Book of Revelation Explained 11: The Revival Period (Church of Philadelphia) (Revelation 3:7-13)

the end of time as we know it is rapidly approaching the great battle of armageddon is upon us how will this final chapter all play out in the final days of man is documented in the book of Revelation I think you're gonna be excited about what we're going to share tonight we're going to get a little bit more in depth than what we've been doing now if you're not used to teaching you might be thinking more in depth I thought we were really going in depth well tonight we're really going to go in depth because tonight we come to the church that represents the revival period in church history it's the Church of Philadelphia now this spirit of church history began with what is known as the Great Awakening what's kind of interesting about the Great Awakening is that scholars kind of disagree on who initiated it and who did watt but most scholars tend to agree that it was Jonathan Edwards who initiated this Great Awakening but it was George Whitefield that caused the greatest impact so let me tell you a little bit about George Whitefield and some of the things that happened during this time period he was an English evangelist who actually traveled over to America seven times he crossed the Atlantic and he started something that was known as mass evangelism he attracted so many people to his revivals that he was actually forced to move his services outdoors in order to accommodate all the people who were coming these outdoor sir outdoor services were referred referred to as open air meetings his preaching was so animated that it was compared to a theatrical production by his critics now you need to understand something this term revival was a new concept they didn't hold revivals George Whitefield was one of the very first who ever hailed what is called a revival and so he had a lot of critics but you need to understand that it was very very effective and thousands were saved as a result of his preaching now this period of revival also produced the great missionary movement what most people don't realize is that at the beginning of the nineteenth century Protestant Christianity scarcely existed outside of Europe in America Asia was almost untouched by the gospel of Jesus Christ no had actually gone there to present the gospel of Jesus Christ except for a few scattered places and Africa was known as the Dark Continent mainly because it was unexplored and was uncharted but also because the people there had not experienced the light of Jesus Christ but that all changed in the 19th century in fact the greatest era of Christian expansion occurred in the nineteenth century right after the Great Awakening and the man that was most responsible for this was William Carey how many have you ever heard of William Carey if you've gone to Bible College he's a very respected name he's known as the father of modern missions he and twelve others formed the Baptist missionary society that sent missionaries all around the world now what's interesting is that in order to do this he had to change the Calvinistic thinking within the Baptist Church at that time Baptists were heavily influenced by Calvinistic theology but Kerry rejected the doctrine of unconditional election and taught that it was the duty of the church to carry the gospel to the other ends of the earth and as a result missionaries were sent out all over the world now as I said the Church of Philadelphia represents this period of church history the word Philadelphia means brotherly love it's a compound word that's made up of two words it's made up of the prefix felis which means to love and the root word Adelle phosphines brother now when you combine these two words it literally means to love your brother or brotherly love and it's a perfect description of this period in church history because it was a love for others that caused the Great Awakening it was a love for others that caused me in like George Whitefield John Wesley and Charles Finney to go against the status quo and actually hold revivals when everyone were saying that they were heretics it was a love for others that caused this great missionary movement it was a love for others that cause men and women to lead their families and their home to sell halfway around the world to present the gospel of Jesus Christ as missionaries so let's look at Christ message to the Church of Philadelphia turn with me if you would to Revelation chapter 3 we're gonna go verse by verse so let's begin with verse number seven and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write these things saith he that is holy and he that is true he that has the key of David he that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth now in this verse Jesus describes himself as holy and true I want you to underline the word true because it's not a good translation you see the word true is translated from the Greek word Allah the nos which means genuine aleisea means truth or true elata nos means genuine so Jesus is designating himself as the genuine one now why would he do that well he's doing that because he's saying I am NOT the false messiah as the Jews claimed I am the real deal I am the genuine Messiah and because he's the genuine Messiah he has the key of David and he opens doors that no man can shut and he shuts doors that no man can open now that sounds kind of funny but only if you don't understand some of the scriptures in the Old Testament because this is a direct quote from Isaiah 22 22 so if you don't mind let's go back into the Old Testament and let's look at as a ax 22 22 notice what it says says and the key of the house of David will I lay up on his shoulder so he shall open and then she'll shut and he shat and none shall open now this is a messianic prophecy but it's not talking about Jesus it's just it's talking about a man named Eli him who was a type of the Messiah so I want to do a little bit of background information if you don't mind or give you a little bit of background information if you understand this portion of scripture you know as I've already stated this is talking about a man named Eli him look in the two verses preceding this verse 20 and 21 and it shall come to pass in that day that I will call my servant Eli acum the son of Hilkiah and I will clothe him with I robe and I will strengthen him with my girdle and I will commit thy government into his hand and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah in other words eli acum was the head honcho and Hezekiah kingdom that means he was the number two man in the kingdom Hezekiah was number one II like him was number two he was something like a prime minister if you go to England you've got a prince sometimes you had a king but underneath the Prince what do you have you have a prime minister he's the number two man and that's what he liked him was now as the head of the government he was given the key to the kingdom that's a figure of speech that means he determined who got to see the king and who didn't it also meant that he controlled who did what in the kingdom so if they like him opened a door it either meant that you had access to the king or it meant that he was opening a door of opportunity for you now look back at verse number 22 notice that it says the key was laid upon his shoulder that phrase is symbolic it symbolized that he cared the authority of the kingdom upon his shoulders he had the ultimate authority to open doors and he had the ultimate authority to close doors if you came and you wanted to see the king II like him determined whether you got to or not does that make sense and if you wanted to do something in the kingdom he either opened the door for you gave you the opportunity to do it or he shut the door now if he opened the door no man could close it if he closed the door no man could shut it because he carried the key on his shoulder in other words he carried the authority of the kingdom on his back he had the ultimate authority so when Jesus quotes Isaiah 22 22 and says that he is the genuine Messiah he's saying I have the key of David and what I opened no man can shut and when I shut no man can open but what he's talking about is the kingdom of God he is telling us that he alone controls acts to the kingdom of God he determines who gets into heaven and who doesn't turn with me if you would to John chapter 14 verse number 6 Jesus told him I am the way the truth and the life no one can come to the Father except through me in other words you can't get to heaven except through Jesus now whoever accepts him as their Lord and Savior is granted access into the kingdom the door is open to everyone who receives Jesus and no man can shut it but if you reject Jesus Jesus denies you access into heaven the door is shut and no man can open it but it also means since he has the key of David that he's able to open doors of opportunity for us let me give you some examples of Jesus opening doors of opportunity in the New Testament turn with me if you would to the book of 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verse number 9 Paul is writing he says this there is a wide open door for a great work here although many oppose me now what door is he talking about this wide open the opportunity to present the gospel of Jesus Christ now who opened this door Jesus did now look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verse number 12 he says when I came to the city of troas to preach the good news of Jesus Christ the Lord opened a door of opportunity for me Jesus opened that door of opportunity to preach the gospel now let me give you one more example turn to Colossians chapter 4 verse number 3 praying at the same time for us as well that God may open to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have also been imprisoned now in all three examples Paul is talking about an opportunity to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ he referred to these opportunities as an open door if Jesus opens the door for you no man can shut it if Jesus gives you the opportunity you need to walk through that door but if he closes the door no man can open it so let me give you a quick recap because you need to understand this when God removed shebna from that position and he put a like him in that position he was a type of the Messiah he gave him this authority and he said I'm going to lay the key of David upon his shoulder he will have the authority to open doors that no one can shut and he can shut doors that no one can open but that was a type of the Messiah that's a messianic prophecy so Jesus because he is the genuine Messiah has the key of David the Davidic Kingdom he can open doors that no man can shut and he can close doors that no man can open that means that he has the authority to do two things he determines who gets into heaven and who doesn't those who receive him as their Lord and Savior are granted access into the kingdom but those who don't receive him as their Lord and Savior they are denied access into the kingdom and it doesn't matter who you are or who you go to no man can open that door if Jesus shuts it the second thing that he does it means that he can open up doors of opportunity to preach the