ACTS 16:9-10 | DO YOU HAVE A VISION

A short time later another man looked at that same land, but when he looked at it he didn’t just see swamp and snakes and alligators… He saw potential.

What it could become.

He purchased the land and developed it into a property known today as Disney World.

What was the difference?

The difference wasn’t in the property… the difference was in the vision.

EXPLANATION: God had given Paul a vision for what He wanted to do in Macedonia.

There were people there that needed to hear the Gospel

People there who were ready to receive the Lord as their Savior!

And God gave Paul a vision… a burden to go!

APPLICATION: Friend, before anything truly great can be accomplished for God through your life, there must first be a vision.

There must be faith that the same God that parted the Red Sea

The same God that led three Hebrew boys through a fiery furnace and out the other side.

The same God the fed a multitude of 15,000-20,000 people

The same God that raised Lazarus from the dead

Is the same God that can show himself mighty today!

He is the same God that wants to see Whitehall and Twin and Sheridan and Butte and Three Forks set on fire with the Gospel

He is the same God that wants to reach that lost loved one in your life

He is the same God that wants to turn a nation that has turned it’s back to God, back to Him!

And He is the same God that wants to use your life to do “exceeding, abundantly, above all you could ask or think”

But for so many Christians there is a lack of vision and a lack of faith for what God wants to do through your life.

Friend, can I challenge you this morning to ask God to give you a vision for Him?

To burden your heart from the Word of God this morning?

Christian, do you have a vision for God?

I hope you will discover one this morning!

In this encounter in the life of Paul, we see some powerful truths that I hope will challenge you today!

V.9, AN URGENT REQUEST

Acts 16:9 KJV 1900

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.

EXPLANATION: “Come over and help us” was the cry!

There was a desperate need.

ILLUSTRATION: Before Tressa and I got married I came to visit and she took me skiing

When I was flying down that mountain out of control I had a desperate need… How do I stop?

APPLICATION: Friend, our world is desperately crying out all around us!

People are broken

Addictions are raging

Wickedness and evil seems to be constantly winning.

But friend don’t get distracted… all of those are all just symptoms of what the real problem is… they are enslaved to sin!

Romans 3:10 KJV 1900

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

People are searching for a peace that cannot be found in this world… it can only be found in Christ!

John 14:6 KJV 1900

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Friend, listen to the cry of this broken word that is trying to escape the bondage of sin!

And if you wont listen to their cry then listen to the cries that are coming from the pit of hell!

ILLUSTRATION: Over in Luke 16, we are given the story of a man named Lazarus and a rich man.

They both die and Lazarus is carried to heaven.

But the rich man also dies, without Christ, and the Bible tells us in Luke 16:23

Luke 16:23 KJV 1900

And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

He begs for just a drop of water to ease some of the suffering he is facing.

And then he does something unbelievable… Luke 16:27-28

Luke 16:27–28 KJV 1900

Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

He prays!

APPLICATION: If just for a moment, we could pull back the ceiling of hell and look in and listen...

We would hear the wailing and the gnashing of teeth.

We would hear the cries of pain.

But we would also hear the prayers of those in hell begging for someone to go to their loved ones.

Do you hear the urgent request this morning?

If you don’t see the need you will never have the burden and vision that you should have for the Lord.

Maybe you’re hear today and if you were to pass into eternity this morning, it would be your voice crying out from hell.

Friend God doesn’t want anyone to spend eternity in hell.

2 Peter 3:9 KJV 1900

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2 Corinthians 6:2 KJV 1900

(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

God wants you to accept Christ as your Savior, as your payment for sin today and to know you are going to spend eternity in heaven.

If you don’t know Christ, the urgent request is from God… will you accept Him today!

If you listen closely friend, you can hear the urgent request… there is a great need today.

V.10, AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE

Acts 16:10 KJV 1900

And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

EXPLANATION: There was no delay, they got going with the vision God had given them to do!

The urgent request that they heard provoked an immediate response!

ILLUSTRATION: When Tressa and I first got married, we did the thing all new married couples must do… we got a puppy.

He was a manly dog… he was a mix… between a Yorky and a Poodle… a “Yorky Poo”

We attempted to help with his self esteem issues we knew he would have by giving him the name “Tonto”

Tonto was actually a pretty smart dog.

We taught him to ring a rope with bells on it when he wanted to go outside to go to the bathroom.

And when he rung his bell he expected an immediate response.

If we didn’t, he would ring it harder and louder.

That bell provoked an immediate response from us.

APPLICATION: Friend, the bell is ringing!

People need Christ!

The people in your life need you to tell them about Jesus!

In the church there are usually one of two different responses to the ringing of that urgent request.

Isaiah 6:8 KJV 1900

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

or Ezekiel 22:30

Ezekiel 22:30 KJV 1900

And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Friend, who is it in your life that you need to tell about Christ?

What family member do you need to invite to church?

What coworker do you need to start a conversation about Christ with?

Who is it that you need to be driven to your knees in prayer for because the ringing has become so loud?

