Please take your Bibles and go to Revelation chapter 3 if you would please, Revelation chapter 3. been several messages in the last couple of months that we have really emphasized love, love of the brethren, Christian love. And of course, this is really addressing the church of Philadelphia. And we know that Philadelphia is known as the city of brotherly love. So I'd like to read from verses seven to 13 of Revelation chapter three. The Lord says, and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 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 and 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. The city of Philadelphia was an interesting city in that it sat upon a geological fault. In other words, through its history, it had really succumbed to many earthquakes. In fact, at about 12, I believe, B.C., we find that it was totally destroyed by an earthquake. And so it's interesting that people would congregate in that area. In fact, when that final earthquake hit the city of Philadelphia, it also took out nine other cities in that area, including Sardis. If you look at your Bible map, you'll see in that particular part of Turkey, which we look at modern day Turkey, which in your Bible is known as Asia Minor, will find that a lot of scriptural activity took place there. A lot of local churches were started around that area. And the reason for that is Philadelphia was known as the Little Athens because of its preponderance of many gods and temples made to those gods. And it was also a gateway, they say, to the east. So a lot of the goods that would come from Europe and on down, they would come in through Ephesus and other port cities, and then they would flow east. And so a lot of trading would take place in those particular areas. we see in some of the maps in the back of your Bible. And the reason I say the back of the Bible is because that's something that pretty much if you do have a scripture, they have those maps and you can readily look back there and sort of see what we're talking about. And you'll have one particular map usually that has the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul. And so we're looking at John's writing here in the book of Revelation. However, you'll see how strategically located these clusters of churches were that John is addressing here in the book of Revelation. He's got a message for each one of these particular cities. This is one of the cities, Philadelphia, that really no criticism is leveled against this particular church, as well as the church in Smyrna. So out of seven of the churches that were addressed, we find that two of them escaped the judgment, I guess, of God because of the fact that they were doing a lot of right things. And so we want to look at this particular church as well. I've entitled the message, The Church of Brotherly Love. And what I'm not trying to do in this study, when we preach through the book of Revelation, we spent a lot of detailed time going through and we were really searching out and exegeting all the various phrases and what each phrase meant. I'm trying to take an overall view of the particular letter and then apply it to Pimino Valley Baptist Church. And so we can learn things from the way these letters are addressed, some of the positives and the negatives that are addressed in these churches so that we can say, hey, does anything around here fit that particular mold that we need to improve upon or we're doing some things right and we need to keep doing it right? And so our model for the church is a church with a heart for God and people. A church with a heart for God and people. Not only is this a worthy model, but I would also say that it's something to strive to live by. that we ought to indeed be a church with a heart for God, as well as a church with a heart for people. Because if we have a church with a heart for God, we will also be a church with a heart for people. Because God loves people. I mean, that's why Jesus Christ came. He didn't come to redeem the world. He's gonna make a new heaven and a new earth. He came to save his people from their sins. the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." And there's a cliche phrase that's used and probably overused. It says, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And so one of the things we have to really ask ourselves is how are we doing? How are we doing, Christian, in regards to extending the love of Christ to a lost and dying world? But in light of the Church of Philadelphia, how are we doing in spreading the love of Christ amongst ourselves? How are we doing about expressing our love one to another? We call ourselves brothers and sisters in Christ around here and we shake hands, but does it emanate from a true heart of love and care and concern? In Galatians chapter six and verse 10, we find this particular verse, as we have therefore opportunity, Okay, now this is Paul writing to the churches of Galatia, which we know Galatia is a little bit further east of the seven churches that are being written about in the book of Revelation. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men. So in other words, as you're moving around society and maybe working or driving down the road and you find people in need and you have a heart of compassion and you wanna help them, maybe their car breaks down or they need food or something along those lines, that's fine, that's good, but it says, really it says, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. And once again, we ought to be concerned about our brothers and sisters in Christ in our midst that are in need. And we need to recognize that, and we need to be observant of our brothers and sisters around us. Now, notice the progression. It's interesting how the progression in this letter is from verses 7 to 13. He starts really with, I would say, a positive. He uses what I call the sandwich method, you know? He says something positive, then he deals with the potential problem. In this case, he's given some good aspects of this church, and then he follows that up with more positive statements. And we find here that in verse 7 it says, and do the angel of the church in Philadelphia write? So we know that Jesus is addressing the pastor of the church and he's going to give this letter to the pastor and the pastor is to take that letter and read it to the church. And you know, that really struck me because in view of preaching for these many years, you know, we speak a lot. And the central focus of our preaching is to be not our own opinion, but the Word of God. We find, if you'll look at the scriptures from Revelation 1, we'll look here in verse 9, And I, John, or I should say, I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the isle that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou see is right in a book. and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. So here this letter is being dictated to John. John's writing these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. These are God-breathed words. He's not adding his own verbiage to it. And we find that he's writing these things and he's sending it to these seven churches. And so the pastors that get up and read these words. Let's take our Bibles and just, I'm gonna flip right over to 2 Timothy. And I read this in Sunday school and I know we read and reference this passage of scripture a lot, but I'm gonna drop also into chapter four. And I want to begin reading here in verse 15, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, this is 2 Timothy 3, verse 15, which are able to make thee wise into salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Chapter four, verse one. I charge thee therefore, because we have the inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God, we find here that now he gives a command. The charge is a very strong militaristic word. He says, I charge thee therefore. What's the therefore therefore? It connects us with what just was preceding. And that is uplifting the word of God. And he says, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick, that's the alive, those that are alive, and the dead at his appearing, those that have already gone on to their reward, so to speak, at his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word. Preach the word. So one thing we know that ought to be central when the church gets together is the preaching of the word of God. That may seem like a light thing in many circles, especially in these modern times, because we find that there's a whole lot of entertainment that happens, and then just a little devotional attached to the end. And I'm saying sometimes those devotionals, they're good devotionals. They've got good sayings and things of that nature. My friend, but we need to preach the Word. We need to proclaim the Word. The main reason we're here is to proclaim the Word of God. What does God say? Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season. What he means there is when it's convenient and when it's not convenient, when it strokes us as well as when it spanks us, we are to preach the Word of God. And the Word of God at times will bring conviction, the Word of God will bring correction, but it will also give us instruction. And so we see, preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. And what that means is, we keep preaching and keep preaching and we keep preaching and we keep preaching. We sing this song, tell me the old, old story. And of course that song is talking about the gospel, but we are to what? Teach them to observe all things whatsoever he has commanded. They're the third prong of the great commission. And so we're to exhort with all long suffering, keep preaching the word of God, constantly reminding us of what God has said. He says, for the time will come, I think it's already here. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. In that word, sound doctrine is talking about healthy doctrine. What's healthy doctrine? Healthy doctrine, sound doctrine, is the Word of God. It's the teaching of the Scriptures. He says, but after their own lust, shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." A lot of people say, well, I don't like setting such a church because of the fact that, you know, it doesn't have this kind of a program or that kind of a program, or it doesn't do enough of this or enough of that. The fact of the matter is it ought to be because the Word of God is held up. So if we did nothing more than come into church, sit here in the chairs and preacher get up and preach the Word of God, that should be enough. That should be enough to draw us to say, what is God saying to me? He says, heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. I always say, you know, they want people to tell them what they wanna hear, not what they need to hear. And then it says, and they shall turn away. Notice, they, the crowd, shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. Isn't it amazing how quickly people will believe a lie rather than grab hold of the truth? And we find that that's exactly what the scripture says. And I believe behind that are the deceiving spirits. That the devil is working and he's moving and he's trying to lead folks astray as we see from Acts chapter 20 and following. He says, shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou, that means be on guard. Doesn't mean just observe it. It means you need to be alert to this. because the devil's trying to get to you too. And he says, but watch thou in all things. Notice that, all things, all things, every area of your life, you need to be on