gospel now this is very important because now we come to the next verse and he had to lay the foundation for you to understand the very next verse so look at verse 8 I know thy works behold I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it for thou hast a little strength and has kept my word and has not denied my name now the open door that he set before them is the opportunity to evangelize the world to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ Jesus opened the door for missionary works during this period in church history you see up until the Great Awakening Protestants did not evangelize did you know that at least not on a large scale they didn't send missionaries out because they didn't believe in it why because the majority of Protestants were Calvinists which meant that they believed in unconditional election in other words they believed that God predestined some people to heaven and he predestined others to hell and if you were predestined to heaven you were going to be saved nothing could change that that irresistible grace would come upon you you would be born again before you had faith if you remember what I taught on Calvinism and being born again now you would have the faith to believe in Jesus not because you had the faith to believe in then you're saved you were safe so you would have faith so they believed in unconditional election and if you believe in unconditional election there is no reason to worry about the pygmies in Africa right because if God wants the pygmies in Africa to be saved the pygmies in Africa will be saved that's why so many of the clergy had a hard time with George Whitefield in John Wesley they were too animated in their preaching but not only were they too animated in their preaching and we're pulling on the emotional strings of the people they actually had altar calls they appealed to men to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and in the Calvinistic theology at that time that was Rome you see at that time the greatest hindrance to evangelism was Calvinism but a man by the name of William Carey who have already mentioned changed all of that William Carey is known as I said as the father of modern missions he was converted to Christ in 1779 and he was baptized in 1783 a few years later he began preaching and he accepted the position as pastor of the Moton Baptist Church now while pastoring there he met a man by the name of Andrew Fuller who radically changed his life let me read a paragraph from Bruce Shelley's book a church history in plain language in fact I really recommend this is an excellent book if you want to really go in depth you can get Shafer 7 set volume I haven't I really enjoy it but if you want to just do kind of the quickie then you can go out and get church history in plain language by Bruce Shelley I'm going to read this I want you to pay close tenshun if you don't mind because I think it's very important for you to understand what happened at the time in this period in church history in Baptist circles a William Carey Metta fellow pastor Andrew Fuller who resisted the prevailing Calvinistic idea among Baptist that preaching should avoid application to the years and it should avoid appeals to conversion lest the preacher interfere somehow in God's election of his chosen people did you hear that that was the prevailing thought of the day most Protestants were Calvinists and because they were Calvinists you didn't want to get in the way of God and if you believed in unconditional election it meant that God would say those he had predestined to go to heaven there's nothing you could do about it so there was no sense getting up and preaching a service and actually making application to the people why because if they're truly the chosen they can make application for themselves and there's no sense in doing an altar call because if God's chosen them to go to heaven then when you preach the word of God it doesn't matter if you preach it or you don't preach it something's going to come alive in them they're going to be born again and then they're gonna have faith to believe don't get in God's way don't have an altar call don't appeal to the emotions of people but William Carey said mmm that's all right so let me read another paragraph on the next page if you don't mind by encouraging each other Kerry and fuller succeeded in breaking free from the restrictive theology of their time they went back to the New Testament especially to Jesus injunction to preach the gospel to all the world Wow now as a result on October October in 1792 Kerry and fuller and eleven Baptist colleagues formed the Baptist missionary society that sparked the greatest missionary outreach since the Apostolic period and it was the Baptist who led the way but that also explains a lot I grew Baptist how many of you grew up Baptist all right how many of you grew up Baptist and had no idea that they were Calvinist I didn't know that till I went to Bible College and I found out what Calvinism was all about and I found out that Baptist were Calvinists but the reason I didn't know that when I was going to the to the Baptist Church is because they're not consistent they hold the Calvinism when it suits them and they abandon it when it doesn't now let me explain what I mean by that I want you to think about this if you believe in unconditional election why would you send missionaries because if God predestined people to heaven and there's nothing that can change that then you don't need to send missionaries because if God wants them saved they'll be saved right and why would you have altar calls because if they're