August 20, 2025 • 35 mins
The story of Lydia in Acts 16 reminds us that salvation is never random. It is God’s design. Paul’s unexpected detour to Philippi led him straight to a woman whose heart the Lord was already opening. Their meeting was not coincidence but a divine appointment.
Lydia’s response - listening with humility, believing wholeheartedly, and showing immediate generosity - paints a clear picture of true transformation. And the same God who orchestrated that encounter is still arranging divine appointments today.
NEW BOOK! I'm pleased to say that we have completed a new book that has been years in the making. The Ten Shirot: Songs of Redemption looks at ten songs that were sung through pivotal times in Scripture. It's an examination of the redemption of Jesus, of worship, and of Scripture in a way that we believe you probably haven't seen before. Check it out at https://a.co/d/0a4KIooL .
The Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast is a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. We're located at 121 Arborside Lane in King, NC and we can be reached at welcome@gracebaptisttabernacle.org. Please continue to share these episodes, and please consider coming to visit our church. We are excited and expectant for you to come!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ah well, bless God and amen.
Hallelujah, he's alive and he'smoving and he's speaking and
just doing all of the thingsthat the living God does,
because he's the living God, hejust naturally does them.
Hallelujah and amen.
Moving in every single life inthe room here tonight and moving
(00:21):
around the world.
I want to welcome those who arenew to the broadcast tonight
now, in 81 nations and 566individual cities around the
world and we see some of you.
It's been fun for me personallyto watch places like Colorado
(00:43):
and places like Frankfurt inGermany and watch it grow there
over the years.
And you know again, first andforemost, we need to praise the
Holy Spirit, amen, and Jesus andthe Father.
We need to praise the Lord andbe thankful to him and thank you
for being a part of this, thankyou for sharing it and
(01:05):
spreading it and encouragingothers to listen as well.
And glory to God and amen.
As always, get in touch with us.
Let us know how we can be aministry to you.
Amen.
And so tonight we are going tohead back to Acts, chapter 16.
Amen, and I want you to keepRomans 10, 17 in mind, because
(01:34):
we're going to see Acts, chapter16, open up Romans 10, 17.
Tonight, and Romans 10, 17 saysthis.
So, then, faith cometh byhearing, and hearing by the word
of God.
And so Acts, chapter 16, withthat in mind, we'll start in
(01:58):
verse 14.
And a certain woman and there'sthat word again over the past
month, amen.
A certain woman.
That means she's a woman pastmonth.
Amen, a certain woman.
That means she's a woman,hallelujah, amen.
That's obvious.
But she's also someone Godwants to use in your life to
(02:20):
show you something.
So God wants to use this womantonight to show you something in
2025.
And a certain woman named Lydia,a seller of purple of the city
of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord
opened, that she attended untothe things which were spoken of
(02:41):
Paul.
Now, this is in Acts, chapter16.
This is after, if you heardSunday's message, this is after
Paul received a vision from Godand in that vision, the Holy
Spirit expressly forbade him.
They were forbidden to go intoAsia and so, interestingly
(03:02):
enough, they didn't go into Asia, but they kind of went south.
They went into Asia Minor, butthe Holy Spirit didn't suffer
them to go any further there.
He gave Paul the vision in thenight.
Unquestionably, there's aMacedonian man saying come down
here and help us.
And so they took off from AsiaMinor and they went, and now
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they're in the city of Philippi,which is in Macedonia.
So they're where the Lord wantsthem to be.
Now, the first thing that'sinteresting about this woman,
lydia she's where God wants herto be too.
Scripture makes it plain she'sof Thyatira.
(03:46):
If you pull out a map, philippiis about almost 200 miles
northwest of Thyatira.
She's a long way from herhometown and she's exactly where
the Lord wants her to be.
(04:07):
Paul is where he should be, andhis companions, and then the
Holy Spirit pulls her where hewants her to be.
And I need to reiterate this theHoly Spirit is alive and
working, and the Holy Spiritdoes this today.
(04:30):
And this is how evangelismworks.
Practically speaking, it's allsorts of practical.
You've got a living God whowants people to meet him, who
wants people to encounter him,who wants people to hear his
word, and he desires people tobe saved.
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He's engaged.
You might say he's invested.
He gave everything he had.
He's not giving anymore.
He gave his blood, he gave hisson, he gave his son, he gave
his word, and he didn't stopthere.
From our perspective, thathappened generations ago.
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The cross and the empty tomb.
That happened generations ago.
Now we've got the Holy Spirit,my friend, you're a vessel of
the Holy Spirit.
If you're born again, you're avessel of the Holy Spirit.
My friend, you're a vessel ofthe Holy Spirit.
If you're born again, you're avessel of the Holy Ghost.
You are someone who God poursinto and then you pour out.
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God pours into you and you pourout to them.
God pours into you and you pourout to them.
God pours into you and you pourout to them.
God pours into.
This is how it is.
Hallelujah.
So you got a living God.
Hallelujah, do you act likethat?
(05:58):
That God is alive and that Godis living and that God is in you
and that you really are avessel of the Holy Ghost?
In every situation, in everytime, in every interaction, in
every moment, you are, you justare.
God just made you that way.
(06:19):
Hallelujah.
So it's been well said.
You know, birds gonna fly, fishis gonna swim, dogs gonna bark,
cats gonna scratch, I mean.
I mean, you know, we see it innature.
A born again person is gonna bea born again person.
