The title of this morning's message, Revelation chapter 3,
verse 7 to 13, we'll deal with is have faith.
I got you to turn to one another and say have faith.
And the rest of the title of the sermon is have faith.
We still have time, have faith. Why is the church still here?
What does Jesus think of the
church? 7 letters He tells us what he
thinks of the church. Why are we still here?
Why hasn't the rapture occurred? Why don't Why are we remaining?
What is it? Two books set in the London shop
of a young cobbler. Now those of you probably too
young to know what a cobbler is, a cobbler is someone who's.
He's the Mr Minuteman now. I think he's the man who would
repair shoes. We used to go to the cobbler,
probably thinking how old is this guy?
We'd go to the cobbler and get our football boots restarted and
shoes repaired. And there was a young cobbler in
his London shop and he had two books in his shop. 1 was a well
worn Bible and the other was Captain Cook's journal and he
read both each day. But as the days went by, the
cobbler found himself losing interest in working on the soles
of shoes and caring more about the souls of people in the far
lands, far regions of the world. So much so that on the 31st of
May 1793, this cobbler walked into the little Protestant
church he attended and asked if he could share.
He opened his Bible and read as they allowed him.
The cobbler went on to share this with the little
congregation. He read.
We must lengthen the chords. We must strengthen the stakes.
We must include others who have never heard.
He says I want to go. He was reading from Isaiah 54.
Two, I'll read it. Enlarge the place of your tent.
Let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings.
Do not spare. Lengthen your cords and stretch.
Strengthen your stakes. He said.
Send me to India, please. The small congregation was
stunned by this young cobbler. It had been 1000 years since
anyone had launched a foreign ministry endeavour, but the
Church sent him. In his first ten years, this
man, this young cobbler learnt and became fluent in 12
languages. William Carey was his name and
he goes down in history as the father of the modern missionary
movement. This is the period the Church of
Philadelphia covers in church history.
Suddenly the Church woke up from her lethargy.
William Carey, a cobbler, set the example that one did not
need to be skilled, gifted or special to be used in the
Kingdom of God. God is simply looking for those
who will obey the Great Commission.
The Church of Philadelphia speaks of the period, as I said
in church history, beginning in the 1800s.
For it was men like William Carey who went India.
Hudson Taylor went to China I I implore you to read Hudson
Taylor's autobiography. DL Moody then broke out in
America. Charles Haddon Spurgeon broke
out in London, and evangelism was taking place and people were
obeying the Great Commission. Their hearts were captured with
a hunger for lost souls. So let's read the letter verse
7, and to the Angel of the church in Philadelphia right
now, we get the title that Jesus gives himself, which gives us
the flavour of the church. These things says he who is
holy, who is true, who has the key of David.
What does that mean? He who opens and no one shuts
and shuts and no one opens. I know your works.
He knows all about them. See, I have set before you an
open door. No one can shut up, for you have
a little strength. This church was small.
It relied upon God. You've kept my word.
God's word was taught, and I have not denied my name.
They were faithful in their communities, faithful to be
acknowledged and recognised as Christians.
Everyone knew that they were Christians.
Indeed, Jesus says, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan
who say they are Jews and not but lie.
Indeed, I will make them calm and worship before you, before
your feet, and to know that I have loved you because you have
kept my command to persevere. They didn't give up.
They had an ache and a love to reach the lost.
I also will keep you very importantly from the hour of
trial which shall come upon the whole world.
What is the hour of trial that has yet to come upon the whole
world? The tribulation.
This is a important note, he said.
I will keep you from going into the hour of trial that has yet
to sweep across the whole world to test those, and here's some
keywords who dwell upon the earth.
If you read through the Book of Revelation, you'll note more
than 7 times throughout the Book of Revelation, there is this
statement to those who dwell on the earth.
And each time it's mentioned, it's talking about the judgments
of God coming upon those who dwell upon the earth.
It's those who don't want God, don't want his Kingdom, don't
want the gospel. I want to stay here on this
world. I, I love this fallen world.
I love living in sin, I reject God and seven times that term
comes dwell upon the earth. Those who dwell on the earth.
