The Opportunity in Your Home

Dannah Gresh: “Comfortable Christian.” Do those two words belong together? Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Whenever the Spirit moves to bless, you can count on it that Satan will work to blast the work of God.

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Heaven Rules!, for Wednesday, October 26, 2022. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Okay, think of a time when God was really working in your life, or a season when He was using your gifts and resources (we talked about that in yesterday’s episode) to move in other people’s lives. God’s doing that in my life right now. 

He’s actually given my husband, Bob, and me a God-sized dream to use our property to bless others. It’s exciting and energizing, but also a little scary, because serving God in bold ways always comes with opposition.

We’ve been studying the life of Lydia. Today Nancy will be teaching from Acts chapter 16. I hope you will follow along in your Bible. As you do, you’ll see that soon after Lydia gave her life to Christ, the disciples experienced some intense opposition. Here’s Nancy.

Nancy: Acts chapter 16. Let me encourage you, if you’re just joining us, to turn to that in your Bible. We’ve read how the gospel work is off to a wonderful start in Philippi—the first convert in Europe, the first church plant in Europe. An influential business woman named Lydia has come to faith in Christ and her home has become the base of operations for the spread of the gospel in Philippi. 

Then it will go out from Philippi into the rest of the Macedonian region, and from Macedonia into the rest of the world. What began as a small group of women praying at the river is now expanding into a full-fledged church.

We have the missionaries, Paul and Silas joined by Timothy (who came along just before they got to Philippi) and then Doctor Luke (who joined them at Troas). We have these four missionaries now, serving together in Philippi. It’s wonderful what God is doing! But it’s not long before the enemy sets out to undermine what is happening.

We’re going to spend a few minutes on part of the passage that’s not really about Lydia, but it’s important because it helps us connect some dots and tie her story to what else was going on at the same time. So Acts 16:16, we’ve had Lydia’s conversion, the church is growing, it’s meeting, Paul and his friends are living in her home.

And then verse 16 tells us: 

Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. 

Some of your translations will say, “She had a spirit of divination.” The term there in the Greek, transliterated into English is literally, “a python spirit.”

A python was a serpent in Greek mythology (lots more we could go into about that), but it came to refer to a person who was demon possessed through whom this python spoke. What we know is that a demonic spirit communicated information to this woman about people’s lives. 

She was able to tell them things they didn’t know—secrets, surprises, things that were going to happen. This verse goes on to tell us, “She made a large profit for her owners by fortune telling.” So she was not free. She was a slave. She was a slave to Satan; she was a slave to her owners. She was being exploited by her owners to make them rich. Verses 17–18 say, 

As she followed Paul and us [that’s Timothy and Silas and Dr. Luke] she cried out, "These men, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God." She did this for many days.

Now, what she was saying was true, but it was actually the demon inside of her that was shouting, mocking the missionaries, mocking the gospel with a goal of disrupting the preaching of the gospel. Because who was going to want to be associated with Paul and his team if this girl was part of the entourage?

The demonic powers were trying to shut down the gospel from going forth in the rest of the town. So, verse 18, “Paul was greatly annoyed. [This was holy indignation, for sure!] Turning to the spirit, he said . . .” He knew this woman was overcome, was possessed by, an evil spirit, so he didn’t rebuke the woman. 

He said [to the spirit], "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And it came out right away. 

This was not because Paul was anything, but because the Holy Spirit of God, the Name of Jesus, is powerful enough to overcome all the works of the evil one.

Now, as I look at this passage about this woman, I’m just reminded that the gospel changes all kinds of people! We’ve seen two women in this passage: there’s Lydia, who is the God-fearing business woman, and then there’s this nameless demon-possessed slave girl. 

I mean, could you have two people who were any more different? And yet the gospel comes to both, because they both need the gospel—they both need Jesus. The gospel sets them free! Lydia needed the gospel as much as the slave girl who was demon-possessed.

