Today we will continue our series from the last book of the Bible—Revelation. Two weeks ago, we came to chapter 4 where the Lord presents to John an open door to heaven and says: Come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this. John saw visions of things representing invisible things including God the Father. The emphasis was on His rule over all, represented by a throne. Also symbolised was His relationship with His church under many details. He was being worshipped by the church as the Holy Almighty Creator who rules over all. Last week, we considered the first seven verses of Revelation chapter 5. We will review what we saw after our Scripture reading.

Today, we are going to take a similar approach looking at bearing hardships: We will look at the examples of the marvellous things that faith enabled them to endure. We will consider how faith can surely enable us to do the hard things we are called to do.

We have been in Hebrews 11 for a while, working through some of the most excellent examples of those who had faith. Last week it was the example of Rahab in verse 31. With verse 32, the writer wants to wrap things up. He says: What more can I say Today, I will read the rest of the chapter, give you an overview of it, and then focus on vv. 32-35a. Notice the beauty of this passage as it speaks so eloquently of our fathers.

Today we are taking up the first 7 verses of chapter 5. In these verses, we are shown how God's plan or decree is put into the hands of Christ, our Mediator, who represents us! It is what we read in Daniel 7. It is what is celebrated in Ps 2, 47, 89, & 110 to name a few.

Today in our study of the letter to the Hebrews we have a very unique example of faith and of what it does in peoples' lives by God's marvellous grace.

As we embark on this new section in Revelation, we see in the opening verses that John is summoned to come up to heaven. But we need to understand that the visions are not visions of material things, but of invisible spiritual things visualised in symbols. What we see here is not heavenly worship, but our own earthly worship from heaven's perspective… we see heaven receiving our worship and ministering to us.

Today's topic is Jesus' letter to the church in Laodice. In this last of the seven letters, His deep concern for churches and people that are lukewarm is expressed. We see both disgust and tenderness toward them. What a powerful impact this has on all in whom God's Spirit is at work! How can anyone be indifferent to what is in this letter?

To summarise, these verses teach us that we must trust God to deliver us from bondage to sin, Satan, and the rebellious world (v. 29 from last time), and v. 30 (today's verse), that by faith we are able to overcome all opposition (symbolized by the walls of Jericho) to establish God's righteous kingdom in this world.

Today in our series on the seven churches in Revelation, we come to the sixth letter that Jesus sent. This one is to the Church in Philadelphia. This letter is quite different than the fifth letter that was written to Sardis. The city of Philadelphia was the youngest of the cities to which Jesus wrote. Philadelphia continued to be an influential city until 1390 when it fell to Islaam, but there was a huge change in the mission of the city. It became a Christian centre!

Today, I want to look at why Jesus came from a slightly different angle. It is the reason He gives in the Sermon on the Mt.—a sermon about His kingdom. At the heart of this sermon, Jesus declared that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.