What a Journey, Pt. 1

My wife & I just got back from a trip in which we re-traced the Apostle Paul's 2nd Missionary Journey from Acts 15-18 with a group from our church.

What a Journey, Pt. 1

"But Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches."

(Acts 15:40-41)

In 2004, I was part of a group that re-traced the Apostle Paul's Second Missionary Journey as recorded in Acts 15-18. It was a wonderful 10 days. There were several pastors on the trip, including Tim LaHaye, author of the Left Behind series, and Ed Hindson, former professor of theology at Liberty University. Each pastor was given the opportunity to preach at one of the cities we visited as we retraced Paul's journey. I was one of the younger pastors on the trip and was given Berea. That was very rewarding for me, and I remember preaching in front of the beautiful murals depicting Paul preaching to the Bereans.

For almost 20 years, my wife Ashley has been asking me when I am going back to Greece. She was unable to go with us on the first trip. Well, the opportunity came, and we made the journey with 25 other people. What a wonderful time it was. For 10 days, we traveled throughout Greece and even got to sail to Turkey and visit Ephesus. For this week's devotions, I will walk you through part of our journey and show you some pictures that I took. I will only be able to hit the highlights, because there was so much to see, and I took a bunch of pictures!

Our group met at our church on May 23 at 2:45 a.m. to begin our trip. Looking back, it was truly amazing how God blessed us in all our travels. We made all our connections, and all our luggage made it over and back. We flew from Austin to Washington DC and then boarded our 9-hour flight to Athens, Greece, where we would begin our adventure. After getting some rest, we got up early the next morning on our way to Corinth and then to Athens! (We went in reverse order, beginning our journey in the south, whereas Paul began in northern Greece.)

Corinth was a prominent city during Paul's day. It was an immoral place where the temple priestesses would descend each night from the temple to practice their trade. The remains of the ancient Temple to Apollo still stand in Corinth today, dating back to the 5th century BC. Here is a picture of me standing at the remains of the temple:

Paul spent 18 months in the city and worked with Aquila and Priscilla as tent-makers. He planted the church there and would eventually write two letters (epistles) to them, the books 1 and 2 Corinthians. During Paul's stay in Corinth, he would write 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

Paul would appear before Gallio in Acts 18 at the judgment seat (bema in Greek). Gallio was the older brother to Seneca, the famous Roman philosopher who tutored the emperor Nero. Here is a picture I took of my son Leighton, his wife Danielle, and their daughter Bella at the bema:

Corinth was a great place to start our tour. Tomorrow I will share about our next stop, which was my favorite: Athens!

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Podcast of the Week

Interview with Dr. Jennifer Wakefield, Pt. 1

Pastor Danny welcomes to the show Dr. Jennifer Wakefield, biblical counselor and head of the women's ministry at Great Hills Baptist Church, to discuss the issues of same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria and how Christians can effectively minister to people struggling with these issues, especially how parents can help their children if they are in the midst of these struggles.

Listen on your preferred platform: