Telling Our Stories – Philippi: Paul’s Beloved Congregation
Acts 16:11-15; Philippians 1:1-11
May 17, 2026
What do a businesswoman, a fortune teller, and a jailer have in common?
A businesswoman praying by the river on a Sabbath day…
A fortune teller in the marketplace stirring up trouble…
A jailer experiencing the very ground shaking beneath his feet…
Each of these individuals lived in Philippi in the first century
when Paul arrived in town on his second missionary journey.
Their stories are part of the foundation of the first church on European soil.
The house church that arose in Philippi began with a vision.
The Apostle Paul received a vision in the night. From Acts 16:6-10, we read:
Paul and Silas went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, (today’s Turkey)
having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, (today’s Istanbul)
but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him
and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia,
being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
The Holy Spirit was at work in the spreading of the early Christian Church into Europe.
The Holy Spirit was active:
– in the vision given to Paul at night,
– at the place of prayer preparing the Gentile believers who gathered there,
– in the marketplace with one certain slave girl,
– and at the local jail with the jailer and his family.
The Holy Spirit is the primary actor in the Book of Acts!
The early apostles were just following the Spirit’s guidance.
Did you notice how The Spirit did not allow Paul and Silas to go towards Bythynia?
We do not know if it was the wind or the weather,
or perhaps the words of some locals who warned them away,
but the Holy Spirit forbids them preach in Asia or to go to Bythinia.
Then the Spirit shows up in a night vision to send Paul toward Philippi.
where this first church on European soil would be born.
This congregation at Philippi became near and dear to Paul’s heart.
It seems that Paul resided in Philippi some 18 months or so.
He was a tent maker. He spent his days working with hands among the people,
getting to know the community, talking in the marketplaces and preaching on Sabbath days
to all who would hear. Paul would speak openly about the good news of Jesus Christ
and the power of Christ’s Resurrection.
In our text for today from Acts 16:11-15, we hear the beginnings of the congregation in Philippi. We therefore set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace,
the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi,
which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
We remained in this city for some days. On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate
by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer,
and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.
A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us;
she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth.
The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.
When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying,
“If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.”
And she prevailed upon us.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The first congregation on European soil started with a businesswoman named Lydia.
Later, in Paul’s letter, we hear of two women, Euodia and Syntyche,
who had become active in the house church.
Certainly, from these early letters, we learn that women were part of the leadership
of the early church, especially since Paul mentions them by name.
Another part of the Philippian story of how Paul and Silas ended up in jail
because of a young slave woman with a spirit of divination.
We do not know much about the girl; we do not even know her name.
What we do know from the author Luke is that the slave girl made money for the men
who owned her by telling fortunes. As the story goes,
she began to annoy Paul by following him and the others around the city.
For many days, she would cry out in the marketplace:
‘These men are slaves of the Most High God; they proclaim a way of salvation.’
When Paul finally ordered the disturbing spirit to come out of her, it came out of her
that very hour. The problem was that when she was no longer able
to make fortune-telling money for her owners,
So the men who owned her created an uproar.
They dragged Paul and Silas before the local magistrates.
The magistrates had Paul and Silas stripped and beaten with rods.
Paul and Silas received a severe flogging. They were thrown into the Philippian prison,
in the innermost cell with their feet fastened in stocks.
Paul and Silas could have bemoaned their situation.
They could have complained about their unjust treatment.
They could have blamed the slave girl whose demon possession got them into trouble.
They could have blamed her owners for inciting the crowds.
They could have taken out their frustration on the magistrates or the jailor
or the other prisoners or even each other.
Instead, Paul and Silas were heard by the jailer and his family praying and singing hymns.
That night, an earthquake loosened their bonds and shook the door of the jail open,
but Paul and Silas did not leave. They stayed where they were.
They knew if they escaped, there could be further trouble. But if they stayed,
they could appeal to the courts regarding the injustices they had endured.
The jailer, assuming that they had escaped, was about to take his own life with a sword,
but he found his prisoners still sitting in his prison, even after the earthquake.
