In your mighty power we are healed. The Lord will be with thee, close
to thee, close to thee. All right, back to Revelation
3. If that chapter sounded familiar
to you, it is. We studied from this not long
ago. Messages from God come from God's Word, from the Word of God. That's the only way that God
speaks. God speaks to his people through
his word. That's how he speaks to those
who speak to his people and how he tells what to speak to his
people. If they speak not according to
my word, he said. There's no light in them. And quite often a message comes
while preaching another. A verse of Scripture is brought to mind or quoted. Sunday
morning we thought about that one statement, what the Lord
opens no man can shut. And I wasn't looking for that
verse or thinking about preaching from that. But I just began reading. The scriptures and there it was
again. And but there's a. A key word
in here, a key phrase that really stuck out to me in verse seven.
A key and I'm making a play on word, but this is what stuck
out to me. I couldn't get away from it. It says, he that hath
the key of David. You see that verse seven, he
that hath the key of David. Now, that's a striking statement,
an interesting statement, along with the rest of this letter. So I want us to look at this
together. And as we've noted before, we looked at we've looked
at all of these letters before. And maybe I should have, maybe
we should have started at the first one. Joe, before it's over,
we'll probably end up covering them all. But I felt led to look
at this letter in the first part of chapter three a couple of
weeks ago, and now this one. But each letter, as we noted,
is introduced. The Lord introduces himself. In and describes himself declares
himself. Or or declares certain attributes
concerning himself. Each letter has. Certain attributes
that he declares. Of himself. And this one is no
different. He begins by saying, let's look
at verse 7 and to the angel or pastor of the church in Philadelphia,
right? These things say of he that is
holy. He that is holy, this is God's,
this is the attribute. This is God's chief attribute. Every other attribute is found
under death. He is holy. He's the holy God. It's called the Holy Spirit.
The Son of God is called the Holy One of Israel. Holy, holy,
holy. is the Lord God of hope, he's
holy and he that is true. He these things say of he that
is holy, he that is true. He's the true one, the true one
now, since Christ is the word, then Christ is speaking here. These things say of he. Whatever
God speaks, he speaks through the word, doesn't he? Christ
is the word. No man knoweth the Father, sayeth the Son, and he
to whom the Son will reveal him. He's the word. So this is speaking
of Christ, who is the true. He that is true. John says he's
the true God and eternal life. So read on. He that is true,
he that hath the key of David. Every word is significant. Every
word is glorifying to our Lord. Every word is marvelous in God's
Word. He that hath. You could make
a message out of that. You remember the message on he
it is? He it is. Or he that hath. He that hath
what? He that hath all things. You
see, God hath given him authority over all flesh. He that hath,
Christ hath all things in his hand. He's Lord over everything. He hath them too. He didn't have
them or shall have them. He hath right now. He right now is the owner, possessor
of everything and everyone. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. The earth and the inhabitants
thereof are the Lord. He hath them. Read on. Now, here's
the key phrase. He that hath the key of David. The key of David. Now, what would you think this
key of David would be? Where would you go if you were
studying this yourself? How would you begin to look for
what that means, the key of David? How would you? I've been encouraging
some of you, when you order Bibles, I say a Cambridge Bible is one
of the best. Why? Why do I say that? Center reference. All right,
is there a reference given there? Where do I look for things? Do
I turn to John Gill immediately? Compare spiritual things with
spiritual things. God's Word is the best commentary
on God's Word. Or as one old commentator said,
he said, the Word of God will shed a lot of light on the commentaries. And it's so. Gil, you have John
Gil's commentary. You've got to do a lot of waiting
to get to, I like Mr. Gil, but at any rate, let me
ramble. Where would you turn? What's
your reference say? What does it say? The key of David.
Isaiah 22. Isaiah chapter 22 is the reference
given. Isaiah 22, look over there. Isaiah 22, verse 22. Let's read
it. And the key of the house of David
will I lay upon his shoulder, so he shall open, and none shall
shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten
him as a nail in a sure place, and he shall be for a glorious
throne to his father's house." The key of the house of David,
all right? It's opening up now the key of
David is the key of the house of David. He that hath the key
to the house of David. All right. Let's look at these
three things then. The house. Of David, the key
of David, David, who's David? What's his house? What's the
key? All right. Let's look at that.