meant to be saved I don't have to ask you to do it you're going to be saved in your seat the George Whitefield came alone John Wesley came along Charles Finney came along when he said uh-uh that's all right and they started preaching the gospel in such a way and they started compelling people to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior now as a result there was a tremendous explosion of Christianity people were receiving Jesus because for the first time the Word of God was being explained to them in a way that applied to their life and the first time they were coming out and they were preaching messages like sinners in the hands of an angry god Jonathan Edwards taught that and he was a Calvinist but all of a sudden people thought I have to respond I have to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior so guess what happened the Baptist have led the way in doing what revivals and sending missionaries so what is interesting is when it comes to unconditional election thinking well yeah we believe in that but we're going to send people we'll share the gospel of Jesus Christ and we're gonna have revivals and we're going to have altar calls we're gonna see all these people and when ministers come in they'll talk about what we want him because he's anointed people get saved when he preaches now wait a minute he doesn't have anything to do with it if it's unconditional election right oh yeah but he does so that doesn't suit us at this point so we're going to just abandon it but then all of a sudden something bad happens and someone dies and you're at a Funeral the Baptist minister gets up and now all of a sudden Calvinism suits him so in Calvinism God is sovereign right so he gets up and he says I don't know why God chose to take this young person and you're thinking wait a minute God didn't do that oh yes but Calvinism suits the situation at the time so most of us who were raised in Baptist churches are kind of confused with our theology would you not agree yeah because you hear about how God such a good God and then you go to a funeral and God took that person and God's in control of every situation something bad happens if a person gets rightful that was God's will and you start listening to that you go wait a minute that's not true and Baptist won't preach that all the time they just kind of go into it and come out of it now I want you to understand I'm not just picking on Baptist but that's the truth because I was raised Baptist I understand that Calvinism is not something you can stick with on a consistent basis and do God's will so guess what took place when Andrew fuller came along he said wait a minute this restrictive theology is keeping us from presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ it's Rome all of a sudden William Carey said you're right he said we need to go back to the New Testament they went back to the New Testament and as a result of that they started sending missionaries all over the world teaching and preaching Jesus Christ and giving altar calls and seeing salvation like they had never seen it before now here's what's interesting up until this time Protestants didn't send missionaries out at least not on a large scale guess who did the Catholic Church the Catholic Church didn't have the Calvinistic doctrine so they were sending missionaries out they sent the missionaries to South America they sent him all over but the Protestant Church didn't until they came to grips with the Calvinistic theology all right now why did Jesus set this open door of opportunity before the Church of Philadelphia why did he do this well look back at verse number eight let's find out he tells us I know that works behold I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it for thou hast a little strength and has kept my word and has not denied my name it's because this church of little strength kept Jesus word and they didn't deny the power of his name to save all of those who called upon the name of the Lord Jesus in other words they abandoned this unscriptural blasphemous doctrine of the unconditional election and they went back to the Great Commission laid out very plainly in God's Word turn with me if you would to mark chapter 16 verses 15 through 16 if you look at any Missionary Society you will always see this passage of scripture you will always see the Great Commission this is what Jesus told the church to do and he told them go into all the world and preach the good news to how many everyone anyone not just the selected few not just those who are unconditionally elected anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved but anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned you see their obedience to the word caused Jesus to set before them an open door and it sparked the greatest missionary outreach since the time of the Apostles simply because they gave up on this man-made theology they went back to the Word of God in obedience verse number nine behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not but do why why you think I'm blunt what about Jesus behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee actually the word worship is a bad translation it means to prostrate themselves to fall down at their feet it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to worship does that make sense it simply means to bow down now this is where it really gets interesting so pay close attention because of Isaiah chapter 60 verse number 14 the Jews actually believed that the Gentile nations would be forced to pay homage to them at the end of the world look with me if you would to the