You know, there were times that Tonto would ring that bell to go outside to go to the bathroom and if we just ignored it, and accident was bound to happen!

Friend, if you ignore the ringing of the bell in your life, there could be tragedies in people’s eternities!

Don’t condemn someone to an eternity in a lake of fire because you couldn’t be bothered to respond to the prompting of God.

To think there could be people in an eternal torment because I was too busy or too nervous to tell them about Jesus.

The urgent request should provoke an immediate response.

If you are a person with a vision fro the Lord, you will hear the Urgent Request that will provoke an Immediate Response, and it will lead to…

V.14-15, A MARVELOUS RESULT

EXPLANATION: Paul and Timothy and Silas made it to Macedonia and it was awesome what they found there…

Acts 16:14–15 KJV 1900

And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.

Lydia was ready to receive the Lord!

And it wasn’t just Lydia that got saved… her whole family accepted Christ!

A whole family’s eternal destination was changed because they responded to that urgent request!

APPLICATION: Friend, when you have a vision of the Lord and you respond, it is amazing what God can do!

Souls can be saved… lives can be changed!

And you will cry out with the Psalmist in Psalm 118:23

Psalm 118:23 KJV 1900

This is the Lord’s doing; It is marvellous in our eyes.

ILLUSTRATION: You see, I’m thankful for the Greatest Visionary

Titus 1:2 KJV 1900

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Before

A breath had ever been breathed

A tree had ever been planted

The wind ever blew

An ocean wave ever crashed onto the shore

A single grain of sand was place on the beach

A drop of rain touched the earth

A cloud graced the sky

A flower ever bloomed

A star lit the sky

A planet inhabited the universe

Or the universe ever existed.

God already had a vision… for His one and only Son to die on the cross… for you.

You see, Proverbs 29:18

Proverbs 29:18 KJV 1900

Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

CONCLUSION

ILLUSTRATION: 25 Years ago a man named Tracey Jones drove down the mountain into the town of Whitehall.

God burdened his heart for this little town in southwestern Montana.

And on the first Sunday of June 1999 a church was started called Whitehall Baptist Church.

Over the past 25 years a lot has happened.

The church has moved from one building to another.

People have come and gone.

Pastor Jones left to plant another church, and Kevin Turman became the next pastor.

13 Years have that, God led Pastor Turman on to another ministry and the Lord put a young, clueless guy as the next pastor.

And on June 2, 2019, I stepped into the role.

There is a lot we could look back on even in these past 5 years…

People who have passed on…

2020…

Outdoorsman Nights… Cowboy church… and so much more.

But church as we rejoice over what God has done in the past… may we not lose site of what God wants to do in the future.

May we not lose our vision..

ILLUSTRATION: William Borden was the son of wealthy parents.

He had the opportunity to inherit the family business and be set for the rest of his life.

But at 16 years old, on a trip around the world, Borden became aware of the million upon million of people who didn’t know Christ.

Throughout that trip he sensed a calling from God to give his life to take the Gospel to those unreached parts of the world.

Giving up the opportunity to live a life of luxury and ease, Borden surrendered his life to be a missionary.

One of his friends upon hearing of Borden’s decision said the he was “Throwing himself away as a missionary.”

To that accusation, Borden opened up the fly leaf of his Bible and in the back he wrote two words, “No reserves”

After finishing high school, Borden attended Yale University where he engaged in gospel-sharing ministries in various capacities.

He began daily prayer groups, held Bible studies, and let many students to Christ.

By the end of his freshman year, 150 freshman were meeting weekly for Bible study and prayer and by the time he was a senior, one thousand of Yale’s 1,300 students were meeting in such groups.

Upon graduating from Yale he was presented with numerous high paying jobs and opportunities, which he turned down.

In the back fly leaf of his Bible he wrote two more words, “No retreats.”

During his time at Yale he developed a burden for the Muslims of northwestern China.

So Borden made his way to Egypt to study Arabic.

But while he was in Cairo, he contracted cerebral meningitis, and within one month 25 year old William Borden was dead.

The news of his death made it’s way back to the U.S. and it ignited a fire for the Lord and for missions in the heart of thousands of college aged young people.

The reality of the wealth and fame Borden had set aside, and the sacrifices he made to live simply with an Arabic family in Cairo, witness on the streets, and then die alone in a foreign land, all for the sake of the Gospel, challenged many to surrender their lives to Christ.

You see William Borden had a vision for the Lord… he had heard the cry of a needy world, he had responded to it, and now God was reaping wonderful results.

Borden’s life was proof, that a life lived surrendered to a vision for God was worth it.

After his death, his Bible was found amongst his belongings and in the back were those precious words, “No reserves… No retreats.”

But that wasn’t it… below those words were two more words written by that young man before he died… “No regrets.”

APPLICATION: Friend, I want to see God do more in the next 25 years that could have ever have been dreamed of in the first 25.

And it will happen when God’s people have a vision… and determine to live with “No reserves, No retreats” and in the end we will have “No regrets”