The house of David. Look over 1 Samuel 16. When I began reading this, it
made me want for us to study the son of David again. I don't ever remember enjoying
anything any more than that, unless it was the tabernacle,
or unless it was Boaz, or maybe it was Joseph. It's all wonderful. 1 Samuel 16, but this is, you're
going to get a blessing just reading it. Who's David? What's
this house of David? Well, David is God's chosen. David is God's called. David
is the sent man of God. David is the ruler. David is
the king. Look at 1 Samuel 16. Here's the story of his calling.
Verse 1, the Lord said unto Samuel, how long wilt thou Mourn for
Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel.
Fill thine horn with oil, and go, and I will send thee to Jesse
the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king." My king. I've got a king. And later on
he said, he's a man after my own heart. Now look down at verses 11 and
12. You know how all the sons paraded
in before. Samuel, the prophet, which is
a picture of all the men down through the ages that have the
sons of man that have come before God. That's not him. Adam, that's
not the king. Abraham, that's not him either.
David, that's not him either. Keep them coming. I mean, keep
them coming. All the sons of men have paraded
before. before us, and Christ is the King. Look here, in verse
11, Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And Jesse said, No, they remaineth
yet the youngest. And behold, he keepeth the sheep. What's he doing? He's keeping
the sheep. Samuel said unto Jesse, Look
at this. Send and fetch him. We will not sit down until he
come hither. Does that make you want to study
that again? We're not going to sit down. We're not going to
rest. We're not going to sit around the table. We're not going to
have fellowship. We're not going to rest until he come hither. Who's that? David? Oh, no. This is a type of the
son of David. which is Christ. Christ is the
son of David. Christ is the seed of David,
which he is called over and over through the scripture. All right.
David's house. What would David's house be?
I think, you know, look at 2 Samuel, chapter seven, 2 Samuel, chapter
seven. All right. David is God's chosen. David is God's call. David is
sent one. from God. He becomes a ruler,
the king, and that's a picture of Christ. Christ is God's chosen
out from among the people. God's called, God's sent man,
God's ruler, God's king. All right? What's David's house? 2 Samuel 7, look at verse 12. Now here's God's promises to
David. A covenant God makes. And when
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,
I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out
of thy bowels. I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my
name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." Forever? Well, Solomon's not
over there on the throne right now. No, but David's son is. The son of David is right now
on the throne, seated. And he's reigning. He will be
reigning forever. Who is it? He's the one that
built David's house. God's house. Who's he? Christ. What's the house? What's
the house of God? The church. The church. The church
of God. Said he shall build a house for
my name. That's what the church is all
about. For the glory of God. Verse 16. Look down there. He says, In thine house and thy
kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne
shall be established forever. And down in verse 25 and 26,
David prays for that. Now, O Lord God, the word that
thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, concerning his house,
establish it forever. Do as thou hast said. Let thy
name be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God
over Israel. Let the house of thy servant
David be established before thee. I will, and it shall." And Christ is the builder of
it, except the Lord build the house. They labor in vain to build it.
And he not only built the house he's the foundation of it. And he's the top stone. All right
the church is the house of David which Christ the seed of David
built and God made an everlasting covenant concerning his church.
All right what's the key to the house. Christ. Is. That is David typified by David
here the church is the house. Of Christ the house of David
what's the key how do you get in the church how do you get
in to the house. The key. Look over Hebrews ten
you're going to like this Hebrews chapter ten. Now a key what is
a key you know everybody here has keys. And that's it when
you lose them or leave them locked in the house and have to call
your husband or neighbor, y'all wouldn't.
That didn't happen to you though, did it? Hebrews chapter 10. Everybody
has keys in their pocket. A key is something which unlocks
a door. Very simple. It unlocks a door. You can't go in. Depending on
how strong the door, you can't go in without a key, can you? And a key is also something that
locks the door. All right? A key is what provides
you access. It provides you access into the
house, right? What is it that's going to grant
us access to God? Huh? What gets us in the church? Look at Hebrews chapter 10, this
key of the house of David that Christ had. Hebrews 10, look
at verse, this is wonderful. Hebrews 10 verse 19, having therefore
brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by. Could it be anything else, John?
