Prepare your heart for the Sermon by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together hearing God's Word.

You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and prayerfully seeking wisdom to deepen your understanding of the passage to be preached this Sunday.

Carefully Think

• Read Acts 16:11-15.
• What three cities did the apostles visit during this time? How is Philippi described? How long did Paul stay in Philippi?
• Where in Philippi did the apostles go on the Sabbath day?
• Why did they go out there? Who was out there?
• What was Lydia’s profession? What kind of life would this profession afford her?
• How did the Lord work in Lydia’s life as she listened to the gospel? What was Lydia and her household’s response to hearing the gospel message?

Prayerfully Meditate

• For what reason would they have gone down to a riverside on the Sabbath day, rather than a synagogue?
• What is the significance of Lydia’s profession?
• What is significant about the fact that it was women who assembled by the riverside and heard the gospel?
• What does it mean that Lydia was a “worshiper of God” before she even heard Paul’s words?
• What did the Lord opening her heart enable her to do according to v. 14?