Thursday May 23, 2019, Acts 16:9-15 "A Change In Plans" or "Adapt and Overcome"

This past Thursday, I preached over the verses found in Acts 16:9-15.  Here we find Paul listening to the urging of God to find not only a new church but a new way of extending a new church.  Paul is prone to going to the Synagogues in the towns in which he visits, but here he goes to the river because likely here in this pagan city there was no Synagogue.

Paul has to change his way of doing business and he even has to change his audience slightly, for here he is talking to a group of women.  Talking to women wouldn't have been something common for most Jewish men to do in Paul's time... even more uncommon he is talking to gentile women. In this regard, Paul is modeling himself after Jesus who had a long history of including women in his message and ministry.

Lydia though seems not to be just your ordinary run of the mill woman in the first century, no, she is a businesswoman a trader in purple cloth.  She is a woman likely with some means and she appears to be the head of her household, as she invites Paul and his companions to come and board with her and her family.

For Paul to go and stay at the home of a gentile was startling behavior for a Jewish man, but to go and stay in a household headed by a woman... well, Paul is without a doubt running counter to the prevailing norm.

Paul is 'going with the flow' or as we Christians probably like better 'following the Spirit'.  He's not entrenched in one way of doing things... he doesn't say "we can't do it like that... we've never done it that way".  Paul listens to the Spirit, he watches where God is already working and he goes there fully committed to the endeavor.  Paul is as always... "all-in".

Lydia's enthusiasm, joy, and insistence (it appears that Paul at first was reluctant to lodge in her home) displays that she is (like Paul and his conversion) "all-in" with this conversion.  Her's is not a faux baptism or an "I'll get baptized to make Mom happy" baptism... no, she is genuinely filled with the spirit and she's working to be a part of God's work in this world.

Spirit check... how in are you?  Are you "all-in"... "mostly-in"... "a little-bit-in"... or are you "in when it's convenient-to-be-in"?  Unfortunately, most of us fall into that last "in".

Be a blessing to someone today! (be all-in for God and let them know about Jesus)

In Christ,
Roy

Acts 16:9-15 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
9 During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district[a] of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. 13 On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. 15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.

Footnotes:

a) Acts 16:12 Other authorities read a city of the first district