Wise.
God, I stand here in weakness and in
foolishness, and I thank you, Lord, that the
wisdom that I have comes from you and
the strength that I have comes from you.
Every good thing within me, Lord, I acknowledge
comes from your hand and from your hand
alone.
And I ask tonight, Lord Jesus, that you
would be lifted up and glorified.
God, that you would touch lives and hearts,
that you would break down the powers of
darkness, that you would destroy the works of
the enemy.
God, that you would release your people with
a shout in this house tonight.
Father, I thank you for everything that you
have done and everything you will continue to
do.
I thank you for your faithfulness until you
bring us all home.
God, we give you praise and glory tonight.
Lord, I ask for an absolute revelation of
Jesus Christ tonight, as you gave to John
on the Isle of Patmos.
Father, I ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
The key of David, 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.
Does that apply to anybody here tonight?
I know it does to me.
Thou hast a little strength, and hast kept
my word, and hast not denied my name.
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue
of Satan, which say they are Jews and
are not, but do lie.
Behold, I will make them to 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 that fast which thou hast, that no
man take thy crown.
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar
in the temple of my God, and he
shall 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 cometh down out of heaven from my
God.
And I will write upon him my new
name.
He that has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Now Jesus Christ appeared to John when John
was exiled on an island of Patmos for
the testimony of Christ.
I've shared before each one of these messages
that it was a time when the churches
that had been established by missionary journeys were
not that distant from the resurrection of Christ,
yet even though there were good things in
these churches, there were some things that had
begun to settle in to each one of
these churches, well almost each one of these
churches, that had caused them to fall short
of the glory of the risen Christ.
Revelation is not a book, it is the
revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to John.
The revelation of Jesus puts an end to
all religious misunderstandings, puts an end to foolish
works that have called themselves anointed of the
Spirit of God, and brings absolute truth into
perspective.
And if you and I are to cry
for anything in our lives in this last
hour of time, we need to consistently cry
for an ever-increasing revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ in our own personal lives.
My prayer is, O Jesus, reveal yourself in
me, reveal yourself in me, just like you
did to John.
You walked in the midst of those seven
candlesticks and everything was brought out into the
light.
And O God, if there's anything in my
life or heart that's displeasing to you, if
there's any area in my life that you
want to change, bring revelation of yourself, bring
revelation of your nature.
O God, that I may see it and
lay it down and trust you for the
strength to change.
That's got to be the cry of everyone
who's truly called by the name of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now, Jesus described this church in Philadelphia as
a church of little strength.
Interestingly enough, he said, I've set before you
an open door that no man can shut,
for you have a little strength.
Now, this didn't mean that the church in
Philadelphia was a weak church.
On the contrary, I firmly believed that they
were a mighty army of God moving forward.
They were going through an open door that
Jesus himself said, no man can shut.
This little strength people, but marching with great
might.
It reminds me of the story in the
Old Testament of the three lepers that sat
outside the city gates.
The city was under siege and the lepers
weren't allowed into the city because they were
lepers and they couldn't go into the camp
of the enemy because they would be slain.
And they sat at the gate and they
said, well, what's the sense of sitting here?
We're just going to die.
They said, we might as well go up
into the camp of the enemy or if
they, at least if the worst can happen,
they're going to kill us.
We're going to die here anyway, so we
might as well go down.
And you can see these three leprous men
heading down the sand dune, heading into the
camp of the enemy.
And the scripture says, God made the sound
of their approaching foot, footsteps sound like the
rushing of a mighty army.
He so magnified the footsteps of these three
weak lepers coming down the sand dune that
the whole army got up and fled.
They left their tents, they left their food,
they left their horses.
And there was nothing but a trail of
all kinds of things that they were throwing
and leaving behind all kinds of clothes and
pottery and everything they were throwing as they're
running because of this mighty army of three
lepers that were coming down the sand dune.
You see, the church of Philadelphia was a
church of little strength, but yet they were
a mighty army moving forward.
I believe that with all of my heart.
They were a church that had come to
know the key to David's success and victory.
You see, Jesus said, I'm the one that
has the key of David.
And David had always stayed small in his
own sight.
That was the key to the success in
David's life.
In all his ways, he acknowledged the Lord.
And as such, God could use him to
subdue kingdoms and use him to bring the
promises of God into effect for him and
also for those of his generation.
David was a man who had found the
heart of God, but he found the heart
of God in his own littleness.
Even though David was a king, he consistently
cried out to God.
He consistently acknowledged that without the anointing of
God on his life, he was nothing.
Without the presence of God, he could do
nothing.
Without the assurance of God, he couldn't move.
You see, David was little in his own
sight.
