Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture

Acts 16-

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.

Introduction

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.

Forbidden to Preach (vs.

6-9)

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.

Verses 10-15

Verses

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.