Is there anything going to get us into? favor with God. Get us into the house of God.
Grant us access with God. Huh? Nothing. What must the high
priest go in with? He cannot go into the Holy of
Holies without one thing. It's the key. Not without blood. Well, this man who, the son of
David, went into the Holy of Holies, not without blood. But it wasn't the blood of bulls
and goats, but his own precious blood. And now we have boldness. We have boldness to enter in
by the blood of Jesus, verse 20, by a new and living way which
he hath. See, the life is in the blood,
which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is
to say, his flesh, Christ's blood, his flesh and blood. That's the
death of Christ. And that's the gospel, isn't
it? That's what gives us life. That's what opens the door of
God's mercy and grace to us. That's what saves us. That's
how we are accepted. We're accepted in the beloved. It doesn't say keys, does it? Does it say plural keys? Why? Because it's just one way. One way into God's house. One
way to God. That's by the blood of Christ
Jesus. One way. The blood before the
Lord. You want in? You won't come without blood.
He said, when I see the blood. Now back to the revelation chapter
three. You want in. And we're justified by faith in his
blood. That's the key. You remember Psalm twenty-seven.
I thought about that, John, maybe, maybe you want to study that
Jacob. His daddy said, before you grant
the blessing, he said to Jacob, he said, you got that savory
meat that I love. You remember that story, Genesis
27. Jacob was seeking the blessing. And he had to come with that
which only his older brother could provide, which the father
dearly loved, loved the smell of it. And Isaac said, You got
that savory meat I love? Jacob said, here it is, Dad,
Abba. It's a sweet smelling savor.
Come here and let me bless you. That's the blood. Blood before
the Lord. Christ hath the key. Christ is
the key. And he gives himself to all that
the Father giveth him. And he opens the way unto the
holiest. All right, chapter 3, verse 7, a revelation. He that
hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth." He opens the way, and no man
can shut. Over in John chapter 9, we're
getting ready to get into that. You remember that blind man who
the Lord came to and saved him? He healed him and revealed himself
to him, and later on that blind man was confessing Christ before
Pharisees and and they got angry at him and they kicked him out
of the church or kicked him out of the synagogue anyway. Well,
you can kick a man out of. Synagogue, but you can't kick
him out of God's house, can you? You can't kick him out of God's
house. He can't be if you're in Christ, you can't be kicked
out. In that right. Christ said in John 10, my father,
which is greater than all, no man can pluck him out of my father's
hand. I give unto them eternal life, and they'll never perish.
No man can pluck him out of my hand, and my father, no man will
pluck him out of his hand. You can be kicked out of men's
playhouses, but you can't be kicked out of God's house. I'm
glad to know that. And shut up. He that opened it
and no man shut it. Christ has provided the way for
me and put me in it. Was there any way that Noah was
going out of that ark? How? Why? What if he wanted out? You say, if he wanted out, he
could have got out. No, he couldn't. First of all, he didn't want
out. But he couldn't go out because why? God shut him in. He just shut it and no man opened
it. That could work several ways,
couldn't it? It could work savingly. But the
meaning here is, though, in damnation. Look quickly, everyone, every
eye, look at Luke 13. Young and old, look at this passage.
This is a sobering word from our Lord. Luke 13. Luke chapter
thirteen God's house listen to me or by God's house is still
being populated the door of the ark is open and God's bringing
people in he's calling in Christ is the ark and he's saying come
unto me. Like he said to Noah who found grace in his eye he
said Noah come down all our house into the ark which was prepared
which that prepare come and Christ is still say today is the day
of salvation. and the door of the ark is open,
the church is open, it's still being populated, and God's saying,
Come today, while it's called today. Harden not your heart,
as in a provocation, but come. All things are ready. Just come
on. Come on in. But it may not be open tomorrow. And say, somebody says, well,
I wait till I get older. I wait till I get this. I wait
till I get married. I wait till I get this or that
and the other. A more convenient time. There might not be one. Look at Luke 13, verse 24 and
25. When once the master of the house
is risen up and has shut to the door, and you begin to stand
without, to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto
us. And he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not. Everybody
is going to want in once the door is shut. You know? That's sobering isn't it? Joe, everybody is going to want
in. When it started raining, when God shut that door and it
started raining, I guarantee you they were banging on that
door. Revelation 3, back to Revelation
3, and he says this for our comfort, and I sure needed this word of
comfort here. In verse 8, he says to the church, I know thy works. Behold, I have
set before thee an open door, and no man can shut You remember us thinking about
that and me telling you about some of that literature I get,
you know, and men are worried about what government's going
to do to us, you know. It's not going to do nothing.