And in that little strength, God was able
to pour through his life and mighty, mighty
giants were brought down and kingdoms fell and
nothing could stop this, the kingdom of Israel
that moved through the leadership of David.
There was an incredible key in his life,
and that key was his own weakness, his
own littleness in the sight of God.
In contrast to this, we see King Saul,
a man who was anointed.
He was truly anointed by God to lead
Israel.
And what a sad indictment against Saul, the
day that Samuel was sent by God to
tell Saul that the kingship was going to
be taken away from him.
And in 1 Samuel 15, 17, the scripture
says, And Samuel said, When you were little
in your own sight, were you not made
the head of the tribes of Israel, and
the Lord anointed you king over Israel?
You see, when Saul was little, God could
use him.
And God can use any people who know
that they're of little strength.
God can use anyone who's small in their
own sight.
But Saul got lifted up, and Saul took
away the office of the priesthood unto himself.
And Saul began to move and add his
own things to the kingdom of God.
He began to exalt himself above the knowledge
of God.
He got big in his own sight, and
his own fears began to overtake him, so
that God had to reject him.
And what could have been a life of
victory ended up a life of disaster, because
he never, he missed the revelation of that
principle of littleness in the sight of God.
But in contrast to Saul now, we see
the heart of David.
Look at Psalm 25, please.
I love the Psalms, because it so reveals
the heart of David, which God says is
the heart of a man that's after my
own heart.
Listen to the dependency of David.
You have to understand that David is the
king.
David has armies at his disposal.
David has the riches of this earth at
his disposal.
He has the admiration of men.
He has it all.
But there was a key in David's heart.
He knew that without God, and without the
favor of God, he had absolutely nothing.
He knew that without God, he was no
better than any other man.
In Psalm 25, verse 1, listen to David.
He said, Unto thee, O Lord, do I
lift up my soul.
O my God, I trust in thee.
Let me not be ashamed.
Let not mine enemies triumph over me.
You see, David, at this particular point in
his life, is not talking about any past
victories or any giants that have been defeated.
He knows that without God, his enemies would
literally overpower him.
But he said, God, I trust in you.
Let me not be ashamed.
Let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Yea, let none that wait on thee be
ashamed.
Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
And now, look, you see the dependency of
God, of David, rather.
In verse 4, he said, Show me thy
ways, O Lord.
Teach me thy paths.
There was no arrogancy in this man.
It's not that he said, I have found
it all, and I know which way to
go, and thanks, Lord, I can take it
from here.
But he says, Show me thy ways.
Now, there's got to be, as I shared
earlier, that consistent cry for the revelation of
Jesus Christ.
If ever that stops in your heart, that's
a danger sign.
Right till the time when we breathe our
very last breath, we've got to have that
prayer, that cry upon our lips.
Show me thy ways, O Lord.
Teach me thy paths.
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me,
for thou art the God of my salvation,
and on thee do I wait all the
day.
I wait for you, Lord God.
Show me, lead me, forgive me, teach me.
I am weak, but you are strong.
Oh, that the old hymns of the church
are filled with an understanding of these truths,
of our inherent weakness, but yet the strength
that we have comes because of him.
It doesn't come because of ourselves.
And woe be unto the man or woman
who forgets that the strength and victories that
we experience is because of our weakness.
And in that weakness, the strength of the
Lord has become our clothing.
And it's been God's mighty hand that has
gone before us and opened prison doors and
poured in healing oil and made a way
to impossible places.
It's not been by our own wisdom.
It's not been by our own strength.
You see, God so cherished this attitude of
heart in David that he was not willing
to lose it for anything.
David, even numbering the armies of Israel, was
a danger to the heart of David.
When David told Joab to go and number
the armies of Israel, there was a danger
that he would begin to think that by
the might of the army of Israel that
he had won these victories.
And God was not willing to let him
get away with that.
He so loved David and so loved the
heart that was in that man because that
man had found a key to unlocking the
power of God within his life.
In his brokenness, in his meekness, and in
his weakness, Christ became all in all unto
him and was able to move through him.
And he became a type and shadow of
what you and I ought to be under
the New Testament covenant that we have in
Jesus Christ.
In Psalm 61, again, we see the words
of David.
Hallelujah.
Psalm 61, verse 1.
He says, Hear my cry, O God.
Attend unto my prayer.
From the end of the earth will I
cry unto thee.
When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to
the rock that is higher than I.
For thou hast been a shelter for me
and a strong tower from the enemy.
In other words, David is recounting the past.
God, you have always been a shelter.
You've always been a strong tower.
You've always been my protector.
You've always been my deliverer.
You've always fought for me.
