Spirit-led Following
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
INTRODUCTION
*Open your Bibles with me, if you will, to Acts 16
Today, we are taking a break from the Romans Road
For those visiting, welcome! We are glad you are here with us today
we have been working through the book of Romans for some time now
If the Lord wills, we will return to Romans next week
But, today’s message is not one that could wait any longer
Today’s message is centered on obedience
As the people of God, you and I have been called to obedience. Jesus says
“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
This is a profound thought, because, if we are honest, we do this all the time
We say that Jesus is our “Lord and Savior,” that He is the King of everything
the word Lord means master, ruler, and or King
But if we call Jesus our King, and yet we do not do what He says, can we really call Him master?
As a church, we come back to this truth over and over again
It is all over the pages of Scripture
It is at the heart of the Gospel
It is in our vision statement as a church, that we will know Jesus and make Him Known.
Over and over again, we find that the heart of the Christian faith is that we would know Jesus more fully ourselves and that we would tell others about Him in all that we do.
Remember how many times we have heard that works will not save you, but if you are saved you will have works
WORKS COME OUT OF THOSE WHO ARE SAVED BECAUSE THE SAVED OBEY
As we discussed last week, those who are in Christ are transformed-you cannot be the same as you used to be
Obedience to Christ becomes everything in a believer’s life
Obedience to Christ is how we demonstrate our love for God
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Obedience to Christ is an ear-mark of true disciple-making
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Obedience is what separates those that merely hear and those that have true faith
But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
As a follower of Jesus Christ...
Obedience is more important than my comfort
Obedience is more important than my happiness
Obedience is more important than my satisfaction
Obedience is more important than my desires
OBEYING Jesus in knowing Him and making Him known is at the very center of what it means to be a follower of Christ
And what we are going to see this morning is that as we obey, it is the Spirit that leads us in that obedience:
In Acts 16, Paul is on his second missionary journey:
So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.
They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;
and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;
and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;
and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days.
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.
A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
PRAY
*LISTENING GUIDES OUT
As a man, and as a pastor, I have always tried to lead by example
I have never asked someone else to do something I was unwilling to do myself
I hold myself to a higher standard than I expect anyone else to live up to
I will not ask others to give a little if I am not already giving a lot
I will not ask others to sacrifice unless I am not willing to give up more than I am asking them to
You all have known me long enough to know that my heartbeat is for the lost
Missions and Evangelism should be a burning passion in the heart of every believer, since Jesus commands it
One of the greatest compliments I have ever received came at me in what was meant to be an insult, when I was accused of making our church a “missions church”
I say that this is a compliment because I believe that this is the very definition of what the church should be
You see, the lost are on the heart of God. And when you worship God, when You worship the King, you begin to see things as He sees them, and His priorities become your priorities
reaching the lost
caring for those in need
raising up disciples
starting new churches
Raising up and sending out the best workers we can send into the harvest
These things are at the core of God’s purposes, and so they are the core of our purpose
And the way that we pursue these things must be God’s way, and not our way
As your leader, I have always strived to do, not what was comfortable or what I desired, but what God was calling us to, and I believe that this passage this morning gives us good reason to do things that way.
In fact there are three strong reasons for us to pursue God’s purposes and to do so in the way He leads
So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.
They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;
and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;
and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
If you have your listening guide this morning, the first thing I would have you to write down is this, that
God’s plans are different than mine
God’s plans are different than mine
Would Asia have been a good place to go? Would Bithynia have seen a response to the Gospel?
We don’t know how they would have responded. We know churches were planted in the region known as Asia, so God sent missionaries there, just not these missionaries
What we do know is that these weren’t good places to go because God forbade it
God thinks differently than I do.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
He keeps me from stepping into trouble I didn’t know was there
He focuses on the best things, not just good things
Since He is perfect and His purposes always work out, what He wants is always better than what I want
Following Jesus will mean doing things that are uncomfortable
Following Jesus will mean putting yourself at risk-what happens when He doesn’t show up?
But, ultimately, He knows better than I could ever know, and so trusting Him is the better idea Let’s look at the next section, verse 9:
A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;
and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days.
