God is Up To Something

Acts 16:6–30 NRSV

6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8 so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. 11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. 13 On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. 15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us. 16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” 18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. 19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews 21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Acts 16-

Acts 16:6–40 NRSV

6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8 so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. 11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. 13 On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. 15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us. 16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17 While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” 18 She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. 19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews 21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34 He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God. 35 When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” 36 And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, “The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul replied, “They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.” 38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens; 39 so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. 40 After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.

Today

Today, I want to talk to you on the subject “God Is Up to Something.” This is what you call a one point sermon. There will be other points that we may pick up on the journey, but if you don;t get anything else, I want you to know that God is up to something.

I love a good TV series. A good TV series will introduce events and characters that will sometimes leave you in suspense where you may not quite understand how all of these events and characters are related when you are in the middle of the season. But once the final episode comes on, it pulls all the events and all the characters together, all the jaws in the room drop and everybody goes OMG: Oh my gosh (with head turning slowly). You see a good writer takes you on a journey, and even though you may not understand everything the writer is doing, you best believe that the writer is up to something.

I love a good TV series. A good TV series will introduce events and characters that will sometimes leave you in suspense where you may not quite understand how all of these events and characters are related when you are in the middle of the season. But once the final episode comes on, it pulls all the events and all the characters together and all of sudden everybody goes OMG: Oh my gosh. You see a good writer takes you on a journey, and even though you may not understand everything the writer is doing, you best believe that the writer is up to something.

And today, I want to tell you about the greatest writer that has ever been, that is, and is to come. And that is no other than God himself. And today, I want to invite you to see your life as great TV show that God is writing. You may not quite understand how all the characters in your life and how all the events that occur fit together, but trust that God is up to something.

You see, when I look back on my life, there were some episodes I didn’t quite understand. There were some things I have gone through that I didn’t quite understand. There were some doors that were shut that I didn’t quite understand. There are some mountains and some valleys and some changes in my life that made me want to ask God “What in the world are you doing?” But now in hindsight, as I look back over the episodes of my life that I didn’t understand I have come to recognize that God was up to something.

Anybody ever been through some situations in your life that you didn’t quite understand when you were going through it? You didn’t quite understand why God had you take a left turn when you could have went right, you didn’t understand why God had you take that job. You didn’t understand why God had you go to that college, you didn’t understand why God sent you to those places, you didn’t understand why God had you marry him and not him, her and not her, you didn’t understand why God allowed you go through some of the things you went through, but then years later when you begin to look back over the episodes of your life, you began to recognize that even when you didn’t understand some things when you were going through it, God was up to something.

And somebody needs to hear this message this morning because you are in the middle of your season, getting ready to quit because you don’t quite understand everything that God is doing in your life. But may I encourage you this morning that if you let the season finish it’s course, your OMG moment will come. And when you look back on everything, you will see that there was a God causing all things to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. No you may not understand everything now, but trust a believe that God is up to something.

If you are going to follow the Holy Spirit, you have to be more in love with God than just doing good things.

How do you know when the Holy Spirit is redirecting your life?

In our text, Paul and his ministry team are excited about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so the text starts off with Paul and his team trying to preach the gospel in places of Asia, but the text says that they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And maybe they didn’t understand that it included all of Asia, so they went to another part of Asia, but again, the Spirit would not allow them to preach the gospel in Asia.

You see sometimes when you facing resistance and something isn’t working, we Christians are quick to say “The devil is a lie.” But sometimes it’s not the devil. Sometimes the reason why something is not working is because God may be up to something, trying to shift you in a different direction.

I remember when God was trying to shift

Now the text doesn’t say that the Lord SAID don’t preach in Asia, it just says that the Holy Spirit wouldn’t allow them. And maybe that was the reason why they didn’t stop preaching in Asia the first time - because it wasn’t something said, but maybe something felt.

You see sometimes when you facing resistance and something isn’t working, you can’t blame it on Satan. Sometimes there is a supernatural resistance by Jesus or the Holy Spirit that is trying to stop you from doing something.

