Good Morning Friends,
“Now I want you to know, brothers, that what
has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has
become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am
in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord
have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and
fearlessly.” (Philippians 1:12-14)
When Paul wrote the Philippian letter he was a
prisoner. Although Paul does not identify the city in which he was a prisoner
the best speculation is that it was written while he was a prisoner in Rome. He
had been jailed because of his preaching. His preaching stirred up trouble for
those who did not accept it and did not like the changes it made in others. The
book of Acts and the letters of Paul speak of several times during his life
when Paul was put in prison for preaching.
That would seem like a defeat to most of us, a
time when there wouldn’t be much of anything we could do for the advance of the
Kingdom. To be sure, a few letters could be written and much studying and
praying could be done. But the opportunity to preach and really affect the lives
of others would be gone. Or so we would think.
Paul didn’t think that way. He viewed prison
not as the loss of opportunity, but as a change of opportunity. He couldn’t
preach to the crowds. He couldn’t visit the churches. But he could talk to the
soldiers who were guarding him! And preach he did. He was prisoner through enough
rotations and constant enough in his telling others about Christ that by the
time he wrote this letter there wasn’t a soldier in the palace guard who hadn’t
heard the message of Jesus!
Think about that example: no matter where he
was or what he was doing, in good times and in tough times, Paul still told
those around him about Jesus.
Now there’s an example to be followed!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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