*This article originally posted here 10-10-12*

I have always liked to write.  Letters, journals, poetry. When my babies were small, I kept journals written to them “from Mommy” so they could look back at their childhood selves through my eyes when they got older.  An entry might say “Today you said the funniest thing…” -or- “You have a very distinct personality and before you even had words, you had a way of making your feelings perfectly clear…”  Things that gave me a clue as to the young men they would become.

This morning as I spent time with the Lord, I was reading in Revelation chapter 3.  Verse 8 was underlined and I’d written a marginal note.  It’s the verse in which the Lord is speaking to the church at Philadelphia  The one church with whom God really expressed no specific disappointment or fault and the one which I believe is the end-time remnant.

He says, “I know thy works, ….. for thou hast a little strength, and has kept my Word, and hast not denied my nam.

As I read the verse, it put in my mind an image of our Heavenly Father reviewing, as it were, the whole of our (the church’s) lifespan as a mother cherishes and holds in her heart all the moments of her children’s lifetime.  He is recording for us, from His singular perspective, what He knows about us, that we don’t perceive or understand about ourselves.  Clearly, we are special to Him, and i can’t help but feel a twinge of sadness that our gracious Heavenly Father gave the sacrifice of His one true Son for the sake of His many adopted sons and daughters, and His omniscient pronouncement about us when it’s all said and done at the tail-end of the Gentile age is; “thou hast a little strength”.

Though perhaps it is not sad, He knowing our frames, that we are “but dust”, all things considered perhaps He is sincerely glad to know that this remnant handful grasped His promises with our puny and extremely limited strength and comprehension, and held on! Nothing takes Him by surprise, obviously.

But note what else He said:  (This is no small thing, this, if we let it really sink in, should be revolutionary!)  He says “I have set before thee an open door that no man can shut”.  What does that even mean?  What open door?  Well, I looked at the handy-dandy center-column (of my Nelson KJV Study Bible with Annotations, Doctrinal Footnotes and beaucoup other goodies) and it said to me “hey, take a look at I Corinthians 16:9!”

So I did.  And guess what?  Paul was in Ephesus, on His way to Macedonia and said “For a great door , and effectual, (Producing an effect, or the effect desired or intended; or having adequate power or force to produce the effect, as in: My Word shall not return unto me void)  a great door, and effectual is opened unto me (and there are many adversaries)…..Hmmmm……What is this open door?……..

Then there was another clue (like a progressive treasure hunt, one clue leads to the next until finally, BINGO! you found the treasure) Acts 14:27  And when they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed (reviewed) all that God had done with them and opened a door of faith unto the gentiles. ( Did I emphasise that enough? Ha!)

This Door of Faith opened unto the Gentiles is speaking of the Age of Grace, the gathering together of a BRIDE from amongst the Gentile peoples, for His Son Jesus Christ.  THAT DOOR!

Wow, are you excited?  I am.

A door no MAN can shut.  Fields white unto harvest stand on the other side of that door.  They are out there for the plucking.  Do you realize what this means?  This door no man can shut was there at the birth of the church, and still stands open to us, the remnant.  It is not a door the apostate church can walk through (they are not equipped).  It is up to you and me to take God at His Word and walk through it and start picking because (verse 7) These things sayeth He that is Holy and True, He that hath the Key of David (Jesus) says He that openeth, no man shutteth, and shutteth, no man openeth.  The Key of David has to do with the promises God gave David regarding Jews and God’s covenant with them (which cannot be broken-see Jeremiah 33) and Jesus’ future earthly reign on the Throne of David.  But note also Matthew 16:19 where Jesus is talking to Peter and the disciples and says: And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.  If you have studied the history of the church in the New Testament, you know that the disciples were Jewish, and the New Covenant was given among Jews first, who had to be convinced to extend it to the Gentiles.  These Jews were believing Jews, but this mystery of the church was sooooo new to everyone that it took a while for the disciples to begin to understand.  (Behold I show you a great mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed…I Cor. 15:51  Paul was talking about the church, imagine His excitement as he tried to share this unbelievable news to new believers about this “number taken from among the Gentiles” some of whom would never see death, but all of whom would be changed in the twinkling of an eye at the rapture.

Furthermore, in the Revelation3  passage (v. 9) 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 come and worship before thy feet and know that I have loved you.  See, He was speaking to Saved Jews in the Age of Grace, AS JEWS.  These are the few Jews in that age who actually recognized Jesus as the awaited Messiah.  (Yep, the first Messianic Jews).  Who are those who say they are Jews but arent?  It was the unfaithful Jews who were “blind in part” and unable to recognize their Messiah, then and now.  But also I believe it is the modern-day church who embrace Replacement Theology and wrongly believe that the Old Covenant was cancelled when the New Covenant came into effect.  God says over and over, the Old Covenant with the Jews is a “never-ending covenant” which cannot be broken because He is God.