guard. He says, endure afflictions. Make sure that you have a spirit of endurance in the Christian life, that you hang in there when the going gets tough. Jesus hung in there when the going got tough. He made himself of no reputation. He took on him the form of a servant. And we find through that three and a half years of public ministry, I mean, he suffered immensely. He lost sleep. He was hungry. We find that ultimately he was betrayed by those he loved, and those abandoned him in the hour of his need, that he spent three and a half years training to be the bedrock for the New Testament church. And then we find him going through the Garden of Gethsemane and sweating, as it were, great drops of blood. We find him going through the suffering, the broken body that we just remembered during the communion service, and then taking of the juice, remembering the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving his very life for us. He says, endure afflictions. And it's interesting that when you go back to the book of Revelation, that John is one who had been dipped in a vat of oil, according to Foxe's Book of Martyrs and other historical record. And then he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, which was known for its salt mines. And you can imagine the Mediterranean breeze, how it must have stung as he blistered there in the hot sun and with the salt mines around and the water there. And yet he was enduring afflictions. And he gave us the scriptures here, amen? He said, do the work of an evangelist. In other words, reach out, spread the gospel, tell others about Jesus. Make full proof of thy ministry. For Paul says, for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. You know, I know these two verses I'm reading now are used a lot in funerals. It says, but I have to ask myself when I read this, for I am now ready to be offered. That is an outstanding statement, really. You think about Paul, all that he went through. First of all, he's the chiefest of sinners. But he experienced the forgiveness of God. And now he comes to this particular point in his life. I mean, he's preached, he's started churches, he's counseled people, he's counseling Timothy now in the writing here, and he says, I'm now ready to be offered. He says, in the time of my departure at hand, he says, I don't have many more days. He didn't know exactly when he would die, but he knew that he had less in front of him than he had in back of him. He says, I have fought a good fight. Wow, I have to ask myself, have I fought a good fight? Have I endured afflictions? I have finished my course. That's a statement when he can say, I am done. I've done what God left me here to do. I think of Evangelist Bill Rice. I've told this story before. My dad exercised him. He had suffered a stroke. And he's the founder of the Bill Rice Ranch in Murfreesboro, a ministry to the deaf. And they ministered to a lot of teenagers through the years. And there are a lot of people in ministry who really gave their lives in dedication to the Lord through the ministry of the Bill Rice Ranch. He had gone down to Florida and went through some hyperbaric chamber treatments, and he'd gone to see some other specialists that would try to help him recover from his stroke. And my dad would go and help exercise him just about every morning. And that particular morning, he exorcised Dr. Bill. And then of course, he left to go back to the office to work. And we find that later on, the story is told that he was there with Kathy, he called her princess and said, it's finished. And she said, what are you talking about, Bill? He said, it's finished. My work here is done. And that day he died. I mean, just astounding. Here is the Apostle Paul. He's penning his last letter, and he says these words, I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. I not only want to start right, I want to continue right, and I want to finish right. And that means that I'm gonna have to endure. I'm gonna have to go through some things, but I need to keep going through them, trusting God every single day. And look at the reward that awaits us. Henceforth, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. And what's special about that, we say, well, of course, you're the Apostle Paul. I mean, look what all you did with your life. But then he says this, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. To love the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have to be ready. You have to be ready. You have to be doing what you know God wants you to do. So we have to ask ourselves, are we ready? We have to always be ready because the coming of the Lord, as we'll see in just a moment, is imminent. It could happen at any time. The rapture could happen or the He could take you in death. Are you ready? Are you ready? So the pastor, as we go back to our text passage of scripture, takes the truth of this letter, the letter itself, the body of this letter, and he gives it to the church. And this also will go around to other churches and it comes to us. Now notice the pattern. The pattern, the method of the modern church to follow has not changed since the time of Jesus Christ. We need to understand that. Centuries come, centuries go, but the way the church ought to operate stays the same. I wrote this in light of some of the contemporary stuff that's going on. I say one of the many problems with the contemporary movement is they used methodology which originated from the world to set the stage for worship. Our God is not of this world. Jesus came to provide a difference, a difference in salvation and a difference in sanctification. And what we find happening is when they are dimming the lights, And they are bluing the lights and they're darkening everything and using the world's music. What are they