Jesus then says verse 11, behold, I'm coming quickly and
note that that's the speed. Now remember a day to the Lord
is like 1000 years. So to Jesus, he's coming at any
moment. He said in John 14, let not your
heart be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you
that where I am there you may be also.
I'm coming for you. So you need to be ready.
Hold fast, have faith, hold fast to what you have.
See that no one take your crown. We'll look at that.
He who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of God.
Now in those days, those who are faithful citizens in cities and
places, and when they were building and on the pillars,
they would put the name of a certain person to faithful so
and so who's been a pillar of the church pill of the
community. You've heard that pillar of the
community. This is where it comes from.
God says, I'm going to put you your name, a pillar in the
temple of my God, and he shall go out no more.
In other words, you'll always be with me.
I will write on him the name of my God.
That's identification, that's showing your mind.
I'm giving you my name and the name of the city of my God.
Notice here comes that city again, the new Jerusalem.
Keep your eye on Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven
from my God, and I'll write on him my new name.
Again, a mark of identification. You belong to me, belong to
Jesus. It's a mark also of intimacy.
Verse 13, This is where you come into it this morning.
What are you going to do? He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Holy Spirit capital S says to the churches.
So as you listen to this letter, chapter 1 says as you read it,
you get blessed. As you hear it you receive a
blessing, and as you buy it, you receive a blessing.
You can leave here with three blessings that God has promised
this letter along with that to Smyrna.
Jesus has nothing critical to say about the Church of
Philadelphia. Why?
Verse 8? They were faithful.
What does that mean? They kept my word.
You've kept my word. You haven't deviated and gone on
to any false teaching or stupid, idiotic stuff that flows
through. You've not denied my name.
You say you're a Christian. You're a follower of Christ.
They were mature. You have kept the word of my
patience. They weren't like, I'm following
Jesus today. I'm not following him now, I'm
following him next week. You know, people like come and
go. They're in church, out of
church, in church, up, down, up, down.
That's not the way it should be. Can you imagine a marriage?
While I'll be married to you today, I'm not.
Next week I'm single. Next week I'll be married to you
again. That's why marriage and our
relationship with Christ is so similar.
Though I'm mature, grown up. You've kept my word of my
patience. They didn't deviate each week.
You knew where they were and you knew what they were doing.
They were followers of Christ, they were disciples, and they
had a burden for the lost. I have set before you an open
door. The Church of Jesus Christ
exists for two reasons. One, to go into the world and
preach the gospel to and to make disciples of those who receive
the gospel. You know, that's what the Bible
gives as the definition of why the church exists and what it's
to do. Those two things.
This fellowship, the Church of Philadelphia was involved in
evangelism. Evangelism.
What does that mean? It means to go and give the good
news. Give the good news to someone
about Jesus Christ, to speak the gospel.
They had taken Christ's commandment of the Great
Commission to heart and they were driven by it.
Mark 1615, Jesus said, and he said to them, Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature.
That's a commandment. Who's that to?
To the church. If you believe you're part of
the Church of Jesus Christ, that commandment is to you.
Matthew 2818, Jesus came and spoke to the disciples saying
all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
That's why we go back to I've set before you an open door.
No one can close it. He says, I have this authority.
I'm making this opportunity available to you.
Now go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations,
baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you. And lo, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the age. Amen.
The Church of Philadelphia had hearts filled with a passion to
reach the lost. More specifically, they had a
love for the lost. That's got to be the reason why
you serve anywhere in any church.
While you serve here, you know, people say, oh, you know, you
can put me down to something or and they come and go, come and
go and people come and go. The reason you serve is because
if you teach Sunday school, junior church, it's because you
love the kids. That's the reason you have a
love for the children and you want to love the children into
the glory and wonder of knowing Jesus Christ.
It's something I'll have no one else at all do it.
And people come and go and they have all the well, like, you
know, I'm good at this. I'm good at that.
No, your connection to the local church is based upon your love
for the body of Christ there. If you don't have a love for
them, please don't because they're going to get a false
facade and kids pick it up really quickly.
