In the fall of 1985, the Castleberry Lions were playing the Wichita Falls Hirschi Huskies at Hirschi Field under Friday night lights. By halftime, it wasn’t pretty. I believe the score was about 35-0 and it was obvious that the Huskies were bigger, faster, stronger and just plain better at football than the Lions.
In the halftime speeches and preparations for the next half, the coaches were just trying to do damage control. “Maybe if we do such and such, we can minimize their scoring.” “Maybe if we do everything right and nothing wrong, maybe it won’t be quite as bad as the first half. Maybe.” Nobody was talking about winning. Most of the coaches and the players were thinking about just trying to survive.
But I have always been an optimist. I looked around at all the sad faces. I recognized defeat in my teammates’ eyes and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I stood up and gave the best motivational speech you’ve ever heard a seventeen-year old give. I told them that I still believed in them. I knew it wouldn’t be easy and that we were outplayed in the first half but that the second half was for winners. We had prepared all our lives for just such a time and I believed we could win this game if we go out and give it all we had. Who is with me?! And we all yelled our best war cries and stormed onto the field ready to fight like the lions we were.
I’ll spare you the play by play but I believe the final score was 56-7 or so and the only reason we got 7 was because they were literally putting in their third and fourth string players. I’m pretty sure I saw the water boy suit up and take some snaps. I think I tackled a middle school girl at one point and I just barely caught her. Those kids were fast!
But I’m still an optimist. Like I said last week, I sincerely believe that this church’s best days are ahead of us. I still pray and believe that God is going to use this church to bring revival to Wise County. I see and believe that God is using us to minister to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated. I believe every Sunday that this is the day somebody walks down this aisle and asks Jesus to change their life. I still believe.
But I have to admit that sometimes I feel like I am back in Wichita Falls and it’s the fourth quarter. When I look around and see defeat in the eyes of fellow church members, it hurts. When I see friends and family giving up on living a victorious life, it scares me. When I see some people just trying to survive, it frustrates me. Jesus said He came to give us a full and abundant life (John 10:10) and yet so many people live to work and work for the weekend and have no real life at all.
I hate to give bad news on top of bad news but as the military says, the only easy day was yesterday. It is only going to get harder to live for Jesus as the days go on. The world is not getting any better and we can expect to truly be persecuted for living as Christians in this world as we see people in other countries are right now.
But here is the good news. We have a door of opportunity right now, today where we live and work and play to make a difference in this world. We can’t change what we have done in the past and we can’t predict the future but we can be change-enablers for right now. We can’t change everybody but at the least; at the very minimum we can change the lives of our kids and grandkids because if we don’t then the world will. I say we have a door of opportunity because that is how Jesus described it to the church in Philadelphia.
Turn to Revelation 3 and let’s read what Jesus told John to write to this church. No, it was not in Pennsylvania. It was in Asia and would be modern-day Turkey and this city was built for the purpose of evangelism. The problem was it wasn’t for Christianity. It was for the purpose of building up the name and reputation of Greece. The Greeks built this city at a popular crossroads and so whenever anybody came or went through Philadelphia, the Philadelphians would spread the so-called good news about how great Greece was.
They had done a good job of it too. Most people in the area spoke Greek and thought of themselves as citizens of Greece so that was working for the city. What wasn’t working was the earthquakes that plagued the city. At one point, the whole city was destroyed and nobody wanted to go back because of the after-shocks made them wonder if it was going to happen again.
This was a small church in that city. They didn’t have a lot of physical or financial resources so maybe we at Christ Fellowship can relate to what they are told by Jesus. Let’s read Revelation 3:7-13.
To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars-I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. 11I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. 13Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
In preparing for this message, I read a sermon by Dr. W.A. Criswell and was glad to agree with him that there are parts of this that are hard to understand. I believe this goes for all the Book of Revelation because the revelation that is talked about is the revelation of Jesus Himself. In this book, Jesus tells John and tells us some things that we just can’t relate to because we have never seen it or experienced it nor has anybody else so we just have to believe that when Jesus makes a promise, it will be an unbelievably wonderful promise and a promise that absolutely will be fulfilled.
