{"id":30177,"date":"2024-02-25T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/revelation-2_18-29-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-02-20T22:24:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T05:24:53","slug":"revelation-3_7-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/revelation-3_7-13\/","title":{"rendered":"How Jesus Loves His Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation\u00a0 3:7-13\u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Revelation 3:7-13.\u00a0 As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Revelation\u00a03:7-13 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“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.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I 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.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I 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.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Since 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.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Him 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.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a07-13:\u00a0 The church in Philadelphia was going through a similar trial as the church in Smyrna, which was persecution from a group that claimed to be Jews but were not.\u00a0 Jesus calls this group of persecutors a bunch of liars (v9) and, as He did in\u00a0Revelation\u00a02:9, \u201ca synagogue of Satan\u201d.\u00a0 To the suffering church in Philadelphia, Jesus expresses His love in several different ways:<\/p>\n

1. Jesus tells them that \u201cI know your deeds\u2026I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and not denied my name\u201d (v8).\u00a0\u00a0Jesus expresses compassion for His church and commends His church for the fortitude she has shown.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Jesus tells them, \u201cSee, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut\u201d (v8).\u00a0 In other words, whereas the church in Philadelphia probably experienced many closed doors in the form of trials and persecution, Jesus tells them that He Himself holds a door open for them that no one can shut.\u00a0 It\u2019s for this same reason that Jesus describes Himself in verse\u00a07\u00a0as the One who holds the key of David and that what He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open (v8).\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0Jesus serves His church with authority.<\/strong>\u00a0 Jesus did just that when He died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the grave.\u00a0 In doing so, Jesus opened a door for us to be reconciled with God, a door that no one can shut, and at the same time shutting the door on sin and death.<\/p>\n

3. Jesus promises to make those who have persecuted the church in Philadelphia \u201ccome and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you\u201d (v9).\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0Jesus defends His church.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0He opposes her enemies and fights for her<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

4. Jesus promises to save the church in Philadelphia from the hour of trial that is coming (v10).\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0Jesus protects His church<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

5. Jesus reassures His church that He is coming back soon and tells them to hold on what they have (v11).\u00a0 In other words,\u00a0Jesus comforts and reassures His church<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

6. Jesus promises to reward His church (v12), saying that He will do a number of things for those who overcome (i.e. those who hang onto their faith in Jesus):
\n\u00b7\u00a0 He will make them into a pillar in God\u2019s temple (v12a) that will never be forsaken (v12b).
\n\u00b7\u00a0 He will write on them\u00a0the name of the Father and the name of His city, the new Jerusalem.\u00a0 In addition, it appears that Jesus Himself will have a new name that He will write on them too (v12b).\u00a0 Apparently we get something like tattoos in heaven.<\/p>\n

In other words,\u00a0Jesus motivates and inspires His church<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1. Jesus is the epitome of how to love your church.\u00a0 Here we learn 6 ways (listed above) that Jesus loves His church.\u00a0 May we love our church in these 6 ways too.<\/p>\n

2. Notice that the trials and sufferings that the church in Philadelphia went through were very similar to the trials and sufferings that the church in Smyrna were going through.\u00a0 It goes to show that you are not alone in your suffering, that there are others who are going through something similar as you and who understand what you\u2019re going through.\u00a0 Just as 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, let\u2019s stand firm in the faith \u201cbecause you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jesus, You are the greatest lover of Your church.\u00a0 Thank You that when we go through suffering You show compassion to us, serve us with power, defend and fight for us, protect us, comfort us, and inspire us.\u00a0 Like You I pray that I would show compassion to my church, serve my church with power, fight for my church, protect my church, comfort my church, and motivate and inspire people in my church.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Revelation 3:7-13.\u00a0 As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Revelation\u00a03:7-13 (NIV)\u00a0
\n7\u00a0\u00a0“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.
\n8\u00a0\u00a0I 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.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a07-13:\u00a0 The church in Philadelphia was going through a similar trial as the church in Smyrna, which was persecution from a group that claimed to be Jews but were not.\u00a0 Jesus calls this group of persecutors a bunch of liars (v9) and, as He did in\u00a0Revelation\u00a02:9, \u201ca synagogue of Satan\u201d.\u00a0 To the suffering church in Philadelphia, Jesus expresses His love in several different ways:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30177"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30180,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30177\/revisions\/30180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}