book of Isaiah chapter 60 verse number 14 interesting little verse the sons of your oppressors will come bowing before you all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the Lord Zion of the Holy One of Israel now that is a promise to Israel but Jesus or to Jews but Jesus turns this promise on its head he says Jewish oppressors of the church will be forced to pay homage to Gentile believers isn't that what he said here when we looked at this verse look back at verse number 9 behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they're Jews are not but do lie behold I will make them to come and it should read and bow down before thy feet to know that I have loved thee all of a sudden he takes this promise to the Jews and he turns it around he says wait a minute they're going to actually come and bow down at your feet why because Paul says in Romans chapter 2 verses 28 and 29 a true Jew is one who is inwardly a Jew for circumcision is of the heart so those who reject Jesus Christ as the Messiah according to Jesus are not true Jews did you catch that they belong to the synagogue of Satan now we've heard this term before why does see say they belong to the synagogue of satan' because they blaspheme they spread lies like Satan now what's the blasphemy they bring out that Jesus is not the Messiah they blaspheme the name of Jesus therefore they are not true Jews they have not had the circumcision of the heart does that make sense therefore they will be forced to bow down and pay homage to Gentile believers and when that happens they will know that Jesus Christ the genuine Messiah has loved Gentile believers see here's the problem many of the Jews who reject Jesus Christ they think through the promis'd of God Jew means to be praised they believe they're praised by God for keeping the law but the law pointed us to who Jesus Christ they rejected Jesus Christ they blaspheme his name so that prophecy in Isaiah is going to be fulfilled but not in the way that they think it is those who have rejected Jesus Christ are going to bow down and pay homage to those who receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior in other words the Jews will finally realize that God's true love is for those who have believed in His Son Jesus Christ as the Messiah regardless of their race or nationality God's not interested in the color of your skin God's not interested in your race God's not interested in your nationality the gospel was to go was to be preached unto everyone and anyone who believes will be saved that's the good news of Jesus Christ does that make sense verse number 10 no before we go to verse 10 let me say this this is what made this period of church history explode with revival this is what caused the missionary movement they realized that the gospel was to be preached to everyone and we had a responsibility to preach it because if they did not hear the gospel they could not believe the gospel and as a result Christianity expanded more than it ever had except for the Apostolic period verse 10 because thou has 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 now this is the promise all right the promise is this those who keep the word of his patience will be kept from the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the word world in other words the tribulation Jesus will keep us from going through the tribulation now I'm going to be honest with you there's a lot of debate among scholars as to whether Jesus is going to protect us from the tribulation but we're still going to be here or if he'll keep us from going through the tribulation do you understand what I'm saying there are some that believe that the church will go through the tribulation but Jesus will protect us from it does that make sense and then there are those who say no we're not even going to be here for the tribulation now I believe it means we're not going to be here for the tribulation then he's going to keep us from going through the tribulation tribulation and let me tell you why I believe that in the original Greek it says Seth turay so ech that Greek word Eck means out of now before I teach I like to translate everything from the original Greek so if you translated this literally it would say I will keep you out of the hour of temptation that will come upon all the world that's what ik means out of I will keep Turay so say is you I will keep you out of the hour of tribulation or the hour temptation that will come upon all the world so I believe that we're gonna be raptured before the Great Tribulation takes place and that's based on the promise in verse number 10 now when we get a little bit further down and we get to the seventh trumpet I'm going to show you that there could be a chance we go through the first three and a half years of the tribulation now I'm believing and hoping that were delivered from all seven years but you need to understand something in the first three and a half years this wrath comes up on different places in the world it won't come upon the whole world at the same time does that make sense it comes upon a portion of the world here and then it comes upon a portion of the world here but in the last three and a half years guess what happens these plagues come upon the whole world and so he says he would keep you from the hour of temptation that she'll come upon the whole world so I'm holding out that possibility I'm gonna show you what I believe that we're gonna be raptured before takes place but I'm also gonna show you it could be this - all right when we get to the last trumpet verse number 11 behold I come quickly hold that fast which