[00:00:00] It's Acts chapter 16 verses 1 to 18. I'm just going to open in prayer.
[00:00:05] Heavenly Father, thank you for the Lord for this amazing, amazing book that we have to read from.
[00:00:13] Thank you for the Book of Acts. Thank you for the souls, the people that we get to learn from
[00:00:18] that have been shining all throughout this story of yours because of what you've done through them and in them.
[00:00:27] And Lord, I just ask that you'll help us to shine as well.
[00:00:31] Give us the words to speak, the silence to maintain, whatever it is Father, we need to do for you.
[00:00:36] Let us do it with glad and joyful hearts. Holy Spirit come with us.
[00:00:44] Show us the way. Open doors or closed doors, Father, that need to be opened or closed.
[00:00:51] And I ask God that you'll just help us to be humble before you knowing that you have everything figured out and we do not.
[00:00:58] In Jesus' name, Amen. I want to start by asking everybody, when was the last time you were guided by the Holy Spirit because of a closed door?
[00:01:12] The open doors are easy, right? It's an open door, you walk through it. But what about closed doors?
[00:01:17] Has anybody have been guided by a door slamming in their face?
[00:01:22] Sometimes. I've had those too.
[00:01:30] Times where you kind of think you know what's going on, you know the deal, you have a plan, right?
[00:01:36] And I'm even foolish to think that God, you need my help to figure this out, right?
[00:01:41] Which doesn't work out for me very well at all. But that's exactly the mentality I've had at times.
[00:01:47] Lord, you need my help. If I just do A, B and C, then D comes next, right? No, not necessarily.
[00:01:54] So we're going to talk about open doors and closed doors, God's will and calling.
[00:02:00] And it's, and I have to, you know, like we had a moment earlier where someone asked you a question and I just stood up
[00:02:07] and I wasn't even part of the conversation. I said, well, can I be involved?
[00:02:10] You know, and I just started nerding out and sharing.
[00:02:12] And so I'm afraid this is one of those moments where this is where I like to nerd out and share when it comes to God's calling
[00:02:17] His will and listening to the Holy Spirit. So I'm going to trust those who know me best to flag me if I go off into many rabbit trails.
[00:02:25] But we're going to see here, and it's not that we haven't already, but there is going to be a significant picking up the pace in acts.
[00:02:35] It's like we've kind of just been getting to the top of the roller coaster.
[00:02:39] And one click at a time, one ladder, that piece at a time.
[00:02:42] And now all of a sudden we're at this part where we're just going to start going over.
[00:02:46] And it's, and it just goes fast because we start reading about the Holy Spirit moving through the apostles in ways that we had not been able to read about before.
[00:02:56] It's an exciting time. This is an exciting book to be a part of, especially in the life of this church and especially in the world that we live in right now.
[00:03:04] We're going to read, and we should already know that the Holy Spirit can guide us.
[00:03:12] The Holy Spirit can save us. The Holy Spirit can deliver us.
[00:03:17] Okay? And this is something beautiful that we're going to be able to see here.
[00:03:21] But let's just start with verse one.
[00:03:23] Paul came also to Derbys and Leistre. Excuse me, not COVID.
[00:03:30] A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was Greek.
[00:03:36] I want to stop there because this is one of these passages where we see some amazing things that happened even though it seemed like bad stuff was going on.
[00:03:49] Paul had already encountered these people before.
[00:03:53] These are the people I remember a few weeks ago that saw Paul and Barnabas and wanted to worship them like Hermes and Zeus, right?
[00:04:00] They wanted to worship them thinking like, hey, these guys are in town. They're great. Let's worship them.
[00:04:04] And Paul is like, no, no, no, no, no.
[00:04:07] And then only a few weeks later they wanted to stone them and they did try and stone Paul.
[00:04:14] They left him for dead and somehow he escaped all of that.
[00:04:17] These are the same people. He's now gone back and the timeframe, the time difference is that it had been about five years since a few weeks ago to now.
[00:04:26] It had been about a five year period.
[00:04:28] So Paul left a church that he only really started for five or six weeks and he comes back several years later.
[00:04:34] He has no idea what he's coming back to.
