
At the close of the 14th century, it
was the last Byzantine city to surrender to
the Turks.
And when it did succumb, it made better
terms than any of the others.
To this day, it retains the privilege of
free Christian worship, with the use of bells
for worship and processions in public, a thing
allowed by the Turks in no other inland
city of Asia Minor.
It has a bishop and a dozen churches,
and it is said that about a third
of its 15,000 inhabitants are Christian.
Its modern Turkish name is Allahseher, the city
of God.
Amazing.
God said to this little church of Philadelphia,
I set before you an open door and
no man can close it.
That's an amazing thing.
We look down through the 2,000 or
so years since then, and the door, whether
or not it's completely utilized in the Christian
sense, is still open to this church.
And even the influx and surrounding of Islam
is not able to close this door.
When Jesus says, I open the door, he
means I open the door.
I invite you to come through, and I
have the keys to it.
And he said, nobody can close it.
In verse 7, he says, these things saith
he that is holy, he that is true,
he that has the keys of David, and
opens and no man shuts, and shuts and
no man opens.
Christ is described as holy and true.
He has the keys not only to the
destiny of every man, but to creation itself.
He holds the keys to everything, the past,
the present, the future.
Everything is in his hand.
The Father has given to him all power,
all authority.
It's all his.
Not just your destiny, but your future.
Not just this world, but the world to
come.
Not just the world to come, the entire
universe.
And even beyond what our natural minds can
comprehend, Christ himself holds the key.
He is, in effect, the word used actually
means regent, and it's the same word which
was used for Joseph, for example, when he
had the keys in Potiphar's house.
He walked through the house, and whatever door
he opened, anyone who was invited could go
through.
Whatever door he closed, no matter how hard
people tried, they were not allowed to go
through that door.
It's an amazing thing to understand that we're
living at a time when Jesus said, I've
set before you an open door.
There's an invitation now to go through this
door, and it's an invitation to everybody who
sits here listening to my voice today.
In verse 8, he said, I know your
works, and because of it, in effect, I've
set before you an open door that no
man can shut.
Now, what was it that this church was
doing?
I don't think it was necessarily great in
the sight of men, because he tells them
later on, you have a little strength.
I don't even know if they had the
reputation.
Sardis had a reputation, but they were dead.
I don't know if Philadelphia had a reputation.
I'm not sure that what they did was
necessarily seen before men.
I believe that Jesus is telling them, he
said, I know your heart, and I see
that secret inward desire which you have for
me alone.
I see it.
It's beyond all of the exterior things, and
it's beyond your worship, and it's beyond all
of the trappings that are all around you,
or even what kind of a building you
might have built.
I see something.
And he said, because I see it in
you, and it's secret, I've set before you
an open door.
Now, I can prove this.
In Matthew chapter 6, verse 6, Jesus said,
pray to the Father which is in secret,
and the Father which sees in secret shall
reward thee openly.
Chapter 6, verse 18, talks about fasting.
He said, when you fast, fast to your
Father which is in secret, and your Father
which sees in secret shall reward thee openly.
I've set before you an open door.
Now, we ask ourselves, what is this door?
Go to John chapter 10 with me, please,
for a moment, just to lay the groundwork
for this.
What is the door that nobody can shut?
Is it increased religious service?
Is it more reputation in the community?
What is the door?
Now, John chapter 10, verse 7, we get
our answer.
Then Jesus said to them again, verily, verily,
I say unto you, I am the door
of the sheep.
That's amazing.
It's so simple.
Jesus said, it's me.
I'm the door, and I'm standing before you,
and I'm inviting you into the door.
I'm inviting you in through, into everything, all
of the supply, the life, all the victory
that I won on Calvary, I'm inviting you
in, because I see in you a secret
inner desire.
I know you're not playing religious games with
me, you want me.
Verse 8, he said, all that ever came
before me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not hear them.
I am the door, and by me, if
any man enter in, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and out and find
pasture.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal,
to kill, and to destroy.
I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly.
Amazing.
He said, I'm the door, and if you'll
just walk in to this new life that
God gives you through the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, he says, you're going to find what
you need.
In me, you're going to find pasture.
In me, you're going to find your sustenance,
your supply, you're going to find your strength,
you're going to find healing for your past,
you're going to find hope for your future,
you're going to find stability for your present.
