Septémber, 1942
THE K I NG ’S BUS I NESS
338
Paul. N° doubt you haye heard of him. He made many missionary jour neys from place to place telling others about the Lord Jesus, One night, in a vision, he saw a man of Macedonia standing before him arid s a y i n g , “Come over into Macedonia,, and help us” (Acts 16:9). And Paul went’. After having a wonderful Vision like that, perhaps Paul was a little surprised to find that -his first congregation was only a small group of women down by the river side. But crowds don’t mean a great deal. God says,-there ,is rejoicing in heaven over one soul that repenteth. And that day one woman, Lydia, heard the gospel and believed, and said to Paul, “Come into my house-, and abide there” (Acts 16:15). A living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will cause us to show kindness and hospitality- to others, especially His servants. , Today Someone would like to come into your heart and abide. Do you know who it is? Y.es, it is Jesus Him self. Will you open the door, and say, “Come into my house, and abide there”?
casion, for it marks the first convert in what we call Europe. 4. "Heard us; whose heart the Lord opened" (v. 14). There is some inter esting theology here. . First, we are told that Lydia “heard.” The word means to hear with an active re sponse. /All the women heard the preaching. But Lydia hearkened to what she had heard. But now notice, in the second place, the explanation— the Lord had opened her heart. Golden Text Illustration R omans 5:1 A woman lay dying. A minister sat ■beside her and- tried to break the news as gently as he could. He. said, “They think your time is short.” “Yes,” she1said, “I know it.” He said, “Have you made peace with God?” “No,” she replied, “I haven’t made my \peace with God, and I am not go ing to.? There was a light of perfect peace in the woman’s eyes, and the min ister realized t h e r e was something back of it all. He said, “What do you mean?” She replied, “Listen! I know JL am dying, yet I have no fear of meeting God. t I am resting in the peace which Jesus Christ made in His atoning death upon the cross, and I don’t have to make my peace with God, for I am jesting in the peace w h i c h Jesus Christ has already made.”—Christian Herald. When Lydia Heard About Jesus A cts 16:1-15 MEMORY VERSE: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). APPROACH: A preacher who was talking to a group of children held up his closed'fist and said, “I have some thing in my hand which I am willing to give to any one who will come up -Division “How many of you believed me when I told you I had something in my hand?” he asked. They all raised their hands, but he shook his head. “No,” he said, “no one really believed me but this little girl. The rest of you say you believed, but she believed enough to act upon her belief.” Let me tell you the story of one who believed like that. LESSON STORY: One of the men in the Bible whom God used greatly was here and take it.” For a moment ail the children hesi tated, arid t h e n one- little girl left her seat and came f o r wa r d . Th e speaker opened h i s f i s t a n d h a nd l e d her. a dollar. The others ^ '■ were very much surprised. < rx 5
This love of God is commended to;us by God’s giving of His Son to die in our place and stead (v&- 6-8). The justified one has a security that nothing can destroy. His faith does not remove the sin, nor meet the de mands of justice, but the blood of Christ does (v. 9). Finally, the justified one is “saVed by his [Christ’s] life” which refers to the resurrection life of Christ rathdr than to the life He lived upon earth (v. 10). Because He lives, believers live also, with a life that leads to per fect joy in God. This joy will burst into full flower when the Lord comes back for His own (v. 11). ; ' Points and . Problems . 1. "A certain woman named Lydia" (Acts 16:14). We have here the first convert at Philippi, the charter mem1- ber of the' churteh there. Although the record does, not state definitely, it is probable that the “certain damsel” of verse 16 was the second convert, for Paul cast the demon out of her. The third w§s the jailer -of. verse 27. There you have the beginning of this Very remarkable church—a successful busi ness woman, a spiritualistic medium, and a jail warden. The Holy Spirit is able to start a church out of un usual material in unusual places.' 2. "By a river side, where prayer was wont to be made" (v. 13). Paul did not go first to the jail to preach, but to a place where people were praying.. When people really pray, they are looking for light. When peo ple pray, it indicates that they be lieve there is a God somewhere; and when people believe there is a God, there is always an opportunity to tell them about the true God revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is practically certain that these women either were Jewish or were “devout” Gentiles in terested in the God of Israel, possibly both. The Greek word for “prayer” here was sometimes used for the place of prayer, which might be either a synagogue or a place in the open air near the sea or a stream where there was water for the Jewish ceremonial ablutions. Verse 14 says that Lydia “worshipped God,” which of course means the true God.. 3. "Of the city of Thyatira" (v. 14). This city was in that part of Asia which is called “Lydia.” Dr. Robertson suggests that this woman may/have actually been named after the land from which she came. If this was so, then she may have been a slave, at one time, later freed. This would ac count for the racial name. It is cer tainly interesting to . note that the first convert in Macedonia had come from the land of Asia where Paul and Timothy had been forbidden to preach (16:6). One old commentator remarks that “the man of Macedonia” (16:9) had turned out to be a group of wom en.. Certainly this was a great oc
Object Lesson A n O utdoor P reacher
OBJECTS: Three p i e c e s of wire clothesline about 12 inches long, and a piece of lumber 1x 2 x 18 inches. (Staple the wires to the board six,/ inches apart, allowing them to stick straight up from the board as the board lies flat on the table. Shape the first into the letter “S,” allow the Second to stand straight up for the letter “I,” and make the letter “N” with the third, thus spelling “SIN.”) LESSON: Would you believe me if I told you I had an outdoor preacher in my bag? He is Mr. Clothesline. All preachers should have a text, and this preacher has a good one, Romans 5:8, 9, which reads, “Bift God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while We were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, vye shall be saved from wrath through him.” The first thing Mr. Clothesline is tell ing us is that all are sinners. Notice, will' you, how large the letter “I” is, compared to the other letters. The big “I” always enters into sin. People sin because they are doing something that self wants to do. Sin is always selfish. We would be sad indeed if the preacher stopped here. However, he
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