Acts 15:6-15

Intro

Good morning everyone. It is a joy to be with you today. If you have your bibles go ahead and open up to Acts 15 and in a moment we are going to start in verse 6. I have so enjoyed reading and studying this passage. I loved listening from reading CS, TM, MF, and Tk on this passage. ALso we work as a team of pastors in sermon planning so it’s fun to hear from Jay, Mitchell and other pastors.

I am really excited about today. Becasue today what we see is the first person to trust Jesus in history in europe and as always with acts what we see here the story of how the gospel spreads and how that even impacts our lives today. becuase the gospel gets to europe it eventually gets to you and me. Even if this is the first time you’ve ever heard about Jesus today what happened 2000 years ago on the banks of a river impacts you today.

what we see is this beatufiul picture of Gods providence and Gods grace meeting.

I want to start with a questions What do you do when life doesn’t go the way you thought it would?I know i’ve defently had those expierences. There have been moments in my life that I had a plan, I had an idea, I had a desire and then life went a completly different route.

There are times that lead to some pretty big disappointment in life. Early on it was where I would go to college. I thought my senior year in high school I was going to birmingham alabama for school and it didn’t happen. I was disappointentd

then there have been other times that I was hoping for a new job early in ministry and I would apply, interview and then it wouldn’t work out.

There have been times I thoguht friendships and relationships would go differen then they did

and maybe it’s something you and I have in coming. Life doens’t always go the way we thought it would

and I think something we might know to be true is

Disappointment can either harden us or deepen our dependence on God. and my goal today is to look at how to not let disappointment lead to dissalumsent which could destroy or crush us but actually how to allow our disappointments and closed doors lead to a greater dependcy on the Lord

If you’ve walked with the Lord for any amount of time you know God often uses closed doors and unmet expectations to move us toward something better—even when we can’t see it yet

and in today’s passage that’s exactly what we are going to see let’s read

Acts 16:6–15 ESV

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us

Acts 16:6–15 ESV

GOD SOMETIMES SAYS “NO” EVEN TO GOOD PLANS (Acts 16:6–7)

Paul’s intentions:

Wanted to go to Asia. This is his hearts desire and it’s a good desire Specifically toward Ephesus

But all of a sudden we are told as much as he wanted to go there he had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the world in Asia.

Holy Spirit did not allow them

then the very next verse he said they attempt to go to bithynia but the spirit of Jesus didn’t allow them

These were good intentions and right motives. Sometimes we might be tempted to think if good closes a door it might be because we’ve just made bad plans or our hearts not in the right place but what this passage reminds us of is that there are times we have really good plans and really right motives and the Lord still shuts the door.

We are reminded God is sovereign even over faithful plans.

Closed doors are not always signs of failure or disobedience. This is really encouraging for me. and how we respond to the closed doors is really important. We could get discourged or even allow the closed doors to lead to despair but what my hope is for you and for me is that when God closes a door the same dependncy we had with God as we had a desire to do something we thought he was leading us to would grow even more

don’t let closed doors lead to despair. And it would be easy to allow them to lead to dispair. There have been times in my life I was so excited about a new oppurunity and then without much explanation the Lord just shut the door. Back in 2013 and 2014 I starting sensing a desire to go plant a church. We starting looking and one of the places the north american mission board was trying to plant churches was New York

If I haven’t mentioned I am from New York so this seemed like an amazing oppurnity. I looked back through my emails and first reached out to the person in charge of this in 2013. he gave me some instructions but for whatever reason in took until 2014 for us to reconnect

I spoke with a friend of mine sharing with him I had been a alittle discouraged because I really was hopefully that we could plant in new york but hadn’t heard much from the person in charge he told me to reach back out. so I did. and starting the conversation again

I wanted to go to New york specfically brooklyn. I thought this is great. Great pizza, amazing city, the New york knicks and a chance to go back home and share the good news of Jesus with people.

My wife who is much more of a planner then me even started reasearching ever neighborhood and aparment complexs to see where we could live. she had a spiral notebook

but at somepoint the communcation stopped with the church planting lead in NYC and the door was closed. it was confusing for sure. Here we wanted to go bodly and proclaim Jesus in a hard place yet doors kept closing

our choice liek all of our chocies when doors closed seemed to be despair or depdency

Paul wrote about some of his challenges throughout the new testment

He said in

2 Corinthians 4:8 ESV

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

and

Philippians 1:12 ESV

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel,

III. CLOSED DOORS PREPARE US FOR GOD’S BETTER DIRECTION (Acts 16:8–10)

and it’s interesting even thought there are 2 shute doors there really is no No clear explanation. there is no clear here is what you need to do next. It’s almost like every place they are trying to go they are blocked and what we relize is God always leads through both closed and open doors.