But what we can understand in this passage is that Jesus tells this church His authority to say what He says, then He gives them a challenge and then closes with a promise for them if they complete the challenge. This is one of the two churches that Jesus found no problem with and so instead of reprimanding them for anything, He challenges them and us to make use of the time and that’s where I want to concentrate this morning.
But look again at verse 7. These are the words of him who is holy and true. Holy and true is Jesus just confirming His divinity. He is acknowledging that He is God. All through scripture, God is called holy and while He commands us to be holy as He is holy (Lev. 11:44), it is not, nor ever will be our title. It is a title of God. In Isaiah 6, the seraphs proclaim God’s holiness all around His throne all the time. The word “holy” means different or set apart and that is exactly what God is.
In the Greek, there are two words for our word “true” and one means not false and the other means real. While God is both of those, it is the word that means real that is used here and so Jesus is saying that He has the authority to say these things because He is the holy and real God and what God says is truth.
Jesus goes on to say that He holds the key of David. In the Old Testament when the temple was still called the House of David, then king Hezekiah had a faithful servant named Eliakim who controlled all access to the king. He was very protective of the king and the king knew he could be trusted and God said in Isaiah 22 that He would give Eliakim the key to the house of David and what he shall open none shall shut and what he shuts none will open. That was the highest honor for Eliakim and here Jesus says that He now holds the key because He goes on to speak of an open door for this church in Philadelphia.
So, let’s camp out in verse 8 for a little while. In fact, let’s personalize this verse. Let’s pretend that Jesus is writing this to Christ Fellowship as He very well could be. He says, “Hey Christ Fellowship family, 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
What does an open door signify? It signifies opportunity, right? I think I’ve told this story before but years and years ago I worked for Western Hauler in Ft. Worth customizing trucks. We did almost everything inside and out to these trucks and there was a lot of work done on them. I worked with several other guys and, to my knowledge, none of them were believers but I was especially concerned about one man.
Rick had done a lot of drugs and been in and out of prison and was now just trying to get by in life without messing up. Maybe some of you can relate to that. I had talked to him about God before and I knew he had read the Bible some but I kept praying that God would give me the opportunity to really witness to him.
Finally that day came. Rick was underneath a truck working on something and I saw that my job would have me under the same truck working on something else so I went to praying. “Okay, Lord. Here we go. Just give me the words and I will give you all the glory. Just tell me what to say.”
But as I gathered up all my tools to do the job, all I kept hearing from God was, “Say something about church.” So I started praying harder and explaining to God what the situation was. “Lord, I have this great opportunity. Just tell me what to say. What scriptures should I use? You just tell me and I’ll tell him.” But all I got from God was, again, “Say something about church.”
I have to be honest. As I got my creeper and slid up underneath that truck, I was kind of mad. God obviously doesn’t understand the seriousness of the situation. He doesn’t realize that I don’t know what to say and that if He doesn’t give me the words…then what? “Say something about church.” So I did.
With the worst attitude and with the least amount of energy and enthusiasm, I simply said, “Rick, we had a good day at church yesterday.” And I thought, “There, God, do something with that!” And He did. Rick put down his tools, turned on his creeper and propped himself up on an elbow and said, “Really? Tell me about it.”
So, I told him about church but that led to talking about Jesus and Heaven and Hell and grace and repentance and we just had the best time and I never had to struggle with what to say one time. Now, I don’t know that Rick ever accepted Jesus as his Savior but I planted a seed and learned a very important lesson.
The lesson that Jesus wanted the church in Philadelphia to learn and the lesson that Jesus wants the church in Lake Bridgeport to learn is found in verse 8. Before verse 8, Jesus tells them His authority and after verse 8 He gives them promises but the gist of the letter; the main thing is found in verse 8. 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Philadelphia was a small church but a strategic church. They were able to minister to people that a lot of other churches couldn’t. They didn’t have a lot of power or money or people but Jesus says, “Look, I am God. I am the Creator of the universe and I am the one that put before you an open door.” The thing I find hard to believe about this is that the name Christ Fellowship isn’t actually mentioned because it sure sounds like Jesus could be speaking to us.