If you don't care about them, you could see if see right
through you to see how genuine you are.
They'll care if they see how much we care for them.
This church had hearts filled with passion to reach the lost.
More specifically, they had a love for the lost.
Phileo brotherly love. One of the reasons we don't
effectively reach our culture is because we are woefully out of
touch, often living in our own Christian subculture.
The church has become this ask for and no more.
We just, we don't go out. We just, we're building.
We're building in here. We're building this and we don't
go out. And to be honest, many people
don't really care about people who don't know the Lord.
Well, that's their problem. I got the, I got the Lord.
That's their problem. This is hard for some of us to
admit. If some of us were brutally
honest, we would have to say that we don't have the burden.
My neighbours, none of my neighbours in my street, they're
not, they're not Christians. Well, that's their problem.
None of the people I work with, they're not Christian.
That's their problem. Paul the apostle was burdened to
the point that he declared woe is me if I preach not the
gospel. He says I get I get ill if I
don't preach the gospel. I remember working with a guy
who got super fit. He was playing Pennant squash
and then he moved from Pennant squash.
He's a lovely guy. And then he got into marathon
running and he just was right, really hyped up, got into
marathon running and then he had a breakdown.
The breakdown was that because there were times he got injured
and he couldn't run, he began to feel depressed because he
couldn't run. And so the running had taken
over his passion. Now the running devoted and
dictated to him. And so it was baser.
He can't run, he's depressed. Well, for Paul it wasn't running
or sport. Paul said I have to preach the
gospel. I'm driven to preach the gospel.
I can't live without preaching the gospel on Corinthians 916.
And this burden drove Paul's life, his passion.
You see, we simply have to care. We sang some wonderful songs
this morning about all the mercy and wonder of God.
You know mercy. God loves us, and there's no
reason for him to love us. I don't know about you, but I'm
not very lovable. You'll have to ask Alan.
He deserves a Victoria Cross. I'm not very lovable, but God in
his mercy made sure that he, I didn't, he didn't allow me to go
and live my life in ruin. And I could have.
And I was heading that way. Many of the guys that I surfed
with in the 70s, they're either dead, insane or disappeared.
It was just the group that I hung out with your God in his
mercy save me. We have to care, you see, or
nothing will happen in the way of effective evangelism.
I want to ask you this morning and think about it.
Does your heart ache for lost people when you see someone, a
friend of yours or you work with colleague, member of your
family, Does a chest ache your heart at nights that they're not
they're not here with you, they don't know the Lord you you're
concerned for them. When was the last time you
witnessed to an unbeliever Is all OK?
That's for somebody else to do. No, the Great Commission is for
all the church. When was the last time you
actually had someone and you shared, and I'm not saying, oh,
I'll pray for you or I go to church.
A witness to this guy told him I went to church.
So now when was the last time you actually shared the gospel?
Ask someone, hey, what do you think about eternal life?
What do you think will happen to you when you die?
What was the last time you actually witnessed to an
unbeliever? You know?
Well, Keith, you're getting don't put a guilt trip on me.
Have you ever shared the gospel to another soul?
And when Jesus would heal someone and he said now don't
tell anyone, what would they do? They got to tell everyone.
Now Jesus tells us to go and tell everyone.
You know what we do? We don't tell anyone.
Well, what's the cure for why we're so hesitant?
Why don't we share the gospel? Is it because we're frightened
to? Some would say yes, maybe some
of you would nod and go, yeah, yeah, that's me.
This is not the reason. Is it because we're concerned?
Well, what if I share the gospel and I want to well, this, I'm
not interested. Some people say, well yeah,
that's the reason, but it's not the reason.
And Luke's Gospel Chapter 7, Jesus was invited to Simon, the
Pharisees house for dinner. So we went to the Pharisees
house. He sat down to eat and behold a
woman in the city who was a Sinner, who I knew.
When she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisees
house, he brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, stood at
his feet behind Jesus, weeping, crying.
She began to wash Jesus feet with her tears, wiped them with
the hair of her head. She kissed his feet and anointed
them with fragrant oil. And when Simon the Pharisee saw
this, he said to himself, this man was a prophet.
