How the Gospel Changes Lives: 1

Acts: The Gospel in the City PART XX
Dr. Timothy Keller
21 April 2013

Acts 16:1-19
1Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek.  2The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.  3Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumsized him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.  4As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey.  5So the churches were strengthened in the faith and gerw daily in numbers.

6Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.  7When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.  8So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.  9During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."  10After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

11From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis.  12From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia.  And we stayed there several days.

13On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer.  We sat down and began to speak to the woman who had gathered there.  14One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth.  She was a worshipper of God.  The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.  15When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her house.  "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house."  And she persuaded us.

16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.  She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.  17She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved."  18She kept this up for many days.  Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!"  At that moment the spirit left her.

19When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.

First verses talk about the Cultural Flexibility of the church and its urban qualities.

People changed by the gospel
LYDIA
--wealthy businsess owner; purple cloth
--Cosmopolitan
--worshipper of God
--v.14 Lord opened her heart to being attracted to God's message.

FEMALE SLAVE
--Both a longing and repulsion towards God.
--Anything that you love more than God controls you.
--Paul, out of annoyance, banished the demon.

IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN IN THE EARLY CHURCH
--Lydia was a pillar of the first church--met in her home.
--Willingness to open their homes for Christian meetings.

We are incapable of believing the gospel without God's help.
If I loved thee, thou must have loved me first
God found us, not the other way around.

Gospel is so true that it is infinitely flexible.
Jesus was infinitely beautiful and powerful, but gave that up.