And not only that, he said, you're going
to find it abundantly, more abundantly than you've
ever known, than anything in this world could
ever have offered you, as you walk through
the door into my life, you're going to
find this abundant supply, which is never ending,
it's inexhaustible, that's what caused him to cry
the last day of the feast.
He said, if you're still thirsty, if religion
has not done it for you, if mediocre
attendance to the house of God and the
once in a while observance of religious things
is not satisfying your soul, come to me
and drink.
If you believe on me, out of your
belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Out of your belly there be revelation, knowledge
to raise your children in the fear of
God, to speak in the future generations of
the wondrousness of what God is able to
do to every heart that trusts in him.
2 Peter chapter 1, verses 10 and 11,
Peter says, wherefore the rather brethren give diligence
to make your calling and your election sure
if you do these things you shall never
fall.
For so an entrance shall be ministered to
you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now back in Revelation chapter 3 again, verses
9 and 10, he says, behold, I'll make
them of the synagogue of Satan, which say
they are Jews and are not, but do
lie.
I'll make them to come and worship before
thy feet and to know that I have
loved thee.
That's an incredible thing.
Historians say that John wrote these words of
Jesus somewhere between A.D. 69 and 96.
Now the warning of Christ was either immediately
before or shortly after the Roman invasion of
Jerusalem, when the Roman soldiers went in and
they destroyed both the temple and the city.
There was a fleeing, as it is, an
exodus out of Jerusalem at this time of
refugees, panic stricken.
Everything that they had trusted in, you remember
they were warned, don't say the temple this,
the temple that.
Jesus himself stood with his disciples and they
were pointed to the temple as if that
was their security.
And Jesus told them, no, not one stone
is here going to be left upon another.
And of course, not many years later, that
very word was fulfilled.
And so these refugees went through all the
churches of Asia and in particular many of
them ended up in Philadelphia.
They're people whose foundations and trusts are destroyed
and they're coming to find solace or they're
coming to find comfort from those who are
still standing.
Remember 9-11, for those of you who
were here in the city when the towers
came down and the Pentagon was attacked and
another plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
And we saw these, in a sense, it's
a similar thing in a physical or spiritual
sense.
We saw people literally rushing in to the
house of God.
Those that were here, you might remember the
nights we met every night here.
We were already meeting, we just continued on
meeting every night.
I remember the night I had to ask
people to stop kneeling in the aisles all
the way to the back.
They were on their knees, giving their lives
as it appeared to Jesus Christ.
But you see, folks, panic conversions are not
always genuine.
People who are seeking comfort are not always
seeking Christ.
And this is exactly what happened in Philadelphia.
You've got this sudden influx of panic conversions.
And it looks like revival.
It looks like, God, this is so good.
You have destroyed the false foundations and people
are streaming into the house of God.
And this is when finally they have seen
or are seeing what we see.
But that's not necessarily the case.
People come in, yes, because we are still
standing.
And that's what happened in Philadelphia.
The church was still standing.
The people were still worshiping.
They're perhaps concerned, but not moved because of
what had just recently transpired or was about
to transpire in Jerusalem.
You see, but what happens is when the
dust settles, the Philadelphia church found themselves in
a battle with Judaizers.
And these are people who, their own foundations
ironically has collapsed.
And they come running into the house of
God looking for comfort and they appear to
find Christ.
I have a question to ask you.
Where are the hundreds if not thousands that
apparently came to Christ right after 9-11?
In this house.
We saw them literally like a wave and
a storm rushing into the house of God.
Then when the dust begins to settle and
we realize that the attacks are somewhat isolated,
it's not this massive destruction of all of
our society.
Our economy is hurt, but still standing.
Then they begin to brush themselves off of
all the panic and then begin to say,
well, the old ways were not so bad
after all.
Thank you, Jesus, for the nice comfort you
gave me.
Thank you, Times Square Church, for opening your
doors.
But I'm just going to go back now.
The dust has settled and see what's left
of my former foundation and start to rebuild
my life on it.
And this is exactly what happened.
The refugees came into the church of Philadelphia
and when the dust began to settle and
they looked around, somehow they had found comfort,
but they hadn't found Christ.