He'd know what sort of woman this is.
And he wouldn't allow her to touch him at all.
She's a Sinner. And Jesus said to Simon, Simon,
I've got something to say to you.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Jesus, What is it? There was a certain creditor guy
who owed money, who had two debtors, one who owed 500
denarii and the other 50. And when he had nothing to pay
with, he freely forgave them both.
Tell me, which of the two do you think loved him more?
Oh, Simon said, I suppose the one who was forgiven more.
You've rightly judged Simon. Then he turned to the woman who
was at his feet and said to Simon, Do you see this woman?
I entered your house. You gave me no water for my
feet. You didn't wash my feet.
She has washed my feet with her tears, wiped them with the hair
overhead. You gave me no kiss, no greedy,
but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I
came in. You did not anoint my head with
oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant, expensive
oil. Therefore I say to you, her
sins, which are many, are forgiven.
She's a she is a Sinner. Yes, many sins, but they're
forgiven for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven the
same loves little. The reason that sits behind us
for not sharing the gospel is you and I haven't realised.
It hasn't hit us how much we are got, how much you and I have
been forgiven. But there are times you know
when you know how bad you are, things that you've said, things
that you've done. You can.
If anyone knew about that, I'd be so embarrassed.
You see, when you're forgiven much, you'll love much.
And if you have been forgiven much, you will want to share the
gospel with others. We sang the story about the
stones being dropped today. That was the woman caught in
adultery wasn't brought before Jesus.
Caught in the act. Everyone was there going to
stone her. She was a Sinner caught in the
act. Jesus says, woman, where are
your accusers? You know, for all of us we have,
there's a lot of accusers who can say you, you go to church,
you call yourself a Christian. You, you're a joke.
You can never be. I know what you've done.
The devil says that Jesus didn't look up and then everyone left
as he rode in the sand, remember the stones all dropped and there
was just her and Jesus. You see, in the end of the day,
there's just you and Jesus and he grabbed her and pulled her
up. He said, woman, where are your
accusers? There was none there.
Your sins are forgiven. Go and sin no more.
How could he say that she was a Sinner?
Because he was going to go to the cross and he was going to
pay for her sins. Jesus has paid for your sins.
How much do you love Him? You can come and go to church.
You can be a churchgoer. You can be a church consumer
person. You come, you go, you check it
out. Music's too loud, it's too hot.
It's too cold. And like this.
Don't like that? Don't like him?
Don't like the way dresses, don't like that.
Or you can be a person like that of the Church of Philadelphia
whose heart and passion is driven to reach the lost because
you know, you know, you've been there.
You know how lost you are. You going to kill yourself.
Some of you, you thought about it, some of you tried.
You did it in different ways. You did it with being just out
there. I'm going to jump off this.
I'm going to surf. This is the greatest, largest
wave. I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do that. And we try all different ways.
So I don't care because you didn't think anyone else cared
about you. Christ came, someone shared the
gospel with you, someone shared the gospel with you.
Someone from the Church of Philadelphia, Charles Haddon
Spurgeon, knew the need for such burden for lost souls going to
hell. And he said this, and the quote
will come up. The Holy Spirit will move them
by first moving you. If you can rest without their
being saved, they will rest too. But if you're filled with an
agony for them, if you cannot bear that they should be lost,
you soon will find that they are uneasy too.
You can't sit with an unsaved relative and go, wow, I'm easy
because that'll be easy. There's something about you got
to wait. You got to touch.
Just I've been praying for you, love to come, come join.
You know you because it's family that way.
The city of Philadelphia got its name from a man called Humanist
the Second. When he died he was succeeded by
his brother Atlas the Second. Atlas named the buildings and
minted coins all named after and having the image of his deceased
brother. He loved him so much.
Atlas the second would always be talking affectionately about his
deceased brother and how he missed and loved him.
So the people of the city name their town Filia, Brother City,
the city of brotherly love. Verse 7 Jesus declares to this
church he's titled the flavour of the letter, He that is holy,
he that is true. You know the time that you and I
find ourselves living in now is a desperate time, but that we
still have time. Peter tells us in second Peter
chapter 3, the Lord isn't really slow about His promise to return
as some people think. Now He is being very patient for
your sake. Why are we still here?
