Open Door:  Acts 16:11-15, 40

II. “Meet Me By the River”

For many years our family traveled between Mexico City, Mexico, and the St. Louis, Missouri area.  We clocked hours on the road, and singing praise songs helped occupy four wiggly children.  “Meet Me by the River” was a favorite.  That song reminds us of the hope of that river of everlasting life that flows from God’s throne (cf. Revelation 22:1).  One day I’d love to sit by the ‘Eternal River’ and talk to Lydia about her life and to learn about those god-fearing women whom Paul found by the river near Philippi.

1. On the Sabbath, what were Paul and his team looking for when they headed to the river? (16:13)

2. Describe who they found there. (16:13-14)

3. How did the evangelists take advantage of this open door? (16:13)

4. What are the two distinct terms that Luke uses to explain how Lydia received the teaching? (16:14)

5. What was her response? (16:15)

6. What did she persuade Paul and his team to do? (16:15)

7. Where did the church of Philippi meet? (16:40)

Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).  In his commentary on Acts, Mark Moore writes, “Simply put , if you are a Christian, it is because God made you, bought you, sought you, accepted you, protected you, and sustained you.  Though human volition is clearly part of the conversion, God’s calling precedes and dominates our response” (Moore 284).