Hang In There Series

The Church On Trial Pt. 6

Hang In There

Revelation 3:7-13

7) 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. 8) I 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. 9) I 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. 10) Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. 11) I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12) Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him 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 him my new name. 13) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

As we started out saying, we started dealing with the thought the church on trial. We started over in Revelation chapter 2 where we began with the church at Ephesus. And the question if you will that God asked the church at Ephesus was “what does love have to do with it.” We found out that love has everything to do with it.

For the bible say if you love me, you will obey all of my commands. And I can tell there is a love issue in the church even today. Because the Bible says that the day will come when the love of men will go waxen cold. In other words, what God is saying that in these last days, I’m not going to be able to tell beyond a shadow of a doubt if it is live or is it Memorex. There are people who are talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

We are living in a day and age when the church appears to have lost it power because those in the church are not connected to the power source. We are living in an age when people are claiming that they are saved, born again and washed in the blood, but yet church is not a priority. We rather be out on the golf course, on Sunday. We don’t see bible study as important. We rather be watching the NFL or the NBA, where we ought to be watching something that is more conducive in helping us learn how to be righteous.

We are living in a day and age where secularism has permeated in the church. So now you can’t tell if it’s entertainment or if it is real. So God asked a question of the church of Ephesus. He says, “What does love have to do with it?” And he found them guilty because he says they have left their first love.

But then God didn’t stop there my brothers and sisters. But what God also did is that he brought the church at Smyrna to the witness stand if you will. And he found out that Smyrna, once he analyzed them and he interrogated them, he said that Smyrna is what you call a storm survivor.

I’m looking to see if there are any storm survivors here on today. I’m talking about one that has been through some stuff. One that has been afflicted. One that has gone through some things in your personal life. And yet you thought that you wouldn’t make it just like the church at Smyrna. And yet they survive by the grace of God.

And so he said listen I looked at you and you have stuck in there when people have abandoned you. When people have walked away from you. And even when those that are closest to you have stabbed you in the back, but yet you’ve held up the blood stained banner. So I have decreed and declared that you are a storm survivor.

I’m looking for some storm survivors up in here on today that can say Pastor I’ve been there. I’ve had it, where sometimes the friends are with me, but then sometimes they are away. I’ve had it where my name has been assassinated out in the streets. I’ve had people saying one thing and up in my face the next day. But and yet I’ve learned how to make it. But it’s not by my own, but it’s by the grace of God.