A spirit filled person will bea spirit filled person and a
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spirit filled person will seeGod doing this, and 98% of the
time you're not even aware of it.
And that's the interestingthing about Lydia.
You can look at Cornelius.
We got multiple chapters onthat one.
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We don't have a lot of biographyhere for this woman.
We know that she was ofThyatira.
God pulled her to Philippi.
We know that she worshipped God.
She worshipped God and I'mgoing to say she worshipped God
according to the light that shehad, according to the revelation
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that she knew she worshippedGod.
There's no indication that sheworshipped any of the pagan
idols.
There's no indication that shewasn't genuine here.
And we know that they were at ariverbank when this took place.
That's interesting as well.
(07:47):
Why were they at the riverbank?
We don't know particularly.
Was there a synagogue?
Was there a place where peoplegathered to pray?
Was there a gathering place?
We know that this was a Romancolony and it was rough.
There may not have been one.
And it's interesting thatthey're all women.
(08:09):
And so Paul, if he followed whathe usually did, he inquired
where people worship the God ofIsrael.
This is where he found them.
And so he went.
And it's interesting, he didn'tpreach, he spoke to them.
He spoke to them.
(08:29):
I mean this was sort of a morepersonal more.
He spoke to these women whowere there and Lydia heard us.
Faith comes by hearing andhearing comes by the word of God
.
This was more than physicallistening and, my friend, god
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wants this for you tonight,especially if you're lost.
God wants this for the churchall the time.
God wants this for his churchall the time.
God wants this for his peopleall the time.
God especially wants this ifyou're not born again, if you're
not saved.
You need to have an interactionwith God.
(09:16):
This is more than and I prayand I want that for you tonight
I want this to be more thanlistening to a podcast, because
you just kind of physicallylisten to a podcast and if you
notice what goes on, I catchmyself and I don't think I'm
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crazy.
At least that guy back therewill tell me if I am.
But you start to judge thepodcast, you start to judge the
song, you start to judge the TVshow or the movie.
All of a sudden you're thejudge.
(10:01):
Do I agree with this?
Do I like this?
Do I like this movie?
Do I agree with what thisperson is saying?
Do I prefer this kind of music?
And you kind of start to buildand a lot of people in America
do this.
With the technology we have,you start to build what I call
(10:26):
an echo chamber.
It's possible if you have theright technology.
In America, you never have tohear anything you don't want to
hear.
You never have to see anything.
You don't want to see Anything.
That runs counter to you andyour preferences.
Never do that with the Word ofGod, never do that with the Word
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of God.
And that's where this woman is atype and form for you.
She heard, and it was more thanphysical hearing.
What do I mean by that?
Whose heart?
The Lord opened back in verse14.
She wanted to hear the word ofGod.
(11:18):
She legitimately had a heartthat was humble.
She had a heart that was humble.
She had a heart that was hungry.
She had a heart that waslooking for God and the best she
could do.
She's with some other women andScripture doesn't talk about
them, but she's praying by theriverside.
(11:43):
But she had a humility, she hada genuineness, she had a sort
of a faith and it was at work.
And so what did God do?
God pulled Paul and hiscompanions out of Asia.
(12:06):
God put them where she was.
God made a divine appointmentand God made sure that it was
kept Because, hallelujah,there's someone who will listen
to me, who will listen to me.
(12:32):
Hallelujah, there's someone whohas a heart that is soft, who
has a heart that is responsive,who has a heart that is hungry,
who has a heart that I know willhear me, I know will believe me
, I know will be born again.
I just need to get my man fromhere to here and he needs to be
my vessel, just like I calledhim to be, and pour out what I
(12:52):
give him onto this woman at thatmoment in time.
Hallelujah, salvation belongs toGod.
Salvation belongs to God.
Do you see it?
All Paul had to do, all youhave to do?
(13:14):
Oh, my friend, don't pretendlike salvation belongs to you.
Don't pretend like you need toput all this pressure on
yourself to say the right thingand talk to the right person.
That's not what scripture tellsus.
You run a terrible risk ofmaking a law to yourself,
breaking that law, beingdisappointed, beating yourself
(13:35):
up and letting the devil shutyou up forever because you think
you failed.
Salvation belongs to God.
He's the one who made it up.
Belongs to God.
He's the one who made it up.
He's the author and thefinisher.
He provided the blood.
Every day he's looking atpeople's hearts.
(13:55):
Every day he's looking at hischurch.
Every day he's looking forpeople who will actually be his
vessels Christian.
This takes a great deal of faith.
It takes faith, it takes trustthat God is really alive, that
(14:19):
God's word is God's word andthat God is really reaching
these people and that God isreally using you.
That's where the faith comes inon your part.
Before we even talk about them,before we even talk about
people who are lost, dying andhell-bound and in their sin, we
talk about their faith a lot,hallelujah.
We talk about your faith first.
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You're the people right in thisroom and my brothers and
sisters around the world.
You are the people right nowthat the living God himself will
personally use, personally,desires to use, to reach the
people around this world.
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You're the light of the world.
You're the salt of the earth.
Notice how there's no option.
God just made you that way andGod just finished it.
He's the author and thefinisher of your faith.
We're going to see that inglory.
He's the author and thefinisher of the faith of the
lost, the people who are not yetborn again.
(15:26):
I know I'm in Romans, I'm inRevelation, but this all bears
out, and this is a littlesuccinct picture of the whole
thing.