doing? They're taking that which originated in the world and bringing it into the church. And Jesus didn't come to be like the world. He came to show that there's a difference from the world. In fact, he said, come out. from among them and be separate. And he goes on to say, touch not the unclean thing. We need to wrap our heads around the truth of the word of God. And we need to quit trying to tiptoe around this particular issue of separation. And we need to understand that that is a mark of the one world church going and fulfilling the desire of the flesh as we all get together and we have our little rock concerts. and all that kind of stuff. And we dress any way we wanna dress. And let me just say, when you go to meet God, you need to understand, He is King. He is Lord. And one of the reasons why we say, hey, wear your best. Why do you wear your best? Why do people talk about your Sunday best? And I'm not saying you have to dress like me to come to church. But what I'm saying is, there was a understanding and a respect back behind that. And the respect was you're getting ready to go into the very presence of God. And I know what people say, they say, well, we have Jesus in our heart. Yes, but there is the physical aspect of realizing you're going to meet God. And so you want to be at your best and you honor him by doing that. And we find that there's just been a casualness that has just sort of infiltrated the church of Jesus Christ. We have pastors getting up in shorts and flip-flops and things of that nature. God help us with that. We are proclaiming the blessed Word of God. And we ought to stand upon the truth of the Word of God and uphold a high standard, not trying to bring the world, you know, not bringing the church down to the world. We ought to be lifting it up. Amen. Jesus Christ, in this passage of Scripture we see here, he says, these things saith he that is holy. Jesus is addressing the church. And he says, these things saith he that is holy, he that is true. He says, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth. It's interesting that Jesus Christ deems himself and upholds himself as being holy, pure, righteous, and he is true. And his word is truth. Thy word is truth. And so I say here, right doctrine and right living go together. You say, but Jesus, he hobnobbed with the sinners and the Pharisees, and he got criticism because of it. He didn't go to party with them. He went to win them to Jesus Christ to himself. And that's why he says, I came to seek and to save that which was lost. He brought them out of that kind of life. And we find even Zacchaeus, the publican, the tax collector, he came and he had ripped people off with their taxes. But when salvation came to his house, he said, look, thank you, Jesus, for coming to my house. But he didn't come to make Zacchaeus feel good about a sin. He came and said, look, let me show you a better way. Zacchaeus trusted Christ as his Savior, and then when salvation came to his house, he said, you know, if I've taken anything that I shouldn't have taken, I'm gonna restore it fourfold. He said, I'm gonna be honest. Amen. Amen. And that ought to be indicative of our lives as well as believers. Jesus Christ is holy. It's interesting that he talks about the key of David and the keys in the scripture denotes authority. when in Matthew chapter 16, Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom. We find that illustrated when we find that there was Peter on the day of Pentecost who preached the message. So the gospel was really opened up to the Jewish people at that time. The Holy Spirit came in fullness of power and fulfillment of Luke 24, 49, as well as Acts 1, 8. Then we find that there was the, Peter was used to bring the gospel to the Samaritans. And then in chapter 10, the gospel was opened up to the Gentiles. Praise the Lord for that. We have the gospel, amen. And so we find the keys are a symbol of authority. And so it's interesting here in this passage of scripture, where he says that he has the key of David. It seems to reference Isaiah chapter 22 and verse 22, when it's speaking of Eliakon, who was an aid to the king, the son of Hilkiah. And here's what the verse says, and the key of the house of David, while I lay upon his shoulder. So he shall open and none shall shut. And he shall shut and none shall open. You see, Eliakim had the key to all the treasures of the king. And so he was able to allow people to come in and see or to keep them from seeing. He had that authority. So the key here is authority. So Jesus has the authority. Of course, we learned that from Matthew chapter 28. when he says, all power is given to me in heaven and in earth. And so God gave Jesus the authority to give the commands. And so the eternal kingdom was really promised to David. That's why all throughout scripture says that Jesus will sit on the throne of David there in Jerusalem. And so it's interesting how the Bible just dovetails right together, isn't it? And so we see here that God pronounces open doors of opportunity. This is really what I'm trying to get at tonight. And we see this from verse eight, or excuse me, verse seven again. He says, 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 has kept my word and has not denied my name. And so we find here some considerations in this passage of scripture. We see the gospel witness being highlighted and this church of Philadelphia was to continue on in that vein to spread the gospel. In light of Pembina Valley Baptist Church and applying this to our particular congregation, then we need to constantly be aware of the doors of opportunity that God lays before us. He says, when he opens the door, no man can shut it. And the door is also talking about the opportunity that He has given each and every one of us. Folks, He has