Why hasn't the rapture occurred? He does not want anyone to
perish, so He is giving more to you and I Time for everyone to
repent. But the day of the Lord will
come as unexpectedly as a thief. The heavens will pass away with
a terrible noise. Everything will disappear and
fire the earth and everything on it will be exposed to judgement
since everything around us is going to melt away.
Peter says to you and I, now we're living in those days.
What holy godly life should you be living?
This church? The group of believers were holy
hell because they all went around.
Cup of coffee please. Make yard open long Mac, please.
They didn't do that. We see that as holy.
Look how holy that person is though.
Holy because they had a heart full of lost, so they lived
accordingly. Their passion for living was
seeing souls saved, sharing the gospel.
This is what filled their hearts and drove their lifestyles, what
moulded their lifestyles. People could tell they were
believers because they were sharing the gospel all the time.
They were not caught up in the lure and foolishness of this
temporal fallen world. And in Australia we are.
We're chasing money in Australia.
We are a society. We're one of the wealthiest
nations in the world and as a society, as individuals, one of
the wealthiest individual countries in the world and we're
chasing money. And I tell you, it's like
chasing a rainbow. You ever chased a rainbow?
I have. I've peddled and peddled and
peddled after the end of the rainbow.
Saw a movie called Davi O'gill and the Little People.
It was a Disney movie and in that movie at the end of the
rainbow is a pot of gold. So me and my mates, we're pretty
smart. Rainbow.
Off we went. Pedals.
Next hill, there it is. Off we went.
Smooth. However we went.
Never got anywhere near it. And that's what you'll do.
And that's what we're seeing people in Australia do.
They're peddling, they're busy, they're tired, they're worn out.
They don't have time for this. Don't know.
We're so busy, aren't we? And we're, so we're spending all
our money on everything else, aren't we?
We, we have no, we don't have enough money.
And I was thinking this morning just just how much money we
waste. Cup of coffee a week is $25.
That's nearly 30 bucks a week for you to have One Cup of
purchase coffee. But I'm just thinking, you know,
the, the things that we, we, we spend our money on and then we
wonder, oh, wow, we're just getting by.
Well, back on the depression. It's really going deep now.
But people had only what they needed along.
Then along came advertisement Back in the Depression you had
one shovel, but now you need 6 shovels, a shovel for every
different purpose. When you shift, what is the and
and the kids toy rooms? What is it like in your house?
Well, we got to get a truckload of the old toys out because
we're going to truckload of new toys coming in.
But we're we're struggling. When you shift house, how much
junk do you throw out? I'm never shifting house, Helen
said. I said help.
No, I'm just going to wander. Wander down the beach and slide
into the water. I'm not moving out.
It's too hard work. It's too much junk.
Oh, if our treasure was in heaven and our hearts were on
the lost. The character of Jesus is holy
and true, He says. That means he is holy, right and
character. Character is who you are when no
one's looking. Character is who you are when no
one's around. He that is true is he that is
right and conduct. You do the right thing no matter
what. You do the right thing no matter
what. But what is this that he that
has the key of David? David here symbolises the role
of the Messiah. The key here in Scripture
represents authority. In the Book of Second Kings
under King Hezekiah's reign, there was a fellow called
Eliakim who was given the key of all authority in the Kingdom of
Judah. Every time you read his name, he
said, and he had authority over who was over the household of
his position. Was that to equal of the King
absolute authority? He controlled access to the top
leader. You couldn't get to the king,
but through him. So too Jesus determines who
enters His Kingdom. Jesus borrows this image from
Isaiah 22 and says his Father has given him absolute authority
over all that is his. Jesus has all authority in
heaven and on earth in Hebrews 1/6 the scriptures say.
And then when he presented his honoured Son to the world, God
said, let all the angels of God worship him.
Not only does Jesus have the keys of death and hell, he's
going to tell who's going to go in either or either, but he has
the keys of salvation and service.