Not in His fullness.
And they began to argue now with the
believers in Philadelphia saying, no, there's a better
way to do things.
Yes, Christ is necessary, but it's also necessary
to have circumcision and it's also necessary to
observe times and months and seasons and ceremonies
and all of these other wonderful things.
We must be careful that we don't jettison
these for what appears to be just a
simplistic message of trusting and believing in this
one person whose name is Jesus, apparently the
Son of God.
And here they are now starting to try
to chip away at the foundation of Philadelphia
when ironically their own foundation had collapsed and
failed them.
That's exactly what human nature is like.
That's why Paul says in Galatians 2, if
I build again the things which I destroyed,
I make myself a transgressor.
If righteousness could come by the law or
by human effort, then Christ is dead in
vain.
If there's anything I can add to this
salvation, if there's anything I can bring in,
ideas from the natural mind or natural strength,
if I try to bring these things in,
I am putting Christ as it is to
an open shame before man.
I'm making a declaration that his sacrifice on
the cross is just simply not enough for
my redemption and for the supply that God
has promised to me.
Verse 10, he says, because you've kept the
word of my patience, I'll also keep you
from the hour of temptation that shall come
upon all the world to try them that
dwell upon the earth.
Now, of course, he's speaking to Philadelphia, but
I also am very aware, as you probably
are, that when Christ speaks, his words move
right into eternity.
He's not bound by time.
He can speak about a thousand years as
if it was yesterday or tomorrow.
There's no limitations.
And he speaks to the church of Philadelphia.
Of course, there's an hour of trial and
temptation that comes to every church, every era,
every believer.
You're not going to escape it, and neither
will I.
There's an hour of testing that comes to
every person.
But there is an hour that Paul talks
about that is coming to the whole world.
It is conceivable, at least that we are
on the threshold if we're not well into
it at this season in history.
Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, in the
last days perilous times are going to come.
Now, what will be when we think of
peril, we think of natural calamities and disasters.
And of course, Jesus did talk about some
of these coming, and we do see them,
perhaps on an increase.
But here is the peril that Paul is
really speaking about.
He says, men will be lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God.
There will be this pleasure madness that grips
the world.
It's gripped America.
There's no doubt.
Pleasure madness has American and Canadian society and
western society by the virtual throat.
People are looking for pleasure.
And of course, the more they look away
from God to find what fulfills the more
perverted this pursuit of pleasure is becoming.
There's a sense in my heart, and my
wife spoke to me about it just the
other day I forget, we were just driving
somewhere.
She said, do you have a feeling in
your heart that this all is not well
in this society?
And I said, I feel it more every
day.
I feel there's a madness that is just
on the border waiting to break out, just
waiting for an opportunity to manifest itself, because
people are feeding on absolute unspeakable trash now.
They're feeding their minds, they're feeding their spirits.
And only, I believe, the restraining hand of
God is holding it back.
Only the testimony as it is of the
church of Jesus Christ.
If ever there were a time when we
are called to be separate to the Lord,
it's now.
If ever there was a time you and
I should be pressing in to the life
of Christ, it is now.
Many, many people who are playing games with
God don't realize they're going to be swallowed
by this whirlwind.
They're going to be caught in this parade
as it is.
It's heading into this moral abyss.
They're not going to be able to escape
it because they have played too lightly with
the things of God.
That's why we stand in this pulpit and
we preach grace, but that grace also constrains
us to preach the warnings of God.
Remember that Christ said, if any man draws
back, my soul has no pleasure in that
man.
We're not to draw back.
We are to draw deeper into this invitation
of life in Christ, especially as we see
this hour approaching.
Paul says that in the church, in verse
5, he said, there will be a forum
of godliness, but it's a denial of his
power.
And Paul says, from such turn away.
Maybe in the last hours of America, there
will be more talk about God than ever
before.
God bless you.
God bless this.
God bless that.
God give us this.
God do that.
And there will be a forum.
And the outsider looking in would say, oh,
this is righteous.
This is an incredible society.
They talk so freely about God, but it's
a forum.
But that forum is like a lifeless statue.
There's no power in it.
There's nothing that animates it.
There's nothing that makes it out of the
ordinary.
It says, God bless you, as each man
is as dead as people around him who
don't know God and have no living relationship
with Christ.