thou hast that no man takes that crown do you remember what the basic theme of Revelation is when we were in Chapter 1 what did I tell you the basic theme of Revelation is very simple Jesus is coming back the basic theme of Revelation is Jesus is coming back make no mistake about it we're not talking about something mystical like Jesus is coming in your heart and that's what he meant no Jesus is physically returning that is the basic theme of Revelation now because jesus is coming back we need to hold fast to the Word of God we need to guard against becoming complacent that's what he's trying to tell us Jesus is coming back and he's coming back soon now the only way than another can take your crown is if you drop out of the race yes so he's telling you don't let that happen don't let someone else take your crown now remember what crowns are crowns are rewards right there are different crowns for different things that people have done we've gone through that before don't let people take your rewards how can people take your rewards they can't steal it hey it's not like here on earth that people can break into your house and steal your treasure it doesn't erode over time so how can someone take your crown you giving up God has called you to do certain things he's given you gifts talents and abilities to work for the kingdom and if you use your gifts Towson abilities you're going to be rewarded for them but if you don't do what God has called you to do someone else will come because you are not irreplaceable you need to understand something as great as you are in God's eye you are not irreplaceable I tell all of my staff members that and I tell him I am NOT irreplaceable cornerstone fellowship will continue on if something was to happen to me and it won't but I want you to understand something the cornerstone Fellowship is not based on Allen though it's based on the Word of God now if we don't do what God has called us to do and he's predestined these good works for us to walk in he has a crown predestined for you based on your good works but if you forfeit them because you became complacent and didn't do what God calls you to do someone else will replace you and they will take your crown so he tells us here in verse 11 don't let anyone take your crown now this was the perfect church to tell this to because they were excited about sharing the gospel of Jesus they were giving their money out and here's what's wonderful some of you say well I'm not called to be a missionary you know what if you give your money to missionaries you get to share in their reward do you realize that if you support them with your prayers if you're helping them in some way you get a share in their rewards but sometimes we become complacent and we don't do what God has called us to do and God loves us we're gonna go to heaven because we believe in Jesus but we're gonna be riding a skateboard it's gonna say and you'll get to rollover Hulbert but it's also saying that about Tahlequah you know we always pick on who's smaller than we are come down but someone's going can you believe he preaches in Tahlequah I love it verse 12 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 in 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 you know it's kind of sad but most people just read through the book of Revelation oh that's just religious works people this is not religious works let's break this down and find out what he's telling us in Solomon's Temple there were two pillars two and there was a name on each pillar on the first pillar was the name jaqen which means he establishes on the second pillar was the name boaz which means in him a strength I want you to turn to first Kings chapter 7 verse 21 and let's read about those two pillars so you know I'm not making this up all right and he talking about Solomon and he wasn't the one actually set them there but he commanded it to be done and he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple and he set up the right pillar and called the name thereof jaqen and he said at the left pillar and he called the name thereof Boaz Wow that's good those pillars were a vital part of the temple because they provided support if you took those pillars out there would be no support does that make sense now when Jesus says that he will make those who overcome to be pillars in the temple it's meant to be taken figuratively now how do you know that pastor Allen he might convert us like in those animated cartoons where there's a pillar there with eyes and a voice no no this is meant to be taken figuratively and I know this because in heaven there is no temple we'll talk about the temple motif when we go through some of them they mention temples but let me show you something interesting look at Revelation chapter 21 verse number 22 I saw no temple in the city for the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple Wow interesting so what Jesus is saying is that they who overcome will be honored for having played a vital role in the kingdom of God they will be considered pillars in heaven oh we're going to know people we're gonna know Moses even though we've never seen him when you get to heaven you're gonna say oh you know what's great about living in Tulsa you know you don't understand this because most of you come from Baptist or Lutheran or whatever but you know I kind of went full circle in all of this and I was in the word movement and Tulsa was kind of like the New Jerusalem in the 80s and 90s did you know that I mean everyone who was anyone in the word movement man they came to Tulsa you you'd be walking in Woodland Hills Mall and