Advent 2009:: The Coming JOY Friday

Friday Joy::

Philippians is book that deals greatly with joy and greatly with Jesus. It is a short book. Take a chance this weekend to read the entire book, more than once, if you can. The Apostle Paul wrote the book and uses a form of the word “joy” 12 times in this short book. Many scholars consider joy to be this book’s theme.

Here’s some background for you on the book: Paul’s major job was to start churches. He would go into a town and draw people with his teaching about Jesus, and then he would appoint pastors and invest in them and help them start a church. He’d then go into the next town. Paul did this thing in the city of Philippi . Years later, he wrote this book to the people of Philippi .

Paul is in prison and in very poor health as he writes the book. He expects to be killed for his belief in Jesus and the things he’s spoken about Him. Paul hopes to see the Philippians again, but he expects to be killed by his captors.

There is a man named Epaphroditus, who was one of the pastors of the church in Philippi . The Philippians sent Epaphroditus to Paul during his time in prison. While Epaphroditus was with Paul, he developed a nearly fatal illness.