A Strengthened Faith, Pt. 5

Our last day was spent in Thessaloniki. What a beautiful city located on the Aegean Sea. It was the largest city in ancient Macedonia and its capital.

A Strengthened Faith, Pt. 5

"For our Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake."

(1 Thessalonians 1:5)

Before I share about the last day of our trip in Thessaloniki, here are a couple of photos from our tour of Philippi. I preached a message near the place where Lydia, the first European convert, was baptized. Here is a picture of the water; it had to be in this location because this is the only water close to Philippi.

Acts 16:15 states, "And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, 'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.' So she persuaded us." As you can see in the photo, I had a helper (Bella) with the message!

Leighton preached at the site of Silas and Paul's imprisonment. Here is a picture I took of an excavated prison cell, and if this is not the actual cell of Paul and Silas, then it would have been one much like it. Acts 16:23-24 states, "And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks."

Our last day was spent in Thessaloniki. What a beautiful city located on the Aegean Sea. It was the largest city in ancient Macedonia and its capital. It was an important military city with a major route called the Egnatian Way that passed through the city. (This Roman road stretched almost 700 miles, from Albania in the west all the way to Turkey in the east.) Paul wrote the letter of 1 Thessalonians while in Corinth on his second missionary journey. A few months later he wrote 2 Thessalonians while still in Corinth.

I was impressed with how the modern city has made the effort to preserve much of the ancient ruins. It was not uncommon to see both the ancient and the modern side by side. The city in Paul's day had 7 miles of wall built around the city. Today, 2 of the 7 miles of the wall are preserved. Here is a picture of me preaching in Thessaloniki at the wall:

One of the books we picked up while in Greece made this interesting statement about Thessaloniki:

"The large number of Christian churches gives the city a predominately Byzantine character, and if Athens gives the visitor the impression of contact with the ancient Greek religion, in Thessaloniki, it is undoubtedly Christianity which makes its presence most strongly felt."

After we toured Thessaloniki, we flew back to Athens, spent the night, and then started our journey home the next day. I am so grateful to God to have been able to go back to Greece and retrace the Apostle Paul's 2nd missionary journey. I hope these pictorial devotions have been an encouragement to you.

As the Lord wills, our next touring trip will be to go back to Israel. We will let you know in advance so you can go with us if you are interested. It is an amazing journey, for sure!

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Podcast of the Week

Interview with Dr. Jenifer Wakefield, Pt. 2

Pastor Danny continues his conversation with Dr. Jenifer Wakefield, biblical counselor and head of the women's ministry at Great Hills Baptist Church, about the issues of same-sex attraction, gender dysphoria, and abortion and how Christians can effectively minister to people struggling with these issues, especially how parents can help their children if they are tangled up in these issues.

Listen on your preferred platform: