In thinking about Lydia’s story, five divisions seemed to emerge. Lydia’s destiny, Lydia’s career as a dye merchant Lydia’s desire to establish her own household The dream God gave Paul to evangelize in Macedonia And the dignity God settled on women in first century Palestine, and on Lydia, and the dignity the Apostle Paul also conferred on women and on Lydia
I Destiny, Acts 16:14
II Dye Merchant, Acts 16:14
III Desire, Acts 16:14
IV Dream, Acts 16:6-12
V Dignity, Acts 16:13-15
And through Lydia we learn that mature faith accepts God’s crossing up of conventions–I first heard that taught in a BSF class, years ago, and I was struck with the simple wisdom in that statement.
Each video is designed to offer background scholarship on the topic, including setting, culture, original language, and archaeology, as well as a theological study.
The “Broken, Searching, Trusted, Powerful” video series is a companion to the book, available on Amazon, and published by Wipf and Stock.