JULY 4 

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES:

NAMES FOR JESUS IN THE BIBLE:

LAST ADAM—1Cor 15:45

CHAMPION (JOSHUA)

FULFILLMENT OF THE SACRIFICE OF ABRAHAM/ISAAC—Gen 22

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This month we will read the book, “Whatever Happens – How to Stand Firm in Your Faith When the World is Falling Apart.”  By a contemporary author of many best-selling Christian books, Robert J. Morgan.  He took care of his wife when she had MS, until she went home to her Savior.  “He knows of which he speaks.”  I pray that this book blesses you.

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LAYER YOUR LIFE WITH GENEROSITY

In Philippi, Lydia was a businesswoman dealing with a very expensive commodity – purple cloth, which was colored form a dye harvested from creatures of the sea.  It was a high-end product, which meant Lydia was undoubtedly very wealthy.  As soon as she was converted, she opened her home to the missionary party – Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke.  It must have been a large home, probably with servants, mosaics, patios, and spacious rooms.  She would have told them, “It’s yours to use.”  Her home became the meeting place for the church.

The next person converted was on the opposite end of the social spectrum – a slave girl, whose conversion led to the arrest and flogging of Paul and Silas.  As we’ve seen, the missionaries’ midnight singing led to the conversion of the jailer and his family.  Acts 16:40 says, “After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them.  Then they left.”  The authorities expelled them from the city – all except for Luke.

Notice the word “they.”  Luke, who had joined the party in Troas and introduced the “we” sections of the narrative, stayed behind in Philippi, where, as I said earlier, he may have been a student or professor at the medical school.  His presence gave stability to the new congregation, and he undoubtedly encouraged the churches in Thessalonica and Berea as well.

These three churches – especially the Philippian – have gone down in history as the most generous, missionary-supporting congregations of the new Testament.  Perhaps Lydia set the pace.  Two entire chapters of 2 Corinthians are devoted to this, especially 8:1-5:

“Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia:  that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.  For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing,  imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.  And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.”

On this occasion, Paul was collecting funds for the poverty-stricken churches of Judea.  The Macedonian churches understood the concept of giving to the Lord better than anyone else.  God had given them the grace of giving.

He took the funds to Jerusalem in Acts 21, but his presence at the temple sparked another riot.  He was arrested and sent to prison in Caesarea, where he spent two years.  He finally appealed his case to the emperor and was sent to Rome, where he lived under house arrest for another two years until the time came for him to stand trial.   That’s where the book of Acts ends in Chapter 28.

The Philippians were following the news of all this.  Apparently near the end of the two years, Paul was moved to a more secure location for his trial.  They were alarmed, and took up yet another offering.   Epaphroditus offered to deliver the offering to Paul and stay for the trial.  This trip would have taken between 6 weeks to 2 months.  When he got there, he became sick and Paul cared for him.  When he recovered and was ready to return to Philippi, he carried what we know as the letter to the Philippians today.

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