The second thing that we need to write down this morning is this,
God’s plan comes with an open door
God’s plan comes with an open door
Paul’s crew tried to go to several places, but were thwarted by the Spirit
But when the Spirit spoke, when the Spirit led them, they found an open door
You and I might try to go places and do things, and in our own power, we will find frustration
I didn’t set the world into motion
I didn’t set the stars in the place
I can’t tell oceans how to rise and fall
But God can do all of these things
Sometimes, the call that God has placed in front of us seems impossible
The sacrifices seem too great to make
The risks carry too much uncertainty
And in my own path, this leads to frustration and despair...
But on God’s path, the door is open because He can do what no man can do
The door that God opens, no man can shut.
‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
We may not understand the mission that He calls us to
We may not see the need
We may not see the way
We may feel hopeless in it, and yet, no man can close the door that God opens
I am always going to walk through God’s open door, and that means following His plan over my own
Look at verse 13:
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.
A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
The last thing that I would have you note this morning is this:
God’s plan will be fruitful
God’s plan will be fruitful
When I try to do things in my own strength, rarely does much come of it
I may get somewhere that on the outside looks good
But it usually is really an empty victory if it is a victory at all
Usually, not only do the results mean nothing, but I am left empty as well
But God’s plans always bring about fruit
In my life
In the lives of others
Sometimes both
This doesn’t mean it is easy, but God’s plan WILL fulfill His purpose
INVITATION
So, what? Why am I so focused on following the Spirit? Why is it that I want to point you to Jesus and to encourage you to focus your eyes on His plans and purposes? Why do I feel like this is a message that you needed to hear, that cannot wait?
Because I cannot ask you to live your life in reckless obedience to Christ if I’m not willing to do the same
My ministry before the Lord has been a ministry in chains
Until we came here, God had never taken me anywhere that I wanted to go
I said I’d never be a missionary-I was
I said I’d never serve in Europe- I did
I said I’d never move back to the U.S., but I’m here
I said I’d never be a Pastor, and I’m 9 years into pastoral ministry
I never want to go where God puts me, and I never want to leave when it’s time
But Friendship is the first place in ministry I ever wanted to come to
Live Oak is my childhood home, and a place I can be myself
I’m comfortable here.
We love this church family, this community, and this way of life
God has blessed us here immensely, and I could easily live out the rest of my years here with little to no problem
YES, we’ve had a tough year and a half of COVID craziness, but
We are seeing growth, and new families.
We’ve baptized four in the last two months and have two more preparing to be baptized
Things are looking up at Friendship
But I have a problem-God has placed a stirring in me that I cannot ignore
In representing our church, I serve on the Association’s administrative team
My role is to help our association build meaningful and lasting partnerships in missions
And as we talk to pastors and leaders in our association, we have sensed a clear leading of God for our churches to be involved in church planting
To that end, last January, Andy Jordan asked me to come be a part of a conference call
We were talking with Jason Mcnair, who grew up right here in Live Oak, but is serving now in the Utah-Idaho Baptist Convention
We were talking with him about ways Suwannee Baptists might partner with church planters, those who are starting new churches in this place that desperately needs them.
As we talked, I asked him in passing about a population of Basque people living in Idaho near Boise
I had heard of this group many years ago, while we were still in Spain, and was curious
JASON told me that there was a large Basque population there, and that a church planter was trying to plant a church among them
This got me really excited, because I saw in it the possibility for Friendship to come and work alongside these church planters in meaningful ways for God’s Kingdom
In March, Andy and Ramona Jordan traveled with me and Bethany to Idaho and Montana on a vision trip.
As we sat in the Airport, I was reading when Andy patted me on the back. He smiled at me and said, “I love you, and I really don’t want to lose you on this trip.”
I looked at him sideways and said “I love you too, and I’m not going anywhere!” The thought hit me out of left field. Where was this coming from?
When we got to Boise, we met with a local leader who showed us around town.