But Lord, I don't take it for granted
in the future.
I know that I still have to retain
the dependence and humility before you.
I cry unto thee, O God.
When my heart is overwhelmed, David's saying, if
it should happen again, Lord, if I find
myself in places like I've been in the
past, lead me once again to the rock
that is higher than I.
Lead me to that place of my strength.
I will abide, verse 4, in thy tabernacle
forever.
I will trust in the covert of thy
wings.
In other words, I will trust in the
covering of your wings.
Now here we see David the king and
David the warrior, David the victorious one, declaring
constantly his own weakness and trusting in the
omnipotent strength of God.
I love the heart of David.
I always have in the scriptures because David
is saying, even though he's girded with strength,
there's not a king would dare stand against
David on the face of the earth.
And yet David is saying, God, I choose
to come under the covering of your wings.
He's declaring that childlike trust that Jesus said
you and I need to have, or we
cannot see the kingdom of God.
Oh Jesus, I need the covering of your
wings more than I've ever needed it in
my life.
Hallelujah.
In my weakness, you will become my strength.
That's got to be the cry of the
church in this hour, especially that we're living
in.
I believe that the church of Philadelphia was
a church that was able to acknowledge its
own weakness.
There's evidence in this because if they were
a church that was strong in themselves, God
would have to resist them because the scripture
says God resists the proud, but gives grace
unto the humble.
But I believe the Philadelphian church knew that
they were a weak church and knew they
needed him.
And consequently, Jesus said, I've set before you
an open door.
In other words, I'm going to take you
into places that nobody can stop what I'm
about to do through your lives.
Nobody can stop it.
I've opened the door and nobody can shut
it.
Hallelujah.
They were a church that were weak, just
like the apostle Paul.
Look at the book of second Corinthians, please.
Second Corinthians chapter 12.
The apostle Paul was a man that in
the spiritual realm for certain certainty moved mountains.
Would you agree with me tonight?
Paul, God through Paul moved mountains and yet
Paul continuously acknowledged.
And not only did he acknowledge, but he
gloried in his weakness because he knew that
in his weakness, that the strength of Christ
was made perfect.
Those that stand that are strong in themselves
are a hindrance to the gospel.
You need to hear me tonight.
If you've never heard anything I've ever said
before, every man, every woman, every child that
stands and has confidence in themselves becomes a
hindrance to what Jesus Christ wants to do
through their lives.
We've got to acknowledge our weakness without God.
We can't draw the next breath in this
assembly tonight.
Without God, you couldn't blink your eyes again.
Without God, your heart couldn't beat again.
Without God, you couldn't think the next thought
that God's going to allow to come into
your mind.
He is everything.
He's the one who formed us out of
the dust.
He breathed the breath of life into our
nostrils.
He has made each and every one of
us a living soul.
Everything consists by him.
Nothing was made without him.
Everything is in his hand.
Nothing is out of his control.
We need to acknowledge and humble ourselves before
God like we never have in our lives
that we are weak, but he is strong.
We will fail, but he will never fail.
Hallelujah.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 9, listen
to the words of Jesus to the apostle
Paul.
He said that he said unto me, My
grace is sufficient for thee, and my strength
is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in
my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me.
There are so few vassals of the Lord
in this and every other generation that are
willing to become weak that the power of
Christ may rest upon them.
Therefore, I take pleasure, he said, in infirmities,
in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses
for Christ's sake, for when I am weak,
then am I strong.
Hallelujah.
Philadelphia was a weak church, but Philadelphia was
a mighty arrow in the hand of a
mighty God.
People who learn that they have little strength
are those who have truly walked the pathway
of Christ.
People who are strong in themselves have yet
to understand what it means to be a
cross-carrier of Jesus Christ.
There are people who take the cross of
Christ.
They read the scripture that says, If any
man will be my disciple, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow
me.
And they take up their cross and they
head out to do good things for God.
And you hear that even from preachers from
time and again.
Let's do some good thing for God.
And out they go to do some good
thing for God.
But what happens is many people fail to
understand how far the natural man can carry
the cross of Christ.
A natural man can pray and pray and
pray.
The scripture that Jesus, the parable of the
Pharisee, says he went into the temple and
prayed thus with himself.
Nobody was listening to him.
He prayed to himself.
The natural man can pray.
The natural man can tithe.
He said, I tithe.
I give a tithe of everything that I
possess.
The natural man can sacrifice.
The natural man can do good works.
There'll be people standing before the Lord on
the day of judgment and saying, Lord, Lord,
did we not do many wonderful works in
your name?
Lord, I was a cross-bearing Christian.
I was all over the place doing all
kinds of things.
