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found a group of women. As the gospel was preached, the heart of one of the women, Lydia, was opened to receive the truth. While this woman, previous to this incident, had “worshipped God,” she need ed also to hear the word of the gospel. As she heard it, faith came, and with faith, sal vation. She was at once baptized, together with her household, and then she proclaim ed her oneness with other saints by con straining the apostles to abide in her house. Thus she became a follower of the apostles and of the despised and rejected Lord Jesus Christ whom Paul preached. Literally, she became the first member of the First Church of Europe. Points and Problems 1. "E stablished in the faith . . . in creased in number daily” (Acts 16:5). Here are two things that alway appear in conjunction, and in this precise order. The “established” church is the grow ing church. No church can experience a genuine growth where its members are not "estab lished in the faith” by the teaching of the Word of God. Of course, the church roll can be made to increase by various un- scriptural methods, but the growth of the church itself is a totally different matter. 2. "And a vision appeared” (v. 9). Doubtless more than one sincere Christian has read this account rather wistfully, yearning for some like vision by which to mark out the immediate future in service for God. But we do well to examine care fully how the Apostle came to receive this great vision for his guidance. He did not receive the vision by waiting and praying for it. It came while he was on the road. He started out to move in one direction but was stopped by the Holy Spirit (v. 6 ). Then he shifted to the opposite direction and was halted again by the Spirit (v. 7). He would not turn back: hence the only direction left was straight ahead; and thus he came to Troas which was "land’s end” so far as the continent of Asia was con cerned. There, when he had come as far as he could, he received the vision. Guid ance comes when we really start out to do something which is immediately at hand. It has been pointed out that only a moving ship can be steered. All the useful visions come to busy men, not to the idlers. 3. "Loosing from T roas, we cam e . , . to Philippi” (vs. 11, 12). The boat in which Paul crossed from Asia to Europe carried the most precious freight that ever traveled westward between the two great continents. For in that little boat was not only Paul but the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with all its mighty power. In a very real sense every moral and spiritual value the Western world possesses today was in that boat. Let us not forget that when Paul crossed the Aegean Sea, some of our own ancestors in Europe were savage barbar ians, far lower in the scale of civilization than the Oriental peoples of the East. I for one am glad that Paul turned westward. Golden Text Illustration A cts 16:10 Speaking to a friend who was going out to Africa to seek his fortune, a missionary volunteer put the situation to him in this
THE TIME O F . . . . JACOB’S TROUBLE (Second Revised and Enlarged edition) By LOUIS S. BAUMAN This 128 page booklet, answering a little German Jewish girl's question, “What Makes Folks Hate Us S o ?" promises to be the most widely read booklet on the subject of Anti-Semitism. The first edition of 5,000 copies became exhausted only a few months after it had been printed, with urgent requests and multiplied orders for additional copies. The author has endeavored to be fair in all of his statements, not minimizing the sins of the Jewish race, which are largely responsible for the present-day world-wide persecution, but also clearly showing that the Christian believer has no right to share in this persecution. As one of the most outstanding students of Bible Prophecy, Dr. Bauman shows the great significance of present-day happenings in relation to the Return of Christ. Price 35c per copy, 3 copies for $1.00 postpaid. De Luxe Gift Edition $1.25 A L A N S. 1925 EAST FIFTH STREET P E A R C E • :: LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA
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