The jailer trembled before them and asked them about the God to whom they’d been praying.
Paul and Silas reached out to him in love and mercy, and spoke to him of Jesus.
The jailor inquired of Paul: “What must I do to be saved?”
What must I do to experience the same joy and freedom that you seem to enjoy?
Paul answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Believe on the Lord Jesus, place your trust in Jesus of Nazareth.
allow the Lord Jesus, whom God has raised, to be the sole Master of your life,
and you will be saved, you and your household.
Luke reports that the jailer’s whole household was baptized that night,
and they rejoiced greatly.
This church in Philippi became near and dear to Paul’s heart.
His letter to them has been called the most positive of all of the New Testament epistles.
Paul wrote this positive, hopeful letter to the church in Philippi from prison,
where he was facing trial and perhaps even his own death.
From prison, Paul encourages the Philippians to know Jesus Christ
and the power of his resurrection.
He wants them to know that the joy they had received in Jesus Christ
can be ever-present, even in the midst of hostility and tribulation.
Paul uses some form of the word “joy” no less than 19 times in the letter to the Philippians.
(Fred Craddock, Interpretation: Philippians, page 17)
As we have said many times before, joy is deeper than “happiness”.
Happiness depends upon our circumstances; joy abides, even as circumstances change.
The joy that Paul shares with the Philippians originates in Jesus Christ,
and it is his love, the love of Jesus, which makes a person uncommonly strong,
even or especially in the face of adversity.
Hear the opening of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, Philippians 1:1-11.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God for every time I remember you, always in every one of my prayers for all of you,
praying with joy for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it
until the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you,
because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are my partners in God’s grace,
both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the tender affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge
and full insight to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ
you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Paul’s prayer is that their love may overflow more and more
with knowledge and full insight to help them to determine what is best.
Our primary prayers in Church are not for building renovations, nor for balanced budgets,
nor for more bottoms in the pews.
Our primary prayer is that the love and joy of Jesus Christ will overflow more and more
among us, with knowledge of God and full insight into God’s will,
so that we may discern together what is good and acceptable and pleasing to God.
Some of my favorite words in all of scripture are from Philippians 4:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
And from Philippians 3:
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ…
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things,
and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Friends, to live with the joy of Jesus Christ,
to experience the overflowing love of God with knowledge and full insight,
to be guarded by the peace of Christ, the peace which surpasses understanding,
to know Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection…
This is what the good folks of Philippi came to know through the ministry of Paul and Silas.
This is what baptism and living a Christian life promises,
whether in the first century or twenty first century.
This, my friends, is the good news of the gospel,
the gospel that still has the power to “turn the world upside down.”
Some of you are aware that Jody and Ed Saul’s son is a musician.
He has spent much of the last several years playing music with Lauren Daigle.
Lauren Daigle is a contemporary Christian songwriter who hails from Louisiana.
She went through some serious struggles in her late teens and early twenties,
and came through a dark night of the soul with a strong faith and hope for the future.
One of Lauren Daigle’s songs, inspired by Holy Scripture and her personal knowledge
of the love of Jesus Christ, is named “Thank God I Do”:
I don’t know who I’d be if I didn’t know You; I’d probably fall off the edge
I don’t know where I’d go if You ever let go; So keep me held in Your hands
You’re my safe place, my hide away; You’re my anchor, my saving grace
You’re my constant, my steadiness; You’re my shelter, my oxygen
I don’t know who I’d be if I didn’t know You.
Thank God I do (azlyrics.com/lyrics/laurendaigle/thankgodido.html)
What do a businesswoman, a fortune teller, and a jailer have in common?
What do countless people at places of prayer, people in marketplaces,
and people in jail have in common?
What does the first church on European soil, this congregation,
and singer/songwriter Lauren Daigle have in common?
We have all come to know Jesus Christ and experienced the joy and power
of his love and resurrection.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Todd Speed
Decatur Presbyterian Church
Decatur, Georgia