If the church survives Negro, it can survive Bill. Sorry, I had to say that. Right? I am worried about Ahab and his
wife. Because Christ said, I have opened
the door and no man can shut it. I like that. This is God's church. This right
here is God's church. And no one, no one can close
the door. How do I know that? Look at verse
eight, read on. No man can shut it, for thou
hast a little strength. A little strength. Now, they say there's strength in
numbers. Well, if that be the case, we just have a little strength. Right? But that's not true. There's no strength in numbers. Wherein is our strength? God is our strength. That's what
we saw in Psalm 27, wasn't it? The Lord is my strength. Whom
shall I fear? He's my strength. And when he's
talking about a little strength, he's talking about a little faith. We don't have much faith. Oh,
ye of little faith. Oh, we have very little faith,
don't we? But it's not our faith that saves us, it's our strength. And not our strength, it's his
strength. We have a little faith, but he
has great strength. We have a strong God. We have
very little faith in our strong God, do we stand? We ought to
have all faith, all assurance, shouldn't we? But thank God it's
not based on our faith, it's based on his strength. God is
our strength. Our God's strong. Our rock's
strong. He's strong. We'll read on. He
hath a little strength, and hath kept my word, and hath not denied
my name. This is, this is the mark of God's church. They keep his word and they don't
deny his name. What does it mean to keep his
word? It means to hold fast the sound, hold fast sound words. It means to hold fast the word. It means to believe the word.
It means to keep the word. Christ said, He that hath my
word and keepeth it. And we're living in a day where
there's a famine of the Word. We're living in a day when men
have turned away their ears from the truth, from the Word, and
are turned unto fables. Right? We're living in a day
when men heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, saying,
prophesying to us, not the Word, but smooth things. Tell us a
lie. We live in a day when the word
of God is being used less well. They have different perversions
of it, but it's not God's word. The more you translate or. The
more you what's the word. Not translate, but. More versions, the more you keep
changing this book, we change it. The word of God. The church of
God. Is full of believers of the word
of God and those who keep the word of God and those who believe
every word of the word of God. And endeavor to to. Worship according that word and
to do everything they could do according to that word right
not according to a church covenant that's really you'll see bylaws
and Church covenants hanging on our walls and so forth. Why?
This is our covenant. This is our law, the word of
God. We do everything according to
that. That's becoming far, fewer and far between. Places where
this is true. And has not denied his name.
Now many have a form of godliness, but deny. What is God's name? You remove its power. A sword,
if you file off the edges of it, you remove its power, don't
you? It's piercing. God, we have denied
his name. This world is full of people
who have denied the name of God. Oh, the name of God is on their
lips, but their heart is far from believing he's God, and
preachers are far from preaching that he's God. Why, that goes
so far as to say, why don't you let God do this and do that?
That's denying His name. Because if His name is God, that
means you don't let Him do anything. That means if He's God, His very
name means God will work, and who shall let it? See, they're denying His name.
Lord. Oh, they say Jesus is Lord. They don't mean it, they're denying
it. They're denying that he's Lord. They're saying you have
to make him Lord. He's not Lord if you make him
Lord. He's Lord if God made him Lord. He's the Lord. He's Jesus, Savior. Well, they
say he turned out and he didn't save. That's denying his name,
isn't it? We don't deny the name Jesus. We love the name Jesus,
but we believe what the name Jesus means. Call his name Jesus. He shall save. Who? All that let him know. His people,
his particular, his elect people. from their sin. He called his
name Jesus because it means something. We hesitate. We don't use that
name except in conjunction with the rest of his name. But when
we use it, we mean it. We believe that we have denied
his name. They've denied it. Christ! What does that mean?