She may have looked more refined, she may have been wealthier, she may have been more prestigious in her position, but she needed Jesus just like that demon-possessed slave girl needed Jesus. The gospel changes all kinds of people!

The gospel changes everything about us when it comes and takes up residence in our lives. We’re not told what happened next to this girl, but we know that she was set free from that demonic spirit, and we can be sure that Paul and the other believers took her under their wing and sought to introduce her to the salvation that the demon inside of her had been talking about. 

And I can imagine (we don’t know this) that perhaps Lydia brought this woman into her home. I can also imagine that Lydia’s home was in a neighborhood where these kinds of people weren’t necessarily welcome.

But Lydia had an open heart, open home. We don’t know, this is just surmising, but we know that this demon-possessed slave girl came under the influence of the gospel. The gospel also had an effect on the girl’s owners, who had been making a living off of her demonic activities. The effect it had on them was that it made them furious! So look at verse 19, 

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

I’d love to read the whole chapter, but for sake of time I’ll just summarize verses 20–25.

These owners accused Paul and his friends of disturbing the peace, of promoting illegal customs. Christianity was not authorized by the Roman government and for sure it was against the law to proselytize others to the Christian faith. 

So these owners of this slave girl stirred up a mob to join in the attack. And the officials who were in charge at the scene, they tore off Paul and Silas’s clothes, they had them severely beaten, they threw them in a dungeon, they put their feet in stocks. They were secured in an inner prison.

That’s like a maximum security place, where there’s no chance of them getting away. They put their feet in stocks to keep them from escaping. Now, let me just pause there and say, this is a very dramatic scene; it’s very intense.

But I’d like to suggest that when the gospel is publicly proclaimed, Satan and his demons will work against it. I would go so far as to say this: if in the course of your life and ministry—your church’s life and ministry, our ministry—if we’re not seeing some opposition, some clashes between and His power and the power of demons and evil spirits and secularism, if we’re not seeing some battle; it may be that we’re not proclaiming the gospel. Because where the gospel goes, it changes lives! 

Satan had that girl! He had her owners, and he had all the people that she was duping and that were being deceived by this deceiving spirit.

And here comes the gospel. It changes Lydia’s life, changes this slave girl’s life, and the owners are losing their livelihood and people are not going to follow them anymore. Like, it upsets the apple cart! That’s what the gospel is supposed to do in your community, in your neighborhood. 

We’re so nice. My dad used to say when it came to witnessing—he was very bold about talking to people about Jesus—“Some people have so much tact, they have no contact.” 

They’re so nice, they’re so gentle. That’s the whole message we’re hearing in many Christian circles today is you’ve got to be winsome in talking to the world about the gospel; you’ve got to be kind, be gentle.

Now, we should be kind and gentle and winsome, but sometimes the gospel itself is an affront, it causes offense.

Well, verse 25 going through verse 30: Paul and Silas are now in this dungeon in the middle of the night. (We’ll do maybe a whole series on this passage some day.) Paul and Silas are praying, they’re singing hymns, and suddenly God sends a little bit of heavenly accompaniment—percussion.

There’s an earthquake! The prison doors open. The chains fall off. The jailor who knows he’s going to lose his job, if not his head, he’s going to kill himself because he’s thinking the prisoners have escaped. 

Paul yells out and assures him they’re all still there. The jailor falls down trembling and he asks Paul the famous question: “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:29) It took a little bit to get there, but he got there!

So here again, God is moving and working through circumstances to bring about another conversion. Something that looked horrible—this mob attack, this going to prison, the wounds, the beating,the ferocious treatment. 

Paul said, “It’s worth it all to me, whatever I have to suffer for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of this jailor.”

Paul and Silas said in verses 31–32: 

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house. 

Notice how many times his household is referenced here.

