Jesus Steps In:
What Were You Like? Or What Are You Like?
Acts 16-17
- Lydia - Acts 16:13-15
“…One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul…” - Religious
- Moral conservative
- Wealthy Business Woman
- Home in Thyatira and Philippi
- Had a household or servants
- Had a large home for guests
- She was looking for God
- Slave Girl - Acts 16:16-19
- Demon-Possessed
- She was a mocker of the Gospel.
- She was relentless in her desire to distract from the Gospel.
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” Matthew 12:43-45
- Jailer - Acts 16:23-34
Characteristic of the jailer:
- Bitter
- Angry
- Violent
- Unable to process memories of what he had done or seen.
Groups identified:
Thessalonica - Acts 17:1-4
Greeks and Prominent Women
“they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
Berea - Acts 17:10--12
More noble than Thessalonica
Checked scripture to see if what Paul said was true.
Jews, Greek, and Prominent women were saved.
Athens - Acts 16:16
If you do not have an allegiance to the one true God you will have to feed and wash your idol. How will your idol be able to help you when you are spiritually hungry and dirty?
Paul was provoked, incited, filled with passion.
- What provokes you?
- What are you passionate about?
- What causes you to have a Godly passion, sorrow and love for those that God has entrusted to you?
What provokes me is to see my family and the family of God, pursue something other than God’s best for their lives.
We must grow in our knowledge of what God and the Bible say that causes human beings to flourish for the kingdom of God.
So where are you in your spirit and your soul this morning?
- Are you a Lydia this morning?
Religious, moral searching for God
- Are you like the slave girl?
You have allowed yourself to get involved in addiction or allowed something into your life that causes you to be enslaved to sin. That is not God honoring.
- Are you like the like the Jailer?
Things have come into your life that have caused bitterness and anger.
- Are you the opposite of Paul?
You have not been provoked towards the Lydia’s, slave girls or jailers that are around you and you don’t have a Godly passion for them.