Where to Begin

I think sometimes when approaching the in-depth study of a book of the Bible, the question that stares me in the face is “Where to begin?” There are mass amounts of information to uncover, especially since we are so far removed from the period of time in which it was written. The task becomes so daunting that I have often just closed my Bible and picked up some devotional literature instead. I remember Alistair said (in the same sermon I mentioned earlier) that we are at times better students of the writers of devotionals and books than we are students of the Word of our Lord. Yikes!

So bear with me as I take us on a few rabbit trails before we really sink our teeth into the feast that God has prepared for us in Philippians.

Paul is the opening word in Philippians. Now, I shouldn’t assume that everyone knows who Paul is, so I’ll make a brief introduction and if you’d like, you can read the references mentioned. Paul is first introduced in Acts 7:58 as “a young man named Saul” associated with the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. In short, Saul was a Jew who vehemently opposed the church. In fact, he was out to destroy it; however, God had other plans for Saul. The resurrected Jesus dramatically confronted Saul one day as he was journeying to Damascus. You can read the miraculous account in Acts 9 as Jesus changed Saul’s heart instantly. From that point on, he was a changed man with a new mission: to preach Christ to all, Jew and Gentile, no matter the cost. And that he did. Eventually Luke, the author of Acts, begins to refer to Saul (his Jewish name) as Paul (his Roman name) – just in case you were wondering.

Tomorrow we’ll jump into Acts 16 and learn a bit more before undertaking the study of the book of Philippians. But before we do that, is there anything else you’d like to add that we should know about Paul prior to his work in Philippi? Feel free to make comments to enlighten us. I know I have merely scratched the surface with my brief introduction.

Grace and peace to you.