Start reading down here in verse
7. And to the angel of the church
in Philadelphia write. Remember this is the Lord telling
John to do this. These things saith he that is
holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that
openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.
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 hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say
they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them
to come and worship before thy feet, to know that I have loved
thee. Because thou hast 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. Behold, I come quickly, hold
that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 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. And 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. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. This is the sixth
church. Just one more. The Laodicean
church. This is the sixth one that our
Lord addresses in Asia. He was named after a man named
Atalas, Atalas II. This was 140 years before Christ
came. This man loved his brother. He
had a brother named Unimus. And by his love to his brother
and his loyalty to his brother, they gave him the name of Brother
Lover. And that's what Philadelphia means, brotherly love. And that's
how that name came to be. Because this man who founded
this place loved his brother so much. Maybe some of you all
remember that story of that little boy that went to Boys Town. Got
a statue outside of it, a big huge orphanage. And they got
a statue out in front of it where these two boys had to go to that
orphanage called Boys Town. And one of them carried his little
brother on his back and when they got there he said, boy,
oh boy, how far have you carried him? He said, I've carried him
all the way. He said, well ain't he heavy? He says, no, he's not
heavy. He's my brother. And they got that statue in front
of that boy's town. That's a true story. That's a
true story. And that's the way this man loved
his brother. That's how Philadelphia became
to be called brotherly love. And there seem to be, this is
the only church or the second church after Smyrna that our
Lord finds no fault in. Now there's no doubt no fault
to some of the people that's in this particular church. There's
no doubt about that. But here, love covers a multitude
of sins. Christ found no fault in this
congregation of believers, in this people of Philadelphia.
And look how our Lord addresses them when He talks to them. Like
I told you, He addresses Himself to every church differently.
And here He tells this church, this church of brotherly love,
these things saith He that is holy, holy, holy in His nature,
sinless, in his nature, holy in everything about him, holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Then he said, he
that is true He is true. Our Lord Jesus Christ is true
to His Word, true to His Father, true to His people, true to those
He loved, true to those that He already took home to be with
Him. He is true. He is true. He is true in everything that
He does. And I tell you, beloved, truth
and holiness go together. If you're holy, you've got to
be truthful. And I tell you, if you tell the truth, our Lord
was holy. And so those two went together.
And our Lord Jesus, a man, a lawyer, came to him one time in Matthew
22 and said this to him. He said, we know of a truth that
you are come from God and that you cares not for man, for you
have no respect of men. He was just spreading the bed
for the Lord's feet. But our Lord is truth. They knew
that He was true. And our Lord Jesus Christ, though
He was a man, He was a holy man. He was as holy as God was. And
if we have any wholeness at all, it comes from Him. We don't have
any wholeness of our own. And I thank God for that. I thank
God that if I have any holiness at all, it comes from Christ.
If I have any desire after holiness, it comes from Christ. If I have
any desire to get over sin and be done with its flesh, it comes
from the Lord Jesus Christ. And then look what else it says
about Him. He that hath the key of David. I got a message on
this from years ago. He that hath the key of David.
Now over in Isaiah 22 it says there that the Lord laid on him
the key of David. And he opens and no man can shut
and he shuts and no man can open. And he goes back and quotes that
verse of scripture. He quotes this about himself.
He said he that has the key of David. Now you know what the
key of David means. That means that he's the king.
He's the rightful king. God said, David, I'm going to
raise up somebody to sit on your throne, and he'll reign on the
throne forever and ever and ever. And that was the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he has the key. Now you notice there are two
things you use a key for, and you notice they're both right
here. You use a key to let somebody in, and you use a key to lock
a door so nobody can get in. To secure it. And our Lord says
that. He says this. He said I have
the kid David and I open. And there ain't nobody can shut
that door. And if I shut it. There ain't
nobody in this world can open that door. That's some powerful keys ain't
it? That's some powerful keys. I tell you I, Lord Jesus Christ,
He alone has the key. The Jews don't have the key.
The church don't have the key. The Pope don't have the key.
Peter don't have the key. Key means power. Key means authority. And you've got to really trust
somebody to trust them with a key to your house or a key to your
property. And God trusted Christ with the
keys to open up the door of salvation. And He had trusted Him with the
keys to shut the door if He chooses to shut it. And I tell you what,
beloved, He has all power. Those keys give Him the power,
give Him the authority over everybody. He can lock you out or He can
bring you in. Listen, I hope you don't cut
nobody out here. You see, He has the key of grace. Where you gonna get grace at?
