The First Convert In Europe (Acts 16:9-16)

Help (v 9) is an imperative; it was a strong, sure and stirring plea, reaching Paul’s ears reducing his sleep and redirecting his course Help can be in the form of aid, assistance, advice, ability or availability. This chapter begins the “we” (vv 10, 11, 12, 13 thrice, 16 twice) passages in Acts, which means the author was involved. The Greek verb “seek/endeavor” (v 10) occurs 117 times in the Bible but only once is it qualified by the adverb “immediately/at once” here. It’s been said, John’s gospel is The Evangelist of the gospels and Luke is The Historian, but the verb “evangelize” never appeared in the gospels of Mark and John’s gospel and only once as a quotation in Matthew’s gospel (Matt 11:5), but ten times in Luke’s gospel and the record-breaking 15 times in the Bible in the book of Acts. Paul seent he vision, but he did not decide by himself. In his team were Silas (Acts 15:40) and young Timothy (Acts 16:1) who just joined the duo and, of course, Luke the Gentile writer and doctor. The trip was too precious, problematic and punishing without a doctor, a historian and a Gentile companion on board.

Require the Visit

12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district[a] of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

It’s been said,

“When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.”

“When you come to a dead end, don’t cry because it’s time for you to take another direction.”

“When Plan A does not work, fall back on Plan B.”

“When Plan A Does Not Work... ...keep calm take a deep breath and remember: the alphabet for sure has one or the other letter left for you.”

“When there are bumps on the road we hang in tight but keep on driving.”

“Keep calm and plan on.”

“If life throws you a few bad notes, don’t let them interrupt your song.”

Upon encountering the unknown and those unlike and unmet, Paul and company had a change of strategy not not of heart in faraway Philippi. Unlike in previous places before crossing to Europe where Paul entered the synagogue to meet fellow Jews (Acts 13:14, 15:21) on the Sabbath, he did not have the advantage of a captured audience in the form of a synagogue, a building or a club to meet the Jews who were scattered all over Europe, wary of standing out and stoking envy After a few days there (v 12) he figured out there were Jews gathered by the river outside of the city for prayer. They were attractive targets to Paul because they were pious, practicing Jews.

Even the audience had changed. Suddenly in Acts women played an important and critical role in the advance of the gospel in Europe. Previously women were separated from men within the synagogues Paul was preaching. No individual woman stood out in the early church in Acts before the venture into Europe, even though they were everywhere, from women praying in the upper chamber (Acts 1:13-14) to widows who were neglected in food distribution (Acts 6:1) before the persecution, to women persecuted by Saul (Acts 8:3) and women converted by Philip’s preaching (Acts 8:12). In Europe besides the praying women in Philippi (Acts 16:13) and the praying, wives in Tyre (Acts 21:3), the chief women in Thessalonica (Acts 17:4) and the honourable women of Berea (Acts 17:12), there were also outstanding individuals such as Europe’s frist convert Lydia (Acts 16:14), the low-key Damaris (Acts 17:34) and spousal team of Priscilla (Acts 18:2).