After they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported everything God had done with them and that he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
“ Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens:I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed— beyond our strength— so that we even despaired of life itself.Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again
Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, arguing and persuading them about the kingdom of God.But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them, taking the disciples, and conducted discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.This went on for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.