You're not born with it. We're not born with this, it's
not natural to us. It certainly isn't owed to us.
He's the one that has the key of grace. He's the one that has
the key of providence. And that means, beloved, that
He's the one that governs this world and everything that's in
it. There ain't nothing gonna hurt us in this world except
what Christ don't have the key to let it happen. And when it's
time to stop it, He'll just turn the key off. Ain't that right? And He has the key to the heart. He has the key to the heart.
He's the only one that knows the heart. I'll tell you, and
I've told you this, and I know you know it about yourself. I'll
tell you what, I don't trust my own heart. I trust Christ
to do with my heart what it's right to do with. He knows it! He's got the key to it. And oh
Lord, please don't turn it off. Please don't take your love out
of us. Please don't lock it away from you. He has the key to the
scriptures. We won't understand one verse
of this book unless Christ unlocks it for us. We won't have no knowledge
of God unless Christ opens it for us and opens that door for
us. And He's the one that opens the door to glory. If we go to
glory, He's the one that's opened that door. And I tell you, He
said, I set before you an open door. Bless His holy name. Everybody
He set that open door for, I'm telling you, they're coming in. They're coming in. And I tell
you, you know, when you go through the Scriptures, they talked about
the effectual and open door was made for me. And He's the one
that opens the door of utterance. He's the one that opens the door
of the Gospel. And He shuts the door. When He
shuts the door, and you know there's so many people He shut
the door against. You know how many people He shut
the door against in the Scriptures? So there's no telling how many
He shuts the door to in this life. The very fact that we ain't
got ever seat in this place full and we ain't got people out in
the foyer is proof that God has shut the door on a multitude
of people. You reckon He shut the door on
you? Cause if He shuts it, you can't
open it. This whole idea, you know, that
Jesus has got a door and all you got to do is knock and he
has to open. He's the door and he has the
key to it. Oh, and he shuts the doors and
no man can open. Oh, I tell you what, these faith
healers, they can't open it. These great big crusaders, they
can't open it. Ain't nobody can open that. And
if Christ shuts the heart, there ain't no man going to open the
heart. If Christ shuts out the church, there ain't nobody getting
in the church. And if he shuts heaven, there
ain't nobody going there. And I tell you what, if He shuts
the eyes to see, you ain't gonna see. If He shuts the ears to
hear, you ain't gonna hear. I do know this, when He works,
He works as He will, and no man can hinder Him. And I like it
like that. I tell you what, I'm glad that
He's got the keys. It's not me, or you, or this
church that's got it. People seem to think if I just
go to church, that's gonna make everything alright. I wonder
how many doors Christ has shut that nobody is ever going to
open. How many do you reckon Christ
has shut? Oh my. But I do know this. He said, listen, when I do open,
when I do open, ain't nobody can shut. And that door is open. As long as the gospel of the
grace of God is preached on this earth, the door is open. And
as long as Christ sits on His throne, the door is open. When He steps off that throne
to come back here, I tell you, the door is shutting and that's
it. And I tell you, He shut the door
to Esau. He shut the door to Demas. He
shut the door to Judas. He shut the door to Cain. He shut the door to Canaan, Moab,
Sodom and Gomorrah. And there ain't nobody when God
says. He shut the door in the days of the flood. He shut the
door. And He shut Noah in and I tell you what, that everybody
else. The door was shut and there ain't
no way they'd get in. That's scary, ain't it? If that door is open, and Christ
said, I have the keys, Lord, would you let me in? Could I
come in? Would you please let me in? Come
on. The Spirit says, come. The bride
says, come. The church says, come. And I tell you, and he goes on
to say here, it's like those foolish virgins. There was ten
of them. And they all slumbered and slept. Every single one of
them did. But they heard the voice of the cry of the bridegroom.