I was one of the strongest vessels you
had in your kingdom.
They failed to understand how far the natural
man can go.
Took me 10 years as a Christian to
figure this one out.
Carrying the cross east to west and north
to south, all over the place and way
into South America, preaching and teaching and publishing
and defending the gospel of Christ until I
ended up in my face on a gravel
road without any strength left.
You see, the true design of the cross
is to bring us to an end of
ourselves.
It's to bring us to the realization of
how little strength we have without him.
We don't have any strength without him.
We don't want to be strong without him.
It's better to be weak that the power
and strength of Christ may rest upon us.
For a man or woman who's strong in
themselves will always be coming up with good
ideas and always be putting their hand and
their strength into everything that God commissions them
to do.
And what starts out of pure work gets
tainted of the flesh because the human vessel
is still involved in it.
Oh, I agree with Paul.
I would rather glory in my weaknesses that
the power of Christ may rest upon my
life.
Look at the book of John, please.
Chapter 19.
Go ahead into the Old Testament, the New
Testament again, rather.
I want to look at the road of
the cross.
John chapter 19 shows us the judgment of
Christ before Pilate.
In John chapter 19, verse 16, it says,
Then delivered he him, therefore unto them to
be crucified.
And they took Jesus and led him away.
Now, verse 17, here's a key.
And he, that's Jesus bearing his cross, went
forth into a place called the place of
a skull, which is called in the Hebrew
Golgotha, where they crucified him with the two
others with him, either on one side and
Jesus in the midst.
Now, verse 17 is the key.
He bearing his own cross.
Jesus was condemned to be crucified.
He took his cross and put it upon
his shoulders.
At least the part of it that was
that was the center beam at the top
and headed out to that place of crucifixion.
Now we go to the book of Matthew,
please go back to the book of Matthew
chapter 27.
I want to show you a principle about
understanding the cross of Christ.
Jesus is heading off down the road to
the place where he's going to be put
to death.
And he's carrying his own cross.
And most Christians, most Christians who really love
God, when they start out serving God, do
carry their own cross, just like Jesus did.
They take that burden upon their shoulder and
they begin to walk.
And one of the signs that you're carrying
your own cross is that you're always under
condemnation.
Every time you fall or fail, you think
you've failed the Lord.
So you struggle to get back up again
and try to be strong in yourself.
And down the road you go again with
your cross.
And it takes God sometimes so long to
get through this simple principle that you find
in Matthew 27 verse 31.
And it says, And after they had mocked
him, they took the robe off from him
and put his own raiment on him and
led him away to crucify him.
And as they came out, they found a
man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and him
they compelled to bear his cross.
You see, this is the issue.
Jesus headed out and John carrying his own
cross to that place called Golgotha.
But we see an expansion of that in
the book of Matthew, that as he was
heading to that place, we can draw the
assumption that that cross became too heavy for
him somewhere along the line.
And he couldn't bear it anymore.
I've seen certain movies over the years that
have depicted him falling.
And I believe that's exactly what happened.
The cross became too heavy to bear.
And finally, one last time, he just went
down into the turf and couldn't get up
anymore.
His human strength had failed him.
There was absolutely no way he could pick
up that cross and carry it anymore.
And yet God already knew that.
God the Father knew that was going to
happen and had planted another man called Simon
of Cyrene, who was there and waiting and
positioned by God.
And from that certain point in the road,
Simon was going to pick up that cross
and carry it for Christ to Calvary.
Now, my point is this.
If Jesus couldn't carry his own cross the
whole distance to Calvary, how are you and
I expected to be able to carry that
cross in our own strength?
That's why God has sent the Holy Spirit,
that when you and I have finally exhausted
ourselves, when we come to the end of
ourselves, when we've fallen face down in the
middle of the road, unable to go anymore,
God sends the Holy Spirit to pick up
the cross and begin to carry it.
Then we begin to walk in his strength,
no longer in our strength.
That's why the scripture says, strive to enter
into the rest of the Lord, for he
has entered into his rest, has ceased from
his own works as the Lord did from
his.
Strive to enter into that rest, the place
where you're no longer carrying God, but God
now is carrying you.
You're no longer carrying the works of God,
but the works of God are carrying you.
And you're moving now in the power and
strength and anointing of God's Holy Spirit.
God's kingdom is a spiritual kingdom.
It does not go forward by the arm
of flesh.
It's not by might.
It's not by power.
It's by my spirit, saith the Lord.
Hallelujah.
Hungry, David says in Psalm 107, hungry and
thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
Then they cried unto the Lord in their
trouble, and he delivered them out of their
distresses.
