Philadelphia – (6 of 7)

The letter to the church in Philadelphia was most likely the one received by all seven churches with the greatest enthusiasm, the greatest encouragement. Each letter was a kind of Kingdom report card or something akin to an employee’s annual review and was received with a measure of trepidation. But this letter! Not just ‘E’ for effort, but a full-on congratulations for the way the members faced trials and persecutions and dug deep wells of joyful worship to sustain them in their holy faith. Philadelphia’s was, and continues to be, the archetypal church.

Revelation 3: 7-13

1. v. 7 – Jesus claims Truth, Holiness, and ________________________________

2. v. 8 – Jesus _________________________________________________________

3. v. 9 – Jesus _________________________________________________________

4. v. 10-13 – Jesus _____________________________________________________

Joy is our portion in his fellowship. . . It is his joy . . . a robust joy, with no small element of outright hilarity in it. For nothing less than joy can sustain us in the kingdom rightness that possesses us, which truly is a weighty and powerful thing to bear. Dallas Willard

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Joy is a celebration of the ‘crowded kindnesses of God’ in daily life. Alexander Maclaren