Someone needs God.
God takes his church Okay,they're ready to be born again
over there, bam and you just gettogether Now there's a great
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deal to be said for preachingthe words to people who won't
hear it.
There's a great need for that.
But, my friends, we're talkingtonight about someone who will.
Are you that person tonight?
You see God, whose heart theLord opened.
(16:13):
Paul didn't say any magic words.
This is like in Cornelius' house, when the Holy Ghost fell on
people, while, in this case,paul was speaking, the Lord
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opened this woman's heart.
Her heart had been previouslyclosed.
Now the Lord, while Paul wasspeaking, opened the heart.
He opened her heart while Paulwas speaking.
After everything I justdescribed and all the travel and
the geography and everythinglike that, that was all
preparation.
(16:58):
But now the big moment came andPaul spoke and the Holy Ghost
came in and opened a woman'sheart.
Is that you tonight, my friend?
You might fear God.
You might, to the best of yourability, put away the idols and
stuff like that and try to cleanup your life and you fear God.
(17:22):
And now God led you to thismessage About a woman who was in
the same situation.
She feared God and sheworshipped him to the best of
her ability.
And now God is arranging foryou to hear Jesus Christ in this
(17:46):
message, to hear the fact thatGod has been drawing you, that
God has been preserving you, andnow it's actually time for you
to meet him.
(18:07):
You need Jesus Christ.
God knows that you need JesusChrist.
God knows that you need JesusChrist.
God is arranging this secondfor you to meet Jesus Christ.
He's your Lord, he's yourSavior.
He's the one who put youtogether, who formed you.
He's the one who not only knowsyou, he also loves you, and he
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loves you with a love thatcovers all of your sin, with a
love that went to a Roman cross,with a love that bore the nails
and died the death for you.
He became your sin and he didthis all because he wanted to.
He did this all because he'sholy.
He did this all because this iswho he is.
(18:55):
He did this all and he'sspeaking to you because he wants
you to be with him.
He wants you to be saved fromhis wrath.
He wants you to be born again.
He wants you to be spiritfilled.
He wants you to be born again.
He wants you to be spiritfilled.
He wants you to be full of theHoly Spirit.
He wants you to live a lifethat's filled with the Holy
Spirit.
He wants you to live a life ofjoy and a life of hope and a
(19:18):
life of peace, and he wants youto be a peacemaker.
He wants you to be with him.
He wants to bear his fruit inyou.
This is his desire for you, myfriend.
This is why he arranged for youto hear this message.
Will you stop right now andcall upon the name of Jesus that
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you will be saved.
Yield to him tonight, call uponhim tonight.
Glory to God.
Hallelujah.
His heart, the Lord opened andshe attended.
Oh, my friend, this isn't anacademic word, Don't hear that
academically.
She had such a disposition inher heart and when Paul was
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speaking, she didn't miss a word.
She did not miss a word, notbecause she had to, but because
she wanted to.
You might say she wanted to,and so she had to.
Hallelujah.
She did not miss a word of whatthis man was saying.
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She listened to the word of Godlike it's the word of God.
She listened to the word of Godlike it came from the throne
room itself and, bless God itdid.
Paul didn't give Paul.
Paul gave Jesus, just like thefather gave Jesus.
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Paul gave the Lord to thiswoman and she had such a
disposition of heart.
We don't see her arguing.
We see that other places in thebook of Acts People argued.
We don't see her saying youknow, go away and come back some
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more convenient day.
We don't see that.
We don't see her questioningthe way Paul was dressed.
We don't see her questioninghis tone of voice.
We don't see her wondering whatdenomination he really is.
He doesn't sound like a Baptist.
I bet he's a closet Pentecostal.
We don't see her.
Okay, I'm going to put him inmy playlist because I kind of
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sort of like what he's saying.
We don't see.
No, the word of God, the word ofGod, and God gets all the
credit Again.
All Paul did was go there andsee her and open his mouth.
God did the rest.
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A good old song.
I was thinking you know he'lltake care of the rest.
If you don't know that it'sKeith Green, look him up.
He'll take care of the rest.
And that's what God did in thiswoman's life?
You trace back everything.
Who gave the blood in the firstplace?
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God who called Paul on the mat.
God who gave them the vision togo in the mass.
God who did Lydia just by herconscience, who gave them the
vision to go into Mass.
God who did Lydia just by herconscience.
Desire and worship God wholoves everyone.
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God who loves her.
God, and who got this alltogether?
God, do you see a theme here?
If you're lost tonight, god iscalling you and God is drawing
you and church, god is lookingfor you to have somewhat of a
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revival and that revival is toput the weight off your own
shoulders and trust who God Obey, who God Love.
God Walk after Him.
Do you see the theme here?
Hallelujah, amen and bless God.
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Here's one of those instances.
I wish there were more detail.
Amen when she was baptized andher household.
This meant she got baptized andI bet they left the riverbank
and went back to her house andbetween her and Paul they
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evangelized the whole house.
Between her and Paul theypreached to the whole house.
She was wealthy, she was awoman of means, she had a
household.
There's no mention of a husband.
I'd be interested Again.
I wish there was more detail.
I wish we knew what the otherwomen at the river bank were
thinking.
Are they in this number?
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Were they members of herhousehold?
We're not sure.
But the point is for tonightthey went back and they
witnessed to the whole household.
They preached to the wholehousehold, they spoke to the
whole household, the wholehousehold got saved and baptized
.
