Introduction

Revelation 3:7-13 ESV  “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.  (8)  “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.  (9)  Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.  (10)  Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.  (11)  I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.  (12)  The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.  (13)  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Revelation 3:10 ESV  (10)  Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. 

• We come now to the sixth letter to the churches in Revelation.
  • We have heard many rebukes:
    • Rebukes for tolerating sin.
    • Rebukes for mixing with the world.
    • Rebukes for losing focus and passion for Christ… for losing that first Love.
• And it has been a little harsh. We had a little reprieve from the rebuke when we spent a couple sermons talking about having good works of faith, love, service, and endurance.
  • But then it went right back into rebuking the tolerance of Jezabel.
• But now we finally come to the church of Philadelphia, a church that Jesus has NOTHING bad to say about.
  • There is no rebuke, no harsh words or warnings… There is only commendation for this church.
    • And how wonderful that is… to have a church that Jesus looks down and says “Well done, you guys are doing great, keep it up”.
    • I want to be that church, amen?! Don’t y’all want to be that church?
• So what is the secret to the church of Philadelphia? Why do they succeed where so many others are struggling and failing?
  • Well, I will tell you right now, it is the same secret to why some Christians succeed, and have joy, and peace, and hope… while others, who say the same prayers, who go to the same churches, why these others can fail so miserably, and struggle with hopelessness, pain, and heartache.
    • What’s the secret? We just read it. Let me read it to you again and see if you catch it:

Revelation 3:8 ESV  “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

• What’s the secret to Christian Success? Well it says here “They have kept my word and have not denied my name”.
  • Therefore, I think I can summarize the secret to success as this:

Show Title Slide

• Open Your Bible, Read it, And Do What It Says.
  • That’s it… that’s the secret to Success.
  • That’s why we have a church building right now.
  • That’s why Pastor Amanda and I have such a strong Marriage.
  • It’s why, even though I sometimes struggle with Depression, I never struggle with lack of Hope or Joy.
  • It’s why Amanda and I are financially stable.
  • It’s why I never struggle with my faith, I never have a crises or faith.
  • Speaking of Crisis, it’s why I don’t think I will ever have a mid life crisis… because as a Christian I live forever, therefore I have no midlife.
• Listen Church, if you would just get this simple truth down… and you would obey it… if you would just open your Bible, Read it, and do what it Says…
  • I can’t promise life will be easy, you may get thrown into prison, you may get beaten and tortured…
    • But if you just follow this simple rule and though your life won’t be easy, your burden will be.
      • What do I mean by that? I mean, that Jesus will make even torture, prison, and murder, easy for you, because He will bear the weight.

• Church, it’s really that simple Just open your Bible, Read It, and Do What it Says… In fact, that’s our first point this morning.

Point One – It’s That Simple. Open Your Bible, Read it, Do What it Says

Revelation 3:8 ESV  “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

• Listen guys, the church of Philadelphia was a bunch of weaklings…
  • They were weak, they were poor, they were printable… that’s what Jesus says… He says “you have but little power”.
    • Yet it is these guys who Jesus commends and does not rebuke.
    • It’s not that they are strong, and exciting, and rich, and prominent…
      • Nope, Jesus describes them as “You have but little power”.
  • Look, you don’t have to be a pastor to live a victorious life in Christ.
  • You don’t have to be tall, and incredibly handsome, you don’t have to have an haircut…
  • But really, you don’t need anything but the word of God, obedience to it and submission to it.
• Are you confused and directionless? You need to find your way?
  • Open Your Bible, Read It, and Do what it Says!

Psalms 119:105 ESV  Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

• Do you feel confused? Hopeless? Anxious? Do you feel like you don’t even know why you feel the way you feel?
  • Open your Bible, Read It, and do what it says!

Hebrews 4:12 ESV  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

• Do you lack understanding? Do you lack knowledge? Do you need training? Do you need equipping?
  • Then open your Bible, Read it, and do what it says.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  (17)  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

• Do you feel icky? Gross? Unholy? Unworthy? Do you need to be sanctified?
  • Then open your Bible, Read it, and do what it says!

John 17:17 ESV  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

• Guys, this is one of the major things that church is about… just open your Bible, Read it and Do What it Says!

Colossians 3:16 ESV  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

• Now that brings me to point two this morning: Authority and Victory Comes from Submissive Obedience to Christ’s Word!

Point Two – Authority and Victory Comes from Submissive Obedience to Christ’s Word

• Back to our key section of Scripture this morning:

Revelation 3:8-9 ESV  “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.  (9)  Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.

• Do you want authority in your life? Do you want the demons to tremble? Do you want others to respect you? Do you want vindication? Do you want victory?
  • The open your Bible, Read it, and Do What it says!
• Church, I AM SO SICK of people trying to gain authority in ways other than a humble and submissive obedience to Christ.
  • People write books, and blogs, and newspaper articles.
  • They come to church and beg for authority, they ask to be pastors, and preachers, and leaders.
  • They toot their own horn, and talk about how anointed they are. How close to God they are. How they have found some secret knowledge that needs to be shared…
    • Yet they live in sin.
    • They are ignorant of the Scriptures, or worse, they are in open rebellion to them.
    • They come to church and act like a supper saint, and then go back into the world and cuss, and lust, and cheat, and gossip, and steal, and drink.
    • They have terrible marriages, terrible children, terrible relationships with their parents.
  • AND THEN THEY HAVE THE AUDACITY TO COMPLAIN THAT THEY ARE NOT PUT IN LEADERSHIP.
    • They leave churches in a whirlwind, with emails and letters and lies and gossip to try to hurt the pastor that just a week ago they were sucking up to.
• In short, they try to be strong, they try to be rich, they try to be prominent and well known… but they don’t submit to the Word of God.
  • These people are EVERYWHERE, and they have it all backwards.
  • You don’t become great by being strong…
    • The church at Philadelphia was WEAK.
  • No, if you want victory, if you want to live a life your heavenly Father can be proud of, then all you have to do is open your Bible, read it, and do what it says.
• You want authority? Feel called to it? Fine… but authority is not taken, it is given… and given by God.
  • You don’t need to seek it out, you don’t need to hunt it down, you simply Open Your Bible, Read it, and Do What It Says… and as you do that, you trust on and wait on God to do what only He should do, grant you Spiritual authority.