And they all woke up. Five of them trimmed their lamps
and had them ready to go. And the light, you know, the
candle was burning bright. And then five foolish, they didn't
have no oil, they didn't have no light, and they said, give
us of your oil. He said, we ain't got just enough
for ourselves. Five of them, the door was open
for. Five, the door was shut. Shut. And then look what it says here
else about this. It said in verse 8, I know your works. I know your works. I know your
works. Oh my, He does. He knows everything
about us. And let me say just a little
something about this. Whatever you did do for Christ or one
of His people, you do for Him. Whatever you do against one of
them, you do against Him. That's what He says. But He said,
I know your works. And behold, I've set before you
an open door. I've set before you an open door. Now there's lots of enemies.
hanging around that door. You know the false prophet hung
around the gate? Do you know that? When the straight
gate and the narrow way and the broad way? That false prophet
hung right around that gate. So folks start to go in, he's
going to try his best to keep you from going in. That's where
he hangs out at. But he said, I said before you
an open door. Lots and lots of enemies. But when Christ opens
a door, they can't shut it back. They can't shut the door. The
enemies would like to shut the door. The enemies of Christ would
like to put Him out of business. But we owe all our spiritual
liberties to the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Let me show you
something over here in Acts 14.27. Look in Acts chapter 14. Let
me show you something here. We're talking about Christ having
an open door. Acts 14.27. Open the door for
them. Here's one of them doors that
he opened and nobody could shut. And when they were come and had
gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had
done with them. And listen to this, and how he
had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. He opened the door of faith to
who? The Gentiles. Who did that? God did that. He
opened the door to the Gentiles. And Paul said there's been an
open and an effectual door open for me. But there's many enemies. Many enemies. And I tell you
if you have an opportunity to preach the gospel, Christ opened
that blessed door. If there's any work, Being done
in this world is the work of God's grace to create willing
hearts to come hear the gospel. And open ears to hear the gospel
when they come. So Christ is the one that opens
them doors. And that is the truth. I'll tell
you what. I feel sorry. I saw something the other day
and I said, Lord, I said, I've done the same thing years and
years ago and I tried not to be angry about it or upset about
it. I said, Lord, I did the same thing. And I was ignorant, through
ignorance. But I know this, I found out
this without a shadow of a doubt, that when we shut up to this
very fact that if God does anything for anybody, He's the one that
does it. I can't do it. You can't do it.
The church can't do it. We can get people in here. The
preacher cannot go. He can go and send somebody's
laugh and cry. That won't win nobody. But I
do know this, that if Christ opens a man's heart and give
him ears to hear, that man is going to sit right there and
listen. And he's going to be a believer. Huh? And Christ is the only one that
can open that door. And I believe that with all my
heart. I believe it. How many of you here can say
that only why I know the gospels because Christ come and opened
the door. He opened the door of my mind.
He opened the door of my understanding. He opened the door of my heart.
He opened my eyes. He opened my ears. And there's
been lots of opportunities for people to try to get you to stop.
And you get, even yourself, you try to talk yourself out of it
sometimes, you get so low. But you cannot close them ears
once they've been opened. And you can't stop that heart
once it's been opened. And you can't shut them eyes
once they've been opened. Can't do it. Can't do it. And then look what he says here.
for thou hast a little strength thou hast a little strength you
know this is a wonderful thing he said you got just a little
strength just a little but how much do you have to have if Christ
is for you? they couldn't open shut they
couldn't make themselves any stronger Oh, they were small
in number, small in the eyes of the world, small and without
strength before those who profess to know God. But Christ, Christ,
Paul said, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens
me. Oh, He's the only way. And then
he says, you have just a little strength. You say, boy, I don't
have no strength. Well, if you have any at all,
we know who we got it. I don't care how much strength
I got as long as it comes from Christ. And look what he said
here. And he goes on to say, and you've
kept my word. I looked that up the other day.
Thou hast kept my word. You know what that means? That
means to guard it, to watch it, to preserve it, and hold it close. You've kept my word. You've guarded
it. You've watched it. You've kept
it close. And you've kept my word. Been
true to my word. I want to show you something.
Over here in John chapter 17. I remember preaching through
this. And this is one of the most astounding statements to
me. And look in verse 6. Our Lord hears
praying, and look what He says now. He's praying to His Father, and
He says, Father, I have manifested Thy name unto the men which You
gave Me. Do you know how we know God's
name and how we know anything about God? He said, I manifested
Thy name unto those that You gave Me. I made You known, that's
what He said, which Thou gavest Me out of the world. They were
yours and you gave them to me. And listen to this. This is what's
the kicker. And they have kept thy word. He said, I gave it to them. I
gave them what you said. And you know what they did? They
kept it. They believed it. They kept it close. They kept
it close. And they kept the word. You've
been true to me. True to me. And beloved, keep the Word of
God. Keep in the Word of God. Keep
it. Guard it. Be honest with it.
