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In this conversation, TS Wright explores the message to the Church in Philadelphia from Revelation 3:7-13, emphasizing the authority of Jesus as the steward of God's household. He discusses the importance of perseverance in faith, the significance of keeping God's word, and the promise of eternal rewards for those who overcome. The conversation encourages listeners to remain faithful and to recognize their role in God's eternal plan, while also highlighting the need to listen to the Spirit's guidance.

Takeaways

Jesus is the steward of God's household, holding ultimate authority.

The role of a steward is to manage and oversee God's kingdom.

Perseverance in faith is crucial during trials and challenges.

Keeping God's word is essential for spiritual strength.

Jesus promises rewards for those who overcome and remain faithful.

Believers are part of God's eternal plan and purpose.

Listening to the Spirit is vital for understanding God's will.

Opportunities from God should be seized when they arise.

Glorifying God should be the focus of all actions and gifts.

The call to action is to surrender fully to God's reign.

Sa.

It.

Welcome, everyone.

And this is T.S.

wright.

I am so glad you joined us today, and I am looking forward to being able to share this message with you.

And so let's just dive right in.

So today we're going to explore the church in Philadelphia.

Revelation, chapter three, verses seven through 13.

And let's.

We're going to get to some, basically some speech here that Jesus is going to use when he's telling John that he is literally pulling out of Isaiah 22.

So if you have your Bibles, be prepared for Revelation chapter three and Isaiah 22, and we're going to talk about that.

So without further ado, let's go ahead and kick this off.

Verse 7, Revelation, chapter 3.

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right?

These are the words of the one who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.

What he opens, no one can shut.

What he shuts, no one can open.

So let's go ahead and start.

Stop right there.

So clearly what this is, is that he is pulling from a message that Isaiah in chapter 22 was given to Shebna.

All right?

And I apologize if the name Shebna is mispronounced on my part.

But hey, we're gonna go with it today.

So this is what the Lord.

We're going to start with verse 15, by the way.

Isaiah, chapter 2, 22, sorry, verse 15.

This is what the Lord God of hosts says, go say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace.

Right.

There's the key.

So the question really me is basically, what is a steward of a royal steward of the palace?

What is that?

A steward in charge of the palace?

Well, effectively they're a chief administrator, and they, they basically are like a prime minister.

Okay.

And under, in this, it's under King Hezekiah.

All right?

So he's under King Hezekiah.

He is a chief administrator of the royal household and effectively the prime minister.

And he's about getting.

He's.

He's about to be removed from this position is what's going to happen.

What's going to happen is he's going to be replaced by a guy by the name of Elohim son of Hilka.

And if you go down to verse 20, you will see that.

So let's get into, though, the, the part where Jesus is quoting from.

All right, and he's clearly quoting from this.

But if you're familiar at all with the passage or what the royal stir does, then you're understanding that Jesus is using this because he's now calling Himself, basically the steward of the royal household, but the one under God.

And basically it puts him as prime minister over the earth for God.

So God is the Father, he's in control.

He's the king, and Jesus is his top official.

All right, Jesus is considered his top official.

So he's calling himself that here, and I think that's important.

Let's drop down to verse 21.

I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him.

I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

Verse 22.

I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David.

What he opens, no one can shut.

What he shuts, no one can open.

I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of His Father.

I think that's a pretty good description of Jesus, don't you?

Now, obviously they're referring to Elohim here directly in Isaiah, but in a manner of speaking, we're also now referring to Jesus.

Is that not just over.

Over a small kingdom on earth, but he is over the entire earth.

And he is basically the steward to the royal household of God.

That means he has a place on the throne.

He also has the honor and glory due to him because of that.

And also, in turn, he glorifies the king, which is his Father God, which is also our Father God.

So this understanding of holding the key of David, and what he opens, no one can shut.

And what he shuts, no one can open.

That means he controls all the ages of the church.

He controls all the ages of the earth.

Think about that.

When he opens doors and things start to happen, they happen.