Revelation 3:9 ESV  Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.

• Think about, for a minute, the Story of Joseph.
  • How does it end? Well Joseph ends up as second in command over Egypt. The only one with more power than him was Pharaoh.
    • He is wealthy, powerful, influential. He had everything he ever wanted or needed… even his own brothers and father submitted to him.
    • How did he find such authority? How did he find such victory?
    • Was it because he was strong and charismatic and rich and influential?
    • No, it was because he honored God and obeyed God in everything that he did.
      • When he was hated by his brothers, he honored and obeyed God.
      • When he was sold by his brothers into slavery, he honored and obeyed God.
      • When he was accused of trying to rape his maters wife, he honored and obeyed God.
      • When he was thrown into prison and spent YEARS in a dungeon. He honored and obeyed God.
      • He didn’t beg Pharaoh for a job.
        • He didn’t show off like a peacock.
        • He just simply honored and obeyed and submitted to God.
• That’s it… that is the secret.
  • I am only here today, as a pastor that leads this AMAZING church family in this AMAZING church building… because I honored and obeyed and submitted to God.
    • Listen, we didn’t want to go work with Victory Family Centre in Singapore…
      • But God told us to.
      • So we did.
      • And it was difficult, and we hated it at times, and we wanted to quite and go back to America… but God told us to stay.
      • So we listened, we honored we obeyed.
    • When I would get frustrated, the Holy spirit would remind me of a verse, and I would obey.
    • When I would want to quite, the Holy Spirit would show me a different verse… and I would obey.
    • When I was questioning EVERYTHING, the Holy Spirit would advocate for me and remind me of what Scripture said, and I would obey.

John 14:26 ESV  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

• There was a time early on in Singapore where I wasn’t even sure that Victory Family Center wasn’t a cult… a bunch of Crazy’s…
  • But the Holy Spirit, as I pondered this, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Matthew 7… that teaches about false prophets…
    • It says “Judge by the fruits, if their fruit is bad they are false prophets but if their fruit is good they are from God” (Paraphrased).
    • And I thought about all the salvations, ad discipleship, and church plants that VFC had… and I realized that even though they seemed a little crazy, they nothing but good fruit and an abundance of it.
      • So I obeyed the Scripture, and continued to obey the scripture, and the end result is we moved to Cedar Rapids with Victory Family Center and Planted Christian Life church… God granted me authority because of my submission to His word.
• “NOW HOLD ON PASTOR” I can hear some say “GOD SPEAKS TO ME IN OTHER WAYS, I DON’T NEED TO READ SCRIPTURE TO HEAR FROM GOD!”
  • Well if that is the way your feel then listen closely to this conclusion…

Conclusion – To Deny Scripture is To Deny Christ

Turn On Children’s Blessings Lamp

• Saints… all we have we owe to Jesus.
  • It is by Him, through Him, and for Him that we live.
  • We are Christians, literally that means we are followers of Christ.
  • Christ literally defines us.
    • But who is the Christ?
    • Is it not the Jesus of the Scriptures?
    • Is it not the God of the Bible?
      • Listen, I believe in the Jesus whom the Scriptures teach of.
      • Not the Jesus that the Quran teaches.
      • Not the Jesus that secular history professors try to teach.
      • No, I believe in the Jesus from Scripture.
      • It is The Scriptures that teach that Jesus died for my sin.
      • It is The Scriptures that teach that on the third day that Jesus rose from the Grave.
      • It is The Scriptures that teach that Jesus Gave us a great commission.
      • It is The Scriptures that teach that Jesus ascended into heaven.
      • It is The Scriptures that teach that Jesus is coming back again.
    • To deny the scriptures is to deny Christ.

John 1:1 ESV  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 ESV  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

• To deny the scriptures is to deny Christ.
  • To rebel against the scriptures is to deny Christ.
  • To neglect the scriptures is to neglect Christ.
  • To loath the scriptures is to loath Christ.
  • To ignore the scripture is to ignore Christ.
  • To disobey the scriptures is to disobey Christ.
  • To call the Scriptures boring is to call Christ boring.
  • TO DENY THE SCRIPTURES IS TO DENY CHRIST.
  • But the Church in Phildelphia DID NOT DENY CHRIST!

Revelation 3:7-8 ESV  “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.  (8)  “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

• Now, if you are not saved, if you are not born again, I don’t expect the Bible to have any profound meaning to you… in fact, I don’t expect it to make any sense to you at all.

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

• But if you would give your life to Christ, if you would be born again… the Holy Spirit will come down to you and live in you to help you understand, apply and submit the Word.
  • In other words, if you get saved you will be able to Open your Bible, Read it, and Do what it says… and in so doing find freedom and victory like you didn’t even think possible!
• Gospel Call