He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized. He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household. (vv. 33–34)

The gospel was being planted! Sometimes there’s opposition, sometimes it’s ferocious, but nothing can overcome the going forth of the gospel! The gates of hell, and Satan and his demons, will not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ!

Now, this Roman jailor was obviously from quite a different demographic than Lydia, as was the slave girl who had been demon possessed. But there are several parallels I’ve been noticing the last few days between this jailor and Lydia.

In both cases Acts says, “Paul spoke the word to them.” He spoke the gospel. Don’t expect people to get saved if they don’t ever hear the gospel. How are they going to hear unless we tell them? They both heard the word, and in both cases their whole family came to faith at the same time. It doesn’t always happen that way; it did in these cases.

And in both cases, Lydia and the jailor, there was immediate evidence that their conversion was genuine, their faith was genuine. They were both baptized right away, and then both of them opened their home to the Lord’s servant. 

Now Paul had not had any intention of spending any time at the jailor’s home, I’m pretty sure. He was looking forward, probably, to eating his meal at Lydia’s house that day. But God had other plans. God was at work drawing these hearts to Himself, and they both opened their homes for the advance of the gospel.

Continuing in verse 35 through verse 39, the next morning after this long eventful night, the city official sent word to the jailor to let Paul go. And the jailor says to Paul, “Get out of here. You’re free to go!” 

But Paul knew that the whole process had violated his legal rights as a Roman citizen. So Paul says, “No way! They mistreated us publicly.” What’s the problem with that? Well, it could have appeared to the people in the city that Paul and Silas had broken the law that they had done something wrong.

So Paul said, “They need to come and make clear that they were wrong for imprisoning us and treating us the way that they did. Let them come and publicly escort us out of prison.” And the officials were afraid of potential repercussions. They’d seen a lot of the power of God at play, and there’s an earthquake going on, okay?

So the officials came and released Paul and Silas and said, “Now, get out of town! We don’t want you here anymore!” Now Paul and Silas would be able to leave town, because they had left converts who had believed. God was going to move them on, but the work of the church would go on.

So verse 40: “After leaving the jail,” where did Paul and Silas go? It says, “they came to Lydia’s house.” This is the second reference to Lydia’s home. In verse 15 it’s called, “my house.” She said, “Come and stay at my house.” And now they returned to Lydia’s house in verse 40. 

After Lydia’s conversion, Paul and his team had spent some weeks, probably, living in her home. It was probably a lovely home by the standard of the times, the home of a probably wealthy woman. They were warmly welcomed in that home.

Then they spent a night in a home that wasn’t quite so comfortable, in this dungeon, in the inner jail. And when they were released from prison what did they do? They headed back to Lydia’s house.

As I was meditating on this passage, it reminded me of that verse in Hebrews 13:2 that says, 

Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it. Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily. (vv. 2–3)

Now, Lydia didn’t have those Scriptures, but she had the Spirit of God in her heart, and Paul knew that before he left town he wanted to go see this woman and the believers who were waiting for him in this home, because by now there was already a small church established in Philippi.

And it wasn’t just women as there had been at that initial prayer meeting at the river. This church was gathered in Lydia’s house. Listen—I mentioned this yesterday, but I want to just focus on it one more time—our homes are intended to be an embassy for the kingdom of Christ and for His ambassadors.

 

And by the way, sitting here on the front row, is my longtime friend, Carrie. She and her husband and their seven children have opened their home to me. They have an open heart/open policy. They have served meals to all kinds of strays and stragglers and believers and nonbelievers. 

They had a very, very sick child, who is now with the Lord, but for many years required 24/7 care. Yet still they were opening their hearts and their home to medical workers, to nurses, to people—just always a welcoming heart and home. 

Their home is an embassy of the kingdom of Christ, for the servants of the Lord. Their children have learned this. Their children have a hospitable heart. I love that! What a beautiful thing for the advance of the gospel. Verse 40 says, 

They came to Lydia’s house [and what did they do there?], they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters. 