He led them forth by the right way,
that they might go to a city of
habitation.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
Some of you are here tonight, and you're
hungry and thirsty, and you're in such a
battle, and it seems like you tried to
walk with God, and time and again you're
face down in the dust.
And you think that somehow you've forsaken God.
Somehow you've failed God.
What's happened is your own strength has failed
you, and you're in a good place.
You're right on the road of the cross
in this house tonight.
Now you need to understand there needs to
be a transition from your strength to the
strength of God.
Hallelujah.
Where you get up from under that burden
of condemnation, you get up from under that
feeling that somehow you've got to do something
to please God, and you stand up in
your weakness and just raise your hands to
heaven and say, Lord, I'm hungry, and I'm
thirsty, and I have no more strength.
I need you now like I've never needed
you before.
And it's at that point you begin to
sense the pleasure of God.
He looks down and says, Son, my daughter,
you're right in the place now where I
can set before you an open door that
no man can close.
Hallelujah.
I can do things now through your life
that I never could have done before.
You would have been mixed into the working
of my spirit, but now that you've come
to a place of exhaustion, learn your lesson
this time.
Learn from your experience, and let me carry
the work for you.
Hallelujah.
I believe with all of my heart the
true church learns to die with Christ.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 36, thou
fool, he says thou, that which thou sowest
is not quickened except it die.
In other words, you can put a seed
in the ground, but it will not spring
to life unless it dies first.
And that's what he's talking about.
That which thou sowest is not quickened.
We will not be quickened until we learn
what it is to really die with Christ.
To die with Christ, the crossroad started in
Gethsemane in a garden.
And Gethsemane is a place where we embrace
His will, and we die to our own
will.
We say like Jesus said, Oh, Father, if
it be possible, remove this cup from me,
nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done.
The cross is a place of being willing
to endure the scorning and mockery of those
who are unwilling to fully embrace Christ.
If you set your heart upon the Lord,
one of the classrooms that you're going to
have to go through, and no man or
woman will escape it, is the mockery of
those who are unwilling to walk the full
price of what it costs to walk with
Christ.
They're unwilling to become weak.
They're unwilling to die to themselves.
They're unwilling to pour their lives out as
a living sacrifice for the purposes of God.
And so they will stand in the road
as you walk with Christ, and you will
have to learn to endure their scorning.
It's a classroom that you have to go
through.
You'll never escape it.
Don't respond with a like spirit.
Don't curse those that curse you, but rather
bless those that curse you.
Be like your Father which is in heaven.
He sends rain on the just and on
the unjust.
Therefore be ye perfect, the scripture says, even
as your Father in heaven is perfect.
There can't be true life come into your
soul as a Christian until you have also
embraced the tomb.
We try to escape it.
There's a whole segment of Christianity in this
generation that wants to get saved and live
on the mountain for the rest of their
lives.
Never any sorrow, never any cares, never any
worries, happiness and peace and prosperity all the
days of their lives.
But that's a false Christianity.
That's a false road.
It's a wide road that leads to destruction.
The true road of Christ will lead you
into a place of death, into the tomb.
It's a place of isolation.
It's a place sometimes where nobody around you
seems to understand you.
Your family and friends are wondering what happened
to you.
Why are you becoming so extreme?
Why do you have to get so intense
in your relationship with God?
Is it sufficient just to go to church
and sing a hymn or two and give
him the offering?
Why do you have to get so radical?
Why do you have to talk about going
to the mission field?
Why this talk about giving up your job
if God should call you to do so?
Why this talk about laying your life down
for the purposes of God?
So radical.
Why not eat, drink and be merry?
Why not just have a good time until
Christ comes back?
There's a time of isolation.
That's what it was for Jesus.
The tomb was a darkened place, an isolating
place.
It's a place of obscurity.
It's a place ultimately of weakness.
It's a place where you lay down and
say, God, unless you raise me up, I'm
not going anywhere.
Lord, I want to serve you with all
of my heart and I've walked with you,
but it's brought me to this place.
I'm flat on my back.
I'm isolated.
I'm in a place of obscurity.
And if you don't raise me out of
this place, I'm not going anywhere.
There's absolutely no chance of me getting up
without your Holy Spirit.
We see the Apostle John embracing this tomb
of Christ.
It comes in different forms, but we see
John on the island of Patmos imprisoned in
a very hard, isolated place for the testimony
of Christ.
He was in a tomb of sorts, as
you can say.
He was in a place of isolation, obscurity
and weakness.
But I remind you that it was in
that place that God gave unto him the
revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was in that place of death that
the life of Christ came and was manifested
unto him.
And because of that light that came into,
that was revealed to him, you and I
can sit here tonight and hear and see
and know the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ through this last chapter, this last book
in the Bible.
