Lydia
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Acts 16:6-12 (NLT)
Paul and Silas: We’re going this way!
Holy Spirit: Nope! (You don’t know it, but I’m taking you to Lydia)
Paul and Silas: We’re going this way!
Holy Spirit: Nope! (You don’t know it, but I’m taking you to Lydia)
Paul and Silas: (Paul has a vision of a man asking him to come to Macedonia). We’re going there?
Holy Spirit: Yep! (You don’t know it, but once you get there, it’s gonna be a woman named Lydia)
Acts 16:13 (NLT)
Acts 16:14a (NLT)
One of them was Lydia from Thyatira,
Acts 16:14 (NLT)
Lydia:
Immigrant in a Roman colony
Single woman (widow?) in a married man’s world
Former slave?
Businesswoman in a businessman’s world
Wealthy woman in a poor woman’s world
Leader of a household
Worshiper of the Lord in a pagan world
Host of the apostolic group
Church planter and leader of the church of Philippi
Tells the Apostle Paul what to do
Mom in the movie, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” speaking to her daughter about the father in the family:
The man is the head. But the woman is the neck, and she can turn the head any way she wants.
Acts 16:16-22 (NLT)
[After a miracle and the conversion of the jailer and his household]
Acts 16:40 (NLT)
When Paul and Silas left the prison, they returned to the home of Lydia. There they met with the believers and encouraged them once more. Then they left town.
Lydia:
Immigrant in a Roman colony
Single woman (widow?) in a married man’s world
Former slave?
Businesswoman in a businessman’s world
Wealthy woman in a poor woman’s world
Leader of a household
Worshiper of the Lord in a pagan world
Host of the apostolic group
Church planter and leader of the church of Philippi
Tells the Apostle Paul what to do
Risked her business, her wealth, and her life to lead a new, persecuted church AFTER she saw Paul and Silas tortured and imprisoned
Men: If a woman could do all of these things in the 1st century, what is God calling YOU to celebrate women doing in the 21st century?
Women: If a woman could do all of these things in the 1st century, what is God calling YOU to in the 21st century?