given us a number of opportunities to give the gospel and to be involved in missionary activity. Let me prove what I'm saying here. In 1 Corinthians 16, in verse nine, the scripture says, Paul's writing, he says, for a great door And effectual, that means active. He says effectual is open unto me and there are many adversaries. And so he says there's some opportunities that God has placed before me and I need your prayers. because of the fact that we have a lot of adversaries. We don't have just one enemy, they come from every side. And of course we see that they strike us physically, they strike us socially, emotionally. I mean, we are under attack. We have many, many adversaries that want to hinder us from giving out the gospel, want to hinder us from sending the gospel around the world. And so that's why we encounter many of the problems that we have, because the devil says, hey, maybe if I do this, he'll quit. Maybe if I do that, she'll stop. And he begins to throw these roadblocks up in our way to say, hey, look, what will it take? And if you have a price to what it will take to stop you, the devil will see that you have that right before you, that you give into that. He'll present it to you. So you ought to just say, I unreservedly surrender everything. That's why he says in Romans chapter 12, he says to make ourselves a living sacrifice. Give it all to Christ. Say, nothing will move me. Amen? It says these words here in 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 12. Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord. So there you find that there was an opportunity that opened up for the Apostle Paul. Colossians 4 and verse 3. With all praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance. to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. So whether Paul was in jail, whether he was on a ship, whether he was on land, whether he was in a synagogue, or in a church house, or a regular house, he took advantage of the opportunities that God placed before him. And that's why you get to Acts chapter 20, and he says, I am pure, free from the blood of all men. What a statement, what a statement. God has blessed Pimino Valley Baptist Church. He's given us a multiplicity of opportunities, open doors. We have the opportunity just by being alive and being recipients of the gospel to give that verbal witness, to go door to door, to minister on the radio, to send out gospel tracts and hand out tracts where we go, to be involved in bearing precious seed, spreading out the word of God around the world. How about Canadian Baptist Bible College and trying to train men and women for the ministry and to be better Christians and to send out missionaries and start New Testament churches. God has seen fit to give us another opportunity. And I don't know how it's all gonna flesh out, but he led us to, as a church, to get involved with Eagle Bay Bible Camp. So how's that gonna, are we gonna grab hold of that opportunity? How about Cana Mera Baptist Missions International? And the various ministries that we're involved in. We have many opportunities. A great door to effectual is opened unto us, and there are many adversaries. Church of Jesus Christ. As we look at Philadelphia and how that they were faithful, we need to remain faithful. We need to remain faithful. We need to remain faithful. And that's not a light characteristic. to be faithful. Jesus is faithful and true, and I sure am glad He is. And we find that the key to the Christian life is faithfulness. It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Be faithful, be faithful. And we find that faithfulness is critical to God's opportunities. And notice here where it says, in verse 80 says, for thou hast a little strength and has kept my word and has not denied my name. In other words, the size of the church is not the issue. The size of the offerings are not the issue. The size of the resources available are not the issue. Remember the boy? with the five loaves and the two small fishes? So the size of the lunch was not the issue. It was giving that to Jesus Christ and watch Him bless it and break it and feed the multitudes. So people say a big church, little church, middle-sized church, whatever, that is not the issue at all. The issue is how are you approaching the opportunities that God is placing before you to fulfill His will? 2 Corinthians chapter 12. I wanna turn there. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. We find here that Paul is given, I believe, a personal testimony. And he essentially says, you know what, when we're the weakest, when we have a little strength, what does that do? I don't have enough strength to do something. I need somebody to come along and help me. And what he's essentially saying is, when we have a little strength, we let God come in, and we get in the harness with God, and it's amazing what he can accomplish. And we see here, it is not, excuse me, it is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory. This is 2 Corinthians 12, verse one. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. How that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. That's astounding. His weaknesses, his frailties, his infirmities, his sicknesses. He says, for though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. Now I would invite you, we're not gonna do it tonight, but I would invite you to look at those last few verses of Scripture, the last 10 or so verses of Scripture from chapter 11 that tells us all that the Apostle Paul went through in his life. He endured. He remained faithful. He didn't quit. And I'm afraid we have a wimpy Christianity today. We're afraid to take a stand for what it may cost us. He says here, and lest I should, verse seven, be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, to beat on me. lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." God knows what's best for us. And even in the negativities of the Christian life, He knows what's best for us. And He allowed this to take place in Paul's life. He said, Paul, You have been privy. See, Paul was blessed with a keen mind. He knew some five languages. He was a very learned man. He sat under some good teaching with Gamaliel. He had a good family heritage. He was born into a family that the man was a Pharisee. He was a Pharisee and my, he had their credentials. He had the connections. He had letters of authority as Acts chapter nine expresses to us. And he was going about cities and people would cave in to his entourage and they would make sure that he was welcome. And they would also say where the Christians were. And he had the authority to bind them and cast them into prison and see some killed. I mean, this man had the world by the tail, so to speak. And he says, in this I think I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. He said he had this thorn in the flesh. God allowed this thorn, whatever it might be, in the last part of Galatians, Galatians chapter six, he closes out by saying that he was writing a large letter. And many Bible scholars believe, because there's only six chapters, it wasn't a long letter, that he probably suffered from eyesight issues. And so, whatever it might be, that's just conjecture. The Bible's not real clear on that. But at the same time, he says, I prayed, and I prayed, and I prayed, and it seemed like heaven was made out of brass. Have you ever prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and God somehow didn't answer your prayer? It's not that necessarily that he's abandoned you, you've searched your heart and you're right with God, but the answer just doesn't seem to come. Could it be that God is trying to do something better in your life, encouraging you? Look what he says here. He says, that it might depart from me, and he said unto me. Now, he didn't hear that the first time. He didn't get that message the second time. The number three is a number of completion. And we find here, it says, and he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. He says, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in mine infirmities. Thank God for the troubles. Thank God for the shipwrecks. Thank God for the beatings. Thank God for the imprisonments. Thank God for the times of fasting and praying and famine and the tears and the agony and the trouble in the churches and outside the churches. He says, thank God for that. A glory in my infirmities. My, he says, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Are you willing? to live a substandard life, to have God's power and presence active in your life? That's not one to answer easily. You need to ponder that. You need to think about that. Wow. And we see here in verse 10, therefore, because he wanted God's power and presence filling his life, He says, therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities. That thorn in the flesh. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was his eyesight where he had to even have some people write for him. It's amazing where he says, thank you, God, that I have trouble with my eyes. Thank you, God, that I'm of small stature. Thank you, God, My speech is contemptible. I find it hard to speak in front of crowds. He says his speech was contemptible. We think because of the writing here that he was somehow an orator, but that's not his testimony and that's not what God says about him. I don't know that Paul was that great of a speaker. And yet he says here, he says, I take pleasure in infirmities, thank God, in reproaches. Who likes to be reproached? Who likes to be made fun of? Who likes to be spoken against? Who likes to be criticized? Nobody likes that in their right mind, I would think. But no, Paul says, hey, I take pleasure. Thank you, God, that you're counting me worthy. Remember the disciples in Acts chapter five? They were beaten for the testimony of Jesus Christ, where the authority said, don't you preach in that name, don't you preach in that name, and they preached in that name. And when they left after being scourged, what happened was is they said, they rejoiced in that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name. Wow, counted worthy. And we find, as we go on, he says, in persecution, in distresses for Christ's sake. Those worrisome times. Those times where we're saying, you know, maybe I need to help God out here. You know, God's not meeting my need. God's not doing this for me. I'm gonna have to figure out a way. I gotta help God out here. He says, in these types of distresses. I think he, may have realized the truth of Matthew chapter six, where he says, take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought of the things of itself, sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. He says, I'm not gonna worry about tomorrow. I'm just gonna trust him today. He says, he says, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. My, what a passage of Scripture, amen? So we find here when we're weak, that puts us in a position where we're dependent. And as we throw our dependency upon God, as the children sang, our God can do anything, anything, anything. Our God can do anything but fail. And Isaiah chapter 40, verse 12 says, you're in his hand. Amen, you're in the hand. And Jesus said in the gospel of John, no man will pluck you out of my father's hand. Praise God, I'm glad we're in his hand. Faithfulness though is critical. Somebody said, as you stand for Christ, it is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. And we need Christians who are willing to stand up and be counted for the cause of Christ and suffer if need be for the principles