And then watch this Spurgeonspoke that after this she became
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an enthusiastic Christian andwhen she was baptized in her
household she besought us sayinglook at this, if you've judged
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me to be faithful to the Lord,come into my house and abide
there.
She constrained us.
This was passionate.
She constrained us with passion.
She valued Paul's judgment onthis whole situation.
She valued his judgment, shewanted his judgment.
She treated him as a loved,respected, honored man of God.
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She had, I believe, more than ahuman thankfulness that this
man had been a vessel and thatthis man had come and that this
man had obeyed God and that thisman had spoken the word of God
to her Faithfully and he haddone all those things.
And so she wants covering, shewants an authority, she wants an
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apostle.
If you judged me faithful tothe Lord, see, she didn't just
say come into my house.
She said if you've judged mefaithful, then come into my
house and abide there.
I'd say she supported theministry, she helped the
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ministry with a practical need.
And the word abide, thatindicates some time passed, see,
I bet while the Philippianchurch was being built by the
Holy Ghost.
See, paul was not a churchplanter, but the Holy Ghost was
building a church, but the HolyGhost was building a church.
(26:42):
I bet this was the home basefor Paul and for his team.
It was a destitute region, itwas an economically hard region,
it was a.
And this woman opened her home,opened her food, opened her
food, opened her water, openedher resources to the apostle, to
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the man of God who had come andspoken the word to her.
Oh, she became an enthusiasticChristian, my friend.
And from here God built achurch in Philippi, from the
apostle and the men who had gonewith him, and from this woman
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and her precious household.
The Lord built a church inPhilippi.
It was the Lord who did it, itwasn't Paul who did it, it
wasn't Lydia who did it, no, itwas the Lord who built up that
church.
And so hallelujah and glory.
(27:55):
And so chapter 16 goes on Amen.
But for tonight I want to have atime of invitation in the house
, if our musicians would comeforward.
My friends, you've heard of aliving God.
You've heard of a living Godwho loves you and draws you.
(28:17):
You've heard of a living Godwho speaks to you, and he speaks
to you in love, and he speaksto you words that build you up
and not tear you down.
What he's looking to tear downin your life is the works of the
devil.
What he's looking to tear downin your life is the work of the
devil.
That's keeping you heavy,that's keeping you in bondage,
(28:39):
that's keeping you silent, thatmay be keeping you lost tonight,
but oh, my friend, if theLord's opened your heart, I'll
say it again Believe on the LordJesus Christ, call upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, trust theLord Jesus Christ, put yourself
on the Lord Jesus Christ, putyourself on the Lord Jesus
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Christ and let those words comeout of you.
Ask him to save you, ask him tobe born again, ask him to be
saved, ask him to apply hisblood to you and forget all of
your sin.
Ask you to make everythingabout you new.
Hallelujah and amen, if youspeak that out of a faithful
heart.
He's never yet turned away asingle person, and he's not
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going to start with you.
He will not turn away someonewho believes him in sincerity
and church.
My, my, my, what a word this isto you as well, and not only
this church, but brothers andsisters in 81 nations around the
world, and no matter where youare, the word of God is the word
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of God, no matter what languageyou speak.
The word of God is the word ofGod, no matter who you are.
The Lord, he's the same today,yesterday and forever.
And he knows you and he knowsthat the people right around you
, they need Jesus.
He knows where he put you, heknows where you are right now,
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he knows the situation of yourchurch and he wants you to be a
willing vessel to pour into youevery single day and for it not
to stop there.
Too often we let it stop there.
Too often we just tend to focuson our own needs, we tend to
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focus on our own situation, wetend to focus, in some cases, on
surviving day to day and weforget so many promises of the
Lord.
When we do that, he pours intoyou and then His design is for
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it not to stop there but to keepon pouring.
His design is for it not tostop there but to keep on
pouring, not to keep on pouring,to keep on pouring, to keep on
pouring.
And it's a good oldillustration.
I don't know who the first guywho did this was.
He said look at the Red Sea,there's one way in and there's
no way out, and it's dead.
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Nothing can really live there.
Some cases you don't know howstagnant you are Because God's
been pouring in, god's beenpouring, god's been pouring.
You haven't been pouring out.
So God's telling you todaytrust me and pour out and you
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watch what I do in them and youwatch what I do in them and you
watch what I do in you and Iguarantee you you won't be the
same in 48 hours.
If you start pouring out now.
You won't be the same tomorrow.
You're going to see God move.
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You're going to be blessed,people around you are going to
be blessed.
So believe the Lord tonight, myfriend, and thank you again for
being here this evening.
Thank you again for those ofyou who are listening and for
those of you who are sharing,for those of you who are liking
and commenting and, you know,reposting all of this.
Continue to do that.
Subscribe to us.
(32:25):
That helps us on the socialmedia.
Continue to share these, usethese Amen, hallelujah, not only
for yourself but for others,and reach out to us, get in
touch with us, send us mail.
Send us email, send us textmessages, give us phone calls,
and I can't wait to meet you inperson.
(32:48):
I can't wait to see you walkthrough the doors and be here in
person.
You need that.
It's not God's design for youto just listen to a live stream.
There's nothing like being herein person, and I recognize that
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.
Yeah, I've talked to some.
It's legitimately hard to finda church in some places.
You have one here who wants tomeet you.
So step out in faith.
Understand that I'm not justmaking this up when I say you're
welcome and expected and takethat step and walk through these
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doors.