Now wait a minute. Think about what Paul and Silas had just been through: viciously beaten, held in this dungeon with stocks, bleeding, wounded. So they get out of prison—that’s not enough time for their wounds to heal; we’re just talking hours—and they go back to Lydia’s house. They know they’re having to leave town, and what do they do? They don’t say, “Can you encourage us?” You would have thought Paul and Silas would have been the ones who needed to be encouraged, after what they had just been through.

Here they were encouraging these new believers who would have to carry on when Paul and Silas left. So verse 40 says after encouraging the believers, Paul and Silas departed. Now, that probably wasn’t the strategy that Paul had envisioned or that he had mapped out. He probably hoped to stay longer in Philippi to help this young church get established.

He likely had no idea what lay ahead for him and Silas, where they would even spend the next night. This was uncharted territory. Remember, this was the furthest west the gospel had ever gone. But God wanted to take it further—ultimately to Rome and then ultimately around the world!

They had just seen the power of God exhibited in some very dramatic ways: Lydia’s conversion, the demon cast out of the slave girl, the earthquake in the jail, the jailor and his household converted. I mean, this had to be a huge boost to Paul and Silas’s faith as well as the faith of these young believers.

So it’s time for Paul to go. I’m thinking about Lydia, going back to her, that this is another loss for Lydia and these new believers. Paul had introduced them to Jesus, and now they had to release him so he could go on to other cities to take Jesus to them.

I thought about how Lydia must have felt—Lydia and those other believers, her household and those other believers, when Paul was dragged away by that mob, when he was thrown into prison. But Lydia, who was probably an upstanding, outstanding, prominent woman in the city, when it became unpopular and dangerous to be a Christian, she didn't back off, she didn’t defect. She was a woman of courage. To worship the Jewish Messiah in a pagan Gentile culture would not have been socially respectable.

It could have adversely affected her reputation, her business, it could have resulted in lost customers. But this was a risk, apparently, that she was willing to take, because Jesus is worth everything! Lydia used her resources, her assets, her influence to help further the gospel. She was a generous woman; she used her possessions, her wealth for God’s purposes. 

We see this throughout the history of the church. In fact in Luke 8, the first few verses of that chapter, there’s a beautiful passage that talks about when Jesus and His disciples were traveling from one village to another preaching and telling the good news of the Kingdom. 

The Bible says, “The Twelve were with him [that’s the men disciples], and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and [diseases]: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her).”

Think of this little slave girl in Philippi. There were other women who traveled with Jesus: 

Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; [somebody from Herod’s employ] Susanna; and many others who were supporting them [Jesus and His disciples out of] their possessions. 

Women supporting the spread of the gospel. That’s what these women did in Jesus’ day. This is what Lydia and her friends did in the time that the church was being established in the book of Acts. So, what assets and resources do you have that God might want to use to help spread the gospel?

Do you have a home? You say, “It’s not very big, it’s not very fancy. I don’t even own it, I just rent it.” Wherever you sleep that night, that’s where “home” is. That’s what I came to believe after ten years of traveling full-time, year round in itinerant ministry. Home is where you sleep that night. It may be a hotel room.

Do you have a home? Do you have a car? Do you have time? Do you have skills? 

I got a letter just a few weeks ago from a woman whose life has been impacted through this ministry and she said, “I want to move to Niles and volunteer at Revive Our Hearts.

I don’t know how the Lord will lead in that situation, but she said, “This ministry has so touched my life. I came to a recording day and I felt like I was in the presence of God. I felt like I was in heaven’s portals!” (I assured her that not every day working here feels like heaven’s portals.)

What do you have to offer for the advance of the gospel? And then what about after you die? What’s going to happen to all that stuff? Have you taken care of your will, your trust? How can you direct your assets after you’re gone and you have nothing more to say about it, in ways that further the gospel?

