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We come now to Paul’s letter to the church in the city of Philippi. Paul and Silas started this church on Paul’s second missionary journey. They had been traveling through the area of Asia minor, modern day Turkey, when Paul had a vision that a man from Macedonia was calling out to him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Paul concluded that God was directing them to Macedonia through that vision.
The city of Philippi was named after the father of Alexander the Great, Philip, who had wanted to unify Macedonia and Greece into one great nation, but it was his son Alexander the Great who accomplished that and conquered much of the known world.
After receiving that vision, Paul and his companions put out to sea from Troas and ran a straight course across the Mediterranean. Within a few days they reached Philippi, the leading city of that district and a Roman colony.
On the Sabbath they went out to the riverside supposing there would be a place of prayer and began speaking to those who had assembled there. A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple fabrics, was listening and the Lord opened her heart to receive Christ. She and her household were baptized.
So far it’s a wonderful story, but it’s about to take a terrible turn, but as we’ll see, God can take tragedy and turn it into triumph; He brings beauty out of ashes.
A certain slave girl, having a spirit of divination, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling, was following after Paul and his companions and she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days and finally Paul became greatly annoyed. He turned and said to the demon spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out that very moment.
When her master saw their hope of profit was gone, they took hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities, the chief magistrates, and said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which is not lawful for us to accept or observe, being Romans.”
A crowd rose up against them so the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to have them beaten with rods. When they had inflicted many blows they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there came a great earthquake and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. The jailer took out his sword to kill himself, supposing the prisoners had escaped, but Paul stopped him. Trembling with fear, the jailer fell down before Paul and Silas and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
That very hour the jailer took them to his home and washed their wounds and he and his entire household received the word of God and were baptized; having believed.
There’s a principle here that we should take hold of and apply to our lives as well. Many people are offended by God when they encounter troubles.
Paul sees such troubles as opportunities for God to work in his life through those difficult circumstances. In the first part of this letter he wrote, “I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.” What circumstances was he referring to?
As soon as Paul arrived in Jerusalem a riot broke out so the Roman soldiers took him into protective custody. They then discovered a plot to kill him so they sent Paul to Caesarea where he sat in prison for years without facing charges. Finally, he appealed to Caesar and was sent by ship to Rome. On the way a hurricane force storm battered the ship for two full weeks until all hope was lost. They were then shipwrecked and had to swim for the island of Malta. The locals built a bonfire and when Paul threw some sticks into the fire, a viper latched onto his hand. He simply shook it off into the fire. The locals were so taken by Paul that a great revival broke out.
Some years later while Paul was waiting in Rome as a prisoner, he wrote this letter to the church in Philippi. The church had heard of his troubles and sent a financial gift to help him; they had great respect for Paul. He writes to thank them and to strengthen their faith and draw them to maturity.

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