Take that step and join thischurch.
Take that step and be here inperson and I'll tell you what
the Lord will bless you in it.
And so thank you, and may hecontinue to richly bless us.
Amen.
Ah well, bless God and amen.
Hallelujah, he's alive and he'smoving and he's speaking and
just doing all of the thingsthat the living God does,
because he's the living God, hejust naturally does them.
Hallelujah and amen.
Moving in every single life inthe room here tonight and moving
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around the world.
I want to welcome those who arenew to the broadcast tonight
now, in 81 nations and 566individual cities around the
world and we see some of you.
It's been fun for me personallyto watch places like Colorado
(00:43):
and places like Frankfurt inGermany and watch it grow there
over the years.
And you know again, first andforemost, we need to praise the
Holy Spirit, amen, and Jesus andthe Father.
We need to praise the Lord andbe thankful to him and thank you
for being a part of this, thankyou for sharing it and
(01:05):
spreading it and encouragingothers to listen as well.
And glory to God and amen.
As always, get in touch with us.
Let us know how we can be aministry to you.
Amen.
And so tonight we are going tohead back to Acts, chapter 16.
Amen, and I want you to keepRomans 10, 17 in mind, because
(01:34):
we're going to see Acts, chapter16, open up Romans 10, 17.
Tonight, and Romans 10, 17 saysthis.
So, then, faith cometh byhearing, and hearing by the word
of God.
And so Acts, chapter 16, withthat in mind, we'll start in
(01:58):
verse 14.
And a certain woman and there'sthat word again over the past
month, amen.
A certain woman.
That means she's a woman pastmonth.
Amen, a certain woman.
That means she's a woman,hallelujah, amen.
That's obvious.
But she's also someone Godwants to use in your life to
(02:20):
show you something.
So God wants to use this womantonight to show you something in
2025.
And a certain woman named Lydia,a seller of purple of the city
of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord
opened, that she attended untothe things which were spoken of
(02:41):
Paul.
Now, this is in Acts, chapter16.
This is after, if you heardSunday's message, this is after
Paul received a vision from Godand in that vision, the Holy
Spirit expressly forbade him.
They were forbidden to go intoAsia and so, interestingly
(03:02):
enough, they didn't go into Asia, but they kind of went south.
They went into Asia Minor, butthe Holy Spirit didn't suffer
them to go any further there.
He gave Paul the vision in thenight.
Unquestionably, there's aMacedonian man saying come down
here and help us.
And so they took off from AsiaMinor and they went, and now
(03:26):
they're in the city of Philippi,which is in Macedonia.
So they're where the Lord wantsthem to be.
Now, the first thing that'sinteresting about this woman,
lydia she's where God wants herto be too.
Scripture makes it plain she'sof Thyatira.
(03:46):
If you pull out a map, philippiis about almost 200 miles
northwest of Thyatira.
She's a long way from herhometown and she's exactly where
the Lord wants her to be.
(04:07):
Paul is where he should be, andhis companions, and then the
Holy Spirit pulls her where hewants her to be.
And I need to reiterate this theHoly Spirit is alive and
working, and the Holy Spiritdoes this today.
(04:30):
And this is how evangelismworks.
Practically speaking, it's allsorts of practical.
You've got a living God whowants people to meet him, who
wants people to encounter him,who wants people to hear his
word, and he desires people tobe saved.
(04:51):
He's engaged.
You might say he's invested.
He gave everything he had.
He's not giving anymore.
He gave his blood, he gave hisson, he gave his son, he gave
his word, and he didn't stopthere.
From our perspective, thathappened generations ago.
(05:14):
The cross and the empty tomb.
That happened generations ago.
Now we've got the Holy Spirit,my friend, you're a vessel of
the Holy Spirit.
If you're born again, you're avessel of the Holy Spirit.
My friend, you're a vessel ofthe Holy Spirit.
If you're born again, you're avessel of the Holy Ghost.
You are someone who God poursinto and then you pour out.
(05:37):
God pours into you and you pourout to them.
God pours into you and you pourout to them.
God pours into you and you pourout to them.
God pours into.
This is how it is.
Hallelujah.
So you got a living God.
Hallelujah, do you act likethat?
(05:58):
That God is alive and that Godis living and that God is in you
and that you really are avessel of the Holy Ghost?
In every situation, in everytime, in every interaction, in
every moment, you are, you justare.
God just made you that way.
(06:19):
Hallelujah.
So it's been well said.
You know, birds gonna fly, fishis gonna swim, dogs gonna bark,
cats gonna scratch, I mean.
I mean, you know, we see it innature.
A born again person is gonna bea born again person.
A spirit filled person will bea spirit filled person and a
(06:41):
spirit filled person will seeGod doing this, and 98% of the
time you're not even aware of it.
And that's the interestingthing about Lydia.
You can look at Cornelius.
We got multiple chapters onthat one.
(07:02):
We don't have a lot of biographyhere for this woman.
We know that she was ofThyatira.
God pulled her to Philippi.
We know that she worshipped God.
She worshipped God and I'mgoing to say she worshipped God
according to the light that shehad, according to the revelation
(07:26):
that she knew she worshippedGod.
There's no indication that sheworshipped any of the pagan
idols.
There's no indication that shewasn't genuine here.
And we know that they were at ariverbank when this took place.
That's interesting as well.
(07:47):
Why were they at the riverbank?
