[1:1] Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: [2] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We begin with a beginning.

For you and me at word360, it’s 3 beginnings, really, with the potential for more.

First, it’s the true beginning of this project.  We really don’t start anything of lasting value until God’s voice has been heard.  When God speaks real things are created, real life rises from his power, and reality is transformed.  That’s what we’re after in this project.

Second, it’s the beginning of a year-long reflection on this biblical book, Philippians.  It’s a short book, but we’re going to take a long time, one full year, to reflect on it, maybe memorize it, and work very hard each week to apply it to our lives.

Third, it’s the beginning of the week.  In fact, it’s the beginning of our first week together at word360.  It’s the beginning of a weekly pattern that we will repeat many times.  The repetition won’t be boring.  It’s just the pattern that we’re going to repeat.  The Scripture will never stop hitting us from new angles, speaking to us at different volume levels, and revealing new facets of God’s character.  You won’t get bored through repetition.  But you might become competent at handling God’s word for yourself.

It’s on this third beginning that we’ll really start our work:

Monday is Context day. Every week. So let me introduce you to the basic information that we’re concerned with identifying on Monday.  I’ll do my introduction in the form of questions rather than answers.  See if you can answer briefly the following questions to get you started in understanding the context for Philippians.

• People
  • Author
    • Is the author of the book identified in these verses?
  • Audience
    • Is the audience of the book identified in these verses?
• Circumstances
  • Setting
    • Can you learn anything about the surroundings or environment of either the author or the audience?
  • Situation
    • Do the opening comments give any clues to the circumstances that either the author or the audience find themselves in?
• Themes
  • Previous Text
    • Spend time today reading a few paragraphs that precede your text. (Or in this case, why not begin reading through the book of Acts which is an historical account of the movement of the gospel through the acts of obedience of the early church leaders.)
  • Following Text
    • Go ahead and cheat. Read ahead. Read the whole book. It’s short.
  • Connections
    • Note any first observations about how you see this week’s verses connecting with either previous or following texts.

That’s it for today. That’s plenty! Relax, we’ve got lot’s of time to reflect on this text, and on the great little book of Philippians. Enjoy and see you tomorrow!