SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/15/2018
7:11 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Liberated Woman”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
16:11-15
Message of the
verses: “11 So putting out to sea
from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to
Neapolis; 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the
district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some
days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where
we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and
began speaking to the women who had assembled. 14 A woman named Lydia, from the
city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was
listening; and the Lord
opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when
she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you
have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay."
And she prevailed upon us.”
I remember a long time ago I was listening to a preacher
preach from the book of Acts and he stated that Dr. Luke could really describe
a sea voyage in great detail. We begin
looking at verse eleven with Dr. Luke describing a sea voyage as the missionary
team of Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke begin their trip from Troas. Troas was located across the Aegean Sea from
Greece, on the western shore of Asia Minor which is Modern day Turkey, near the
site of ancient Troy. We saw when we were
looking at Acts 16:6-8 that it was the Holy Spirit who was directing them to
where He wanted them to go. We noted
that after Paul had received a vision from a man in Macedonia that he wanted
help, that Luke writes “immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding
that God had called us to preach the gospel to them” (16:10).”
From Troas, Luke writes that they “ran a straight course
to Samothrace,” and Samothrace is an island in the Aegean Sea, approximately
half way between Asia Minor and the Greek mainland. It was there that they stayed overnight, so
the trip must not have taken too long.
Next they went to Neapolis, which is the port city of Philipi. It looks like they must have had a favorable
wind for we read from Acts 20:6 “We sailed from Philippi after the days of
Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we
stayed seven days.” This verse speaks of
Paul being on his way to get to Jerusalem and it took five days for this part
of his journey which only took one day going in the opposite direction.
The then went to Philippi which was about ten miles
inland. Philippi was a Roman colony and
the city was named after Alexander’s father Phillip, and this was an important
city as in 31 B.C. it was named a “Roman colony” by Octavian, following the
battle of Actium in 31 B. C. John
MacArthur writes: As a colony Philippi
‘possessed the ius Italicum, which carried the right of
freedom (libertas), that is, they
were self-governing, independent of the provincial government; the right of
exemption from tax (immunitas); and
the right of holding land in full ownership, as under Roman law, and of using
Italian legal procedures and precedents.
In 16:16-40 we have a clear picture of this procedure and one, moreover,
that belongs precisely to this time.(David J. Williams, New International Biblical Commentary: Acts [Peabody, Mass.:
Hendrickson. 1990], 284).’
“Although eight other
cities known to be Roman colonies appear in Acts, Philippi is the only one Luke
refers to as a colony.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Out of the throne of God and
of the Lamb.”
Today’s Bible
question: “Who was Elisha’s servant?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/15/2018 7:39 AM
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