Toward the end of the 1st century a final writing supposedly by Paul was in circulation, but the attribution is most uncertain. 35 At daybreak the magistrates sent their police officers, saying, Release those men. 36 The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent orders to release you. Sr., in 1900, St. Paul is the oldest church in Pleasant City. He directed through Pauls disagreement with Barnabas. This is not because of any great success or due to the lack of difficulties in his life. The word church can refer to all true believers, individual congregations, or the churches of a particular region. His plan was to go to the ends of the known world, possibly as far as the Spanish coast, by way of Rome. Riddell emerged, much to our relief. Were there prayers of praise? What would they learn about God? In the middle of the night, in the cover of darkness, and in the midst of great confusion, it would have been relatively easy to make your escape. In order to announce his coming, Paul dictated a Letter to his secretary, Tertius (Rom 16:22), and entrusted it, apparently, to Phoebe, a deaconess of the Church at Cenchreae (Rom 16:1), who was about to travel to Rome. Were there prayers for the salvation of those who had beaten them, and prayers for their fellow inmates? While Paul is a man we should all seek to imitate individually, the Philippian church is a church we should seek to imitate corporately. Fittingly, the Roman Emperors lived in Rome, along with the Senate. In spite of these circumstances, Paul is jubilant, joyful, optimistic. So far as we know, no one even suffered an injury. The first debatethat of Paul and Barnabas with the Judaiserswas over the gospel itself. 2018 31 Jul. This would well explain why so few Jews were to be found there, so few, in fact, that the city did not even have a synagogue. 7 In short, it is the belief that birds of a feather stay together. Homogeneous grouping means that a church selects a certain slice of society and caters to it. If you or I were to hand pick those whom we would like to see saved and used as the nucleus of a new church, I doubt we would select those whom God chose.4. How Many Churches Did the Apostle Paul Start? God saw to it that there was a church planted in Philippi. God seldom does things the way we would expect. This resulted in disagreements about how to incorporate the Old Testament law into following Christ, including rituals such as circumcision. If Paul would not take John Mark along because of the dangers they would face, he surely would not have taken an unproven Timothy along, either. All that to say, ancient Rome had a lot of similarities to modern-day Washington D.C. Culture: Rome was a relatively wealthy city and included several economic classes -- including slaves, free individuals, official Roman citizens, and nobles of different kinds (political and military). 19 But when her owners saw their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. I would understand her to be an Old Testament saint. It is in Lystra that Paul first encounters Timothy. Another is that they immediately (much like Lydia) sought to show hospitality to Paul and Silas. 20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, These men are throwing our city into confusion. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/the-early-church-at-rome-363409. Lets call him Paul, the warrior. Here, Paul reminds me a great deal of Clyde Riddell in his mad mode. As we read Galatians, we see a very animated and even angry apostle, incensed by the fact that some are turning from the true gospel of salvation by grace alone and embracing another gospel, a gospel of works. Philippians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary by John MacArthur. Acts 15:1-35 describes the way the apostles and the elders of the church in Jerusalem handled this debate. Apart from the Lord opening his heart, we know that he would not believe the message Paul preached. Despite the hostile environment the new believers experienced in Thessalonica, they were holding fast to the word that was preached to them, and news of their devotion to Christ was becoming well-known throughout Macedonia ( 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8 ). Their whole business had just collapsed before their very eyes. Incidentally, years later, while I was a student at Dallas Seminary, my summer job was teaching high school classes in a Washington State Penitentiary, which was located in my home town. In 1 Corinthians, for example, we see Paul, the troubleshooter. As Paul writes to the Corinthians, he deals with questions they have asked him, and with the problems he has discerned through his communication with others. Just this past week in Texas, a couple of death row inmates were able to overpower a woman guard and to hold her hostage for a few agonizing hours. Learn about the church Paul risked everything to serve. Jewish Christians like Priscilla and Aquila were also affected; they found refuge and work in Greece and Asia (see Acts 18:2, 18, 26; 1Cor 16:19). For the jailer and the long-term inmates of that prison, this night offered nothing new. He became a Christian only after an experience with the living Christ on the road to Damascus. This city was certainly different from those Paul had visited earlier, as there appears to be only a few Jews living there. 9 The Lord said to Paul by a vision in the night, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, 10 because I am with you, and no one will assault you to harm you, because I have many people in this city." 11 So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them ( Acts 16:9-11 ). 2 The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. And now they want to send us away secretly? Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! Since she and others were at the river when Paul arrived it would be easy to understand her baptism as being much like that of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8. 16:1 He also came to Derbe and to Lystra. But it is of this woman that Luke writes, the Lord opened her heart to believe This is most significant to me. This indicates that they had never heard Paul claim to be a Roman citizen. Mr. Riddell had served in the army during World War II and had some very fascinating stories to tell about his part in that war. They could either turn south and head back to Antioch, or he could go north to Bithynia or Asia. Lets call him Paul, the optimist. Paul is never more upbeat, never more joyful and triumphant than he is in the Book of Philippians. What does it mean that to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). One indication of this is that they were baptized. Tampa's first church was established by a Methodist congregation in 1846. . Tradition holds that the first Gentile church was founded in Antioch, Acts 11:20-21, where it is recorded that the disciples of Jesus Christ were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). The church having started as it did, I have to smile when I read Pauls letter to the Philippians. The Apostle Paul seems to have written this epistle as a thank you letter in response to the gifts1 that were sent to him in his time of need. Has your suffering shown you how helpless and needy you are? We will probably