The only mediator, the only representative, the only man approved of God,
the only sacrifice, the only high priest. We haven't denied
his name. These little fellas that wear
these robes and do all this stuff deny his name. They may look
good, but they're a stench to God, and to me, too. Christ is the only high priest,
the only priest. There are no more priests. Christ
is our great high priest. He's the one we confess to. We
don't deny that. We confess him as the Christ
and no other. The Pope is not the vicar of
Christ. Christ is his own representative.
They've denied his name. Well, we haven't. That's how
I know that we're his church. Now, I'm not bragging on us,
because this was all his doing. By the grace of God, we are what
we are. By the grace of God, we know what we know. By the
grace of God, we believe what we believe. By the grace of God,
we preach what we preach here. By the grace of God, we'll keep
on believing and preaching what we preach and believe here. Right? We don't let God be the glory.
We're not bragging on ourselves here, but we're just stating
facts. This is the church. And that
which denies his word and his name is not the church. Call
it what you want. It's not the church. All right, read on. He says now,
you've kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, verse
nine, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say
they're Jews and are not, but do lie. Who's that? Who's a Jew? Well, he's not a Jew, which is
one outwardly. Are you a Christian? Yeah, I'm
a Christian. Well, he's a Jew which is one
inwardly, circumcision is of the heart, and a Jew is one which
worships God in spirit, rejoices in Christ Jesus, and puts no
confidence in the flesh. That's how you know a Jew, a
spiritual Jew. Well, those who don't do those
three things, by God's grace, say they're Jews, but they're
lying. And God says, I'll make them worship. I'll make them
come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved
thee." Now, everybody in here was one of those false Jews,
weren't you? Before God revealed Christ in
you. Nearly everybody in here, well,
everybody in here who came through religion was one of these. Worshipped
a God you didn't know, or a God of your own imagination. Claimed
to believe in Jesus, who was the wrong one. That's idolatry,
isn't it? Well, God has caused you to put
away your idols and come and worship the true and living God
in the church. He quit playing games up there
on the hill, Joe, and came to the hill called Mount Calvary,
the hill called Mount Zion, and worships, really worshiped it. Did you ever worship up there? If you don't hear the gospel,
you can't worship. Read on. He says in verse 10, Because
thou hast kept the word of my patience. I like that. You've kept the
word of my patience. The word of patience, that means
when Christ says, Behold, I come quickly. That's a word of his patience,
and it takes patience to watch and wait, doesn't it? That's the word of his patience,
that the church is patiently waiting according to his word,
waiting on him. You see, God is long-suffering
to us. He's not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness. See, they're dropping out left
and right because they think, well, where's the promise of
His coming? All things continue as they once
did. Well, no. God is not flat concerning His
promise to us-ward. He's long-suffering to us-ward,
not willing that any of us should perish. And He said, wait, I'm
coming. So what are we going to do? Well,
we're all going to and go, you know, go to heaven. No, we're
going to wait until God takes us on. Right? It's the point
of the man who wants to die. That's what Scripture says. That's
what he said, who cannot lie. Joe, that's what happens to people
who don't have a light on. Right? Fall in the ditch, pitfalls. The word of patience, he says,
wait, watch. And this is what you do with
the word. You watch and you wait, you watch out. It's all about
you. Keep your eyes, your spiritual
eyes open. The eye be single too, your whole
body's full of light. Endure trials. The word of his
patience is the trials and afflictions that come upon the church that
he sends. He sends them. He says, the trial
of your faith, work of patience. Persecution. That makes a lot
of people drop out. Persecution. You don't believe
that, do you? Nobody else believes that. That
ain't true. Well, God's people keep on. They endure persecution. They
see in Him. They see in Him. They endure
trials. Those trials only strengthen
their faith. And here's a good word for patience. Calm expectation. That's a good definition of patience
or faith. Calm expectation. We've got a duck sitting on eggs
and You know they sit on those for thirty five days and they
don't hardly make a move. Ladies. Glad you're not a. They don't hardly make a move
I mean they don't hardly eat or drink they sit there. That's
patience. They're waiting. For something
to happen. And that's what God's people
are doing they're waiting. In God's good time, he's going
to hatch us. All right, verse 11, he says,
or verse 10, You kept the word of my patience. I will keep thee
from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world
to try them to dwell upon the earth. What's that? The hour
of temptation. Well, it started a while back,
and it's going, and it's getting stronger and stronger. The hour
of temptation that's in this world, that's upon this world.
