Sunday, April 10, 2016

April 17, 2016 – Letters From Home – Doors and Names


Doors and Names

Revelation 3:7-13 – New International Version (NIV)
“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. 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. 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 on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 The 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. 13 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

In your opinion, what is Jesus telling the church of Philadelphia when He says He “is holy and true” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what is Jesus telling the church of Philadelphia when He says He “holds the key of David” (see Isaiah 22:22) (verse 7)?

Who can open or shut what Jesus opens or shuts (verse 7)?

What has Jesus placed in from of the church in Philadelphia (verse 8)?

How has the church in Philadelphia honored Jesus in spite of having “little strength” (verse 8)?

Who do “those who are of the synagogue of Satan” claim to be (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why will Jesus make “those who are of the synagogue of Satan” but are liars “come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you” (verse 9)?

Why will the church in Philadelphia be kept from “the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth” (verse 10)?

What are those in the church in Philadelphia instructed to do “so that no one will take your crown” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why is it an appropriate reward for the people church of Sardis that Jesus will make then “a pillar in the temple of my God” (verse 12)?

When will they leave the temple (verse 12)?

What will be written on the “victorious” (verse 12)?

Who is speaking to the churches (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

2 Corinthians 12:5-10 - New International Version (NIV)
“I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

What will Paul boast about himself (verse 5)?
Why does Paul “refrain” from saying true things about himself (verse 6)?
Why was Paul given “a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me” (verse 7)?
How many times did Paul plead “with the Lord to take it away from me” (verse 8)?
What is sufficient for Paul (verse 9)?
Where is God’s power made perfect (verse 9)?
Why will Paul “boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses” (verse 9)?
For whose sake will Paul “delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties” (verse 10)?
In your opinion, what does Paul mean when he says “for when I am weak, then I am strong” (verse 10)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does the church in Philadelphia who has “little strength” but who Jesus says has kept my word and have not denied my name” in Revelation 3:7-13 show us about the message that Paul received from God in 2 Corinthians 12:5-10 that “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”?

John 14:1-14 - New International Version (NIV)
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

What did Jesus tell the disciples not to let be troubled (verse 1)?
Who were the disciples to “believe in” in addition to God (verse 1)?
What does Jesus Father’s house have (verse 2)?
What will Jesus do if He goes and prepares a place for the disciples (verse 3)?
Where do the disciples know the way to (verse 4)?
Who said “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way” (verse 5)?
In your opinion, what did Jesus mean when He said “I am the way and the truth and the life” (verse 6)?
What is the only way to the Father (verse 6)?
If we know who do we know the Father (verse 7)?
What did Philip say was enough (verse 8)?
Who is living in Jesus doing His work (verse 10)?
If the disciples did not believe Jesus, then what did He tell them to “believe on” (verse 11)?
What will those who believe in Jesus do (verse 12)?
Why will Jesus do “whatever you ask in my name” (verses 13 and 14)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 12:5-10 that “when I am weak, then I am strong” help us to understand more about the fulfillment of Jesus statement in John 14:1-14 that whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father”?
In your opinion, how does Jesus statement in Revelation 3:7-11 to the church in Philadelphia that I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name” help us to have a greater appreciation for His statement in John 14:1-14 that “very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father”?

Revelation 14:1-13 – New International Version (NIV)
1 “Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they remained virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
13 Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

What did the 144,000 who were with the Lamb have written on their foreheads (verse 1)?
How did John describe the sound from heaven that he heard (verse 2)?
How had the 144,000 who learn the new song come to heaven (verse 3)?
Who were they “purchased from among mankind and offered as first fruits to” (verse 4)?
In your opinion, what is the “eternal gospel” that the angel was going to proclaim (verse 6)?
What has come (verse 7)?
Who drank the “maddening wine” of the adulteries of Babylon the Great (verse 8)?
What will happen to the one who “worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead of on their hand” (verses 9 and 10)?
In your opinion, what does it mean to worship the beast or to receive its mark (verses 9 and 10)?
When will there be rest for those who worshiped the beast or receives its mark (verse 11)?
What is called or from the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus” (verse 12)?
Who is blessed (verse 13)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what is the eternal contrast between the ones who believe in God and in Jesus that Jesus is talking to in John 14:1-14 and the ones who receive the mark of the beast or his name in Revelation 14:1-13?
In your opinion, how does God’s statement to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:5-10 that “my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” help us to understand the 144,000 who were “purchased from among mankind and offered as first fruits to God and the Lamb” in Revelation 14:1-13?

In your opinion, why is it appropriate that those who have kept my word and have not denied my name in Revelation 3:7-13 are rewarded by having Jesus 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” and those who worship the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand” will be tormented forever without rest?
In your opinion, what do these passages, from Revelation, 2 Corinthians and John show us about ourselves today?


Next, back to Revelation 3:14 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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