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The Holy Spirit Directs (Acts 16:1-10) Video
This March I will have been a Christian for 40 years.
And I have been in ministry for 36 years.
One thing I’ve learned is that it is so easy to fall into,
… routine Christianity.
Routine Christianity is where we function in the flesh…
… instead of walking in dependence on God’s Spirit.
· One of the main lessons of the Book of Acts is that…
… the growth of the early church was due to…
… the working of the Holy Spirit.
As a matter of fact, the book really should be called...
… The Acts of the Holy Spirit.
Of course, there is no actual title for the book.
But years later, it was called the Acts of the Apostles.
Over the years, we’ve shortened it to just ACTS.
But really, it is the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
He was directing, moving, and empowering, not only…
... the apostles, but all believers.
The church succeeded as they responded to His leading.
· If we want to see God working today in a similar fashion…
… we need to fight routine Christianity.
We need to make an effort to seek the Spirit’s guidance.
The message of our text is just that…
Since the Holy Spirit is in charge of His work…
… we must seek to follow Him as we work for the Lord.
· Matthew 6:33 says that we are to
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”
Of course, we too often seek our own agenda.
Americans especially, put so many other things…
… ahead of God’s Kingdom and His righteousness.
Money, careers, politics, prejudices, family, recreation.
We find ourselves focusing on so many OTHER things.
But our primary focus needs to be on God’s Kingdom.
If you are not living with that focus, you need to stop and…
… confess it to the Lord, and submit to His will for your life.
· Throughout our text, we see that the Holy Spirit is…
… directing everything.
And these men were obediently following His lead…
… as they sought to do His work.
· ?????
There are 4 lessons:
1) The Spirit leads us to the right workers.
We read that Paul came to Derbe and to Lystra.
That was a very courageous thing to do!
If you remember, Lystra was where Paul had been stoned.
He was dragged out of the city and thrown onto…
… the garbage heap and left for dead.
If I were him, I wouldn’t be in such a hurry to go back to…
… Lystra.
· But here, where he had suffered so terribly…
… and while he was probably still grieving over…
… the falling out with Barnabas…
God graciously brought into Paul’s life a young man, Timothy.
Timothy would eventually become like a faithful son to Paul.
Timothy’s mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois were…
… Jewish women who had become believers in Jesus.
Although his father was an unbelieving Greek, these…
… women had taught him the Scriptures from his childhood.
On Paul’s first visit to Lystra, these women and…
… the young Timothy had gotten saved.
By Paul’s 2nd visit, Timothy, who was in his late teens or…
… early 20’s, had earned a good reputation among…
… the believers in Lystra.
· Just as witnessing the stoning of Stephen had made an…
… impression on Paul, so watching Paul get stoned had…
… probably made a profound impression on Timothy.
As a result, he had resolved to follow Jesus…
… no matter what the cost.
· So now Paul saw Timothy’s commitment…
… and he invited him to join the missionary team.
It was the start of a lifelong and life-changing friendship.
· Timothy wasn’t the only new member of the team.
Luke also joined them around this time.
Acts 16:10 - After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
· Do you notice anything special here?
“WE got ready at once…”
“God called US to preach the gospel to them.”
· This is where the “we” sections of Acts begins.
It ends at the end of chapter 16, when Luke stays in Philippi,
… to pastor the new church there, while the team moves on.
It resumes again, a few years later, in chapter 20…
… and continues to the end of Acts.
Luke, the Gentile physician, was a faithful worker with Paul.
· Now, these new relationships did not happen by chance.
The Spirit was directly involved in setting up these teams.
The Lord knows that we need fellow Christians to…
… encourage us and to work with us in the cause of Christ.
We need older believers to mentor us…
… like Barnabas had been to Paul.
We need contemporaries, like Silas and Luke.
And, we should ask God for some younger believers…
… like Timothy, that we can help along in the faith.
Ask the Spirit to lead you to the right people…
… to be not only your friends, but also your co-workers…
… in the cause of Christ.
· ?????
2) The Spirit gives us wisdom in the right strategies for ministry.
Acts 16:3
Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
Paul circumcised Timothy because of the Jews in those parts,
… who knew that his father was a Greek.
Why did Paul do that?
Some have criticized him for violating his own convictions…
… against keeping the Jewish ceremonial law.
But Paul acted consistently with his convictions.
In Galatians 2:3, Paul says that Titus, a Gentile…
… was NOT required to undergo circumcision.
· So why circumcise Timothy, but not Titus?
With Titus, it was a question of whether a man is justified…
… by grace through faith alone…
… or whether he must also keep the Law of Moses.
It would have compromised the gospel to circumcise Titus.
But with Timothy, who was half-Jewish, it was a matter of…
… causing needless offense to unbelieving Jews.
Circumcision would allow Timothy to go with Paul and Silas…
… into the synagogues, where they often preached.
So, it was a matter of becoming a Jew to the Jews…
… so that he could win the Jews.
Paul didn’t want anything to hinder Jewish people from…
… hearing and believing the gospel.
We all need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom…
… from God’s Word, so that we know which convictions to…
… take a stand for, and which areas we need to compromise.
