EVERY ENCOUNTER MATTERS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

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. 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. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.”

And she persuaded us.

Acts 16:11-15

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s message, we saw the following spiritual truth play out in the ministry work of the Apostle Paul as he started his secondary missionary journey with Silas and other associates:

When we allow the Holy Spirit drive us in our ministry work, we’ll always be in the right place, at the right thing, to do the right things, and help the right people.

It’s the latter part of this truth that I would like to focus in on today for I have long believed that the Holy Spirit is always bring us to opportunities, opportunities where we can make a difference in the life of another person. Therefore, we need to see that every encounter matters, no matter how insignificant that encounter might be.

That cashier ringing up your groceries, for example. You only engage that person for the amount of time that it takes to check you out but it doesn’t take long to share the good news of Jesus with others and personalize that good news while you’re at it. Most cashiers wear a nametag. Use that name to enter into conversation with them. You would be surprised what kind of impact that has. Ask them how they’re doing and before you know it, you are exchanging in a way where you can bring the Lord into the conversation. I’ve done it many, many times and here’s something else that I have found happening when I do this. It impacts other people as well…like that person who’s in line behind you. For a two way exchange between you and your cashier can become a three way conversation. It’s simply beautiful to see how the Holy Spirit moves when we allow Him to move in everything we do in life.

Remember, every encounter matters.

As we continue to look at Acts 16 and Paul’s second missionary journey, we find him leaving Troas by ship and sailing “straight for Samothrace”.

Why did he do this?

Because the Holy Spirit led him there after Paul had a dream where a man begged him to come to Macedonia. And so Paul went and after arriving in Samothrace, we read where he went on to Neapolis the next day before finally traveling to Philippi which was a “Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia”. And yes, this Philippi was the location of the Christian church that Paul wrote to in the New Testament epistle named Philippians.  

The scriptures tell us that Paul, Silas, and their traveling entourage stayed in Philippi for several days which we know spanned over at least one Sabbath. For we read that Paul, Silas, and the others “went outside the city gate to the river” on the Sabbath, expecting to “find a place of prayer”. They found a gathering of women there and engaged them in conversation. It was an encounter full of opportunity and we read where one woman gathered was particularly impacted by what she heard.

The scriptures tell us that the woman’s name was Lydia who was visiting Philippi from Thyatira. Of interest, Thyatira was located in Asia, where the Holy Spirit had told Paul to avoid (Acts 16:6). Well, we learn a little more about Lydia in addition to where she was from.

First, she was a dealer in purple cloth. In biblical times, purple cloth was thought of as a luxury and surely would have meant that Lydia was pretty well off financially.

She was also pretty well off spiritually because the scriptures tell us that she was a worshiper of God who opened her heart up to the words she heard from Paul.

What was the outcome of her encounter with Paul and his Christian counterparts?

We read where “she and the members of her household were baptized” before she invited Paul, Silas, and the other missionaries into her home with the following words:

“If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.”

And so they did, persuaded by Lydia’s request. Driven by the lead of the Holy Spirit, an encounter created an opportunity and that opportunity led to new Christian believers, Lydia and the members of her household. It also resulted in further fellowship, more experienced Christians with the new disciples at Lydia’s home.

Through this account, we see once again how every encounter matters and I encourage you to adopt this approach in the way you live your lives each and every day. I think you’ll be amazed and blessed by the fruits of your Spirit led endeavors.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

 

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