 Good morning, everyone. Welcome to BC 103 New Testaments of It. We're going to study on the letter to the Philippians. Even before I could start, let me share the presentation. Give me a minute. Okay. I hope everyone can see it. Yes. Okay. So the Philippians is one of the four prison epistles that Apostle Paul wrote. Most scholars believe that this letter was written in 62 AD while Apostle Paul was in prison. And Apostle Paul wrote to the body, the believers in Philippi, with whom he shared a close partnership and a special affection. You also address the letter to the church elders and deacons. So overall, the Book of Philippians is known as the Book of Joy and Rejoicing, where we see the joy of the Christian experience is the dominant theme which runs through the Book of Philippians. Ben said that let's look into the history of Philippi. So Philippi was founded as a gold mining center and became a city of prominence because it was the main road to Rome from the Western world. Philippi was a chief city of the part of Macedonia, even though Thessalonica was the capital city of that Roman province. And Philippi was a Roman colony. As a result of being a Roman colony, the people of the city were Roman citizens. The city was a model of Roman law and education. So people were noted to be noble, educated and disciplined in nature. The city did not officially allow a synagogue to be part of it, but it was somewhat anti-Semitic. So let's look into the background of the Book of Philippi. So when we look at Acts chapter 14 verse 27, we see that Paul circulated through the region of Galatia in his first missionary journey and he planted a few churches there. And he came back to Antioch of Syria and rested. He spent about three years. Then after that, he decides again with Barnabas saying that let's go into the places where we plant a church in Galatia and we'll minister and strengthen them. And there's a drift between Barnabas and Apostle Paul about taking John Mark along with them in the second missionary journey for which Apostle Paul did not agree. So Barnabas takes John Mark and he heads towards a different direction on ministry and Apostle Paul takes Silas along with them and he visits the same places where he planted the church in the first missionary journey. So as he visited, he wants to extend the territory to the new places. But then when he decided to move on to the next region after Galatia, let me move on to the map. So here we see the first missionary journey. They were in Antioch of Syria. They moved to Tarsus, Derby, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, and Pisidia. And when Apostle Paul decides to move into Asia to minister here, he was tarried here by the Holy Spirit. So when we read in Acts chapter 16 verse 6 and 7, we see that, let me turn to Acts chapter 16. Okay, I'm there almost. Yeah, Acts chapter 16 verse 6 and 7 says, Now when they had gone through Pergah and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Messiah, they tried to go into Bethania, but the Spirit did not permit them. So what happened? The Spirit did not permit them. Reading further. Okay, so passing by Messiah, they came down to Thoraz. Can you see Thoraz here? Yeah, they passed through Messiah and they came to Thoraz. And verse 9, chapter 16 verse 9 in the book of Acts, it says, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia, a student pleaded with him saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. Now after he had seen the vision, immediately he sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. So what happened? From Thoraz, they went directly to Macedonia, that is to Neapolis, and eventually they went to Philippi, that is, Yeah, can we all see? I'm just moving my cursor. Yes, it's there. So eventually they went there. So as Apostle Paul sends the Holy Spirit was directing him to Macedonia. He went there for the vision that he get. He just took an action immediately. He sensed very clearly that the next place that he needs to minister is in Macedonia. And eventually he arrived at Philippi and as it was the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, the colony. So when Paul and Silas arrived in Philippi, since there was no synagogue, they started the ministry in the Riverside as it was a coastal region. And when they started in the Riverside, they came across a lady called Lydia. When we read from chapter 16 verse 13 to 15, you see, and on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city to the Riverside, where prayer was customarily made. So I feel like certain Jews gathered together there and they met to pray. And we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by policy. There's a door that is open for them to minister through this woman. Now verse 15, when she and her household were baptized, she begged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my home and stay. So she persuaded. So God met the need. He opened up their heart, opened up their place for them to stay and pray fellowship at their place. And furthermore, when we read verse 16 to 19, we see that our apostle Paul went about preaching and ministering to people on the street. And this stirred the Holy Spirit was present with them. Stirred the people that were hearing to the message. And he also eventually went and delivered a young lady who was possessed with spirit of divination. When she was delivered by Apostle Paul, he cast that spirit out of her. The master of that girl was in a problem. He didn't get any more business because that spirit was cast out from this girl. So what did the master do? He dragged Apostle Paul and Silas before the city magistrate and accused them for being Jews and preaching and teaching and converting the Roman people. So because of the city opposition towards the Jews, Paul and Silas were beaten brutally. They were thrown into prison without a trial. Now furthermore, when we read verse 25 to 34, we see that now Apostle Paul is put in a deep prison. I would like to read that. Okay, 25 to 34. Okay, let me read. At least I'll read the first two verses 25 and 26. But at the midnight Apostle Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundation of the prison was shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were lost. Everyone's chains were lost. So what happened? When Apostle Paul and Silas were in the prison, nothing changed and nothing stopped them from ministering to the people. They were filled with joy. They sang out of the joy. They praised God. When they praised God in the situation, they did not give heed to the situation or circumstances. But when they sang and praised God, they rejoiced. They haven't responded to them. They haven't responded to their praise and verse 26 says there was a great earthquake that came into the foundation of... it shook the foundation of the prison and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were released. This is what God can do to us when we sing and praise and rejoice over our situation. God can deliver us. Heaven will respond to our praise. So Paul and Silas eventually were released from the prison because the Roman government discovered that Paul was a Roman citizen. So they want to secretly release him. But Apostle Paul, knowing the rules and regulation of the Roman government, he forced the officials to release him publicly because he was beaten and public and arrested in front of all. So he asked them to release with the public issue. So then they did that. Apostle Paul picked up where he left in the house. He picked up the ministry where he left at the house of Lydia and that's where the church, the new church was meeting. And then we see how Luke followed up because the letter of Acts was written by Luke. So Luke was also in touch with Apostle Paul. Whenever Apostle Paul came to Philippi or Macedonia, we see Luke who was in the neighboring city came and served Apostle Paul in the ministry. So he was with him in the beginning stages of this church. So that's how he could write in detail in the book of Acts. And we also see that he should be noted that whenever Apostle Paul was in need, he was there to help him. That's where many places he write in detail how Apostle Paul was helped by whom, what are the circumstances that he was put in? He could record in detail in the book of Acts. And also when we see the church, the Philippi church, was a joyful church which was very close with Apostle Paul because when they saw the need of Apostle Paul when he was in the prison, they sent gifts financially. They helped him and they supported him in different locations. And even when Apostle Paul was at the ministry at Thessalonica, they had helped him. And we also see that Paul undoubtedly visited the church of Philippi on the third missionary journey because in one of the scriptures in Philippians, he clearly says that it is due 24, he says that I trust in the Lord that I will come and visit you shortly. He had heart for this church, heart for the love of people whom he nurtured, built and grown and they were imitating Christ in a much closer way. They could follow Christ. They could follow the teaching of Apostle Paul.