You ever felt like the Holy Spirit was trying to nudge in a certain direction, but because you wasn’t sure that it was the Holy Spirit, you just kept doing business as usual?

You see when you recognize that God is the one that is writing your life, you can’t ignore the signs.

I remember when God started to call me into full-time ministry. I would show up to my client’s office, sit down, try to do my work, but then a sermon would come up in my spirit, and I would have to get up, find a quiet place, preach the sermon out loud so my spirit could calm down and then try to go back to work. But then soon after I would sit down, more of the sermon would rise up in my spirit, and I would have to get up, find a quiet place, preach the sermon out loud so my spirit could calm down and then try to go back to work.

It got so bad, that eventually I could no longer focus on my work.

I never heard God say the words “I’m sending you into full-time ministry.” All I knew was that I had a job to do that God had blessed me with, but for some reason the Holy Spirit wouldn’t allow me to do it.

And it was because God was up to something.

Now what got me about this whole situation in the text is that Paul and his team weren’t in Asia auditing companies, working a job, trying to party or just have a good time, but they were in Asia trying to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were trying to do ministry, and the Holy Spirit wouldn’t allow them.

Now certainly, the gospel is good, and certainly people in Asia needed to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. So then why did the Holy Spirit forbid them from preaching the gospel?

God must be up to something.

You ever tried to do something that you believed that God told you to do, but then when you went to go do it, it didn’t work? You believed God told you start a ministry, so you started a ministry, but it didn’t work. You believed God told you to be in a relationship, so you got into a relationship, but it didn’t work. You believe that God told you to start a business, so you started a business, but it didn’t work. And like I’m sure Paul and his team was going through, you are sitting there frustrated, trying to figure out why in the world would God tell me to do something, and then not allow me to do it?

Anybody ever been there before?

But if you go on to verse 9, if you allow the episode to play out, you may find your answer. The text says that during the night, Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia that told him to come to Macedonia and help us.

You see God wasn’t trying to stop them from preaching, it’s just that God wanted them to go to preach in a certain location.

Sometimes when you believe God tells you do something and it doesn’t work, it’s easy to jump to conclusions and start thinking maybe God didn’t tell me to start a ministry, maybe God didn’t tell me to be in a relationship, maybe God didn’t tell me to start a business.

And God says, its not that I didn’t want you to start a ministry or be in a ministry, it’s just not that one. It’s not that I don’t want you to be in a relationship, just not him. It’s not that I don’t want you to start a business, just not in Los Angeles. It’s not that I don’t want you to preach Paul, its just right now I’m not sending you to Asia, but I’m sending you to Macedonia.

You see, sometimes the reason why something is not working is not because God doesn’t want you to d o it, it just that its not where, when, and how he wants you to do it.

Many of you already know my story, but in 2014, in the same year I got married, and in the same year I bought a house, God tells me to leave my job without anything lined up. I didn’t know I was going into full-time ministry, I just knew that God was telling me to leave my job. So for a month an half, I went on interview after interview after interview and didn’t hear anything from any of the companies. And there were moments where I began to think “Did God tell me to leave my job?” because I didn’t understand what God was doing.

Paul and his team is excited about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and so the text starts off with Paul and his team trying to preach the gospel in places of Asia, but the text says that they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And maybe they didn’t understand that it included all of Asia, so they went to another part of Asia, but again, the Spirit would not allow them to preach the gospel.

You see I thought that God just wanted me to move from the public sector to the private sector where I could be more present with my new wife and where I would no longer have to work 18 hours days, having to write sermons at 2 o’clock in the morning.

But now in 2019, as I look back over that month of half where I was trying to see if I had heard God right, and see where I’m at today. After being in full-time ministry for the past four years and getting ready to graduate with my Masters in May, I recognize that even though I didn’t understand what was going on in that month and half, God was up to something.