And then when it's time for them to stop, he closes the door and they're.

And they're gone.

You know, it reminds me to always remember this.

Take advantage of every opportunity when the Lord gives it to you, because that time will have an opening and it will have a closing.

And you want to take advantage of it when you're right in the middle of it.

Always remember that we got to be obedient to the calling and the timing of the calling.

So if God is making a calling to you on your life, but it may not be for two years, then you spend those two years preparing.

And you wait patiently until he calls you.

And then when he calls you to act, you act.

And when he calls you to stop, you stop.

You don't want to force his hand where he has to do it for you.

That's what we'd never want to do.

So we want to be obedient to our calling.

So from an individual standpoint, it's saying here that Jesus is controlling all of the timing and all the entry and exit points of everything.

Think about that.

He's in total control.

That means the Father has placed all his trust.

God, who's also our King, has placed all his trust in Jesus, and in all ways, he controls the entries and the exits.

Think about that.

Now let's go ahead and drop down to verse eight in Revelation, chapter three.

I know your deeds.

Behold, I have placed before you an open door which no one can shut.

There's some of that imagery again, isn't it?

So he's in control of this.

He's.

He controls the royal household.

He can.

He's the prime minister.

He is.

I mean, he's the guy in command, and God has put him there.

So we have to remember that.

I know that you have only a little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

So let's.

Let's think about this back to the King imagery.

You have the king putting the prime minister in charge, all right?

This Royal steward, if you will.

And Jesus is being that person.

And now Jesus is for God watching over all the things of the earth, right?

And he's watching over these people in this church, and he sees that their strength is starting to fail a little bit.

But no matter what, they're keeping his word.

They're keeping his commands to keep.

It doesn't just mean that you remember it.

It remembers that you do it, that you're following it.

They're staying true to the calling.

They're staying true to the word of God.

And it is the anchor for everything to them, to this church.

And I love it and have not, did not, have not denied my name.

That means they are keeping his name.

He is still the centerpiece, the glory.

I want to give you a little bit of an example of something.

The one thing I've learned is over the years is that God gives us all gifts, and I'll just use myself.

And as an example, he's given me some gifts, obviously, to speak, to be able to teach, to be able to explain, to communicate.

Well, he's given me a definitely a voice for it.

I get that.

But guess what?

It's not mine.

It belongs to God.

You know, Paul refers to this in Philippians 3.

If any of us thinks we're great and like we.

We are all that, just go Read Philippians chapter three.

And Paul kind of puts everybody in their place.

He's not only putting the people he's speaking to here, but he kind of puts all of us there.

I mean, Paul was perfect.

He had the perfect pedigree, the perfect positioning, the perfect training.

He had it all.

And yet he considered it nothing compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.

Remember that.

So go to Philippians 3.

You can read that.

I'm not going to turn over there because we're.

We'll run out of time.

But remember that he is.

It's all comes from God.

All your gifts, all your talents, and they're to be used for his purposes and to glorify Him.

And I think that's important here because these guys, that's what they're doing.

It's not just that they're not just keeping his name, and they're.

They're just, you know, they're not denying him.

They're keeping his name as the centerpiece, the focus.

But they're also in that acceptance of him, no matter what.

They're doing everything to glorify Him.

You know, if we're.

Say.

We're all put under gunpoint and say, hey, do you believe in Jesus or not?

And, you know, if you say you don't, you're fine.

But if you do, it could cost you your life.

You know, obviously that's where you keep his name.

And we understand that, and we've had many, many martyrs over the years that have done that.

But it also means to glorify him, not putting yourself or anything else before.

Before Him.

You glorify Him.

It's his name we glorify.

So that's another way that we don't deny Him.

That we, We.

We accept him, is that we do everything to glorify him and lift his name up.

Remember that.

As for those who belong to the synagogue, we're going to continue with verse nine.

As for those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.

That means God's going to make a public demonstration here.

Jesus is of the people who stand against them, and he calls them a synagogue of Satan.

So think about the synagogues.

It's a place.

