The Apostle Paul wrote the “prison epistles” in AD 60-62 while under house arrest in Rome. During his imprisonment, Paul was permitted to receive visitors and to share the Gospel. The Apostle Paul wrote four letters while imprisoned in Rome awaiting his appeal before the Emperor. Two went to churches he had founded but now were struggling with issues of faith. One was basically a thank you to a church for all of their financial and emotional support. One went to a friend asking for a favor for another friend. Join us on Sunday mornings as we seek to apply Paul’s insights from the first century to our lives in the twenty-first.
Dr Wilke is a retired Lutheran pastor and professor with over thirty years of experience teaching in Lutheran colleges and seminaries. He enjoys teaching classes on books of the Bible as well as topics that arise throughout the Bible. Also, the broad theme of religion in American life is a rich source of topics for future study. The goal in every class is to assist each student to answer the question, “How does this apply to my life today?”
Wayne and his wife, Grace, are frequent travelers.
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.