Title: The Spirit's Guidance and Lydia's Encounter
Contents
Title: Meet Saint Lydia of Philippi by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Bible: Acts 16:6-15
Our church’s 2012 motto “Lord! Now give me this hillside” (Joshua 14:12). The Word of Promise card for 2012 is “Those who fear the Lord have firm trust, and their children will find refuge” (Proverbs 14:26). On their second missionary journey, Paul and Silas met the praised disciple Timothy in Lystra and circumcised him.
1. We obeyed the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6-10).
The mission destination of the Apostle Paul and his companions has been changed. Paul wanted to go north along the coast, but the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, did not allow him (Acts 16:7). Troa is a port city on the Aegean coast. Here Paul was sleeping, and in a vision, Acts 16:9 - "A man from Macedonia asked, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." Paul acknowledged that God had to preach the gospel to those Macedonians, so he crossed the Aegean Sea from the port of Troas and went to Philippi, the first city in Macedonia, Europe (Acts 16:10-12).
2. The first step in evangelism in Europe.
The most important thing for those who do God's work is to thoroughly obey God's will, God's plan, and the instructions of the Holy Spirit.
1) When Abraham was called by God at the age of 75, he left his father's house, relatives, and hometown and went to the land of Canaan without knowing where he was going (Genesis 12:1-4, Hebrews 110:8).
2) King David stockpiled the materials to build the temple, such as the spoils he had collected throughout his life, gold, silver, bronze, iron, and cedar, and discussed with the prophet Nathan his intention to build the temple. you get the meaning.
David was a man who shed blood by killing many people on the battlefield, so he could not build the holy temple of God with his blood. (2 Samuel 7:1-15, 1 Chronicles 17:1-15) But the peace of his son Solomon The idea is to have the temple built in the new era.
2 Samuel 7:12-13 - “When your days are fulfilled, and you lie down with your fathers, I will set after you your offspring from your body, and will establish his kingdom, and he will build a house for my name, and I will set the throne of his kingdom forever. I will make it strong.” David wanted to build the temple so much that he could have built it according to his own convictions, but he followed God's will. You can see David's great personality. That is why God said, “I have found David, a man after my heart, and he will do all my will” (Acts 13:22).
3) Philip the evangelist in Samaria preached the gospel of Jesus, and many miracles occurred and many people followed him. But when the Holy Spirit instructed them to go out into the wilderness, they immediately obeyed. In the wilderness, they witnessed the gospel and baptized the officials in charge of the treasury of Kandace, the queen of Ethiopia (Acts 8:4-39).
4) Apostle Paul changed his missionary destination according to the command of the Holy Spirit. I crossed by boat from the Asian side to Europe and to Macedonia, where I had a vision. What is belief? The answer is obedience. What is belief? It is to give up my will and follow God's will. What is belief? It is practiced through prayer without questioning the reason.
3. Paul met Lydia in the city of Philippi.
Acts 16:12-14 - "From there we came to Philippi, which is the first city in the region of Macedonia and also a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for a few days, and then went out to the riverside outside the gate to see if there was a place for us to pray on the Sabbath." I met Lydia.
According to historians, it is thanks to the apostle Paul that Europe has many of the most developed and prosperous countries in the world. The reason is that if the Apostle Paul had continued to preach the gospel of Jesus to Asia, Asia would have become a developed country. However, because Paul, who was doing missionary work toward Asia, changed his direction to Europe, Europe became a developed country. Open the world map and compare and analyze developed and underdeveloped countries. Christian countries are developed countries. Other religions, communist countries, and atheistic countries are underdeveloped countries. Samchully Peninsula South Korea is north of the armistice. North Korea is a communist society and is struggling with food shortages. South Korea has emerged as an export powerhouse, and food waste alone is said to amount to 8 trillion won. We must thank the missionaries and God's grace who did missionary work for Christianity 120 years ago.
4. Lydia's faith in serving God.
In Acts 16:14-15, I want to imitate Lydia's faith. The city of Philippi is named after Alexander the Great's father. It is a city under Roman rule and has no synagogue. However, Lydia is a business woman who fears God while traveling as a merchant in the castle of Thyatira. Lydia is a trustworthy woman. 1) She is a wise woman. 2) She is a woman with an open heart. 3) I followed Paul's words well. 4) I was baptized with all my family members (Acts 16:15). 5) He forced me to stay. If you treat the Lord well, you will be blessed (Galatians 6:6, Heb 13:17) 6) Lydia's house became the Philippi church.
「Conclusion」If you obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit, God will bless you with better results.