All of the voices that surround you would
say, we've sealed him up, we've shut him
down.
If you want to serve God, if you
want to rise out of obscurity, there will
be voices that rise around you to shut
you down and seal you up.
That's what they did to Jesus.
It will be no different for his disciples.
They will put you in a grave, they
will roll a stone across it, and they
will put a seal on it and set
a guard on both sides to try to
keep you there.
We've sealed him up, we've shut him down.
Isn't that what the devil said to Jesus
and about Jesus?
We've sealed him up, he's finished.
But I remind you today that on the
third day, hallelujah, the Spirit of Almighty God
came into that place of death and raised
a man that was shown in weakness in
the power of Almighty God.
The grave couldn't hold him, the stone couldn't
hold him.
I could hear the voice of God the
Father saying to his son in that tomb
as the stone rolled away, behold, I've set
before you an open door and no man
can shut it.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
He is the firstborn from the dead.
Afterwards, we who shall be like him at
his coming.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
There are some tonight that you're in this
house and you've walked with God, but you
feel so weak and you feel so locked
up.
You feel like the life that God's called
you to has left you face down in
the dust or in a place of darkness.
It seems like you're all sealed up and
you're going nowhere.
But I want you to remember the promise
of Jesus to this church of Philadelphia.
He didn't say you're a strong church.
He didn't say you're a big church.
He didn't say you're a powerful church.
He didn't even say you have a reputation.
He said to Philadelphia, you have a little
strength.
You're a people who know that without me
you can do nothing.
You have a little strength.
You can breathe by yourself.
You can walk by yourself.
But that's about the extent of what you
can do without me.
You have a little strength.
He said to them, you have kept my
word and you have not denied my name.
And I remember a day in my life
when I stood on a gravel road in
Canada walking, and that's all I had left
after years of preaching the gospel up and
from one coast to the other and all
over the country.
All I had left was a little strength.
I had enough left in my body to
preach one sermon a week on Sunday morning
and that's all I had.
And I knew in my heart I had
kept his word and I knew I had
not denied his name.
And that's all I had.
There was nothing else left.
But that's a good place to be.
That's the place where God wants every Christian
to be.
That's the place where we can come out
of obscurity.
We can come out of that place of
darkness.
And God now has a hold of our
vessel.
We're not desiring the praise of men and
it doesn't matter what people say anymore.
We're there for the glory of God and
for the hallelujah.
Some of you, you have, you are at
this place of weakness.
You have been in a struggle in a
battle for so long that all you have
left is a little strength and all you
can say to God.
You have no big report to bring to
God of all the wonderful things you've done,
but all you can say is, Lord, as
best as I can, I've kept your word
and I've not denied your name.
And the Lord speaks to you tonight and
says, I have set before you an open
door and no man can shut it.
I've set before you an open door.
You have not failed.
You have been on the pathway that I
have laid out before you.
Hallelujah.
Look at John please.
Chapter 20.
You haven't failed at all.
You're on the roadway of the cross.
Hallelujah.
It's so sad that so many people get
right to the point where God can use
them and they quit because they have failed
to understand the deeper workings of God.
They failed to understand what God is doing,
bringing us to an end of ourselves, that
he may give us life, that we may
bring honor to his name.
John chapter 20 says the first day in
verse one of the week cometh Mary Magdalene
early when it was yet dark under the
sepulcher and seeth the stone taken away from
the sepulcher.
Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved
and said to them, they have taken away
the Lord out of the sepulcher and we
know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple
and came to the sepulcher, the grave, the
tomb.
And so they both ran together and the
other disciple did outrun Peter and came first
to the sepulcher and he stooping down, I
want you to notice those two words, words
we often miss in the scripture, stooping down
and looking in saw the linen clothes lying
and yet he went not in.
You see verse five says stooping down, that's
the doorway out of the tomb.
That's the doorway into light.
That's the doorway back into life.
It's a coming forth in absolute total surrender,
having put on Christ and walking out of
the grave in total victory.
It's a place of humility.
The proud can't get through that door.
They run into it face first into the
stone.
It's a doorway for those who know how
to humble themselves before God and acknowledge they
have little strength and stooping down, they come
out of that place of darkness.
That's an open door out of death.
It's called humility.
Humble yourselves, the scripture says, under the mighty
hand of God that he may exalt you,
that he may lift you up in due
season.
Hallelujah.
I have set before you an open door.
That's what he was speaking to John also
in Patmos.
I have set before you an open door.
Now I want to show you what that
door is.
John chapter 10, please turn back in your
Bibles.
Hallelujah.
John chapter 10.
I want to show you what is set
before this church of Philadelphia.
John chapter 10, verse eight.
Jesus said, all that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did
not hear them.
Verse nine, read those words with me.
I am the door.
I have set before you an open door.
And in John chapter 10, verse 90 says,
I am the door by me.
If any men enter in, he shall be
saved and shall go in and out and
find pasture.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal
and kill and destroy.
I have come that they might have life
and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the door.
Jesus is saying to Philadelphia and for those
that are weak tonight and have gone through
some of the sufferings of Christ and have
not fully understood what God has been doing
in your life.
I am the one who's standing before you.
I am the one that you are entering
into and beginning to have revelation of and
beginning to understand.
I am the open door that stands before
you as you walk forward, not trusting in
yourself, but trusting in me.
You are entering into the very heart of
Christ.
You're entering into the nature of Christ.
You're walking right into the revelation of the
risen Christ like the apostle John did.
That's the open door.
That's the putting on of strength.
That's the new life that Jesus talks about.
That's the abundant life he came to give.
It's not in things of this world.
It's in him and him alone.
Hallelujah.
The abundance that I seek is an abundance
of him.
It's love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, meekness,
faith, and temperance.
Against such there is no law.
Hallelujah.
It's Jesus and Jesus alone.
It's the putting off of the old nature.
It's the putting off of the old deeds
and the putting on of Jesus Christ.
It's being able to stand before heaven and
earth and say it's no longer I who
live, but it's Christ who lives within me.
That's the open door.
He says you know you have a little
strength, but you've kept my word.
You've not denied my name.
And what he's saying to Philadelphia, I am
standing before you.
It's the Lord that stood before them.
I'm the open door.
No man can shut this door.
You see, because Jesus rose from the dead.
Nobody can shut that door.
He triumphed over the powers of hell.
Hallelujah.
He says I am the door.
You come in through me.
You'll go in and out and you'll find
pasture.
You'll be fed.
You'll be fat.
You'll be flourishing.
You'll be strong.
Not in your own strength, but as my
servant David was, you'll be strong in the
strength of the Lord.
Hallelujah.
You will come to know me as your
righteous tower.
And in times of trouble and distress, you
will run into me and find refuge.
The enemy will not be able to exact
against you, nor your wives, nor your husbands,
nor your children.
Hallelujah.
I will be your strength.
Hallelujah.
The Lord is our exceeding great reward.
There is none other besides him.
All that ever came are thieves and robbers.
There's none other besides Jesus Christ.
Hallelujah.
Now go back to Revelation.
Hallelujah.
Revelation chapter three.
He says, Behold, verse nine, I'll make them
of the synagogue of Satan, which say they
are Jews and are not, but do lie.
Behold, I will make them to come and
worship before thy feet and to know that
I have loved thee.
He said the mockers, the lukewarm, the haters
of the Lordship of Christ will one day,
some on this earth and some in heaven,
they will fall before your feet and they
will one day know that I have loved
you.
You see, Jesus sets the weak to confound
the wise and the, I mean, the strong.
We sang it, give thanks.
That's why it's such a beautiful song to
sing.
That's why there's such an anointing when we
sing it because it's a song of truth.
He takes the weak to bring down the
strong and the foolish to bring the, those
that are wise in their own sight to
nothing, that no flesh can glory in his
presence.
He said, those who have mocked you will
one day stand and fall at your feet
and know that I have loved you.
Every knee will bow and every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Verse 10, he says, because you've kept the
word of my patience, I will keep you
from the hour of temptation, which shall come
upon all the world to try them to
dwell upon the earth.
In other words, I will shelter you in
your hour of trial because you know me
and you love me and you have come
under my wings.
You have come under my lordship.
I've set before you an open door of
safety and nobody can close that door to
you.
A thousand shall fall at one hand and
10,000 at the other, but it will
not come nigh you.
Hallelujah.
You have come to trust me.
You have come to dwell in my habitation.
I've set before you an open door of
provision and protection that no man can shut
unto you.
Hallelujah.
Behold, I come quickly.
Hold that fast which you have that no
man take your crown.
Hold it fast.
Cherish, cherish everything that I've given to you
through my word.
He that overcomes, I will make a pillar
in the temple of my God.
He will go no more out and I'll
write upon them 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 will write upon him my new
name.
In other words, I have a new name
for him.
He that has an ear, let him hear
what the spirit sayeth under the churches.
David said in Psalm 91, verse one and
two, he that dwells in the secret place
of the most high shall abide under the
shadow of the almighty.
I will save the Lord.
He is my refuge in my fortress.
He is my God in him will I
trust.
I have set before you an open door.