· Too often, we stand firm where we ought to compromise…
… and we compromise where we ought to stand firm.
Only the Holy Spirit can give us the wisdom we need…
… as we grow to understand God’s Word.
· ?????
3) The Spirit enables His workers to strengthen the churches.
Acts 16:4-5
As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
The missionary team traveled throughout the region…
… sharing the decision of the Jerusalem Council.
As a result the churches were strengthened in the faith…
… and were increasing in number daily.
· The Jerusalem decision, as we saw, affirmed 2 things.
First, they affirmed that salvation is not by keeping…
… the Law of Moses, but rather is…
… by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
2nd - They asked Gentile believers, out of consideration for…
… the Jews, not to engage in 4 things that were…
… especially offensive to Jews:
Eating things sacrificed to idols;
Eating meat with the blood,
Eating meat that had been strangled; and,
Fornication, which was common in the pagan culture.
It strengthened churches to hear the gospel affirmed.
· It’s good for the church to be reminded of the basics.
That we are saved by God’s grace through faith alone…
… in what Christ provided for us on the cross.
And, it strengthens churches to learn to walk in love…
… in consideration of others… and…
… in submission to proper spiritual authority.
· These churches didn’t vote on whether or not to submit to…
… the apostolic decrees.
They willingly submitted to them.
The aim behind the decrees was to show love and…
… to avoid offending the Jews so that they could get saved.
And also so that believing Jews would not divide from…
… the Gentiles in the churches.
Christian workers should seek to strengthen the church by…
… helping every person understand the gospel clearly.
And, we should joyfully submit to God’s Word and…
… put others first, and avoid causing needless offense.
Then the church will be strong and increase in numbers.
· OK, we’ve seen that the Spirit leads us to the right workers.
He gives us wisdom for the right strategies in ministry.
And He enables us to strengthen the churches.
· ?????
Finally,
4) The Spirit leads His workers to the right opportunities for ministry.
Acts 16:6-10
Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
There’s a lot here, but I can only touch briefly on each point.
Notice 6 things:
1) Opportunities come to those who are already serving,
… not to those who are doing nothing.
Sometimes people don’t serve the Lord because they’ve…
… never experienced a dramatic “call” to ministry.
But this Macedonian call did not come to people who were…
… doing nothing.
It came to men who were actively serving the Lord.
It was not a call to begin serving the Lord…
… or to become a missionary.
But rather a clarification of direction in an existing ministry.
· You can turn the steering wheel of your car all day long…
… but if the car isn’t moving, you won’t get anywhere.
You can sit around and pray for God’s direction for service…
… but you won’t get it if you’re not already serving Him.
Start doing something to serve Jesus…
… and He will redirect you if He needs to.
?????
2) God sometimes leads us to the right opportunities…
… by hindering us from the wrong ones.
Acts 16:6-7
Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
What’s going on here?
“… having been kept by the Holy Spirit
from preaching the word in the province of Asia.”
“… they tried to enter Bithynia,
but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.”
Didn’t the Lord want those in Asia or Bithynia…
… to hear the gospel?
Yes, of course he did. Just not now.
He actually made sure they heard the gospel in Acts 18 & 24.
But for some reason… not now.
· We don’t know why.
All we know is that the Holy Spirit is in charge over His work.
And that He stopped these men from going into these 2…
… regions and redirected them into Europe at this time.
He didn’t do it because He thought the Europeans were…
… more worthy than the other people.
· How do I know that?
Because NO ONE is worthy.
The gospel does not come to people based on their merit…
… but rather, based on God’s unmerited grace.
I’m going to raise a couple of questions that I can’t answer…
… but you can chew on them with me.
· First, “HOW” did the Holy Spirit forbid these men…
… from going into these areas?
We don’t know.
It could have been through an audible voice.
It could have been a dream or a vision.
It could have been thru a prophetic word.
It may have been thru circumstances that blocked the way.
It may have been a lack of inner peace.
It may have been thru a physical illness on Paul’s part…
… which was why he linked up with Dr. Luke at this point.
· I actually believe it is the latter.
In the book of Galatians, Paul said,
“It was because of an illness that I came to you.”
Truth is, we don’t know how the Spirit communicated…
… these prohibitions, since the text does not say.
But He uses many different ways of hindering us from…
… heading in the wrong direction.
We’re not talking here about doing something that is…
… against God’s Word.
But rather about doing good things that simply are…
… not His will for us at this time.
· The second question is this…
How did these men know that the hindrances were from…
… the Holy Spirit and to be obeyed.
And not from some other source and thus to be overcome?
In 1 Thessalonians 2:18, Paul says that Satan had…
… hindered him from visiting the Thessalonians.
But here, it was the Spirit of God who hindered them.
How did he know the difference?
· Sometimes God wants us by faith to keep knocking…
… until closed doors are opened.
At other times, the closed doors are His way of saying no.
All I can say is, we need His wisdom and discernment…
… to know the difference.
I don’t have any simple formulas for figuring it out!
· ?????
3) God’s leading us to the right opportunities is usually…
… a progressive matter…
… not an instant revelation of the big picture.