All I’m trying to get you to understand today is that even when you don’t understand what’s going on, trust and believe that God is up to something.

You see when you are in a place where you do not understand, you have to be very sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

And so Paul and his team move on to Macedonia to preach the gospel and they arrive at this city called Philippi. And after staying there for a few days, they end up going to a place of prayer. And I don’t know if men were they or not, but the text says that they spoke to the women that met there. And while they were sharing the gospel, the text says that there was a business woman who sold purple cloths by the name of Lydia, that was listening in on what was being preached. Lydia was a worshipper of God, which meant she knew God, but she didn’t know Jesus. And the Bible says God opens her heart to the gospel, she and her entire household gets baptized and she invites Paul and his ministry team to stay at her house.

This is where the plot thickens.

Remember, at the beginning of this episode in verse 6, Paul and his ministry team was trying to preach in Asia, but the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let them. Now they are in Philippi, preaching the gospel, and they could have been invited to stay at their house by any of the women, but they were invited by a foreigner named Lydia. And guess where she is from?

The text says she is from the city of Thyatira which happens to be a place in Asia!

Can you see that God is up to something.

The Holy Spirit would not allow them to preach the gospel.

I remember when I was in public accounting trying to do my work, but I couldn’t focus because there was

Now God was going to eventually send them to preach in Asia. So can you imagine some of the conversation at the dinner table may have went when they were staying at Lydia’s house?

Paul: So Lydia, where are you from?

Be in love more with God than what he wants you to do

Lydia: I’m from Thyatira.

Redirection

Paul: Thyatira! Isn’t that a place in Asia?

Spirit won’t allow you

Lydia Sure is!

Vision to do something else

Paul: You know we just in Asia trying to preach the gospel, but the Holy Spirit wouldn’t allow us to. Maybe it’s because God wanted us to meet you first so that we can learn some things. Can you tell us about the culture? What places should we go? Who are some key people we need to talk to?

You see sometimes the reason why God is not allowing certain things to work is because there are some things you need to learn first. God may be saying I need you to learn some things before you get into a relationship. I need you to learn some stuff before you start that new venture. There is a learning period I need to take you through, before you go to that place.

All I’m trying to get you to understand today is that even when you don’t understand everything that’s going on , you have to trust and believe that God is up to something.

Wenonah Valentine to PwC

The text goes on to say that while Paul and his ministry was going to a place of prayer, they encounter a slave girl who possessed with a spirit that gives her the ability to predict the future. And she is so good at it, that the text says she makes her slave-owners a great deal of money. And this slave girl, who is possessed by a spirit, follows Paul and his team shouting “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” She shouts this for many days, and finally Paul gets so annoyed that he casts the spirit out of her.

Now some scholars like to let Paul off the hook and say the reason he got annoyed and casts the spirit out of her was because everybody thought she was crazy and she would have discredited Paul and his team for being in association with a crazy person. And I think there might be some truth to that. But then my question then is that if she was going to be a liability, then why in the world didn’t Paul cast the spirit out the first day. Because the text says she kept this up for many days.

So myself and other scholars believe that Paul casts the spirit out simply because he got annoyed.

The text says she made a lot of money for her slave-owners, which mean she had a lot of clients, which meant she had a lot of ears, which meant she had a lot of influence. So when this woman is following Paul and his ministry team shouting “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation” God may be using her influence to give Paul access to people he may not have had otherwise.

But also think God could have been using this woman to help give Paul and his team access.

The text says she made a lot of money for her slave-owners, which mean she had a lot of clients, which meant she had a lot of ears, which meant she had a lot of influence. Sometimes God’s help may not come in a certain package. Sometimes, it may come from the people you least expect.

Sometimes when God is up to something, his help may look like a crazy person. And some of us may have some people in our lives that are crazy, and if you are not in tune with what God may be trying to do, you may prematurely casts someone out of your life that God may have put there for a reason.