And Paul said, this is the peril that
this forum of godliness will come gradually.
And people will not be aware of it.
And those who have played games with God
are not going to be aware that it's
very, very gradually coming upon them.
It's a forum.
It's a forum that allows us to come
in to the house of God.
And as long as we are putting in
our time, wearing our suits and carrying our
Bibles and saying praise God to at least
six people, it's somehow we're in right relationship
with God.
It's a forum, but there's no power in
it.
There's no life of Christ.
There's no evidence that Christ is risen from
the dead.
Nobody asks for a reason for the hope
that is within you.
And folks, I want to tell you something.
If nobody's asking, it's quite possible there is
no hope in you.
People don't see it.
If Christ is in you, those who are
outside of Christ can see it.
They can hear it in your voice.
They see it in your eye.
They watch it in your step.
There's something about you that they don't understand.
It's the life of Christ within you.
Hebrews chapter 12 the writer of Hebrews says,
speaking about Jesus now, he said whose voice
shook the earth, but now he is promising
once more, I shake not the earth only,
but also heaven.
And this word yet once more signifying the
removing of those things that are shaken, as
of those things that are made that those
things that cannot be shaken may remain.
Once more there's going to be a shaking.
Once more in New York City we may
experience an infusion of people seeking comfort and
not necessarily Christ.
Once more something may come that so shakes
and shocks society that the houses of God
are filled once again.
And those who don't have a discerning eye
look and say, oh, this is great.
This is revival.
Not necessarily so.
But here's the promise to this church.
He said, he that overcomes I'll make a
pillar in the temple of my God and
he shall go no more out.
Now this is, I want you to stop
here just with me for a moment because
there's a touch of humor in John's actually
the words of Jesus.
This area of the world had known devastating
earthquakes and in 1817 the city of Philadelphia
was virtually destroyed by an earthquake and for
20 years or more after, many years after
actually there were serious aftershocks that shook almost
everything that was in these areas.
Now there were heathen temples as well as
the temple of the Lord in Philadelphia and
there were many pillars in these temples and
they had a propensity as it is for
carving the pillars in the images of men.
They even renamed the city after the goodness,
the financial gift was given from a man
in power and they renamed the city after
a time in this particular man's name.
And people would go into these heathen temples
and they would look and the pillars apparently
holding it up were carved in the images
of men.
And perhaps on the base of these pillars
or around them were inscriptions that were ascribing
as it is some kind of power or
greatness or benevolence or kindness or goodness.
But time and again the earthquake aftershocks would
come and these pillars would fall.
And the people were used to seeing construction
workers carrying them out of the house of
God.
Amazing.
And this was something that they were familiar
with.
And Jesus says, but if you overcome if
you overcome this argument that comes your way
that says Christ is not enough.
If you overcome all of the Judaizing influence
that wants to bring the ideas of man
into the Christian life.
Wants to bring the strategies of man into
building the kingdom of God because that's what
Judaizing was all about.
It was bringing human effort into a completed
work.
And he says if you will overcome these
things, I will write my name upon you.
I'll make you a pillar and you will
no more be carried out of the house
of God in defeat.
No more.
People will look at your life and I
will make you stand.
You will not be as so many who
have built their ministries on themselves.
Have you seen that if you've been around
any amount of time?
You've seen it.
People come in and they add all this
infusion of themselves into the kingdom of God
and they present themselves to be pillars only
to be carried out shortly after.
We see it in our generation.
Carry them out.
I could give you a list of names
that have been carried out of the house
of God in the last 10 or 15
years who built their ministries and built everything
on themselves and drew the people to themselves
only to be carried out.
He says he that overcomes, I will make
a pillar and he will go no more
out and I will write upon him the
name of my God and the name of
the city of my God, which is New
Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from
my God.
And I'll write upon him my new name.
I'll write upon you.
He says the name of my God.
Now the name of my God is I
am.
It's simple.
I am ever present.
I am ever active.
I am involved.
I am powerful.
I hear and save those who call upon
me.
He says I will write my name the
name of my God upon you.
People will look at you in the midst
of whatever calamity comes and you will stand.
You'll need no exterior thing to hold you
up.
Nobody will have to carry you in and
they won't have to carry you out.
