Before we turn our attention to the actual text of the Philippian letter, let’s look at how the gospel first came to the city of Philippi. We’re introduced in Acts 16 to Lydia, an unmarried (widowed) immigrant. As a wealthy & successful business woman who sold the highly sought after purple dyed cloth (a luxury item for the powerful & wealthy), we might imagine that she was living ‘a life worth living’. Yet with all her wealth, status & achievement she sought a deeper meaning to life; the kind that goes beyond the fading thrill of conquering yet another goal or seeing a bank account swell. Later in the chapter we meet an ex-Roman soldier dutifully carrying out his role as a jailer. He, unlike Lydia, wasn’t seeking God at all, but then a violent earthquake shook his exterior & interior worlds. As his ‘life worth living’ crumbled, his attention turned to something more, something deeper & more meaningful. In both of these people’s lives, God brought the good news of Jesus to them through Paul & Silas, and they & their households were led into salvation, & Philippi’s church had its first members.