The text goes on to say that because Paul casts the demon out of the slave girl, the girl’s slaveowners got upset because Paul is messing with their money. Paul casts out the spirit that gave her the ability to predict the future, so now they can’t make anymore money off of her. So the slaveowners seize Paul and his team, took them to the authorities and told the authorities that they were Jews that were advocating customs that were against the law in Rome.

So a crowd ripped their clothes off, beat them severely with rods, and then placed them in prison.

And I can hear someone on Paul’s ministry team starting to wonder why God would send them to Macedonia, knowing there clothes would be stripped off, be beaten almost to death, and then placed in prison.

You see sometimes we go through things in life that feels like our clothes have been stripped off, we have beaten almost to death, and placed in prison. And we are sitting there in the midst of our pain, trying to figure why in the world would God allow such things to happen to me, when I pay my tithes, I sing in the choir, I’m an usher, I’m in 4-5 ministries, I read my Bible, I go to Bible Study, I go to Sunday School, I go to church at least twice a month and I’m a pretty decent Christian. Why in the world would God allow me to go through all of this, when I’m doing what he has called me to do?

And somebody needs to hear today, “Don’t worry/trip, God is up to something.”

And that’s why the text says that when they begin praying and they begin to sing praises towards God, a supernatural earthquake begin to happen that shook foundations of the prison. And the text says that earthquake was so violent that the cell doors became opened and the chains became unfastened.

But that’s not even the best part. Most people like to think that the miracle in this story is that they prayed and the doors came open.

But the real miracle is that even though God had opened the prison doors, nobody walked out.

The text says that when the jailer woke up and saw that the cell doors were open, he was getting ready to kill himself thinking that Paul and his team had left. But before the jailer could commit suicide, Paul shouted, don’t harm yourself, for we all are still here.

Paul understood that even though their clothes had been torn off, and even though they had been beaten, and even though they had been placed in prison, God did not open the doors just so they could walk out, but he opened the doors because God was up to something greater.

And somebody needs to know that what you are going through bad situations, it may not necessarily be for you, but it may be because God is up to something and he is using your life to save somebody else’s.

And somebody needs to know that what you are going through, may not necessarily be for you, but it may be because God is up to something and he is using your life to save somebody else’s.

For the text says, the jailer, took them outside, fell down before Paul and Silas, and asked what must I do to be saved? They shared the gospel with him and his household, he took them back to his house, washed their wounds, and all of them were baptized.

From Asia to prison, God was up to something.

Last week, Pastor Taylor preached from , where God delivers the Israelites out of slavery.

This story ought to sound a little familiar because the ending is similar to Jesus.

Listen, there are going to be some moments on this Christian journey that you do not understand and that will be uncomfortable. But there is nothing like the feeling when God unfolds His master plan before your eyes and all of a sudden your’re like OMG. (okay God. I see you. You did that!). God is up to something in your life, but the question is are you paying attention.

This story ought to sound a little familiar because Jesus was also beat, but God was up to something.

Exodus 14 NRSV

1 Then the Lord said to Moses: 2 Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall camp opposite it, by the sea. 3 Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has closed in on them.’ 4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” 6 So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; 7 he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon. 10 As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” 15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. 16 But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. 17 Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.” 19 The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. 22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24 At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Jesus was also beat, but God was up to something.

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Jesus was also beat, but God was up to something.

Jesus was mocked, but God was up to something.

Jesus was nailed to a cross, but God was up to something.

Jesus was pierced in the side, but God was up to something.

Jesus even died, but God was up to something.

He stayed in the grave all Friday, but God was up to something.

He stayed in the grave all Saturday, but God was up to something.

For early Sunday morning, Mary’s jaw dropped, the disciple’s jaw dropped, and everybody went OMG, for Jesus had got up with all power in his hands.

Even when you don’t understand all that is happening, remember God is up to something.

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God is Up To Something

Scripture

Introduction

Forbidden to Preach (vs. 6-9)

Verses 10-15

Verses

Verses 16-18

Verses 16-18

Verses 19-30