Be true with it. And then he says, Thou hast not
denied my name. There's a song. I don't remember.
Gary, you could probably sing it. You know, Ashamed of Thee.
Ashamed of Thee. How could I be ashamed of you?
You know what I'm talking about? ashamed of thee, but there's
a song in there. Savior, could I be ashamed of
thee? Me, a mortal man, be ashamed of thee? He said, Dias, not denied
my name. People deny the name of Christ
every single day. Peter denied it three times.
He just denied that I know him. But did our Lord forsake him?
No. No, he didn't. And what he's
saying, you've not denied my name. You've not denied your
relationship with me. You've not denied that I'm God.
You've not denied that I'm the Christ. You've not denied that
I'm the Savior. You've not denied that I've got
the name above every name. You've not denied the name that
the only name whereby a man must be saved is through my name.
You've not denied my name. You own me as I've revealed myself
to you. As I've made myself known to
you, you've not denied me. And I tell you it didn't deny
me in word, didn't deny me in your works, didn't deny me in
your practice. You know, there's some people
that's called infidels and some people deny the power. But our
Lord says you did not deny my name. Now I feel like I've denied
the Lord's name several times in my lifetime. Not stood up
for Him like I should have. Not spoken of Him like I should
have in front of people. Not been strong as I ought to
have been. Wise as I ought to have been. But He tells us here we've not
denied His name. Not denied who He is. What He
did. Who He did it for. And I tell
you, I want you to see, I haven't seen this in a long time. Over
in Titus, Titus is right before the book of Hebrews. Look what
it says here. Let me read this to you. In Titus
chapter 1 and verse 15. Talk about denying the name of
Christ. Oh, we don't, we've not denied my name. He said in verse 15, unto the
pure, all things are pure. Those who know Christ, those
who know God, all things are pure. But unto them that are
defiled and unbelieving, nothing's pure. But even their mind and
conscience is defiled. Listen now, they profess that
they know God, but in works, they deny Him. being abominable
and disobedient unto every good work, reprobate. Christ said
you've not done that. You've not done that. You're
not that way. And then look what he promises
his church over here in verse 9. This is a mysterious thing right
here. He said, Behold, I'll make them of the synagogue of Satan,
which says they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold,
I'll make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that
I have loved thee. Now he made a promise to this
church. He said, I'll make them of the synagogue of Satan to
say they are Jews. You know what I'm going to make
them do? I'm going to make them come and bow down at your feet
and worship before thy feet. He said, I'm going to make them
come and worship before your feet. That's it. Make somebody come
and worship before these feet? Your feet? That's what he tells
them, ain't it? I'm going to make them come and
worship before your feet. I'm going to make your enemies
worship before your feet. And then listen, he says, you
know what? They say they're Jews. They say they're God's chosen
people. They say they're elect. They love to pray great prayers. They love to read the scriptures.
Love to put them on their clothes. And you know, the enemies of
Christ are the enemies of His church. Our Lord He said time
and again, he said, if you did it unto me, but least of these
my brethren, you've done it unto me. And when he put Paul down
on the Damascus road, he said, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute
me? When he's persecuting the Lord's
people, he's persecuting him. And that's what he's saying here,
he said, them people that's against you, he said, I'm gonna make
them, they say they're Jews, they say they're God's elect.
And our Lord Jesus told a bunch one time, He said, oh, we're
Abraham's seed. He said, if you were Abraham's
seed, you'd believe, you'd do what Abraham did. You'd believe
me. But you're not Abraham's children. He said, we've never
been in bondage. He said, oh no, you're not Abraham's
children. You know what you are? You are
of your father the devil. And the deeds of your father
you're going to do. He says, but He that heareth the truth is
free, and he that is free, the Son makes free, is free indeed.
And so he comes here and he says, they say they're Jews. Swerve
them down, they're Jews. And you know Jews don't go to
church, they go to synagogue. You notice it says synagogue
here. They call their building synagogues. And he said, but
they're of the synagogue of Satan. A synagogue where Satan is? A synagogue where people meet
called Satan? He said, but they say they're
Jews. But he said, they're just lying. They're lying. They do lie. They're not Jews. They don't know me. They're not
related to me. They're not related to anybody.
They're the synagogue of Satan. And their profession, everything
about it was a lie. But the true church of the Lord
Jesus Christ worships in spirit, worships in truth, worships by
Christ, worships Christ and Christ alone. And he's going to make
them know who his true people are. Look what he says. He said,
they'll come and worship before thy feet. And listen to this.
And you know what they're going to know? He said, they're going
to know that I have loved you. He said when they come down they're
gonna know that I've loved you. I loved you. I loved you And
then look what he says in verse 11. Oh, you're talking about
perseverance or first 10, excuse me verse 10 He said because that
has kept the worse of my patience You know when he talks about
the word of his patience, you know our Lord Jesus Christ He
was so patient You know, he told his mother, my hour has not yet
come. How many times did he say, my
hour has not yet come, my hour has not yet come, my hour has
not yet come. And how patient he was with these
people. How patient he was with his disciples. How patient he was with them.
He said, how long am I going to have to suffer you? Oh, he
was so patient with them. And he says, you kept the word
of my patience. You've kept the word of my patience.
You've kept the word. And the gospel is a word of patience. We wait and we wait. Wait on
the Lord. Be still and know that I am God.
Wait, wait, wait, I say. And the gospel is a word of patience.
We wait. God's patience with the world.
You know how patient and how long-suffering God is with this
world. I heard a big business man say
one time, he said, it's a good thing I ain't God. Well, it sure
is. But he's so patient. One of the
most precious, precious attributes of God to me is his longsuffering. His longsuffering. The fact that
he is patient with me. Patient with me. There's rarely,
rarely a time, and I hope you take this the right way, but
there's rarely a time that every time I get ready to preach, I
say, Lord, what in the world am I doing here? What am I doing
here? I got no business doing this.
I need to be doing something else. But Christ is patient with
me. Christ, look how He's patient
in His sufferings. How patient was our Lord in His
sufferings? They slapped Him. They beat Him.
They mocked Him. Put a purple robe on Him. Put
a crown on His head. Bowed down. Gave Him a wreath
for a scepter. Bowed down and said, Hail King
of the Jews. Mocked Him. Made fun of Him.
Slapped Him. Said, Tell me. They put a blindfold on Him and
slapped Him. Said, Now tell us who slapped you? And He never opened His mouth.
You know when He opened His mouth and when He said something? When
Pilate said, don't you know I've got power to let you go and I've
got power to let you crucify you? And he said, you've got
no power. You've got no power. He said, the only power you've
got is what my father gave you in heaven. You ain't got no power.
And he says, he said, if my people, if my kingdom was this world,
I said, are you a king? He said, if my kingdom was of
this world, He says, my people would fight, but my kingdom is
not of this world. Not of this world. And I tell
you what, He was patient in His suffering, patient in His death,
and we patiently, patiently, patiently wait for His power
to convert His people here. We patiently wait for Him to
give us His presence. We patiently wait for his appearing
and one of his days, bless his holy name, he is going to come.
He is going to come. And then look what he said, here's
another promise that he made. Because thou hast 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. He said, I'm going to keep you.
He said, that's going to be a great, great, great temptation. It's
going to come over the whole world. The whole world. To try them that dwell upon the
earth. But he said, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going
to keep you from that. Everybody else is going to be
tried, but I'm going to keep you from it. I'm going to try the
whole world. But I'm going to keep you from
that hour. I'm going to keep you from it. You know Isaiah
43 says this, when thou goest through the fire, it shall not
burn you. When thou goest through the river,
it shall not overflow you. When thou goest through the water,
it shall not harm you. Why? Because he said, I have
redeemed you. I have redeemed you. So whatever
happens, he said, except those days have been shortened. no
flesh should be saved but for the elect's sake I have shortened
that time for the elect's sake I've done that and he said it's
going to try the whole world and I tell you I hope I don't
offend anybody listening or hearing either one but people who won't
keep the gospel in times of prosperity and peace like we have now They
won't keep it when they're being tried. If you don't keep it now,
and believe it now, and need it now, in times of peace and
prosperity, you certainly won't keep it when you're being tried. And I think that's true. I think
it's true. And then look what our Savior
said now. He said, behold, I come quickly.
He said that one other place. The last verse of the New Testament.
He said, behold, I come quickly. You know what John said? Amen.