The greatest missionary that ever lived, the Apostle Paul, talked a lot about open doors in his ministry. In 1 Corinthians 16, he says, “For a wide door for effective work has opened for me.” In 2 Corinthians 2, he said as he came to Troas that the Lord opened a door for him. He asked the Colossian church to pray that a door of utterance would be opened for him. (Col. 4:3) In Acts 14, he told how God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
Paul was praying for, asking for and expecting doors to be opened to him so he could spread the Gospel and because he was praying, asking and expecting it, he was able to recognize those open doors and was able to spread the Gospel all over the known world. Paul found open doors where most of us would only see brick walls. Paul was blessed by God to see and go through those open doors and because he did, Paul’s treasures in Heaven are literally out of this world.
But I hear ya. You aren’t Paul. I’m not either. Paul was one of a kind. We see Paul as kind of a spiritual Superman compared to the rest of us so it’s kind of unfair to compare us. I get it. You are right. You aren’t Paul but this letter wasn’t written to Paul. It was written to a small, weak church in the middle of a carnal, hateful, selfish, sinful world.
Jesus said, “I know that you have little strength.” I know you aren’t Superman but I’m not asking you to do what Superman did. I am putting a special, custom door in front of you and I expect you to walk through it. The good news about this is, you don’t even do that in your own strength. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” We have talked about this before. That doesn’t mean necessarily that Christ will give you strength to make a million dollars unless He calls you to make a million dollars. But when He puts an open door in front of you, He supplies everything you need to walk through it. He gives you the strength, the money, the time, the talent and whatever else it takes.
We talked last week about all the ministries this church is involved in. Like every Christian church we are called to make disciples all over the world but this church, as we have acknowledged many times, is called to minister specifically to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated. That’s not my idea. That’s not something the Leadership Team came up with. That is just the door that God opened to us and it is obvious. In doing that, we have a food pantry and a jail ministry. We go to the RV park down the road. We are involved in the Discipleship House in Bridgeport. We pack shoeboxes for children overseas. We tithe to other missions that do similar things. Those are just some of the doors that God has put before us. The question is, are you walking through those doors?
What about your personal doors of opportunity? What about your kids and grandkids? You ought to be praying, asking and expecting doors to open for you to tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ and what He has done in your life. Babies ought to hear the name of Jesus being sung as they go to sleep way more often than hearing about boughs breaking and cradles falling.
The thing about open doors that we all need to remember is that they don’t stay open. It has taken seven years of our church making the contacts that God gives us for some of these doors to open. But they may slam shut tomorrow and never open again. What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for more motivation? Go back to verse 11 of Revelation 3. I’ll be honest. I read a bunch of commentaries on verses 12 and 13 and I’m not real sure what some of that is really going to look like but I understand verse 11.
In verse 11, Jesus says, “I am coming soon!” He is coming soon and He is bringing His rewards with Him and He wants us to have them and He says they are great but I tell you what I want more than eternal blessings and that is to have all my friends and family with me in Heaven. I want our neighbors there. I even want my enemies there. You know how to make an enemy into a friend? Show them and then tell them the love of Jesus and I promise it will be way harder for them to hate you.
But that door is not going to be open much longer. That door has closed to people in China and Viet Nam and even in the country that is now where the city of Philadelphia was. There is no Christian church in Turkey to speak of. God closed that door. It will close for you too one of these days. Are you walking through the doors that God has opened for you?
Today there is a door open just for you to walk through and allow Jesus to be Lord of your life and all you have to do is believe in Him. That belief will be obvious as your life changes. When you submit to Him and repent of your sinful lifestyle, asking God to forgive you of all your sin, you walk through that door into an eternity of blessing. I believe someone today needs to do that right now as the music plays.
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