Have you ever been invited to somewhere you had absolutely no business being in? Maybe it was a fancy golf course or an event or a gala. Maybe it was a room filled with people who seemed far more important than you. You walk in and immediately start looking around, thinking, are they sure they invited the right person? Golfers know that feeling. Every golfer has a dream course. Maybe it's Augusta, Pebble Beach, maybe it's a private club hidden behind the gate you've driven by a hundred times. The kind of place where regular golfers just don't call and book a tea time. And then one morning, out of the blue, your phone rings. A friend knows a member. A member extends an invitation, and a spot opens up unexpectedly. And before you know it, you're standing on the first tea box of a course you could have never had access to on your own. You didn't earn it, you didn't qualify for it, you probably didn't deserve it. A door simply opened. And that's exactly where the church at Philadelphia finds itself. Stick around. And this church in Philadelphia is probably the most well-known church of all the churches in Revelation. It's the church where our city of Philadelphia here in America gets his name. It's the city of brotherly love. Now, this is going to be fun because this church was a model church. And so what does Jesus have to say? Of all the seven churches, this might be the most encouraging. Smyrna was suffering, Pergamon was compromising, Thyatira was tolerating, Sardis was pretending, but Philadelphia is different. Jesus doesn't rebuke them at all. He doesn't correct them, he doesn't warn them. Instead, he encourages them. And then he gives them one of the most beautiful promises in Revelation. He says in Revelation chapter 3, verse 7, see, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. And I love that image. An open door, not a door that they forced open, not a door they picked a lock on, not a door they manipulated their way through, a door God Himself opened. And when God opens a door, nobody gets the final say except Him. Now, if you've lived in this life for more than about three days, one thing you've learned is that life contains a lot of closed doors. The job we hoped for, the promotions we expected, the relationships we thought would work a little bit differently, the opportunity we thought was ours, we've all stood in front of doors that would not open. And if we're honest, closed doors can be frustrating, especially when we don't understand why. We pray about it, we plan, we work, we wait, but nothing seems to move. But Philadelphia reminds us that God is working even when we can't see it. Because while we're standing at one closed door, he may be preparing another one entirely. And golf teaches this lesson surprisingly well. Most golfers never expect an invitation to a prestigious private country club. You simply assume those opportunities belong to somebody else. The members, the connected people, the golfers with influence, the big business owners, but not you. And then one day you get that call. And suddenly you're loading your clubs up into the car trying not to act too excited. And you know the feeling, you tell your spouse about it, you've already checked the weather six times and laid out tomorrow's outfit because something special has happened. A door is opened. I remember this happening to me a couple of years ago. There's a course here in Dallas that is probably the most prestigious, hard-to-get into golf course in the entire area. A friend of mine who plays golf with me a lot had a favor owed to him from one of the members. And so he invited him out and he told him he could invite a buddy, which was me. And it was amazing. There were like rays of sunshine beaming down on the clubhouse and angelic voices coming from on high as I drove up the driveway. It's a very secluded club tucked back away in this big neighborhood that you would never be able to find if you didn't know what you were looking for. It's filled with memberships of professional athletes and big businessmen and guys with a lot of money that live out of town. And looking back at that, I realized there was no way I could have created that opportunity myself. It was simply a door that God chose to open. And one of the things I appreciate about Philadelphia is that Jesus doesn't praise their strengths. In fact, he says, You have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. That might be my favorite part of the whole letter, because most of us don't feel especially strong. Most of us aren't changing the world from a massive platform. Most of us aren't famous. Most of us aren't influential. And apparently that's okay, because Jesus wasn't impressed by their strength. He was impressed by their faithfulness. In Zechariah 4.10, it says, Do not despise these small beginnings. And we live in a culture obsessed with big things, big success, big platforms, big accomplishments, big numbers. Meanwhile, God has a long story of doing extraordinary things through ordinary people. And Philadelphia reminds us that faithfulness matters more than visibility. And I think that's encouraging because we spend a lot of time trying to become more impressive. God seems far more interested in whether we're becoming more faithful. Those are not always the same thing. Sometimes we're too busy trying to kick down doors that we forgot God already has the key to. In Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, Solomon writes, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight. Notice what Solomon doesn't promise. He doesn't promise we'll understand every step. He doesn't promise we'll know the whole plan. He doesn't promise God will even direct the path. And that's often enough. People that have played golf long enough will tell you, just think about one shot at a time. And faith works the same way. God rarely hands us the entire scorecard. He simply opens up the next door, then invites us to trust him enough to walk through it. The church at Philadelphia wasn't powerful, they weren't wealthy or influential, they were simply faithful. And Jesus responded by opening a door no one could shut. That's the good news for us, because faithfulness is available to everyone. We may not control opportunities, we may not control outcomes, we may not control timing, but we can be faithful. And God has a remarkable habit of opening doors for people who keep trusting him. And maybe that's the quandary that Philadelphia leaves with you and I today. What door has God placed in front of us? Maybe it's a conversation, maybe it's a ministry opportunity, maybe it's a chance to serve, a chance to take a step of faith that you've been avoiding. Maybe it's something you've been praying about for years. Whoever it is, whatever it is, don't spend all of your time staring at the door. Walk through it. Because some of the best rounds in life begin with a tea time we never expected to receive. And some of God's greatest blessings begin with a door only He could open. Hey friends, thanks for joining me this week. My name is Mark, and just a reminder today to stop staring at closed doors and just keep chasing better.