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Lydia, the First Believer in Europe

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(Acts 16:14)

One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.

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The Apostle Paul lived his whole life just to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He would travel anywhere if that meant that he could share the gospel.

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Paul and his companions tried to go to many other places for the purpose of mission. However, this time the Holy Spirit stopped them from going to a certain place. Whenever they decided to go somewhere, if the Holy Spirit did not allow them to go there then they couldn't.

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However, one day, Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia who appeared to him and began begging, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

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After Paul had seen the vision, they got ready at once to leave for Macedonia even though it was not where they had planned to go previously, concluding that God had called them to preach the gospel to them.

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Paul and his companions blindly traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. Like this, the Apostle Paul was a person who followed the Will of God above his own will.

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On the Sabbath they went outside the city gate to the river, where they expected to find a place of prayer. Paul and Timothy sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.

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Then an amazing thing happened. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia who had been listening very carefully. As she listened to Paul, she got the faith in Jesus because the Lord had opened her heart.

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Lydia is a dealer in purple cloth. She is originally from the city of Thyatira and she had come to here, Philippi. Today, she met Paul by chance and accepted Jesus.

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She invited Paul and his companions to her home.
Paul shared the gospel to her family and all of them decided to believe in Jesus, too.

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Lydia and all of her family were baptized. This was truly an amazing happening.
Again Paul realized that the vision he had was God's Will for this to happen.

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Lydia decided to actively help Paul and his companions.
She said to Paul, "If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house."

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So Paul's mission team went and stayed at Lydia's house where they could share the gospel to many people. God provided everything to them through Lydia in Philippi.

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Today, this woman, Lydia who helped Paul is the first person who believed in Jesus from Europe. God wanted Paul to turn and go on a mission trip to Europe.
Paul was able to preach to Lydia and her family by obeying God's Will.

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The Church had been built in Philippi through Lydia.
That Church is called as the Philippi Church.
Philippians that we know well is the letter from Paul to the Church in Philippi.

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Paul who believed in Jesus and put God's Will before his will; and Lydia who obeyed God's Word to help Paul could bring out this beautiful fruit. Friends, let us be wonderful children of Jesus who listen to God and obey Him to bear beautiful fruit.

(You can change the conclusion of this sermon best suiting to your listeners of this sermon. We want to make it clear that the provided conclusion is only a sample conclusion provided by CTM.)