In the letter to the church in Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-13, we read the second of two letters that contains only praise and encouragement from Jesus for the church. Although the church in Philadelphia looked weak, it was actually strong, because it had done the one simple thing that all churches and all Christians must do: keep Christ’s word. Jesus’ instruction to them (and to us) was correspondingly simple: hold on to what you have.
Four short parables point to the surpassing value of the kingdom of God and the need to find it now.
It is hard to imagine what the world would be like without Saul of Tarsus (the apostle Paul), but it would have been harder...
Jesus' power over the forces of evil demonstrated that the kingdom of God had come.