But you will walk with the name of
your God written upon you.
There'll be an evidence of stability.
You're not shaken by the things that are
shaking the society all around you.
He says I'll write upon you the name
of the city of my God.
In other words, your hope is not in
anything present or anything made with human hands,
but that which is promised and eternal.
You will have an eye not to the
present because that's not where your stability is
found, but you'll have an eye to the
future.
You will see something that men without God
don't see.
Men without God, even in the house of
God, all they can see is what is
before them.
All that is their stability is, even if
they're using the name of Jesus, is everything
that this world, this crumbling society has to
offer.
He says no, I'm going to write upon
you the name of God and I'm going
to write upon you the city, the name
of the city of my God, which is
New Jerusalem.
You'll be a people infused with hope for
the future.
You're going to have something in your voice
that the society is someday soon going to
be longing for.
And then he says and I'll write upon
him my new name.
Now go with me to Revelation 19.
I want to show you something on this.
Revelation chapter 19.
Now we know Jesus by many names, don't
we?
And John says in Revelation chapter 19 and
verse 11 and I saw heaven open and
behold a white horse and he that sat
upon him was called faithful.
We know him by that name and true.
We know him by the name of truth
and in righteousness he does judge and make
war.
His eyes were as a flame of fire
and on his head were many crowns and
he had a name written that no man
knew but he himself.
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped
in blood and his name is called the
word of God.
We know him as the word of God.
The armies in heaven followed him upon white
horses clothed in fine linen white and clean.
Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword
that with it he should smite the nations.
He should rule them with a rod of
iron and he treads the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God and he
has on his vesture and on his thigh
a name written King of Kings and Lord
of Lords.
So we know him as faithful.
We know him as true.
We know him as the word of God.
We know him as King of Kings and
Lord of Lords but he has another name
and it's written on him on his head.
Well actually no it was a crown on
his head he said but he had a
name written that no man knew but he
himself.
Now what is this name?
Go to John chapter 16 with me please
if you will.
What is this name?
That no man can know.
John chapter 16 and verse 13.
Jesus said how be it when he the
spirit of truth is come he will guide
you into all truth for he shall not
speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear
that shall he speak and he will show
you things to come.
He shall glorify me and he shall receive
of mine and shall show it to you.
All things that the father has are mine
therefore said I that he shall take of
mine and he shall show it to you.
If you really look it up what he's
really saying he said I have a name
and no natural man can know it.
No man who walks in his own imagination
by his own strength by his own reasoning
no man who looks for comfort no man
who looks for his future in any other
direction but me can know my name.
They can know me as the things that
are revealed they can know me in a
sense as I am revealed in the pages
of scripture but they cannot truly know the
power of my name.
It is a name of everything that God
is in Christ that he said I will
write upon you.
If you have a heart for me if
you go through this open door that I
invite you to come through if you resist
or overcome these people who try to tell
you that I'm not enough that you need
me and you need seven steps to this
you need me and you need a survey
in your neighborhood if you just know that
I'm enough I'm going to write a name
on you that no man can know only
the Holy Ghost knows it.
He searches the deep things of God and
he knows everything that I have won for
you everything that God has planted in Christ
because of Calvary is mine and the Holy
Ghost will write it upon me as I
go through the door and become a seeker
of Jesus Christ and in my heart I
say Jesus you are sufficient for me you're
all that I need.
I don't need men's reasoning I don't need
seven steps to anything I just need you
I need you to write your name in
my mind I need your laws in my
heart.
I need your very nature in my being
no man can know this name.
Only the Spirit of God knows it.
It's too deep for the natural man to
understand.
We could start and we could say the
name is freedom the name is deliverance, the
name is power, the name is sound thinking,
the name is absence of fear the name
is love beyond all comparison.
The name is courage to walk through the
fire but even then we fall short of
everything that is in the name of Jesus
Hallelujah.
He says this is the name I'll write
it on you.
Just like an invisible hand came to Nebuchadnezzar's
table when he was toying with the holy
things of God and he's playing with the
holy things that came out of the temple.
Drinking and having a wonderful party in the
name of God or his gods.
And a hand came and wrote on the
wall the kingdom is over.
In the same way there's a hand.
