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(Note-I edited out the into paragraph that ran in the paper)

A Picture of the Church

Paul, on his second missionary journey (Acts 16), finds himself in a place (Macedonia) where there isn’t one person who shares his faith.  Eventually, he comes across a group of women, where a wealthy cloth merchant named Lydia “accepted what Paul was saying” regarding the Good News about Jesus.  Later, Paul is arrested for casting a demon out of a slave girl, who also is transformed by God.  Finally, while in prison for freeing the demon possessed girl, God sends an earthquake that sets free all the prisoners, and as the jailer is about to kill himself for losing everyone, Paul stops the jailer.    Acts 16:30-31 tells us 30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”

This is the start of the church at Philippi, to whom Paul writes the book of Philippians to.  A city where there was nobody who had placed their faith in Jesus for salvation.  Until Paul comes, and a wealthy cloth merchant, a demon possessed slave girl, and a Macedonian jailer plus his family all come together.  When Paul writes from a prison in Philippians 1 and greets the saints, these are the founding members of the church.

This is what a church should look like.  People from different backgrounds, different socio-economic statuses, and different ethnicities all able to worship the same God together.  The power of the Good News about Jesus is to bring people together.  It isn’t a club where everyone is the same; it’s a place where anyone and everyone can come to find God.