The temptation to deny the truth. The temptation to join up with
the great whore. Which God says is this false
church that he said it had made up their bed and everybody's
jumping into it. You know this ecumenical movement? You want
to get in on it? No way, buddy. No way. Not join up with them. How can
we be joined under idols? Huh? Temptation is the final judgment.
Which will come upon this earth. We will be kept from it. There's
no judgment for God's church. None. As a matter of fact, somehow
or another, God's church is going to be in on the judgment. That's
a mystery. That's really a mystery. I can't
handle that. But somehow or another, they are. Verse 11, Behold, I
come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast. What do you
have? What do you have, Stan? Right,
the gospel of Christ. Hold fast the beginning of your
confidence, steadfast at the end. Same old gospel, not letting
go. He says, Let no man take thy
crown. What's your crown? Well, it's
his helmet of salvation. It's the reward. It's Christ.
It's what it is. It's gospel. He crowneth our
head with goodness, doesn't he? Crowneth thee with goodness.
It's this gospel. I'm not letting go. Like that
old hat I told you about, I wear all the time. They make fun of
it all they want to. I'm going to keep it. It's a
good hat. It wears well. It warms me. And I'm naked without
it. Well, this gospel is the only
one that covers my sinful soul. It's the only thing that really
warms my heart. It's the only thing that will
allow me entrance into God's presence. I think I'll hold on.
And if I do hold on, because he's holding me. Well, read on. It says, him that overcometh.
Now, he says this in every letter. Every letter. Him that overcometh.
What's that that overcometh? Right. Faith. Him that overcometh. That's what we've been talking
about. That's what he's been talking about. Him that overcometh? Well, I make a pillar in the
temple of my God. A pillar. Now, right there in
the corner of that wall right there is a pillar. You can't see it, Can you? Nobody
comes in here and says, look at that pillar. Do they? It's hidden from the naked eye,
but it's there. It's been there since this thing's
built, and it's not going anywhere. As long as this thing's standing,
that pillar's going to be right there. Right? This is what he
says here. I'll make you a pillar in the
temple of God, and he shall go no more out. You're not going
anywhere. Don't you like that? Huh? You're not going anywhere. I'll
make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more.
And I'll write upon him the name of my God, the name of the city
of my God, New Jerusalem, which cometh down
out of heaven from my God. And I'll write upon him my new
name." You know, all this is interchangeable with Christ,
isn't it? Because he and we are one, the
church and his body, the head and the body are one. Christ
is he that overcame. Christ is the pillar, the ground,
the pillar of truth in the temple. And he's not going anywhere.
He's not going nowhere. He's not coming back down here
to sit on that throne over in Jerusalem. Oh, no. Oh, no. He's
going to get up. It's just to receive us, and
he's going back to sit back there. But he's not going to leave the
church, is he? He's not going out. He's got the name of God. Oh, he's He's got that new name,
too, which is the word. Verse thirteen, Now he that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the church. I hope that was a blessing to
you. Do you have the key of David? Christ has the key, and he imparts
it, or blesses, grants entrances by it. the blood of Christ, he
that hath the key of David. It opens, and no man can shut. I give unto them eternal life,
they'll never perish. I have opened the door, and no
man can shut it. All right, let's stand. Our Heavenly Father, how we thank
You for Your Word, how we thank You for Christ the Word, and
this marvelous book which so clearly speaks of Christ, clearly
speaks when you speak to us through it. But once you do, O Lord,
our eyes are opened, and we see so clearly. They are all plain
to them that understand it, and right to them that find knowledge.
How we see clearly that Christ is all and in all. Christ is
all salvation in all that we see and read concerning the word
of salvation. Christ is all. Thank you, Lord,
for revealing him to us, in us, this church. We know you will
be true to your word. Keep us as your church. Keep us from denying thy name. Keep us holding fast to Your
Word, and keep revealing it to us. Ground us and settle us in
this truth, which is Christ. In His name we are met, and I
ask all these things. Amen.