Captive Audience

Studying last week in preparation for preaching at MKCC this past Sunday I spent some time reading about his time held captive in house arrest in Rome at Caesar's pleasure.

During that couple of years before his execution he wrote letters to various churches. What I read shed an new light on one of the things he told the believers at Philippi.

It has become known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ; - Phil 1:13 RSV

When prisoners we kept captive by Caesar under house arrest they were chained 24/7 to a member of the Praetorian Guard, the elite soldiers and personal bodyguards of Caesar. The Guard was changed every 6 hours. Probably to stop a close relationship forming between prisoner and guard.

So Paul under arrest, separated from friends for long period of times, awaiting what was to be almost certain death by execution, sees this as an great opportunity. Every 6 hours he gets a captive audience for 6 hours to tell them about Jesus. Every 6 hours a new "victim". He lived to tell people about Jesus. Amazing. Soon the WHOLE Praetorian Guard knew about his saviour!

Made me thing that some of us have lived next to our neighbours for years, free to come and go as we wish, and we have never mentioned the name of Jesus.