[00:04:36] Okay? He's interested, obviously.
[00:04:39] He had left a church that was blossoming and doing well.
[00:04:43] I remember they had the like field promotions, brand new Christians being brought up into leadership because that was all that they had.
[00:04:50] And Paul was wondering what had happened to this place and now he had the opportunity to see it.
[00:04:56] What was that? What was there?
[00:04:58] So I'm going to read verses one to four.
[00:05:01] Paul came also to Derby and then to Leistor.
[00:05:04] A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.
[00:05:09] He was well spoken of by the brothers at Leistor and Iconium.
[00:05:13] Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places,
[00:05:20] for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
[00:05:22] As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.
[00:05:32] So Paul had only been there a few weeks before.
[00:05:35] Five years had turned. The churches were strengthening and strengthening in faith and this was a really amazing thing.
[00:05:42] Paul didn't have any direct discipleship to Timothy at the time, but we know that Timothy went on to do some pretty amazing things.
[00:05:49] So it was like Paul planted this church, was only there for a few weeks.
[00:05:54] Several years later he comes back and he starts to see the product in this young guy named Timothy
[00:05:59] and realizing that some really good things had happened here.
[00:06:02] Some amazing things.
[00:06:03] And that's a funny thing is that when we step out in faith and pursue our calling,
[00:06:07] we do not always see the benefits.
[00:06:11] There are things that happen maybe down the road where we'll hear inklings of somebody coming to the Lord or something really good happening.
[00:06:18] And maybe you were involved and it's like that with Paul right now.
[00:06:21] He's coming back and thinking, this guy's amazing.
[00:06:23] And he didn't have any direct discipleship but he liked him so much.
[00:06:27] He was like, he wanted him to come with him.
[00:06:29] Go with me on these journeys.
[00:06:31] But Timothy had been led to Christ through the work that Paul left behind.
[00:06:37] And Paul wanted Timothy to come along.
[00:06:40] But what about this thing, circumcision?
[00:06:43] You know, I'm a little uncomfortable talking about circumcision for a lot of really obvious reasons.
[00:06:50] And especially when it comes to talking to a grown man and saying,
[00:06:55] yeah, you can follow me, come with me but you got to get circumcised.
[00:06:58] That is a big ask.
[00:07:01] And I can tell by your silence that you're probably thinking the same thing.
[00:07:05] It's really uncomfortable.
[00:07:06] We wish I'd go on.
[00:07:07] I'm sorry, I'm not finished talking about it yet.
[00:07:11] Because we have to ask ourselves, didn't this just even last week become an issue that was argued about?
[00:07:18] Why would Paul require Timothy to become circumcised after last week?
[00:07:22] We're hearing that there was this huge blow up and argument over a lot of things.
[00:07:26] And one of these was a recent issue.
[00:07:28] This has been Paul slipping back to his old ways.
[00:07:31] Does it mean that Paul is slipping back into legalism?
[00:07:34] Well, that doesn't make sense given his new heart.
[00:07:36] There has to be more to it than this.
[00:07:39] And sometimes we can read through the Bible and just so quickly miss the importance of meaning of some of these words.
[00:07:45] So I want to read this again and then hopefully I'm going to unpack it with you.
[00:07:50] Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him and circumcised him because the Jews who were in those places.
[00:07:58] For they all knew his father was a Greek.
[00:08:00] Okay, so here's some interesting things.
[00:08:02] There is a connection here.
[00:08:07] What we're dealing with are larger villages.
[00:08:11] How many, if you raise your hands, how many people have been raised or spent time in a small town?
[00:08:16] Right?
[00:08:17] Now you know everybody knows everybody's business, right?
[00:08:21] I mean, it's just funny.
[00:08:23] I got saved and it was raised in a town of about 2,000 people.
[00:08:27] You couldn't drive through the main part of the city without waving dozens of times as you go by because people you knew
[00:08:34] and it would be rude if you didn't because then you'd hear somewhere down the line,
[00:08:37] you didn't wave me when I drove by you.
[00:08:39] Small towns are like that.
[00:08:42] You know all of the gossip.