It's kind of like a side place of worship.

You've got rabbis and stuff.

And of course, he's referring to demons in control of this and his own way.

And there's synagogues of Satan and guess what?

And, but yet what are they doing?

They're, they're, it's deception, right?

They're claiming to be one thing and yet they're another.

So that makes them liars.

But Jesus is going to have the final say in this and he's going to make them bow down.

He's going to make them bow down before the very people they persecuted, before the very people they denied that denied his name and the people who told them the truth and they ridiculed them and all those things, they're going to be forced to bow down before them at some point.

You know, we get that same imagery in Philippians chapter two.

You know, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

And in a way, we're referring back to that right here.

They're going to be forced that.

And the reason they're going to be forced to do that is because Jesus wants them to know that I gave you a chance.

You turned against me, and then you turn against them.

You denied me.

And now guess what?

I'm going to make you bow down before them and I'm going to show you that I love them.

Ouch.

Ouch.

We don't want to be the people who are having to be forced to bow down and Jesus showing his love for somebody else and not us.

So that's just kind of a personal way to think about it.

Remember this.

We want to keep the name of the Lord and we want to glorify him and all that we do.

It's all about to his glory.

Because you have kept in verse 10, because you have kept my command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

Verse 11.

I am coming soon.

Hold fast to what you have so that no one will take your crown.

So I always feel like in these letters, these messages to these churches, that Jesus is always given a warning.

And he's also building in some type of language about persevering to hold on, all right?

To persevere, to overcome that type of language is being is used consistently throughout these different letters to these churches.

And we need to remember that.

So there's obviously something to persevering in our faith.

Even when it's hard, even when things don't go well, even when things aren't aligning, we stay true to God and His word.

You know, sometimes we white knuckle it.

I've done it.

You know, we Strive.

We over strive and think we have to do it.

But at the same time we're still holding on to the name of God.

And he eventually gives us rest from that.

We just have to take it to him, lay it before him.

Right?

We don't have to strive in everything.

But there are periods that we do.

Guess what?

Even in those times when it doesn't feel good, it doesn't feel right, we're fill a lot.

We still hold to His Name.

He does not forget that.

He does not forget that.

Because eventually you will get past that.

You will overcome it by holding fast to his name, to what he has done for you and for who he is.

We hold to that.

We cling to it.

One of the easiest ways and imageries that I love to share and that I've been told before, back in my early days and I remember hearing this a few times, hold out your left hand and hold it out.

Now imagine everything in your life being in this open hand.

Take your right hand and clinch and visualize yourself clinging to the cross.

We cling to the cross.

We hold everything in else in our life with an open hand to God.

And we cling to the cross.

No matter how it feels, no matter what's going on, no matter how off we feel or maybe we're not walking in that perfect alignment at that point.

We still do that.

We still cling to the cross.

We still cling to the hope of glory that we have in Christ Jesus.

We cling to that because he is our hope, he is our future.

He is our King, and in this case is the royal steward over everything that God has appointed him to be.

And we need to cling to Him.

We cling to Him.

So anyway, let's keep going here.

Verse 12.

Ah, here comes overcome again.

The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God and He will never again leave it.

So first of all, he makes a pillar for the one who overcomes.

He gets to create things in the temple of God.

He has that power.

He has the power to make changes to the temple of God in a way.

He can make pillars.

He has certain changes he's allowed to make.

You talk about having a position of authority.

We don't have that kind of authority, but he does.

And he can take us.

He can take us and make us a pillar in his temple.

He has the power to do that.

All we have to do is cling to Him.

No matter what's going on in life, cling to him for everything.

For everything.

And guess what?

And he will never again leave it.

So I'll just read that again.

The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.

And he will never again leave it.

That means you're going to be in there, you're going to be a pillar in the temple.

You're going to be help holding it up.

That's what pillars do.

You get to be a part of that.

And Jesus has the authority to make you a part of that.

That's power.

That's real power in the temple of God.

That's eternal.

Obviously this is eternal imagery that he is giving us.