of the Word of God. Christ, it says here in this passage of Scripture, if you go back to our passage here in Revelation chapter three, Christ will expose those who are true believers or not. He talks about in the Gospels, he says that he'll separate the sheep from the goats. He's gonna divide. He says, right now, a lot of times, the saved and the lost are growing up together. But there's a harvest time that's coming. And that's why we appeal to the gospel all the time, because folks, I think we're gonna be in for a big surprise. People we think are saved are not saved. And it could also be the people that we don't think are saved are saved. We need to understand. In Acts chapter 15 verse one, there were Judaizers that had come down and tried to infiltrate the churches. And in fact, they were infiltrating the churches. That's why you have chapter 15. And they were trying to say that unless they are circumcised or in essence keep the law of Moses, they cannot be saved, adding works to salvation. And there had to be a stand taken about that. And we find here that Christ will expose that as we stand true to Him. If you're taking notes, write down Philippians 2, 5 to 11. Let me just say here, God will spare believers from, it says here in this passage of scripture, he says in verse 10, 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's making reference here to the tribulation time. And we find scripturally that we believers in this age of grace, this church age, will be raptured out before that time comes. Let's take our Bibles and we need to see here where 1 Thessalonians chapter five. 1 Thessalonians chapter five. And I think it's verse nine. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you study the book of Revelation, which we've done, especially during the pandemic, we went through those 22 chapters, but we already know how that book is laid out. You go to chapter one, verse 19, And then we find the vision that John saw in chapter one, verses 10 to 18 there, chapter one. That's the things which he saw. The things which are, are the letters to the seven churches, chapters two and three. In chapter four, verse one, we have the rapture taking place. We'd have no more mention until chapter 22 and verse 16. of the word church. The church is not mentioned because from chapter four, verse one, all the way up to the end time there, the battle of Armageddon, the church is not present. We're not going to be from chapter six, all because chapter four and five have the throne room of heaven, but chapter six to chapter 19, we're out. We're not here. Amen. He's gonna deliver us from the hour of temptation. He is gonna keep us from wrath. We will not experience the wrath of God. So there goes your mid wrath rapture. There goes, you're going through the tribulation time. No, you're out of here. And it can happen at any time. 1 Thessalonians chapter four, verse 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren. He says, concerning them which are asleep, that means dead, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, do you believe that Jesus died and rose again? Have you personally accepted Christ, the risen Savior, as your Savior, knowing that he paid your sin debt and you've repented of your sin and asked him to save your wretched soul? Have you done that? For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And it says, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Amen. What a promise for us. We're gonna get out of here. We're not gonna go through all the turmoil of Revelation chapters six to 19. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. That ought to help us when we read passages of scripture that step on our toes and tells us to take a stand, to endure hardness, to be faithful. He was faithful, he is faithful, and he will be faithful, amen? So we see, and that, of course, if you wanna write down Daniel chapter nine, verses 25 to 27, it's a reference there to Daniel's 70th week, which also talks about this particular period of time. And I say this truth of the rapture of the church should help us press on. Church, it oughta help us press on. Our work, obviously, is not over. because we're still here. And it says here, it ought to help us to press on in the face of conflict as we walk through doors of opportunity. God's given us opportunities. Don't look around and say, what should I do? There's nothing for me to do. There's all kinds of things for us to do. We have to grab hold of them, be faithful, and be everlastingly at it until we finish our course. Until we say, it's done. It's finished. It's finished. But if we're still breathing air, whether we be in a hospital bed somewhere or at home in firm, or right here, or no matter where we are as believers, hey, look, we have a job to do. We have opportunities that are before us. If nothing else, as the scripture says in the memory verse, brethren, last week, brethren, pray for us. That's more than just a catchy prayer card versus scripture. Brethren, pray for us. The greatest thing that we can do for someone is to pray for them. Pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ. We have brothers and sisters in Christ in this congregation going through some unbelievable circumstances, unbelievable valleys. They need our prayers. We have brothers and sisters in Christ that, hey, things are going well, and we want them to continue to prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth, as John says. Everybody needs praying. Everybody needs our prayers, amen? My friend, I could go on and on. It goes on to say that we're overcomers. We are overcomers. Every single one of us that name the name of Christ are overcomers. 1 John 5, verses one to five. If you know Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you are an overcomer. Praise God.