[00:08:44] If somebody leaves town for a while, it's like why did he leave?
[00:08:46] Is the marriage okay?
[00:08:47] Is everything okay?
[00:08:48] It can get out of hand.
[00:08:50] And this was kind of what Paul was dealing with here because they knew that Timothy's dad was a Greek guy.
[00:08:58] And even though Timothy was raised in the scriptures and his mother was Jewish,
[00:09:02] they were thinking, and I hate to say it this way,
[00:09:05] if Timothy walked into a synagogue they'd be thinking, oh, we know this guy.
[00:09:09] You know, he's not circumcised, right?
[00:09:12] You know, he's not really Jewish.
[00:09:14] He's not, you know, we should really listen to him.
[00:09:17] Just take it with a grain of salt.
[00:09:19] This is exactly what would be going on.
[00:09:21] And Paul knew, he said this is going to be a stumbling block.
[00:09:24] We've got to get you circumcised, right?
[00:09:27] If there's anything that shows Timothy's dedication to this, it's circumcision, okay?
[00:09:32] Amazing.
[00:09:35] I'm really comfortable talking about it.
[00:09:38] Because, you know, as a grown man I'm thinking like,
[00:09:41] what was the recovery time?
[00:09:43] Like how much time did they spend after that?
[00:09:45] There's a round trail of stuff.
[00:09:47] Not even permission, yeah.
[00:09:49] Next time.
[00:09:51] Okay.
[00:09:55] Yeah.
[00:09:57] Moving on.
[00:09:59] Moving the lights along, yeah.
[00:10:02] But this wasn't for Timothy's salvation.
[00:10:04] It wasn't for him to get a right standing with God.
[00:10:07] It had nothing to do with what it was meant for before.
[00:10:10] That wasn't it at all.
[00:10:12] It was something else.
[00:10:14] It had to do with his effectiveness and the service to the people he was speaking to.
[00:10:18] Paul knew that there was something to this guy.
[00:10:21] There was something special to him.
[00:10:23] And in Paul's thinking, keep in mind,
[00:10:26] Paul cannot see into the future
[00:10:28] because in a couple of months this wouldn't have been necessary.
[00:10:31] Okay?
[00:10:32] But Paul's thinking everywhere we go, we go into a synagogue.
[00:10:35] This guy has got something in him.
[00:10:37] I can see the Lord in him.
[00:10:39] I can see the fire in his heart.
[00:10:41] I don't want anything to be a stumbling block or a roadblock for him.
[00:10:44] And at first we may think, well this is pretty extreme,
[00:10:48] but you know what? We have the same issues.
[00:10:50] I mean let's just throw it out there.
[00:10:52] Let's look at alcohol.
[00:10:54] The Bible does not say abstain from alcohol.
[00:10:59] It does say don't get drunk.
[00:11:01] So if you are a believer
[00:11:04] and it's okay for you to have a beer or something like that,
[00:11:08] that's fine.
[00:11:09] Don't get drunk by it.
[00:11:11] That's not fine.
[00:11:13] But I'll tell you, I learned a pretty solid lesson
[00:11:16] when we worked for the Salvation Army for a time.
[00:11:19] I did about two years I think there.
[00:11:22] And you know I had to sign a covenant
[00:11:24] saying I wouldn't touch a drop of alcohol
[00:11:27] while I was working as a soldier.
[00:11:29] And you know, I had no problem signing that.
[00:11:33] First of all because alcohol is not a big deal in my life.
[00:11:36] I mean I do not abstain.
[00:11:38] I'll freely admit that right now.
[00:11:40] But it's more of an exception than a rule.
[00:11:43] But you did when you signed that.
[00:11:45] But I did when I signed that.
[00:11:47] And so like I quit because it was like,
[00:11:49] it really wasn't a big deal to me
[00:11:51] because it doesn't have a hold in my life.
[00:11:53] So two years go by and I keep on thinking
[00:11:55] well why was that a big deal?
[00:11:57] But then you know you start to realize
[00:11:59] look at who you're working with.
[00:12:01] I was working with people who were addicts.
[00:12:03] I was working with people who were alcohol
[00:12:05] had a hold on their life and that didn't stop.