It's the hand of God and it begins
to write the name of Jesus.
It begins to inscribe things of the character
of Jesus Christ that only God could place
in us.
The Philadelphia temples were famous in some measure
for the ornate carvings of the image of
man which couldn't stand the shaking that every
time it came into society.
He said no I'll put an ornate carving
in you.
I'll carve the character of Christ into your
character.
And when everything that can be shaken is
shaken you will still stand.
You will not be moved by the adversities.
Hallelujah.
You'll be a pillar in the house of
God that doesn't have to be carried out
every time there's a crisis.
You walk in praising God.
You walk out praising God.
You give glory because you know that what's
come into your life is not of your
own making.
It's not of your own reasoning.
It's not of your own power.
It's supernatural.
Every morning you get up you see new
mercy in God.
Hallelujah.
He says I come quickly.
Verse 11.
Hold fast that which you have that no
man take your crown.
Hold it fast.
Don't let it go.
You might be the weakest of weak of
all saints in this house today.
And there might be people coming to you
with ideas about how you can get the
victory.
Or you're going to some Christian bookstore with
men who are writing ideas that come out
of the natural mind.
You're letting the hand of man fashion you,
not the hand of God.
You come in all encouraged and you get
carried out time and again.
Failed, faltered.
Every time a crisis comes you topple over.
And your poor handmade self-image doesn't stand
when crisis and shaking comes to it.
He said hold fast what you have.
Well what did they have?
And he also says to him that overcomes
I'll make a pillar.
So what were the characteristics of these overcomers?
What did they have that made them overcomers?
Well you find it in verse 8.
He said because you have a little strength.
That was the first characteristic.
They knew they weren't strong.
This is what made the door open to
Christ.
They knew they weren't strong.
Every one of these believers perhaps became believers
because they knew they were weak.
But the Judaizers will always come to try
to take that away.
And in their weakness they found Christ as
their strength.
They found him as their redeemer.
They found him as everything they will ever
need or require.
Not only for time but for eternity.
It's a good thing.
If you only have a little strength this
morning you are way ahead of the man
who thinks he's strong.
You are way ahead.
You are miles ahead.
He is destined to go home and carve
his little image of himself in the basement
and carry it into the temple and try
to get it to stand up.
And every time a shaking comes it falls
over and he's got to carry it out
again.
And take it home and chisel it a
little bit more.
But if you are weak Jesus said you
have a little strength and you've kept my
word and you've not denied my name.
You have just a little bit of strength
but you have believed what I have spoken
to you.
And you have not denied the power of
my name.
You know that your source of supply is
in me.
You know that the life you need is
in me.
You know that your strength is in me.
You know that everything you'll accomplish is in
me.
Everywhere you go will be in me.
All that you will do will be in
me.
And when it's all over it will all
be glory to my name.
You've not denied my name by attempting to
live the Christian life in your own strength
and reasoning power.
So I've set before you an open door.
This is what makes the gospel a miracle.
This is why I'm here on this platform
today.
There's no reason.
I don't have a noble birth.
I didn't have any speaking ability.
I don't have anything but a heart.
I said God I'm weak.
And I come to you and he says
I've set before you an open door.
And nobody can close it.
Walk through it.
It's Christ who's our open door.
It's Christ himself.
It's not just a way to abound.
He is the abundant life.
He is the door.
He said I've set myself before you.
Just walk into my life.
Just walk into the character, the presence of
God.
This is where your strength is.
This is where your life is.
This is where your hope is.
This is where your future is.
It's in Jesus.
And when it's all over, when all the
world is running around like shaken because everything
around them is falling and the images of
man are falling, you are standing there.
You were the weakest of the weak.
You still don't have any strength.
You know that everything you have comes from
God.
And in the midst of all the fires
you are still singing the songs of Zion.
You are still glorifying God.
The whole city can be in terror and
turmoil but you are glorifying God.
You are a pillar in the temple of
God.
You are not shaken because you have known
his power.
You have walked in his strength.
You've not set your hand to carve your
own character.
You've trusted him and you've walked through the
door.
And in his mercy he's changed you.
And you begin to bear the image of
Christ.
You begin to move forward.
That's why it's so important that we don't
draw back.
That's why it's so important that we don't
settle in.