Lydia could never have anticipated the long-term fruit of her investment. As it turned out, we learn later in the Scripture that the church that was birthed in Philippi became a source of great support and encouragement to Paul for the rest of his ministry. 

When you read Paul’s letter to the Philippians, you’re reading about the church of which Lydia was the first believer, and in whose home that first church was planted. The letter of Philippians was written during Paul’s Roman imprisonment. So as you read the book of Philippians, think about Lydia and her household.

Think of those women who met at the river for prayer, think of that slave girl who was delivered from Satan’s power. Think of the jailor and his household who came to faith in Christ—all from Philippi!

Then think of Paul’s affection for these believers and others that God had raised up in this place he never intended to go, but where God led him. In fact, just let me read a little bit from the book of Philippians. As I do, think of these people we’ve just talked about. Paul says:

I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you,always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day [there at the river] until now. I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of [Jesus Christ]. 

Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. (Phil. 1:1–8)

Then he says in chapter 4:11–13, 

I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know how to make do with little, [he may be thinking of that night in the Philippian jail] and I know how to make do with a lot [maybe thinking with fondness of the weeks that he had spent in Lydia’s home].

In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.

Then Philippians 4, verse 15: 

And you Philippians know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone. For even in Thessalonica you sent gifts for my need several times.

You see, the church in Philippi had become a missionary church, a sending church. And where did it start? Paul’s obedience to go where God called him, but then Lydia, who set the pace, established a model for receiving the message, opening her heart to respond, and then generous partnership with God’s servants in the gospel.

The gospel establishes us in relationships—it’s not a solo thing. Those relationships are crucial to the advance of the gospel. As I read Philippians and think about those believers in Philippi—Lydia and that jailor and that slave girl—I think of friends like Lydia who pray for this ministry, who give, who support the ministry and its outreaches, who have opened their hearts and their homes, not only to me and to our team many times. 

I think of others who are teaching Bible studies with True Woman 101 or the Adorned book. They’re doing home studies, they’re doing groups, they’re opening their homes and hearts to spread and further the message of Jesus. How beautiful is that! How sweet that we can be a part of that.

Lord, thank You for this precious example of Lydia. Who knew? Just so few verses, and yet in three days we haven’t even tapped all that I’m sure is there for us to see. But what a wonderful, beautiful example of a woman whose heart You opened and then whose heart she opened to You, to Your servants, to the gospel. 

A woman who had an open home and in whose life and through whose life You planted seeds that resulted in the church in Philippi, then the churches of Macedonia, then the churches of Europe, and then those settlers who came to this country who told us about the gospel . . . and on and on it goes. 

Lord, today You’re sending us forth to be generous, to have open hearts, open homes, to trust You. To trust You in the times when things are going smoothly and people are receiving the message eagerly, but also to serve you faithfully when there’s persecution, when there’s opposition.

Oh Lord, keep us faithful. And may we know that You’re always, always, always at work doing Your will, accomplishing Your purposes, building the church of Jesus Christ. Nothing will prevail against that! We thank You and bless You in Jesus’ name, amen.

Dannah: I want a life like Lydia’s, don’t you? If this series has blessed you, would you consider giving a gift to the ministry of Revive Our Hearts? We want more women to hear the good news that changed Lydia’s life forever!

What is that good news? That Heaven rules! That’s the theme for the 2023 Revive Our Hearts Wall Calendar. It features some beautiful pictures that Nancy took with her own iPhone. So each month in 2023 you’ll see a new image. I’ve gotta say, I was pretty impressed when I saw her photos! I really was.

We’d love to send you a Revive Our Hearts Wall Calendar when you make a donation of any amount to Revive Our Hearts. Visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. 

Tomorrow, we’ll hear from Rosaria Butterfield. Rosario was an outspoken atheist and feminist and a lesbian activist when a simple invitation to dinner turned her world upside down! Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth wants you to be blessed in spite of the devil’s blasts as we invite you to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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