Day 4 Wed Jun 9

Day Four - Wednesday June 9th

Checking out of hotel. Up and our bags out the door at 7:30 with us getting breakfast starting at 7:00 and then we're on the bus and moving at 8:30. Today we are headed to the area of Philippi and Kavala (Neopolis). We travel east on the New Via Egnatia, the replacement for the Roman Road in this area.

We rode on the bus for about an hour, maybe a little longer, and got to the area of Amfipolis (Amphipolos). There is a landmark, the 'Lion of Amphipolis" that we stopped at. Pastor Wayne made the point that this was a critical place controlling East/West trade and movement, and yet the scriptures (Acts 17:1) indicate that Paul and his companions did not spend much time here - the question then becomes "why not?" There are no really good answers, but the best one that fits is found in 1 Cor 1:26-29, key verse: "but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong". We got some good group pictures at this site.

After the Lion, we made an unplanned stop at the Acropolis of Amfipolis. We wondered around the grounds and ruins of five basilicas and a hexagonal church. Lots of good pictures.

Back on the bus at 11:20 and headed for Kavala, which is on the ocean. Most of us had lunch at a nice fish restaurant which was across the street from the Northern Aegean Sea. Everyone commented on how good the food was, lots of fish was consumed.

After lunch, back on the bus at 1:50 and headed to the area of Philippi. This is a bit north (20 minutes) of Kavala. Acts 16:9-40 describes Paul's time in the Philippi area, the conversion and baptism of Lydia, the arrest and imprisonment, and the miracle with the prison being opened. We looked at the Theather that Philip II built after he took over the city and renamed it after himself while our guide Aliki told us about the area and the site. Aliki mentioned that after the Romans took over this area, that they turned the Theater into a colleseum, and that it was likely that Chirstians were martyred here.

We walked a few minutes and got under some shade while Pastor Wayne taught from Acts 16, and compared Lydia (the first European gentile convert to Chritianity) and the jailer. He mentioned that there are three aspects to salvation: 1. Justification, 2: Santification, and 3: Glorification. Many of the questions around salvation can be answered by looking carefully at which of these three the passage is speaking about. Justification is the process of being made right with God, and that only happens "by faith alone, through Jesus Christ alone, by God's grace alone". This happens when we believe in Jesus and cannot be lost. Santification is the process of becoming more like God, and this is what we are called to work on. Glorification is what happens when we get our heavenly bodies and is obviously in the future. Pastor Wayne also talked about baptism, which means "identify with". When we are baptized, we are identifying with Christ. When Christ was baptized, He was identifying with John's message "repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand".

We then walked around and saw the "Prison of Paul". While we cannot be sure, this could be the site where Paul was imprisoned in Acts 17:22-30 and the jailer was saved.

We then looked at the ruins of the Forum of Philippi (which the French had excavated) and the Octagonal Church (which the Greek had excavated). While looking at the Octagonal Church, a short but heavy rainstorm came up and we spent more time there. We also saw a baptistry in the form of a cross. We had some time to explore on our own and then get back to the bus at 4:45.

From there, we went to the small town of Lydia which was only a couple of minutes away from the ruins at Philippi. This is the legendary site of the baptism of Lydia (Acts 16:14-15). We stopped and three of our members were baptized there: Janet Reeves, Kyle Johnson, and Michelle Johnson. (No relation between Kyle and Michelle.)

After the baptism, we got back to the bus, and headed back to Kavala where we checked into the Oceanis Hotel about 6:00. This hotel is not as nice as the Capsis in Thessaloniki, the elevators are tiny (five people max), the showers are over narrow tubs (too narrow for me to have my feet perpendicular to the length), and the A/C was not on until about 8:30, and it never did get the room too cool.

Tomorrow we have to have our bags out for pickup at 7:00, breakfast at 7:00, and meet at the bus at 7:45. As it is now 45 minutes past midnight, this is going to be a short night for me, but it feels good to get caught up with the journal. Now I just have the task of getting the pictures added, but that's a goal for tomorrow. Goodnight.

*Dale*