We talked to several church planters that need partners like our church to work with them in reaching the lost
But when we asked the local leaders about the Basque church plant, we were shocked
NO ONE was planting a church in the midst of these 16,000 souls of an unreached people group from Europe living right here in the U.S.
They told us they had been praying for more than 20 years that God would send someone to plant a church among them
I was sure they were mistaken, so they told me to talk with the church planting chair for the convention, Mike Palmer
You all met him. Andy invited him to come talk with Suwannee Baptists about partnerships, and he spoke here at our church
When I met Mike, I asked him about the work among the Basque
Mike told me that he has been a pastor in Idaho for 23 years, the church planting chair person for 10 years, and he has been asking that question to anyone and everyone interested in doing ministry in Idaho
But I was the very first person to ever ask him that question
He said, “I’m not the Holy Spirit, but maybe you should talk to Him about this.”
Now, you all know that Bethany is a better person than me, so it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that she knew God was moving before me
She asked if we could meet with Mike privately, and I had no clue
And when we got with Mike, I gave him a million reasons why I knew that God wanted me to stay right where I am
But Mike asked me to pray about it. He said he usually tries to talk people out of church planting, so this was unusual, but just pray about it, so I did.
And as I began to pray, there was a stirring I couldn’t deny-but I tried
I told Bethany that if God wanted me to go, He would have to compel me beyond any doubt that was His will, because I love being where we are at
We moved to Friendship to stay forever...
The day we got home, Cindy Heffernen walked into my office, smiled and said “glad you’re back, you’re not leaving us, are you?”
I got mad! In fact, I kind of snapped at her, “why would you say that!”
I met Johnny Hunt at a pastor’s retreat, and I sought wise council
surely this pastor of pastors would tell me to stay put! That’s what he tells everyone
Stay where your at! Real men stay!If anyone could help me kill this uneasiness, it was Johnny Hunt
but after explaining to Him for forty-five minutes why we shouldn’t go, he told me he was ready to support our church plant personally and that if I had any issues, he would go and talk to Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, himself!
I got mad! I told him, you’re not supposed to say that!
He said, yes, but what I hear from you is calling
This summer, as we were on mission together, Wanda asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks:
There is clearly a work that needs to be done, but we will need someone on the ground here to lead it. Who will that be? We will be here to lead it?
I talked to nearly thirty fellow pastors, missionary friends, church planters, association and convention leaders, and all of them told me the same thing-God is calling you to do this
One of them told me I should at least start NAMB’s pre-assessment process
If it isn’t God’s will, you’ll discover that through their process
I knew that they were right, because assessment is a rigorous process.
but we flew through their pre-assessment
We went through nine different interviews, and they looked at every area of my life and ministry
And when the assessment team finished their work, they told us we’d hear their recommendation in a couple of weeks
Two days later, we got the call that they were really excited about us, and that God clearly was leading us to lead this church plant
And so, this morning, church family, I am here to tell you words I never thought I would say: God is calling my family to Idaho to plant a church amongst the Basque
We are not leaving Friendship, we are asking Friendship to send us out
We go as your missionaries-an arm of this church!
We go inviting and expecting that you will go with us
in prayer
in giving
in coming to work beside us
We are entering a season of preparation, and our heart’s desire is that you will prepare with us
In building partnerships with churches and individuals that will support the work
We ARE planting with NAMB, but they are not IMB
NAMB is A partner, but we will need more
We need a team that will pray, that will give, and that will come to work alongside us
In planning and preparing the future of this church
If the church is open to it, and God so leads, I would love to walk with you through the end of January
Helping the church to plan, pray, and begin searching for our next pastor & youth minister
Building out operational plans through the guidance of the Spirit, to help the church continue to move forward where God is leading
In preparing for the work ahead of us
walking with us as we go through the “prep to go” stage
building a team here at Friendship that will champion what God is doing in Idaho from Live Oak
In praying for God’s help and guidance
This morning, as in the day that I came to Friendship, I am here to Follow Christ in obedience
As your brother, your pastor, and your friend, this morning, I am inviting you to join us in this journey
The call and command are before us, will you join us as we obey?
PRAY