He says he that opens and no man shuts and shuts and no man
opens. Jesus is the one who opened the
door for William Carey. It wasn't William Carey when he
just accepted. It was the call of God.
But Jesus opened the door. He opened the door for Hudson
Taylor to go to China, for Billy Graham to go into Russia.
But he also shuts the door that cannot be opened.
He says that as well. Can that actually happen?
You know, he opens the door. We have time now to share.
But can God shut the door? He can, He says there.
What does that mean? You remember Paul and Silas in
the book of Acts chapter 16? Paul and Silas travelled through
the area of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit had told
them not to go into the province of Asia at that time.
Don't go there, shut the door. Then coming to the borders of
Micea, they headed for the province of Bithynia.
But again, the Spirit of Jesus did not let them go, so instead
they went through Micea to the city of Troas.
You see, God opens and closes the doors of salvation and grace
the Kingdom of heaven. OK, how will I know if a door
has been opened by the Lord or shut by the Lord?
How am I going to know if Jesus opens the way for you to reach
someone? Nothing, no power on earth will
stop your ministering to that soul that God has led you to.
But also on the flip side of that, if someone continually
says no, no, I'm not interested, I don't, I don't want it.
I don't give me that stuff. I'm not, I don't want to hear
it. Stop pestering me.
Then there will be a time when he or she will be unable to say
yes. Wow, really?
Yes, in the Gospel of John chapter 12, Jesus is ministering
to some people in verse 37 and it says but although Jesus had
done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him that
the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he
spoke. Lord, who has believed their
report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Therefore, because they rejected and they didn't want, even
though He did the miracles, it says therefore they could not
believe. Did you note that there is a
time says, OK, all right, I'll let you have your choice.
In the book of Exodus, Pharaoh, each time Moses would come to
him and say let your people go, let my people go.
And it says that six times. You can go through it between
chapters 8 and 10. Six times Pharaoh hardened his
heart. Then in Exodus chapter 10 God
steps in verse one. Now the Lord said to Moses, go
into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the
hearts of his servants, that I may show these sides of mine
before him. Was God cruel?
Was he unfair? Was he unjust?
What about Pharaoh's choice? Pharaoh had a choice 6 times and
God says, I can see the direction that your heart's
going, it's not going to change. So OK, it's it.
God knows when you said he said OK in Romans chapter 1, it says
God gave them over to a reprobate heart because they
constantly rejected the truth, pushed down that word, rejected,
suppressed. It's like, you know, you jump in
a in summer, when summer comes and you jump in a swimming pool
and you're trying to press down a, a, a beach ball into the
bottom of the water. It can't.
Well, that's what that means. They constantly suppress the
truth. So God says, OK, have your way.
There is a line, there is a place, but now you and I have an
open door. The opportunity exists today for
you and I. We're in a period of grace to
reach the loss, to fulfil the Great Commission which seems to
have become the great omission. But that door will not always be
open. So to the Church of Philadelphia
had been given by Jesus an open door to reach souls.
But maybe as they heard this letter read in the church the
first time, they thought like some of you maybe.
Well, but who am I? I mean, what can I do?
How can I, how can I? I can't do a William Carey or a
Hudson Taylor. He's not saying that In verse 8
it says this church was a Church of little strength.
There's just a few believers, a small fellowship, but they were
a faithful church. Verse 10, you've kept my word,
the word of my patience. It's not the size of the church
nor the strength of the church that determines its ministry,
but it is their faith in the call, their obedience to the
command of Jesus Great Commission.
Chuck Smith used to always say God guides, God provides.
What's that mean? If God lays upon your heart to
to do that, he's driving you to reach these people.
God will enable you. He'll provide all that you need.
But there'll always be opposition when we seek to reach
the loss for Christ. And here in Philadelphia was the
synagogue of Satan. The Jews in the city were
against them, slandering this church, making false accusations
about the church in the community.
So what do you and I do when we face opposition, when you seek
to win souls to Christ? Well, we can give up.
That's the first thing you can do.
It's too hard. We can just not try.
Oh, I'm not going to try it because I don't want to face it.
But Jesus wants us to fulfil his command.