Can I tell you something?  Those of you, who, like myself and our family, have been through your period of disillusionment with “the church” (maybe you are in it now), who sincerely hunger and desire the sincere meat of the Word and perhaps you learned, much to your resentment and regret, that those you looked to as teacher and mentor and shepherd/pastor were actually wolves or goats, causing you much confusion.  God will worry about them.  Forgive, and learn this: The Holy Spirit is the only teacher you need.  If you apply yourself, work at it, study diligently, He will open your understanding and then He make you able to discern the trustworthy teachers.

And when it comes to sharing your faith?  You don’t have to be a Bible Scholar with 30 years of in-depth study under you belt to bring another lost lamb into the sheepfold.  You don’t have to be a D.L. Moody (Or Ray Comfort for those who aren’t old enough to know who D.L. Moody was.)

The door sits wide open before you.  Share your testimony and the 5-point Gospel

1. Grace of God Eph. 2:8-9, Titus 3:5
2. All have sinned Romans 3:23
3. God is love but He hates sin Romans 6:23
4. Christ is God in the flesh Acts 4:12
5. Jesus brings salvation through faith in Him and what He did John 3:16

There.  Simple.  Back to the Basics.

You can also harken back to your V.B.S. days and make yourself one of those leather bracelets with 7 beads: Black, Red, White, Blue, Green, Yellow and Clear.

• Black=filthiness of the sinner without Christ
• Red=the blood of Christ which cleanses away that sin
• White= How clean we are after He washes us whiter than snow (Isaiah 1:8)
• Blue=both baptism as an outward declaration, and living water, which is needful for sustenance (Acts 2:42 and John 4:7-14)
• Green=the admonition to join a Bible-teaching, Bible-believing church, get a good Bible, and GROW in the faith
• Yellow=the streets of gold in heaven they can now look forward to, not fearing death
• Clear=God’s clear mandate that I had an obligation to witness to them, and now they have a mandate to share with others Ezek. 3:16-18 I Peter 3:15

I even have passages for the knots that are tied on either side of the row of beads so that they will remain in place.

• First knot=He knit you together in your mother’s womb, knows you intimately, hairs on your head, etc
• Final knot=God will eventually “tie up all loose ends” judge and repay in righteous wrath, anyone not under the blood according to his evil deeds, as well as rewarding those who were saved and faithful, for obedience and works which advanced the Kingdom.

There you have Sandee Lloyd’s own personal system: (Evangelism for Dummies  Ha Ha.)

Do not be afraid to talk about hell and guilt.  Take them through the Ten Commandments, (Exodus 20) and explain the law is not like soap that cleans us up, it’s more like a mirror that can only show us how contaminated we are with our sin.  The law works, by God’s design, to speak directly to the conscience and if their conscience is at all tender, you will be able to make them see that they are guilty before a Righteous and Holy God.  Remind them that the commandments and Gods law (the whole Bible) is one law, sin is transgression (violation) of the law, and if they broke one, they have broken the whole law because, like the chain that is holding up the swing on the playground, if you only break one link, the chain itself is broken and no longer intact..  Jesus fulfilled the law, and God is willing to apply Jesus’ Righteousness to their account in trade for having applied their sin to Jesus to bear the punishment for them on the Cross.  Not a fair tradeoff, seems to good to be true, but there it is!

Hey, if you like the bracelet idea, here is another idea.  I use tiny rectangles of colored construction paper in colors that coordinate with the bracelet, and a wee bit o cellophane tape, and make corresponding tabs at the verses( in a pocket Bible or New Testament) that are applicable to the color.  Example: Sin/Black, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, every one to his own way, but the Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all”.

I have made up countless New Testaments marked in this way so that after I witness to them, I can hand it to them to keep.  I also write a “key” in the front duplicating the bracelet beads in a drawing, and put those scripture references beside them.  THEN, I turn to the first one, underline or highlight it, and write the next reference in the margin so that after I or they read it, they can go easily to the next verse which will also be underlined and have the following reference written beside it.  Even maybe the page number…

Sooo Easy-Peasy even a CaveMan can do it.

Now, go walk through that door and bring someone into the fold or plant a seed today.  The quicker the bride is complete, the sooner we are OUTTA-HERE!   Jesus is the Open Door!

Happy fishing!

Usually I take the time to create links for every scripture reference.  This is time-consuming, and I figure if you care enough, you’ll look them up.  Good way to start remembering them.