A Cry For Help!

Please come over here and help us!

Acts 16 6 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in [a]Asia. 7 After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the [b]Spirit did not permit them. 8 So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

Paul and Barnabas have a disagreement and go on seperate missionary journeys!

Acts 15 36 Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” (let’s see what they need, let’s see how we can help them) 37 Now Barnabas [m]was determined to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. 39 Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another.

John mark leaves the first missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas...

Acts 13 13 Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos (on the Island of Cyprus), they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.

Paul and Silas set out on Paul’s second missionary journey.

And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, being [n]commended (entrusted) by the brethren to the grace of God. 41 And he (Paul) went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening (help) the churches.

Acts 16 1Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. (Why, … Paul did this and Timothy consented to help those that would otherwise stumble over their biases and not here the gospel as a result…)

Seek to avoid being a stumbling block to those that we seek to help...

Romans 14 13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.

This is the letter the Paul and Barnabas distributed to the churches at Syria and Cilicia...

Acts 15 22 Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas,[g] and Silas, leading men among the brethren.

23 They wrote this letter by them:

The apostles, the elders, and the brethren,

To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:

Greetings.

24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, [h]saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law”—to whom we gave no such commandment— 25 it seemed good to us, being assembled with one [i]accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual[j] immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.

The church was helped by the apostles’ teaching...

5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

6 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in [a]Asia. 7 After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the [b]Spirit did not permit them. 8 So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (pleaded = asked earnestly (with deep sincerity… seriously)

10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

11 Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is the [c]foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony.

Please come over here and help us!

This text teaches us about our need for God’s help and also teaches us about God’s negative and positive guidance…

Closed doors are examples of negative guidance.

We generally do not like closed doors.

We find closed doors to be frustrating.

We pray God what do you want me to do? But when we look in what we think is a promising direction God closes the door.

We ask again and the same thing happens again.

Then we may get depressed, and we may begin to think that God is not answering us and that He doesn’t care.

But we need to understand that even though a “Closed Door” is negative guidance it is still a form of true guidance, and this text demonstrates that God sometime uses closed doors to guide us in the direction that he wants us to go.

If we can learn anything from the Apostle Paul here, we learn that negative guidance merely keeps us from where we are not called in order that in God’s time we might come to where God is calling us to be a blessing.

When God closes doors, it is not because he has nothing for us to do. He does not want us to take a vacation.

It is to keep us from getting into a work to which we are not called in order that we might be saved for a work to which we are called.

The positive leading came at last. And it was the vision that Paul had, telling him to come to Macedonia.

This call to Paul and his missionary team teaches some important lessons about why we should be engaged in missionary work.

Why should we be engaged in missionary work?

1. Because Jesus Christ has told us to do it… the great commission is Jesus’ marching orders for (us) the church…

Matt 28 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

2. Because Christ’s love constrains us

2 Cor 5 14 For the love of Christ constraineth us;

Christ’s love involves the love of Christ for the lost, unsaved, the unbeliever.

And this love is to work through us. We are to love as he loves. Paul loved those to whom he was sent and so must we.

Humanity responds positively to genuine love. (People general don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care)

1 Cor 13:4-8 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails.

3. Because the world is in need

The world is perishing in its sin apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And the world also has other needs (social and physical)

It is significant that it is largely in this context that the call to come to Macedonia was given. A cry for help!

The man of Macedonia did not say…

 Paul, God tells you to come over here

 Nor did he ask: Paul don’t you love us as much as you love those who are in Asia?

 Instead, he said: Come over to Macedonia and help us.

Help = to help is to give or provide what is necessary to accomplish a task or to satisfy a need…

Jesus promised us help also… the holy spirit is our help…

John 15 26 But when the Comforter (helper) is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

Have we thought of the church’s missionary effort or our individual witnessing as helping others?

We say that it is difficult to witness today because so many people don’t want the gospel.

Many people today are self-satisfied and don’t want anything that might upset their lifestyle.

But if this is the case why not refocus our witnessing on those who acknowledge known needs.

In the past the gospel has spread best amongst masses of humankind who had crying, social, intellectual, medical, or other needs. They have been open to the Gospel because they needed help. Christians helped them and brought the gospel too.

Maybe one reason that many protestant churches in our country have plateaued or are declining is due to a lack of a focus on helping our neighbors to recognize our shared needs that only God can meet.

What is a known need? All of humanity has needs but people may not look for help because they have concluded that they have no need that they can’t fill themselves…

After Paul received the vision, he shared it with his traveling companions. And they all got ready and crossed over the sea to Macedonia.

This was the official opening of Europe to Christianity and with it the Gospel begin the long westward march that eventually brought the gospel to us, you, and me.

A new church is founded…

There was a new alignment of the missionaries

There where new workers in the persons of Silas and Timothy

And a new vision ushered in the founding of a new church at Philippi.

Lydia’s home became the first church building (there was no synagogue) in Philippi at which Paul and the missionary team could start

And we were staying in that city for some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. 14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.

Great helpers apply the helper principle….

1 Cor 9 19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; 20 and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the [e]law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without [f]law toward God, but under [g]law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 to the weak I became [h]as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

God thank you for helping us… and using us to help others...

A Cry For Help...

In Jesus’s Name… Amen.