We don't know particularly.
Was there a synagogue?
Was there a place where peoplegathered to pray?
Was there a gathering place?
We know that this was a Romancolony and it was rough.
There may not have been one.
And it's interesting thatthey're all women.
(08:09):
And so Paul, if he followed whathe usually did, he inquired
where people worship the God ofIsrael.
This is where he found them.
And so he went.
And it's interesting, he didn'tpreach, he spoke to them.
He spoke to them.
(08:29):
I mean this was sort of a morepersonal more.
He spoke to these women whowere there and Lydia heard us.
Faith comes by hearing andhearing comes by the word of God
.
This was more than physicallistening and, my friend, god
(08:56):
wants this for you tonight,especially if you're lost.
God wants this for the churchall the time.
God wants this for his churchall the time.
God wants this for his peopleall the time.
God especially wants this ifyou're not born again, if you're
not saved.
You need to have an interactionwith God.
(09:16):
This is more than and I prayand I want that for you tonight
I want this to be more thanlistening to a podcast, because
you just kind of physicallylisten to a podcast and if you
notice what goes on, I catchmyself and I don't think I'm
(09:40):
crazy.
At least that guy back therewill tell me if I am.
But you start to judge thepodcast, you start to judge the
song, you start to judge the TVshow or the movie.
All of a sudden you're thejudge.
(10:01):
Do I agree with this?
Do I like this?
Do I like this movie?
Do I agree with what thisperson is saying?
Do I prefer this kind of music?
And you kind of start to buildand a lot of people in America
do this.
With the technology we have,you start to build what I call
(10:26):
an echo chamber.
It's possible if you have theright technology.
In America, you never have tohear anything you don't want to
hear.
You never have to see anything.
You don't want to see Anything.
That runs counter to you andyour preferences.
Never do that with the Word ofGod, never do that with the Word
(10:56):
of God.
And that's where this woman is atype and form for you.
She heard, and it was more thanphysical hearing.
What do I mean by that?
Whose heart?
The Lord opened back in verse14.
She wanted to hear the word ofGod.
(11:18):
She legitimately had a heartthat was humble.
She had a heart that was humble.
She had a heart that was hungry.
She had a heart that waslooking for God and the best she
could do.
She's with some other women andScripture doesn't talk about
them, but she's praying by theriverside.
(11:43):
But she had a humility, she hada genuineness, she had a sort
of a faith and it was at work.
And so what did God do?
God pulled Paul and hiscompanions out of Asia.
(12:06):
God put them where she was.
God made a divine appointmentand God made sure that it was
kept Because, hallelujah,there's someone who will listen
to me, who will listen to me.
(12:32):
Hallelujah, there's someone whohas a heart that is soft, who
has a heart that is responsive,who has a heart that is hungry,
who has a heart that I know willhear me, I know will believe me
, I know will be born again.
I just need to get my man fromhere to here and he needs to be
my vessel, just like I calledhim to be, and pour out what I
(12:52):
give him onto this woman at thatmoment in time.
Hallelujah, salvation belongs toGod.
Salvation belongs to God.
Do you see it?
All Paul had to do, all youhave to do?
(13:14):
Oh, my friend, don't pretendlike salvation belongs to you.
Don't pretend like you need toput all this pressure on
yourself to say the right thingand talk to the right person.
That's not what scripture tellsus.
You run a terrible risk ofmaking a law to yourself,
breaking that law, beingdisappointed, beating yourself
(13:35):
up and letting the devil shutyou up forever because you think
you failed.
Salvation belongs to God.
He's the one who made it up.
Belongs to God.
He's the one who made it up.
He's the author and thefinisher.
He provided the blood.
Every day he's looking atpeople's hearts.
(13:55):
Every day he's looking at hischurch.
Every day he's looking forpeople who will actually be his
vessels Christian.
This takes a great deal of faith.
It takes faith, it takes trustthat God is really alive, that
(14:19):
God's word is God's word andthat God is really reaching
these people and that God isreally using you.
That's where the faith comes inon your part.
Before we even talk about them,before we even talk about
people who are lost, dying andhell-bound and in their sin, we
talk about their faith a lot,hallelujah.
We talk about your faith first.
(14:40):
You're the people right in thisroom and my brothers and
sisters around the world.
You are the people right nowthat the living God himself will
personally use, personally,desires to use, to reach the
people around this world.
(15:01):
You're the light of the world.
You're the salt of the earth.
Notice how there's no option.
God just made you that way andGod just finished it.
He's the author and thefinisher of your faith.
We're going to see that inglory.
He's the author and thefinisher of the faith of the
lost, the people who are not yetborn again.
(15:26):
I know I'm in Romans, I'm inRevelation, but this all bears
out, and this is a littlesuccinct picture of the whole
thing.
Someone needs God.
God takes his church Okay,they're ready to be born again
over there, bam and you just gettogether Now there's a great
(15:53):
deal to be said for preachingthe words to people who won't
hear it.
There's a great need for that.
But, my friends, we're talkingtonight about someone who will.
Are you that person tonight?
You see God, whose heart theLord opened.
(16:13):
Paul didn't say any magic words.
This is like in Cornelius' house, when the Holy Ghost fell on
people, while, in this case,paul was speaking, the Lord
(16:36):
opened this woman's heart.
Her heart had been previouslyclosed.
Now the Lord, while Paul wasspeaking, opened the heart.
He opened her heart while Paulwas speaking.
After everything I justdescribed and all the travel and
the geography and everythinglike that, that was all
preparation.
(16:58):
But now the big moment came andPaul spoke and the Holy Ghost
came in and opened a woman'sheart.
Is that you tonight, my friend?
You might fear God.
You might, to the best of yourability, put away the idols and
stuff like that and try to cleanup your life and you fear God.
(17:22):
And now God led you to thismessage About a woman who was in
the same situation.
She feared God and sheworshipped him to the best of
her ability.
And now God is arranging foryou to hear Jesus Christ in this
(17:46):
message, to hear the fact thatGod has been drawing you, that
God has been preserving you, andnow it's actually time for you
to meet him.
(18:07):
You need Jesus Christ.
God knows that you need JesusChrist.
God knows that you need JesusChrist.
God is arranging this secondfor you to meet Jesus Christ.
He's your Lord, he's yourSavior.
He's the one who put youtogether, who formed you.
He's the one who not only knowsyou, he also loves you, and he
(18:33):
loves you with a love thatcovers all of your sin, with a
love that went to a Roman cross,with a love that bore the nails
and died the death for you.
He became your sin and he didthis all because he wanted to.
He did this all because he'sholy.
He did this all because this iswho he is.
(18:55):
He did this all and he'sspeaking to you because he wants
you to be with him.
He wants you to be saved fromhis wrath.
He wants you to be born again.
He wants you to be spiritfilled.
He wants you to be born again.
He wants you to be spiritfilled.
He wants you to be full of theHoly Spirit.
He wants you to live a lifethat's filled with the Holy
Spirit.
He wants you to live a life ofjoy and a life of hope and a
(19:18):
life of peace, and he wants youto be a peacemaker.
He wants you to be with him.
He wants to bear his fruit inyou.
This is his desire for you, myfriend.
This is why he arranged for youto hear this message.
Will you stop right now andcall upon the name of Jesus that
(19:40):
you will be saved.
Yield to him tonight, call uponhim tonight.
Glory to God.
Hallelujah.
His heart, the Lord opened andshe attended.
Oh, my friend, this isn't anacademic word, Don't hear that
academically.
She had such a disposition inher heart and when Paul was
(20:05):
speaking, she didn't miss a word.
She did not miss a word, notbecause she had to, but because
she wanted to.
You might say she wanted to,and so she had to.
Hallelujah.
She did not miss a word of whatthis man was saying.
(20:26):
She listened to the word of Godlike it's the word of God.
She listened to the word of Godlike it came from the throne
room itself and, bless God itdid.
Paul didn't give Paul.
Paul gave Jesus, just like thefather gave Jesus.
(20:48):
Paul gave the Lord to thiswoman and she had such a
disposition of heart.
We don't see her arguing.
We see that other places in thebook of Acts People argued.
We don't see her saying youknow, go away and come back some
(21:09):
more convenient day.
We don't see that.
We don't see her questioningthe way Paul was dressed.
We don't see her questioninghis tone of voice.
We don't see her wondering whatdenomination he really is.
He doesn't sound like a Baptist.
I bet he's a closet Pentecostal.
We don't see her.
Okay, I'm going to put him inmy playlist because I kind of
(21:34):
sort of like what he's saying.
We don't see.
No, the word of God, the word ofGod, and God gets all the
credit Again.
All Paul did was go there andsee her and open his mouth.
God did the rest.
(21:56):
A good old song.
I was thinking you know he'lltake care of the rest.
If you don't know that it'sKeith Green, look him up.
He'll take care of the rest.
And that's what God did in thiswoman's life?
You trace back everything.
Who gave the blood in the firstplace?
(22:16):
God who called Paul on the mat.
God who gave them the vision togo in the mass.
God who did Lydia just by herconscience, who gave them the
vision to go into Mass.
God who did Lydia just by herconscience.
Desire and worship God wholoves everyone.
(22:40):
God who loves her.
God, and who got this alltogether?
God, do you see a theme here?
If you're lost tonight, god iscalling you and God is drawing
you and church, god is lookingfor you to have somewhat of a
(23:05):
revival and that revival is toput the weight off your own
shoulders and trust who God Obey, who God Love.
God Walk after Him.
Do you see the theme here?
Hallelujah, amen and bless God.
(23:33):
Here's one of those instances.
I wish there were more detail.
Amen when she was baptized andher household.
This meant she got baptized andI bet they left the riverbank
and went back to her house andbetween her and Paul they
(23:54):
evangelized the whole house.
Between her and Paul theypreached to the whole house.
She was wealthy, she was awoman of means, she had a
household.
There's no mention of a husband.
I'd be interested Again.
I wish there was more detail.
I wish we knew what the otherwomen at the river bank were
thinking.
Are they in this number?
(24:14):
Were they members of herhousehold?
We're not sure.
But the point is for tonightthey went back and they
witnessed to the whole household.
They preached to the wholehousehold, they spoke to the
whole household, the wholehousehold got saved and baptized
.
And then watch this Spurgeonspoke that after this she became
(24:40):
an enthusiastic Christian andwhen she was baptized in her
household she besought us sayinglook at this, if you've judged
(25:03):
me to be faithful to the Lord,come into my house and abide
there.
She constrained us.
This was passionate.
She constrained us with passion.
She valued Paul's judgment onthis whole situation.
She valued his judgment, shewanted his judgment.
She treated him as a loved,respected, honored man of God.