Paul was feeling his way along at this point.
After these 2 hindrances, if you had asked him what his…
… plans were, he probably would have said,
“I honestly don’t have a clue!”
· Sometimes, knowing God’s will is like driving in the fog.
God just gives us enough light to see the next few feet.
As we follow, He gives us the light we need…
… to keep moving ahead.
We would rather drive with our high beems on.
Seeing what is far down the road.
God would rather we use our fog lights…
… so we can see what is right ahead of us.
Or, another way to say it…
While we would like to know the ultimate destination…
God is more concerned that we focus on the journey.
· ?????
5) When God reveals His will to us, we must make sure…
… that it is from the Lord, and then be quick to obey.
Acts 16:10
After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
The word “concluding” indicates that the missionary team…
… discussed the meaning of the vision before taking action.
The GK word is “simbabadz
It means to knit together.
Taking several different elements and…
… bringing them together to a conclusion.
I.E. - As they talked, it all came together.
· As soon as they were sure of what God was saying…
It says they immediately set out for Macedonia.
They didn’t form a committee and deliberate for months.
They figured out what God wanted and …
… they went down to the harbor to buy tickets.
· Now… Does God direct us through visions in our day?
The answer is, sure… He can, but be careful!
There are all sorts of crazy visions that people have…
… that are not from the Lord.
· In 1999, Benny Hinn claimed God gave him a vision.
He said that the Lord had revealed to him that thousands…
… of people from all over the world would be…
… raised from the dead when people put their caskets…
… in front of their TV sets while he was on.
There is no record of thousands of people being raised…
… from the dead.
· Every election there are false prophets who claim…
… God gave them a vision of who was going to win.
That’s actually an easy prophecy to fake.
You’ve already got a 50/50 chance!
How’d you like to buy a $1 lottery ticket…
Where you have a 50/50 chance of winning a million dollars?
So, there are plenty of false prophets on tv and YouTube.
Avoid them like the plague.
· On the other hand, God does still work in the miraculous.
When I first visited Bangladesh, not as a missionary…
… just a visiting pastor – Karen had a dream.
God had never spoken to Karen in a dream before or since.
When Karen had this dream, she had no clue…
… God was calling us to Bangladesh.
She had no idea what was going thru my mind & spirit either.
But she had a dream of a million Bangladeshi children…
… shouting out Joy Jeshu!
She had no idea what that meant or even if it meant anything.
· When I got back to the States, she told me about the dream.
I knew very little Bengali, but I knew what Joy Jeshu meant.
It means, “Victory in Jesus” and it is shouted out by…
… pastors and church members all over Bangladesh.
Now, we didn’t go to Bangladesh as missionaries…
… just because Karen had a dream.
More often than not, supernatural signs are mere confirmation
… of what God has ALREADY spoken to your heart.
So, we need balance in regard to the supernatural.
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
19 Do not put out the Spirit's fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil.
On one hand, we don’t want to quench the Spirit.
But on the other hand, we need to examine everything…
… carefully BEFORE we determine it is from God.
· An obstinate and proud apostle Paul could have plowed…
… ahead into Asia against God’s promptings not to do so.
But the obedient and humble apostle obeyed God’s…
… promptings and waited until the Spirit showed him…
… where to go.
Then he went immediately.
The world has never been the same.
· ??????
6) Often, when we obey…
… the reality does not match the vision.
Paul saw a man of Macedonia calling for help.
But when he got there he actually found a group of women…
… gathered by the river.
And one of these became the first convert.
The second convert was a demon-possessed slave girl.
Her conversion landed Paul and Silas in prison…
… with their backs shredded by whips.
It wasn’t a glorious beginning, to say the least!
But it’s how the gospel began to take root in Europe.
And the history of Europe has been forever different.
Often, when we obey God’s leading and launch out into…
… His work, the reality doesn’t match the vision.
But we must continue to obey what we know…
… He called us to do.
· ?????
6) The greatest help that we can give to people is to proclaim the gospel to them.
The man in the vision said,
“Come over to Macedonia and help us”.
The man in the vision didn’t say what kind of help.
Did they need food, shelter, healing?
Paul went and gave them the best help in the world:
He preached the Gospel!
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved.”
That is the most helpful message that we can give to anyone.
It is the most helpful thing that we can do for anyone.
· We may have to feed a hungry man, or clothe the naked…
… or welcome a foreigner, or heal a sick man…
… before we can tell them about Jesus.
But if we ONLY provide for his physical needs…
… we have not given him the most important help.
· If you were walking down the street and heard a child cry,
“Help me! Help me!”
I would hope that you would be stirred to action.
If you couldn’t provide help yourself, you would at least…
… make sure that the proper help got to this needy person.
Why not ask God to burden your heart with the cry of the lost?
Millions of people around the world are crying out…
“Come over and help me!”
If you cannot go yourself, at least you can give and pray…
… for missionaries to go.
That’s the best help we can give to a desperately lost world.
Conclusion
Let me leave you with the question I asked…
… at the beginning of this section:
Are you seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness?
If not, you may need to do some serious thinking…
… about your priorities.
· ?????