never know who were the first missionaries of Christ there. It pertains to a human transformation inaugurated in Jesus. Barnabas is already there with Mark, and so Paul must now decide where to go from Galatia. What is very interesting to me is the way God providentially used the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas to prepare the way for a new and unexpected thrust of missionary activity. Many scholars believe the earliest Roman Christians were Jewish inhabitants of Rome who were exposed to Christianity while visiting Jerusalem-- perhaps even during the Day of Pentecost when the church was first established (see Acts 2:1-12). Having a place to stay met a very practical need for bed and breakfast, and it also provided these Jewish preachers a measure of protection. In about A.D 36/37 a mysterious event changed the course of Sauls life in an instant. But that would have taken them to Cyprus. I wonder how the prisoners in that penitentiary would have responded if it were our prayers that were being offered up. It is a book that, if taken to heart, can radically transform our outlook and sweeten up some sour saints, not to mention pointing others who have not yet met Him to Christ, the source of all true joy. 24 Receiving such orders, he threw them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. First and fundamentally, as a part of the Word of God and as letters written to the church, the body of Christ, they deserve our careful study for the purpose of knowing and applying God's truth to life. I think something similar was the case in this Philippian prison.) The church desperately needs another book, which might be called, Whatever Happened to Joy? He was a prideful self-righteous . 16 Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. Paul is not writing from the penthouse of a fancy hotel; he is writing from a prison cell. Perhaps Paul had already witnessed to this man. and St. Paul A.M.E., founded in 1870 as Tampa's first African Methodist Episcopal congregation. 14 A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, a God-fearing woman, listened to us. She was the property of her owners. It may have to be done, but it should not be done without due consideration. To facilitate the reading we can group its themes around three main centers: the necessity of faith, the riches of the faith, the demands of the faith. The jailer was ecstatic. 4 I should say at this point that there are some who assume that the demon possessed fortune teller was saved, and this might be the case, but the text does not really tell us that she came to faith. They would know before long. O T PAUL'S first visit to Macedonia was the dawn of a new ^ era in the development of the Christian Church. By and large, it was those who were suffering who came to Christ for mercy and grace. 9 Church Planting 9 How Many Churches Did the Apostle Paul Start? The magistrates had been deceived, but they had also failed to carry out their job according to the law. 1 and 2Thessalonians: The first two Christian writings that have come down to us. Either way, Paul called out to the jailer, urging him not to harm himself, and informing him that all the prisoners were present and accounted for. I can almost see one of the older prisoners turning to a cellmate and asking, Which God are they singing about? The response of these two foreigners was so unusual that everyone in that prison must have strained to hear the words of each song. Learn Religions. Galatia has a long history. Saul was on his way to making a name for himself. Did Paul plant the church in Rome? It was a scene that had been played out countless times before. The "first church" is the church that is recorded in the New Testament, especially in the Book of Acts and the Epistles of Paul. What was the first church that Paul started? As Paul and Silas were roughly thrown into the inner chamber of that prison and their feet were secured in stocks, no angry words came from their lips. After all, if you were a prisoner on death row, living in horrid conditions, what would you do if all the prison doors popped open and your chains broke loose? As Paul, Silas and Timothy made their way to the churches that had been previously founded, they delivered the decree of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, which greatly encouraged the saints. Paul was present at the Council of Jerusalem in A.D. 48/49, which rendered liberating decisions on this point (Acts 15; Gal 2:1-10). 1. In addition to not seeing any of the prisoners, the jailer must not have heard any noise, either, or he would have known that the prisoners were still inside. The New Testament church is the "original church" and the "one true church." We can know this because it is described, in great detail, in Scripture. He may even face execution. Thirteen of the New Testament books are said to have been written by a man who was known as a fanatical opponent of the early followers of Christ, his life devoted to persecuting them for their blasphemous claims against Mosaic Law. Want the Verse of the Day sent to your inbox? That downtown church, First United Methodist Church of Tampa, remained open until 2011. . But as the walls moved about violently, the gates snapped loose, and every prison door popped open. Paul's preaching angers some Jews to the point where they plot to take his life (Acts 9:29). Riddell, not even me. In a tradition of the early Church, Peter is said to have founded the Church in Rome with Paul, served as its bishop, authored two epistles, and then met martyrdom there along with Paul. 15 After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, If you consider me to be a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house. And she persuaded us. Third, Philippians is an epistle that gives us an entirely different standard for giving and fund-raising. He directed also through the prohibition of the Holy Spirit (however that worked itself out on two occasions) and through the vision that Paul was given in Troas. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying. As we consider this earthquake and its aftermath, I want you to keep one thing in mindthe purpose of this earthquake was not to give Paul and Silas the chance to escape, and it was not Gods intent that any of the prisoners escape. "Earliest Days of the Roman Christian Church." Now, in the winter of A.D. 5657, his third missionary journey has been completed and he has established the Church in the principal Mediterranean urban centers, from Jerusalem to Illyricum (Rom 15:19). God not only established the church in Philippi, He did so in a way that insured its safety in the days to come. Nonetheless, we sense herein the stirrings of an impassioned soul, for example beneath some uncalled-for blow (Rom 2:17ff), in the trust of being in Gods grace (ch. In prison again, huh? I wonder if there was a growing sense of anticipation as midnight approached, and as the prayers and praises of Paul and Silas drifted throughout that prison. The other prisoners had never seen nor heard anything like this before in their lives. Suppose that Paul and Silas had moaned and groaned and cursed because of their pain. He is just the opposite of Paul, the warrior in Galatians. 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