The Road to ROME
“And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.”
Acts 28:30-31, Douay-Rheims
What you have read is not a single encounter.
It is a step on a road.
Paul did not plan his arrival in Rome. He declared it.
I must also see Rome.
What followed was not a straight road, but a broken one. Shipwreck, imprisonment, a viper on a shore, and two years confined. He arrived as a prisoner.
And yet no man could forbid him
This road has an order
One way. Five phases.
The steps are given as they are walked.
What cannot be planned is the manner of arrival.
Who reads which paper. Where it lands. What it opens.
That belongs to providence, not to the author.
The work is to be faithful to the next step.
PHASE I: THE ENCOUNTER Christ looks. Christ speaks. Man is found.
🪶 Paper 1: What did Jesus write on the ground?
🪶 Paper 2: What do you seek?
🪶 Paper 3: Why do I not answer?
🪶 Papers 1,2,3 : My Lord, Show Me the Way.
PHASE II: THE CRISIS The encounter does not flatter. It exposes.
🪶 Paper 4: Why am I afraid of him?
🪶 Paper 5: Why do I hide?
🪶 Paper 6: Who told me I was naked?
Paper 7: Why do I justify myself?
PHASE III: THE TURNING Grace arrives before the answer is ready.
Paper 8: Neither do I condemn thee. What does this mean?
Paper 9: Follow me. But what must I leave?
Paper 10: Lord, to whom shall we go?
Paper 11: Why did you doubt?
Paper 12: Do you love me?
PHASE IV: THE NEW BIRTH Something must die before something can live.
Paper 13: Except a man be born again. What does this mean?
Paper 14: What is born of the Spirit?
Paper 15: The Holy Spirit still hovers.
Paper 16: Abide in me. What does it mean to remain?
PHASE V: THE FULFILMENT The circle closes. The dialogue does not end. It widens.
Paper 17: What Must Die in Me?
Paper 18: Take up your cross. Why must I suffer?
Paper 19: It is finished. What is finished?
Paper 20: Whom shall I send?
The Philip Papers are added when they are written. Return and see the journey unfold.