and then there is a turning point. Paul has this vision of the man from macedonia. and Just a reminder about visions in the book of acts everytime these happen so far it seems that people aren’t seeking the vision. They are seeking the Lord and he gives them the vision for what’s next. if I’m not careful I can get that backwards. I am looking for the vision, i’m looking for the signs, I’m looking for what the next steps are but what scripture so gracioulsy leads us into is an invitation to not seek those things but actaully seek the Lord

we don’t know who the man is. there has been a lot of spectulaiton. on who it is but here is something we learn from the vision

God doesn’t just close doors—He redirects

think abou tit

Paul wanted Asia. This came from a great place

God had Macedonia- God’s guidance often comes gradulae and is unpreditcatble. This call doesn’t follow a neatly ordered formally. as the seek the Lord he shows them what’s next.

When God closes doors in Scripture, it often leads to a better path. it’s this idea we see in ephesaisn God can do more then we ask or imagine.

a few things that are really neat about this part of the passage. it’s the first time you see the word “we” appear. Luke is now part of the story. Up to this point Luke has been just recounting what’s happen most but know he has joined the missionary journey.

second thing I’d love to point out is this we see the trinity in this passage and I think Luke wants us to see that. Notice the closed and open doors.

The holy spirit forbid. The spirit of Jesus and God the father gives us a dream. We see the trinity at work in the missionary call

IV. OBEDIENCE OFTEN LEADS SOMEWHERE UNEXPECTED (Acts 16:11–13)

I love there immedatie response. because they aren’t allowing the closed doors to lead to despaire the immediatly obey. it’s what the end of verse 10 says.

“We concluded that God had called us…”

and it’s really amazing the sailing trip they made was 150 miles but they made it in 2 days the wind was at their back it’s awesome. They had to be so encouraged. IT’s not that it was easy. there was difficulity in thier obedience but the wind allowing them to get to Philippi quicker was a really sweet grace the Lord gave them

Arrival in Philippi:

Leading city

Named after Philip who was alexander the greats father.

and as they enter the city the pattern is the same they go looking for a synagouge but there wasn’t one.

Expected a synagogue

Found a place of prayer most likely outside the city gates and located by a river.

Key question:

Why no synagogue?

Likely no organized Jewish community

but it’s a great reminder God often works outside our expected structures. Sometimes even when we get to where we are going and how we expected God to move he is working behind the scenes in ways we don’t expect

V. GOD OFTEN BEGINS HIS GREATEST WORK IN HUMBLE SETTINGS (Acts 16:14–15)

When they get to this place of prayer we meet Lydia. She was from the City of Thyatira, on the othersid eof the Aegean seas and she was a seller of purple. One thing we could miss if we read this to quickly is this is even probably outisde of Pauls expecatino. He had a vision. A man from Macedonian asked for help and get’s to where the vision told him to go. He is looking for men in macodina nad he meets a women. This is a good reminder to the realibilty of scripture. In this day and age no one would write the story this way if they were trying to make it up women wern’t valued. they weren’t imporatnat but the Bible continues to put increadible value on all image beareers

all Luke is trying to do is to give a trustworthy and acturate account of what actually ahppeend. and he does this.

Lydia is a weathly women, she is a busniss owner some has said her job and life are equifvelnt to a fasion desinger in new york city. and God has put her in the path of Grace. Paul begins to speak and share about Jesus with her.

Let me tell you something. I want to tell you about Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life according to the law, the only One who ever did. Then he went to the cross and died for our sins. So he earned the blessing perfect obedience deserves, but then he took the curse disobedience to the law deserves. So when you believe in him, the curse for your disobedience falls on him, that means his blessing he earned for his obedience falls to you and you’re saved by grace.”

and then their is a Key phrase:

“The Lord opened her heart” Lydia is attracted to this. The woman whose buisness was beatuy and sold betiful clothes has never seen a beatuy like this. God is at work in her lfe

and I don’t want us to miss the plan of God in all of this. It’s one of those and “it just so happened moments” of scritpure. but what it teaches us is God is a God who pursues and plans for salvaiton and grace to intersect our lives.

Think about this with me. Lydia has been living her life. Shes been seeking God and running a business and on a normal ordaniary day in her life where she was making clothes for her business sometihng extrodaniry happens. Men speak to her. And they tell her about Jesus the one who was perfect and died for her. and that’s amazing in itself but think about what had to happen for this to happen.

These men wanted to go somewhere else. They longed to go to asia and they would eventually but because they didn’t allow their disappointment to destroy them, to lead them to disapper or allow them to get disallousied with God they jsut depend on him to lead them to the next right place. and it’s her that the first person in all of europe is saved

how awesome is that. I’ve heard it said before God is often doing a billion things in our lives behind the scenes all the time and we are only aware of a few of them. Think of all that had to happen for this moment to happen. it’s truly increadible. How loved was Lydia that God would extend grace that day to her!

Their is a prayer in the bible

Psalm 51:12 ESV

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

and I think one ways I have seen the Lord just restore the joy of my salvation to me is to think about all he did to put me in the paths of His grace.

and I think it could be really specail this week. Maybe later this afternoon, maybe tomorrow but to just sit down and trace the unseen hand of God in your story to bring you to saving faith in Jesus. That restores Joy. I’ve had the chance to do that from time to time but it’s really specail

for me in short. The way my family story goes is their was a potate famine in Ireland so my great great grandfather brought our family to New york, eventaully JFK made a speech about the moon and space which lead to even more jobs in hsv. My dad would need to get his degree and masters, then move to washgingston state and take his first big enginner job tthat expierence would allow him to come to huntsville and live in south huntsville because at somepoint he got a chance to work on the space station

and that put me in a certain schoool disctrict which put me at a certain high school and a church had to have a plan to reach teenagers with the gospel and then I had to have a friend invite me to church enough times to the point I told him I’d go just so he would stop asking. someone had to build a building so their was a place for me to sit and her the gospel and then someone had to come preach the gospel

that put me in the path of Grace and when I think about how good the Lord was it’s increadible. It’s amazing. it’s remarkable and it restores Joy. It builds confidence in the chracther of God in my life. And here’s the most amazing part. That’s the stuff I am aware of. There is SO much else that had to happen. That’s just how awesome God is

He is a God who pursue and puts his people in the right place to hear the God news about Jesus and he’s a God who opens our hearts when we are on the paths of grace to reicve the gospel

andt that’s what we see

after Lydia is saved she is baptized. and then she invites them to stay at her house.

This is Evidence of genuine faith:

Hospitality

Hospitality is a good marker of the Holy Spirit’s rule in someone’s life

but here is what else is awesome about this

This becomes a base for future ministry

VI. GOD’S LONG-TERM PURPOSE IS OFTEN HIDDEN IN THE MOMENT

They didn’t know this at the time but there is a Connection to Philippians:

Philippians shows long-term fruit of this moment

Philippians 4:14–20 ESV

Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

What looked small became foundational. It’s so amazing. Paul was learning the secret of contiment. He was learning about the soverigty and goodness of God. and he was seeing how God was not only working for the salvaiton of Lydia but also the salvaiton of so many others. and he was teaching Paul I am the one who will supply all your needs.

When you have unmet expectations, God often exceeds them—but it’s not always immediate. We have seen the fruit of this day for 2000 years.

VII. DISAPPOINTMENT IS A FORK IN THE ROAD OF FAITH:

You know when you Ask people who have followed Jesus a long time there is a pattern

Their stories aren’t mainly about mountaintops. Where they get to do the thing they wanted to do.

They’re often about moments after disappointment and disillusionment. Where they felt empty. hopeless. sad. confused and it’s after those moments their is a depedence and grace they get from God

Sometimes What God keeps us from actually delivers us to something even better

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

VIII. THE DANGER: DISENGAGING FROM BOLD FAITH

and I want to end speaking to some of you who maybe feel a little discouraged or disappointed with God. Maybe you stepped out in faith and you feel like you where douped or God didn’t come through for you.

It would be naturally to think

“I’m never going to trust God boldly again.”

and almost Keeping God at arm’s length

This is naturally becuase it’s how we can act in our human relationships at times

Hurt by others → “No one is getting that close again.”

but here is what slowly happens Disappointment can quietly reshape our theology

and what i’d love to do is give you an invation to something better

IX. THE INVITATION: TRUST GOD’S CHARACTER OVER YOUR EXPECTATIONS

Believe in the character of God more than what you want from Him

When you feel like God disappoints—move on and stay attentive

this is an active listening and and ongaoing obediaence. you allow your disspotment to allow you to just lean in more to who God is.

I think it’s in our disappointments that we run form God or we run to him and what’s amazing the Bible promises us if we draw near to God he will draw near to us.

X. DISCERNING GOD’S DIRECTION AFTER DISAPPOINTMENT

How do I know where God is leading?

Spirit

Scripture

Wisdom of others

When it comes to following God’s guidance, begin by obeying God’s the Bible. Then remain sensitive to the Spirit’s prompting. and Seek godly counsel when you aren’t certain what to do, and think over a situation carefully before making a decision

Closing emphasis:

God often speaks most clearly after disappointment, not before

Let’s pray