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So in this episode and the next we are going to hit the last two letters, but I’m going to deal with them together…because they go well together. They go well together because they both reference a door. The church of Philadelphia has an open door. The church of Laodecia has a closed door.

Will this Christmas bring you an open door, or a closed door?

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In this episode we will look at two "Christmas" letters, one to Thyatira and one to Sardis. With both churches there is this sense of unfinished business. There's a need to keep progressing, keep growing, keep become more of a force for good and God. With Thyatira, it was a bit more of a commendation and with Sardis it was a bit more of an urgent diagnosis. Both churches had good and bad; but both also have this theme of preserving growth. Sometimes in the church and perhaps even in our personal lives we find ourselves exerting a lot of energy, putting on a lot of programs but not really strengthening what matters, not really growing in areas that count.

If we want to honor Jesus on his birthday, perhaps the gift of spritual growth would put a smile on His face, so consider this a bit of a Christmas guide to growth!

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Today we go back to our Calvary series...ONE CHRISTMAS. And it dovetails well with our regular series, "Come Lord Jesus." Because it's all about having one Christmas that Jesus will never forget. AND it's all about joy.

You are pursued. You are invited. There are still empty seats around His table and around His table, the joy overflows! He's inviting us to a Christmas party that could change your world!

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This will be my 31st Christmas at Calvary. 31 years of reading and preaching from the same old stories of Christmas, but to be honest, they never get old. What we celebrate at Christmas is so wondrously holy. The heaven’s opened up and poured the uncontainable blessings and unmistakable presence of Immanuel God with us. Every year that I think I know it all, I’m reintroduced to the wonder and awe of that truth. And if you think about it, there are some pretty amazing Christmas stories filled with heaven on earth moments.

So in this episode, as we take a break from Revelation, we're going to look at an ordinary Joe, that probably doesn't have main character energy. But this ordinary Joe can teach us more than a little bit about faith!

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The Christmas stories from the Bible are central to celebrating Christmas, not just because we need to know the story, we do. But even more so because John says in his Christmas story, that Jesus is the Word of God. In other words, it's not just about a book. It's about a person. It's not just about knowing the truth it's about loving the one who is true.

So there are two equally valid and important statements that we need to understand. First we don't value Christ if we don't value the Word. The Word shows us Christ. It's filled with Christ. It leads us to Christ. I've seen time and time again, when people who love Jesus fall out of love with His Word, over time they fall out of love with Jesus. But it's also true, secondly, that we've missed the Word, if we aren't drawn to Christ. If we learn the Bible without coming to love Christ we've missed it all. Jesus is the Christmas Word!

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The cosmic Christmas was a military strike to the forces of evil. But those forces still operate, which is why, when it comes to the hard stuff that the church of Smyrna was going through Jesus peels back the curtain, in essence to tell them that as bad as things are, they are worse than you think. But he goes on to say, that they are also better than you can imagine! Suffering is coming, but the best is yet to come. So don't be fearful, be faithful!

And how can we be faithful in fearful times? By realizing that Jesus knows, Jesus wins, and Jesus gives. I'll unpack that a bit more in this episode!

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"Do not be afraid." That's the challenge giving to the church at Smyrna, and it was also a pretty common greeting that first Christmas. In Luke 1 – It was the angels greeting first to Zechariah in the temple and then to Mary when the angel brought this message of a baby and a virgin birth. "Don’t be afraid." In Joseph’s dream in Matthew 1, Joseph was told, “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” In Luke 2, the shepherds were terrified and the angel said, “Don’t be afraid.” In fact, the most common command in the Bible is not "Don't Lie or Steal, Covet or Kill." It isn't "Love One Another" that might be the most important but not the most common.
The most common command in the Bible is Fear NOT! Lloyd Ogilvie notes that there are 366 fear not verses in the Bible.

This episode and the next, we'll talk a bit about fear and I'll hopefully encourage you with the hopeful words, "Don't be afraid!"

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The Church of Ephesus was an amazing church! By every standard that we judge churches by today, it was the cream of the crop. But Jesus said something's missing. I have this against you; you have neglected, abandoned, drifted away from, become indifferent to your first love. Passion for the person of Jesus had been diverted into passion for the projects of Jesus. Activity substituted for adoration. Hard work left no time for heart-work. But Jesus is looking for first-love followers. First in time, first in rank, before the church can be an army for the
Kingdom, it must be a bride for the King.

So here's his question, "Have you left your first love?"