He was so calm over Jesus. He said, behold, I come quickly.
Because he said, I'm going to, you know, you got to keep my
patience, the word of my patience. Behold, I come quickly. And I tell you what, hold fast
to what you have. He said, no man take your crown. Hold fast to what you have. When
that hour of trial comes, hold fast to what you have. Because
I'm coming to save and I'm coming to judge. I'm coming to reward
and I'm coming to punish. And don't falter. And don't lose
the crown of life and don't lose the crown of righteousness. I'm
going to tell you what I think now. You know, I believe I can
prove this from scripture. But we have the crown of life.
We're wearing it right now. Christ is our crown of life.
We're wearing the crown of life right now. And also we have a
crown of righteousness. Because we only have one righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ. And when we get there, He said
He'll give us a crown of righteousness. Now, there's not going to be
a literal crown put up on our heads. And there ain't going
to be no literal crown. So what He's talking about is,
is that I'll... It's like the hoary hair is an
old man's crown. Glory. And he said that's the
way I think it will be. I believe right now we have the
crown of life. Christ is our crown of life.
We have life. He said hold fast to that life.
Hold fast to that life. You know I started working out
in 1994. So I don't know how many years
that's been to now. And I still do it. And people
ask me, you know, why in the world do you keep up with that?
And I said, what are you doing over here? I said, I'm just trying
my best to hold on one little bit I've got. That's what I do. I'm trying to keep from backing
up. You know, I'm just trying to hold on. Just hold on. Keep on with it. You know, and
that's what our Lord said, you hold fast. Don't go back. Don't back up a hair's breadth.
Don't go back. Let no man take you crowned.
Don't let man deceive you and take you crowned. And listen
to what he says here. This is amazing to me. Him that
overcometh. I preached that this morning.
How do we overcome? By faith. By believing that Jesus
is the Son of God. I'm going to make a pillar in
the temple of my God. Oh my, something is a pillar,
something is permanent and will abide. He said, I'm going to
make him a pillar in the temple of my God. What is that temple? It's the
church of God. It's the church of Christ. It's
the church that God died for. He said, I'm going to make him
a pillar in the temple of my God. And listen to this, and
I'm going to write upon him the name of my God. He said, you
know what God's name is? I am that I am. Huh? And look what else he says. And
I'm going to write upon him the name of the city of my God. He's
going to do. He's going to make us a pillar. He's going to write
the name of God upon us. He's going to write the name
of the city of my God on us, which is New Jerusalem, which
comes down out of heaven from my God. And I'll write upon him
my new name. Four things he's going to write
on us. At any second you know, I'll
make a pillar. You won't have to go out no more.
You won't have to find a dwelling place. You'll be right where
I want you. And I'll tell you what's something to do. And that
pillar and what's going to be inscribed upon us is the name
of the eternal God. I am that I am. That heavenly
city, that new Jerusalem, that city of peace, that city of righteousness. And you know what the name of
Christ is? The Word of God, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. He said, I'm going to write it.
I'm going to give you a name. Take my name and put it on you.
And then look what he said, He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says unto the churches. I'll tell you, there's
more there than I can possibly get out of it. I could have just
whipped the seed. Key of David would have been
enough to try to get through it for Christ's sake. Our Father, in the precious name
of our Lord Jesus, thank you for being so gracious, so merciful
to us today. Thank you for your word. Thank
you for the truth as it is in Christ. Lord, please enable me by your
grace to be faithful, to be true, to be honest with myself, be
honest with those I preach to, be faithful to them in love,
faithful to them in prayer, faithful to them in love. Oh God, increase
our love for one another, protect us and preserve us, Be merciful
and gracious to those who right now are in an hour of trial.
A great hour of trial. We pray for them. Pray for your
blessings, your strength, your grace to be upon them. For we
know it's sufficient. Lord, as your people go out,
preserve them. As they come in, preserve them.
Lord, you said you know our going out and our coming in, our down
setting and our uprising. And so, Lord, we are conscious
of you when we go. We go down, we get up. We go in, we go out. We're conscious
of you and your power, your grace, your mercy for us. So, Lord,
please keep your people, save your people in this place, and
do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord for saving my
soul Thank you, Lord for making me whole Thank you, Lord for
giving to me Thy great salvation so rich and free. I'll see you Wednesday, God willing.