man there be war Roberts that's true all of a sudden you'd see Derek Prince you would see all of these great ministers and Kenneth Copeland was was young and he was more popular you'd see Kenneth Copeland you'd see all of this like oh my god anyone ever done that anyone ever been up to Tolson your eating out TGIF and all of a sudden billy joe dougherty comes in Billy Jones he's on TV now I want you to understand when we get to heaven we're gonna see people like Moses we're gonna see people like Paul they will be pillars in heaven that's a figure of speech now if you remember James Peter and John were considered pillars in the church look at Galatians chapter 2 verse number 9 in fact James Peter and John who were known as pillars of the church recognized the gift God had given me in blah blah blah blah now people this is what Jesus is talking about we will be honored as pillars because we played a vital role in the kingdom of God you don't understand but we're gonna get to heaven with you some of you never even heard of William Carey but you got to get to heaven there's William Carey he's the father of modern missions because of him you don't know how many people are in G's or in heaven because of him you're gonna see Andrew fuller you're gonna see Charles Finney and George Whitefield and let me tell you they will be pillars in heaven because they played a vital role it's a figure of speech but what it means is they played a vital role in building the kingdom of God does that make sense now listen under the names that are written on them look back at verse 12 him that overcometh will i make a pillar and the temple of my god and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the name of my God in the name of the city of my god which is the New Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my god and I will write upon him my new name so you're gonna be a pillar but you're gonna have the name of God written upon you which means that you belong to God now the reason I think this is so important is because if you belong to God here on earth it means you surrendered to him and he became Lord of your life when you're in heaven you're gonna be able to see the pillars because oh my gosh he well everyone in heaven belongs to God but what he's saying is you will stand out that she belong to God and on earth does that make sense to have the name of the city means you're a citizen of the New Jerusalem you helped to build what heaven is all about you'll have the name of Jerusalem written upon you and the new name of Jesus no one knows yet Revelation chapter 19 verse number 12 tells us that when Christ returns he's going to have a new name written on on himself and no one knows what that name is except him look at revelation 19 verses 11 through 12 and I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat upon it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and wages war and his eyes are a flame of fire and upon his head or many diadem's and he has a name written upon him which no one knows except himself now just like with God to have the name of Jesus written upon you means that you belong to him but I think it means so much more because it's to those who overcome these things are promised people are gonna know what happened that Moses sold out he gave everything he had for God Paul sold out James sowed out when you get to the apostles they gave their lives for Jesus that's how we know he was resurrected people won't die they won't be martyred for a lie but they will give their life for the truth and when you get to heaven you're gonna see these they're not going to be physical pillars but you can say Amen they're pillars for the name of God's written upon them because they sold out to God on earth the name of the New Jerusalem is upon them in the name of Jesus is upon them because these people gave it all verse 13 he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches we're not Calvinists so high we'll make application you need to apply what I just taught you have gifts talents and abilities I'm not saying everyone's called to preach but I am saying that everyone's called to sell out Jesus to make Jesus Christ Lord of their life and to use their gifts their talents and abilities for God if you have a gift to make money use that money to glorify God if you have a gift of administration use that gift of administration for the Kingdom of Heaven whatever your gift is whatever your calling is use it for Jesus because to him who overcomes and he's not talking about persecution what does it mean overcomes overcomes the worldly desire to become complacent to him who overcomes he will be a pillar in the temple of God we are so glad you have joined us for this study of the book of Revelation we want to invite you to this in-depth study every Wednesday night at cornerstone fellowship 7:18 Pendleton Street for more information give us a call or visit our website

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

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Keywords: revelation explained, revelations explained, the book of revelation explained, the book of revelation explained bible study, revelations explained bible, in depth study of the book of revelation, in depth study of revelation, how to study the book of revelation, the book of revelation, revelation 2021, end times 2021, when does the rapture happen, End Times Question & Answer with, pastor allen nolan, Allen nolan, allen nolan daniel, apostle john, the resurrection of jesus

Id: tjKLzN9XEgw

Length: 45min 58sec (2758 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 13 2019