[00:12:07] I went on to continue working with those people.
[00:12:09] I went home with those people.
[00:12:11] So you start to realize that just because
[00:12:13] we have the freedom to do something
[00:12:15] it doesn't mean we should do it.
[00:12:17] All right?
[00:12:19] But I think where we can go off the rails
[00:12:21] is when we start going around with a little notepad
[00:12:23] and saying are you, you know,
[00:12:25] check, you're abstaining?
[00:12:27] Oh good boy, good girl.
[00:12:29] You know like that's legalism, okay?
[00:12:31] I don't care what you do with it.
[00:12:33] I really don't.
[00:12:34] I don't want to know what your habits are.
[00:12:36] If you're getting drunk that's a problem
[00:12:38] but you are probably quite aware of that.
[00:12:40] But there's one of those funny little things
[00:12:43] where for Timothy
[00:12:45] it would have been the kind of thing
[00:12:47] where it's like look this is going to be a roadblock for you.
[00:12:49] Everywhere you go people are going to be thinking
[00:12:51] you know he's not circumcised right?
[00:12:53] Okay?
[00:12:55] You can go in the other direction
[00:12:57] and say everywhere you go
[00:12:59] you know he gets drunk right?
[00:13:01] Like I see this guy passed out in front of the liquor store
[00:13:03] all the time and here he is preaching
[00:13:05] like what's with that?
[00:13:07] Barriers.
[00:13:09] Roadblocks.
[00:13:11] And you might think that those are pretty extreme examples
[00:13:13] but I bet you there's probably dozens of examples.
[00:13:15] Things that you can do
[00:13:17] that you shouldn't.
[00:13:19] Things that you can do publicly
[00:13:21] and things you can do privately
[00:13:23] but what's the difference?
[00:13:25] Right?
[00:13:27] If they master you, if they have a hold on you
[00:13:29] if they detract you
[00:13:31] or pull you away from the Lord
[00:13:33] you got to cut them out
[00:13:35] because they will be roadblocks for you.
[00:13:37] And Paul knew this of Timothy
[00:13:39] so though it's a pretty extreme example
[00:13:43] it's actually a larger example
[00:13:45] in larger things
[00:13:47] and I think it's important for us to look at it.
[00:13:49] There's a lot that the Bible
[00:13:51] doesn't say to do or not do
[00:13:53] okay?
[00:13:55] And I'll freely say this
[00:13:57] that the Bible does not say anywhere
[00:13:59] do not smoke a cigarette
[00:14:01] it doesn't say that
[00:14:03] it does talk about mastery
[00:14:05] it does talk about
[00:14:07] our bodies being temple for the Lord
[00:14:09] if we're doing things that physically harm
[00:14:11] and destroy our bodies
[00:14:13] that's not a good thing.
[00:14:15] But we can get so legalistic
[00:14:17] where if we see someone doing something
[00:14:19] we're automatically, oh they're not a Christian
[00:14:21] that's not true at all.
[00:14:23] If anything
[00:14:25] if we see someone's challenge
[00:14:27] if we see what is mastering someone
[00:14:29] that's almost a little easier to deal with
[00:14:31] than all the stuff that masters us
[00:14:33] that nobody sees.
[00:14:35] So we have roadblocks
[00:14:37] and the thing I've learned with ministry
[00:14:39] okay? And this is something we get into on Wednesday nights
[00:14:41] we talk about calling and ministry
[00:14:43] and things like that it's like
[00:14:45] there are things that we have to look at
[00:14:47] there are chapters in our life that we have to open
[00:14:49] and expose
[00:14:51] and one of them is this idea
[00:14:53] we've not gotten to yet but spoiler alert
[00:14:55] is mastery, what masters us
[00:14:57] because those are the things
[00:14:59] that becomes roadblocks in front
[00:15:01] and people will be like but don't they
[00:15:05] aren't they passed out every Friday night
[00:15:07] what? I mean is this, should we be listening to them?
