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RUSSELL SANDERS
7-19-2021
THE APOSTLE PAUL – LESSON 18
SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY – PART 4
PHILIPPI – AT THE RIVERSIDE
This second Pauline Missions’ journey had a tremendous impact upon the growth of Christianity by carrying the gospel for the first time into Europe. This was over twenty years after Christ’s ascension, about 50-53 A.D.
Paul went to the Macedonian city of Philippi, a Roman colony. It was a key location in the Roman system of roads in northern Greece. It also was the location of a notable school of medicine, connected to the guilds of Greek medical practice.
Paul, Silas, and Timothy spent some length of time ministering in and around Philippi. This is where Luke joined with them. Luke was a physician, possibly even having studied the medical arts at Philippi as this location is the first indication of his joining in ministry, as determined by his “we” references in the Book of Acts.
There might not have been a Jewish synagogue in this colony of Romans. When the Sabbath came, Paul went outside the city to a riverside where it was known that people would go to pray to their pagan gods. Anyone was welcome to pray there regardless to whom it may be, so it was a place where he could find spiritually minded seekers to share the gospel with.
Paul found a number of women who frequently came to this riverside to pray. He sat with them and began to share the gospel. This set into motion events that would result in the founding of one of the strongest early churches in Europe.
We will study those events tomorrow.
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