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The Open Doors before the Redeemed!

By open doors I mean divine opportunities that can be lost to us, or become a closed door, if we don’t act on them in time.

Read Revelation 3:7-13    The Open Doors before the Redeemed!            Let’s Pray!

 

Things we know about Philadelphia:

The Holy & True God who opens and closes doors                                     V. 7

A Holy person reflects Heaven’s values even when they are on earth!

Jesus told him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.”                                        -John 14:6

Jesus is saying the same thing He said to us at the Great Commission: “All authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to Me!” 

When God calls you to do something and opens the doors for you to do it, and you say, “not now,” most of those doors are closed by the time you feel ready.

The Open Doors before the Redeemed!                                                        V. 8

“Despite the fact that you aren’t much in and of yourselves, because you love Me and do what it says in the Bible, you are the kind of people I can use!” 

Seven indicators God is opening a door for you:

 

There is a real opportunity to spread the gospel; Your heart is drawn to the opportunity; circumstances begin lining up to reinforce the opportunity; You feel the Holy Spirit pounding on your heart about it, not letting it go; Your Bible reading and prayer time reinforces pursuing the opportunity; As you take steps of obedience, you have God’s peace even when obstacles emerge; Your most spiritual advisors don’t see any serious red flags you are missing.   

“I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, because a wide door for effective ministry has opened for me.”    -I Cor. 16:8-9      See also Col. 4:2-3; 2 Cor. 2:12

What doors are open to you?

Open Doors do NOT mean there won’t be opposition                              V. 9

In every generation there are those who bitterly oppose the gospel, and lash out against believers. Here we are told they will one day acknowledge that Jesus is real and loves His disciples. 

The Great Open Door Coming for ALL the Redeemed!                             V. 10-11

What is the hour of trial?          

 

I believe it is the Tribulation described in Revelation chapters 6-19.

The Three Purposes of the Tribulation:

1.        The beginning of God’s Judgment on the Satanic World System

2.        The revival of spiritual Israel to ready it for Christ’s 1,000 year reign

3.        An evangelistic harvest as the lost get their last chances to turn to Jesus

The word “church” does not occur in Revelation 6-19. “Earth-dwellers” occurs throughout the tribulation and refers to those who need to repent and turn to Christ. Earth-dwellers appears here and in 6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 12:12; 13:8, 12, 14.

Overcomers get two more things in the New Jerusalem:                        V. 12

 

First, they get the kind of security they didn’t have in Philadelphia!

Second, they will get the recognition they didn’t have in Philadelphia!

God is saying: When you overcome by your faith and make the most of open doors that I put before you, one day in the New Jerusalem people will be reading about you!