Everyone who's here tonight who can hear this
word.
God through Jesus Christ has set before you
an open door that no man can shut.
You might be a Christian here tonight and
you're the, you figure you're the most struggling
Christian in all the body of Christ.
You have almost no strength.
You come into the house of the Lord
ashamed.
Sometimes you say, God, I have so little
strength to do anything.
I, I so want to serve you.
I so want to carry the cross.
I so want to bring honor to your
name.
All I can say tonight is I've kept
your word God as much as I can.
And I've not denied your name and you
expect almost like a condemning voice of God
to come out in your direction.
And instead he looks down at you and
says, behold, I've set before you an open
door and no man can shut it.
Hallelujah.
In other words, get up.
And in the strength of the Holy ghost,
just keep on walking straight forward.
You're right in the place where I can
reveal myself unto you.
You're right in the place.
You see, you've lost confidence in yourself and
because you've lost confidence in yourself, you're now
willing to turn to me.
You're now willing to look me in the
face.
You're now willing to meet me eye to
eye and let me begin to speak to
your heart.
And I will impart my strength into you
and take away your weakness.
Hallelujah.
Would you stand please?
I have such a simple altar call tonight.
This is the last message to the last
church in revelation that I'll be speaking on.
And the altar call that the Lord gave
me today as I was preparing this message
is just this, Lord Jesus, I have been
in such a struggle that I have little
strength left, but I want to walk with
you.
I want to follow you and I never
want to deny your name.
If that's you tonight, the Lord would say
to you, come and let me minister to
you tonight.
You come to this altar.
We're going to sing that song again, give
thanks.
And as we do out of the balcony,
go to the sides and come down either,
either stairway, the main sanctuary come forward and
God is going to meet you tonight and
minister to you at this altar.
Hallelujah.
He gives strength to the weak.
He gives courage to the Hallelujah.
He gives life to those that are in
danger of losing it and failing.
Hallelujah.
Those that have responded to this altar tonight,
do you know you're in a blessed place
where you are in your life right now?
Do you know that you're on the very
pathway of God?
You're in the place of weakness.
That's the place where you can become strong.
Some people never get there.
It's so sad to say they spend their
whole life trying to pump up this old
flesh and keep it going rather than just
let the cursed thing die and let the
spirit of God take over.
You're in a place of weakness.
God doesn't despise you for that.
He's not bad at you.
He's not angry with you.
He says, I've set before you an open
door.
It's in weakness that you can come through
that door.
You can't come through it strong.
You can't come through it proud.
You can't come through that door in your
own strength.
It's in weakness.
It's when you know you've failed.
It's when you know you're nothing.
It's when you know that unless God touches
you, there's no hope.
I remember the day that God had given
me a promise 17 years ago that I
would live to see a mighty, mighty revival.
Awesome revival.
And I set out across the country to
make it happen.
Several years I preached all over the place
and I burnt my body out in the
process.
And I remember being out on the country
road finished.
And at first I got angry with God.
I said, God, what are you sadistic or
something?
You know, you give a man a vision.
I go out and do what I feel
you've called me to do.
And then nothing.
All I do is burn myself out.
I said, God, I don't even have the
strength to preach once a week anymore.
It had been six months in that condition.
I said, God, if you don't touch me,
I'm finished.
I can't go on.
And then finally, I just surrendered everything to
the Lord.
And I said, Lord, I felt, I guess,
like Joseph must have felt in prison in
Egypt.
I said, God, when it happens, please just
remember me.
Just remember where I am.
Let me see it.
I don't care if I'm in the audience.
I don't care if I'm on the street.
Let me see it.
Remember where I am, God.
And it seems from that day forward, there
was a change and strength started to come
back.
But yet I knew it wasn't my strength.
It was the strength of the Lord.
And I began to cherish it.
And I began to desire never to get
strong again, never to get strong again, but
to stay weak, that his strength could become
my strength.
I didn't understand what was happening, but I
had come through a door into his presence.
And that's where you are.
We get fooled into thinking we have to
be the strong ones.
Then we get saved and then we got
to be strong and somehow do something and
please God.
And he's so displeased if we're weak and
so displeased if we struggle and so displeased
if we fail.
The reality is he's so displeased that we
keep walking for so long in our own
strength and don't finally come to that place
where we say, Jesus, I can't do it.
I can't.
All I can say that I've tried to
follow your word and have not denied your
name.
I don't have anything else.
And God just this big smile beams in
the face of God and he says, behold,
I've set before you an open door.
Come all you who labor in our heavy
labor.
I'll give you rest.
Learn of me.
I'm meek and lowly of heart.
You'll find rest for your soul.
Hallelujah.