(25:30):
She had, I believe, more than ahuman thankfulness that this
man had been a vessel and thatthis man had come and that this
man had obeyed God and that thisman had spoken the word of God
to her Faithfully and he haddone all those things.
And so she wants covering, shewants an authority, she wants an
(25:55):
apostle.
If you judged me faithful tothe Lord, see, she didn't just
say come into my house.
She said if you've judged mefaithful, then come into my
house and abide there.
I'd say she supported theministry, she helped the
(26:20):
ministry with a practical need.
And the word abide, thatindicates some time passed, see,
I bet while the Philippianchurch was being built by the
Holy Ghost.
See, paul was not a churchplanter, but the Holy Ghost was
building a church, but the HolyGhost was building a church.
(26:42):
I bet this was the home basefor Paul and for his team.
It was a destitute region, itwas an economically hard region,
it was a.
And this woman opened her home,opened her food, opened her
food, opened her water, openedher resources to the apostle, to
(27:12):
the man of God who had come andspoken the word to her.
Oh, she became an enthusiasticChristian, my friend.
And from here God built achurch in Philippi, from the
apostle and the men who had gonewith him, and from this woman
(27:35):
and her precious household.
The Lord built a church inPhilippi.
It was the Lord who did it, itwasn't Paul who did it, it
wasn't Lydia who did it, no, itwas the Lord who built up that
church.
And so hallelujah and glory.
(27:55):
And so chapter 16 goes on Amen.
But for tonight I want to have atime of invitation in the house
, if our musicians would comeforward.
My friends, you've heard of aliving God.
You've heard of a living Godwho loves you and draws you.
(28:17):
You've heard of a living Godwho speaks to you, and he speaks
to you in love, and he speaksto you words that build you up
and not tear you down.
What he's looking to tear downin your life is the works of the
devil.
What he's looking to tear downin your life is the work of the
devil.
That's keeping you heavy,that's keeping you in bondage,
(28:39):
that's keeping you silent, thatmay be keeping you lost tonight,
but oh, my friend, if theLord's opened your heart, I'll
say it again Believe on the LordJesus Christ, call upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, trust theLord Jesus Christ, put yourself
on the Lord Jesus Christ, putyourself on the Lord Jesus
(29:01):
Christ and let those words comeout of you.
Ask him to save you, ask him tobe born again, ask him to be
saved, ask him to apply hisblood to you and forget all of
your sin.
Ask you to make everythingabout you new.
Hallelujah and amen, if youspeak that out of a faithful
heart.
He's never yet turned away asingle person, and he's not
(29:25):
going to start with you.
He will not turn away someonewho believes him in sincerity
and church.
My, my, my, what a word this isto you as well, and not only
this church, but brothers andsisters in 81 nations around the
world, and no matter where youare, the word of God is the word
(29:48):
of God, no matter what languageyou speak.
The word of God is the word ofGod, no matter who you are.
The Lord, he's the same today,yesterday and forever.
And he knows you and he knowsthat the people right around you
, they need Jesus.
He knows where he put you, heknows where you are right now,
(30:11):
he knows the situation of yourchurch and he wants you to be a
willing vessel to pour into youevery single day and for it not
to stop there.
Too often we let it stop there.
Too often we just tend to focuson our own needs, we tend to
(30:37):
focus on our own situation, wetend to focus, in some cases, on
surviving day to day and weforget so many promises of the
Lord.
When we do that, he pours intoyou and then His design is for
(30:58):
it not to stop there but to keepon pouring.
His design is for it not tostop there but to keep on
pouring, not to keep on pouring,to keep on pouring, to keep on
pouring.
And it's a good oldillustration.
I don't know who the first guywho did this was.
He said look at the Red Sea,there's one way in and there's
no way out, and it's dead.
(31:20):
Nothing can really live there.
Some cases you don't know howstagnant you are Because God's
been pouring in, god's beenpouring, god's been pouring.
You haven't been pouring out.
So God's telling you todaytrust me and pour out and you
(31:43):
watch what I do in them and youwatch what I do in them and you
watch what I do in you and Iguarantee you you won't be the
same in 48 hours.
If you start pouring out now.
You won't be the same tomorrow.
You're going to see God move.
(32:04):
You're going to be blessed,people around you are going to
be blessed.
So believe the Lord tonight, myfriend, and thank you again for
being here this evening.
Thank you again for those ofyou who are listening and for
those of you who are sharing,for those of you who are liking
and commenting and, you know,reposting all of this.
Continue to do that.
Subscribe to us.
(32:25):
That helps us on the socialmedia.
Continue to share these, usethese Amen, hallelujah, not only
for yourself but for others,and reach out to us, get in
touch with us, send us mail.
Send us email, send us textmessages, give us phone calls,
and I can't wait to meet you inperson.
(32:48):
I can't wait to see you walkthrough the doors and be here in
person.
You need that.
It's not God's design for youto just listen to a live stream.
There's nothing like being herein person, and I recognize that
(33:11):
.
Yeah, I've talked to some.
It's legitimately hard to finda church in some places.
You have one here who wants tomeet you.
So step out in faith.
Understand that I'm not justmaking this up when I say you're
welcome and expected and takethat step and walk through these
(33:34):
doors.
Take that step and join thischurch.
Take that step and be here inperson and I'll tell you what
the Lord will bless you in it.
And so thank you, and may hecontinue to richly bless us.
Amen.
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