It's so important after knowing Christ that we
don't receive other thinking, other arguments and begin
to try to build this life in our
own strength.
You have a little strength.
You have not denied my word.
Or can I put it this way, you
have not made my word a lie to
even people around you because with your little
strength you've come to me Philadelphia and I
have changed you in the measure that I
have.
You've been changed.
You've not denied my name.
May I challenge you this morning above all
that's ever been spoken here today, not to
deny the name of Jesus Christ.
Every time you sit in struggle and try
to reason your way out, you are denying
his name.
Because his name is freedom.
His name is deliverance.
His name is the way out.
Every time he calls you to do something
and you say it can't be done, you
are denying his name.
Don't deny his name.
Every time you listen to the argument of
the devil who says you never will, you
never can, you never did, you're denying his
name.
Because he's the one who says I sat
before you and opened the door.
Come.
Walk through it.
Walk through it into the marvelous victory of
your Savior.
Father, give us grace this morning to hear
this and to respond.
Give us grace, Lord, to walk through the
door into your life.
I pray, Father, today be a day of
victory and deliverance for some who have bought
the lie that somehow they have insufficient strength
to make it through to the next place
that you want them to go.
When you have given them all they will
ever need to be all that you've ever
called us to be.
We thank you for it in Jesus' mighty
name.
Would you please stand with me?
The Lord says today I've set before you
an open door.
Beloved, if you're struggling with sin, why don't
you come through the door today?
Why don't you lay down all your efforts
to change?
If you're a backslidden, why don't you come
through the door?
If you're failing as a testimony for Jesus
Christ, why don't you just come and walk
through the door and trust again in the
power of his name.
Trust in the word that he has spoken
to your heart.
And I'm giving an altar call this morning
for all the little strength Christians in Times
Square Church.
Everybody here who knows that you have little
or almost no strength, you are blessed because
God loves you and he promises to give
you the victory if you will trust in
his victory.
If you will trust in his name.
Would you slip out the balcony and go
to either exit?
Main sanctuary, just make your way to the
aisles.
Meet me here at this altar.
Education annex, please, if you could stand between
the screens.
If you're a backslidden, you need to get
back to God.
If you're struggling with something that is overcoming
you and you don't know how to get
out of it, if you're battling in your
mind terrible thoughts and you don't know how
to get free from these things and you're
trying everything, why don't you just come to
Jesus?
Why don't you let the power of his
victory become yours?
He said, I've said it before you and
I'm going to, there's going to be some
engraving going on at this altar this morning.
He says, I'm going to write a name
on you.
I'm going to open your mind.
The Holy Spirit is going to show you
who I am.
The honest seeker of God.
You're going to begin to walk in victory.
And he said, I will make you a
pillar in the temple of God.
It will not be something of your hand.
I will do it for you.
I've said before you, Jesus said, an open
door.
No one can close it.
No argument can close it.
No resistors of truth can close it.
Nobody can close it.
Nobody that maybe you have to go home
some of you and to hear awful words
about your life and perhaps about the testimony
that you know falls short of the glory
of God and you have to listen to
an angry family member constantly try to convince
you that there's no future in God.
But Jesus said, no, I've opened the door
because you have a little strength.
You love my word and you've not denied
my name and you're going to walk through
that door and I'm going to write on
you some names.
I'm going to write on you the character
of Christ.
It's going to be written on you.
I'm going to write it supernaturally and I'm
going to give you power to stand and
when everybody else is shaking, you're going to
stand.
Hallelujah.
Pray with me, Jesus.
Thank you for opening the door of your
power and your name to my mind and
my heart.
I believe you with all my heart.
I believe you and I will not deny
the power of your life and your name.
I come to you.
I am weary and I'm heavy laden.
But you invited me and you promised that
you would give me rest and I believe
today that you're giving me rest.
You're giving me strength and you're going to
cause me to stand in the difficult days
in which I live.
Oh Jesus, I thank you from the depths
of my heart.
I praise you.
I ask you God that from my heart
and my lips would come songs of praise
confidence in you all the days of my
life.
Oh glorify yourself in my life.
Bring glory to the power of your name.
I believe it with all of my heart
and I say thank you Jesus.
Thank you Lord.
Thank you God.
Hallelujah.