I mean, what a reward.

What a reward.

And upon him I will write the name of my God.

We're going to continue here.

Verse 12.

Again.

Upon him I will write.

Write the name of my God and the name of the city of my God.

The new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from my God and my new name.

Wow.

I mean, where do you want to start with that?

He.

He gets.

He has the power to write the name of God.

He gets to end the name of the city of my God.

He gets to write all of this.

He gets to display it.

Think of this.

He has the power to display things.

He has the power to create the messaging.

He has the power to.

To stamp it wherever he wants.

He has the power to claim it and keep hold of it.

And no one can take it away.

No one.

And think about this.

Upon him, I will write the name of my God upon him.

That person.

So think of almost yourself as being that temple, or you're that pillar of that temple and he's writing the name of my God upon you.

And he's going to write the name of the city of my God upon you.

And he's going to write his new name upon you.

You get that that is like a seal on you that you are in God's hands and that you are protected by God and that you are a part of his plan.

We are a part of God's eternal plan.

Remember that.

What a blessing.

We are part of God's eternal plan.

It's not just us barely clinging to everything here, so we can barely be in heaven.

He's actually planned us to be there.

He has a plan for us there.

Not just here, but there.

We always talk about the plans he has here in our life.

Here the real plans are what happens after this life.

That's the real plan.

That's eternal.

Think about that today.

Think about how God has given us that gift and he's certainly conveying that here in this message.

Verse 13.

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

So there's that again.

You know, I find it fascinating that he's given these explanations and obviously there's imagery involved and they're almost.

These letters are almost parable, like.

Well, you know what, I'm just going to revert back to something in the Gospels where we see this kind of explanation.

And it's not the only time that this has been used.

As a matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken, I think Jesus uses something very similar to this.

Wonder where that would be.

Let's turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 13.

Now we've got the parable of the Sower here.

And we start and it starts with verse one, and it goes all the way down.

And then he gives the last depiction in verse 8.

Still other seed fell on good soil and produced a Crop a hundredfold, 60 fold or 30 fold.

Listen to this.

He who has an has ears, let him hear.

That's pretty much the same imagery.

He who has ears, let him hear.

It's aligning.

It's the same thing.

I mean, I still love all that type of imagery.

He loves to use eyes and ears.

And let's go down to verse 16.

And he's just again explained the purpose of his parables.

All right, he's kind of given that.

And then he says here, verse 16.

But blessed are your eyes, because they see in your ears, because they hear.

For truly, I tell you, many prophets and righteous men long to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

I'm just letting that absorb for just a minute.

And if we go back here, we see this over again.

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

People long to understand this.

I mean, think about what people do in their life.

They search for the meaning of life.

That's truly what they do.

People are always searching for the meaning of their life to validate themselves and to find security and that truly, that's what they do.

You know, when somebody's sinning, I always look deeper than the sin.

To me, sins a symptom, the root of it is, is they're either trying to find security, validation or they're trying to find a combination of both.

And I think this verse kind of ties in into that.

Because when our security and our validation, when we attach those to Jesus and let him be the one that gives us that right here.

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

The churches we can hear, we, we can see.

You know, we have the ability because the power of the Holy Spirit is in us and we're submitting to it.

So it explains and it discerns for us.

It gives us the understanding that we so need our ears hear.

So this is basically a command.

Let him, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.

To churches.

That, that means you have to have the Holy Spirit in you first to understand this, for it to be dissected and disseminated and analyzed in your mind, basically discerned.

So here's what I'm going to leave you with today in your life.

Are you upholding the name of God by serving the way he wants you to serve?

By lifting up his name, by following him, submitting him, submitting to Him.

The first thing is we have to submit to him and then we have to do his will.

I still believe that verse 8 holds the key to all of this.

I know that you have that you have only a little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied My name.

Remember that.

I just want to say blessings to all of you.

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Thank you for listening.

Now go forth in total surrender to the one who owns reigns over all creation.

And let the great harvest begin.