The idea of evangelism so often seems daunting and overwhelming,
but you know what? That's the enemies lie to you.
Because I tell you this, if you buy a new car, ladies, if you
buy, I don't know what ladies buy, you buy something new, not
being a lady. So I've got no idea.
A guy, I think you get a new surfboard.
What do you do? Hey, guys, check out the new
board, Ladies, shoot, look at the shoes.
Do you have a problem? Well, I'm not going to go.
What if they don't like them? What if I get on the beach and I
show my surfboard and the guys go, that's a funny surfboard,
you know, check out the board. Why is it?
Because it's a lie by the devil for you and I.
There I want to tell you about Jesus Christ, the greatest thing
that's ever happened in my life. We have no problem with
everything else. You see, it's a spiritual
battle, and you and I fall to the lies of the enemy.
How can we do it? The same way you wouldn't need
an elephant. One bite at a time.
And the Great Commission, it's one person, one soul at a time.
Can you imagine if every one of us, just we sought to win one
person to Christ in a year? Just each one of us, one person.
This church wouldn't fit that one person if we just won one
person, just one in a year. There's three amazing promises
as we close This Jesus makes to those who are mature, who don't
give up, who have a burden for the lost. 1 he would take care
of their enemies. Verse 9 Jesus, I will make those
of the synagogue of Satan who say they're Jews and are not but
lie. I'll make them come and worship
before your feet, and to know that I've loved you.
So. If we take care of God's work,
He will take care of our battles.
How wonderful is that? 2 They will not enter the great
tribulation, verse 10 Because you've kept my command to
persevere. I also will keep you from the
hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test
those who dwell on the earth. Why?
Because you have kept the word of my patience, the words kept
them from the word from in Greek here is the word EC which means
out of literally you will be taken out before this event
occurs. You won't go into it.
Paul says in One Thessalonians chapter 5, comfort one another
with these words. Third promise.
Verse 12. God would honour them.
He whoever comes, I'll make him a pillar in the temple of my
God. He shall go out no more.
I'll write upon him the name of my God, the name of the city of
my God, the New Jerusalem. Let no one take your crown.
Verse 11. Hold fast that what you have.
What is this crown? It's people in verse 19 of 1
Thessalonians 2, Paul says, after all, what gives us hope
and joy? What is our proud reward and
crown? It's you the people he's one to
Christ. Paul identifies the crown as
people. Jesus says stay with those that
you're praying with don't give up on them.
Keep praying for them. Keep witnessing to them.
Don't give up. You know I, we read this because
God doesn't want you to give up. That's his heart.
This morning. God pours out his heart to you
for those who are lost, and he has given us the mission to
share his love to them. You're the only Christian in
your family. God has you there.
You know why? Because he doesn't want the rest
of your family lost. That's why you're there.
It's God's heart that weeps over those who have not accepted his
invitation. Remember when Jesus wrote into
Jerusalem Palm Sunday and he wept over Jerusalem.
Oh, how I've longed for you to come to come and gather under
the the wings you have not he wept, God wept.
The invitation is still out for our loved ones.
Romans chapter 10, verse 13, Everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved. Isn't that a great promise?
Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But verse 14 says how can they call on him to save them unless
they believe in him? Question.
How can they believe in him if they've never heard about him?
Question. How can they hear about him
unless someone tells them? Question And how will anyone go
and tell them without being sent?
Question. We are sent.
That is why the scriptures say how beautiful are the feet of
messengers who bring good news. Just for a moment, go along with
me for a second. Have a look at your feet.
Your feet have the ability to carry the gospel with you, to
see a soul saved from eternal judgement, to bring the most
amazing message of forgiveness and love of Almighty God, giving
his Son to die on the cross for that person you share with.
Your feet can be those of God's messenger.
I pray that you, when you get to heaven, will meet people, even
if it's just one who will say I'm here because you told me.
I'm here because you kept coming.
You kept praying. We have a mission.
Our mission is clear. It's on the surfboard.
Where'd it go? One person in one year.
Just each one of us, One person in one year.
Let's get to the mission. Your feet can be the beautiful
feet of a messenger of God.