[00:15:09] And you want to get rid of that
[00:15:11] because when you're in ministry your life's under a microscope
[00:15:13] it really is
[00:15:15] for an introvert by like
[00:15:17] myself it's a living hell sometimes
[00:15:19] I'll freely admit that
[00:15:21] but you're watched
[00:15:23] people watch you
[00:15:25] so I would rather be much more open
[00:15:27] and honest and say yeah I have a glass of wine
[00:15:29] every now and then
[00:15:31] oh I don't drink at all, I'm perfect
[00:15:33] or try and pull that over because if you know me well enough
[00:15:35] you know that's not true
[00:15:37] so let's be honest with ourselves
[00:15:39] okay
[00:15:41] what masters us
[00:15:43] Paul was looking at Timsy
[00:15:45] seeing his potential
[00:15:47] seeing all that he had in the Lord and knew
[00:15:49] let's get this out of the way
[00:15:51] so that nobody's going to just look at your parentage
[00:15:53] because he might even have been thinking like
[00:15:55] this was a problem for Jesus
[00:15:57] okay
[00:15:59] there's rumor and I can't corroborate this
[00:16:01] really very well but I've heard rumor
[00:16:03] you read historical accounts of everywhere he went
[00:16:05] for a while
[00:16:07] there would be somebody in the audience who would go
[00:16:09] cockadoodle doo
[00:16:11] because of course the rooster cried
[00:16:13] three times he denied Jesus three times
[00:16:15] and there'd always be a heckler in the audience
[00:16:17] like you know remember what you did
[00:16:19] cockadoodle doo
[00:16:21] and that would like haunt Peter
[00:16:23] it was a shameful thing
[00:16:25] because it was a roadblock it always got in his way
[00:16:27] so it's important
[00:16:29] to get some of this stuff out of the way
[00:16:31] and Paul knew that with Timothy
[00:16:35] Timothy wouldn't offend anyone because he was
[00:16:37] honoring circumcision
[00:16:39] now no one could challenge him on that stuff
[00:16:41] oh you're not really Jewish
[00:16:43] why should we listen to you
[00:16:45] why should we even let you teach in the synagogue
[00:16:47] just go sit down young man
[00:16:49] you have nothing to do here right
[00:16:51] and suddenly his chance to teach was gone
[00:16:53] verse 5
[00:16:55] so the churches were strengthened in faith
[00:16:57] and they increased in numbers daily
[00:16:59] obviously there was results
[00:17:01] there were results
[00:17:03] okay so the churches were strengthened in faith
[00:17:05] and they increased in numbers daily
[00:17:07] so someone challenged me
[00:17:09] at one point
[00:17:11] through a sermon
[00:17:13] this idea of what are you willing to pick up
[00:17:15] and what are you willing to put down for the gospel
[00:17:17] okay
[00:17:19] I'll tell you if I was called
[00:17:21] to a place where you know
[00:17:23] a suit and tie was really normal
[00:17:25] I would be wearing a suit and tie right now
[00:17:27] I wouldn't like it
[00:17:29] but I would do it
[00:17:31] okay I thank the Lord
[00:17:33] that have not called to that
[00:17:35] but that's the thing
[00:17:37] is it so bad
[00:17:39] whatever you're called to
[00:17:41] you may have to put something down
[00:17:43] or pick something up in order to pursue that
[00:17:45] are you willing
[00:17:47] you may be someone who's called somewhere
[00:17:49] else are you willing to go
[00:17:51] I never had in mind
[00:17:55] to leave Vancouver
[00:17:57] I wanted to die there
[00:17:59] standing here right now with no regrets
[00:18:01] don't really miss it, I miss the mountains
[00:18:03] sure you guys don't have elevation here
[00:18:05] I don't care what hill you call
[00:18:07] it's not a hill here
[00:18:09] it's a bump
[00:18:11] yeah
[00:18:13] so I miss the mountains but it's like other than that
[00:18:15] I know where I am to be
[00:18:17] I know where I am supposed to be
[00:18:19] and I know I'm supposed to stay here
[00:18:21] there were results but what are you willing to pick up
[00:18:23] what are you willing to put down
[00:18:25] for the gospel
[00:18:27] verse 6 it goes on to say
[00:18:29] and they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia
[00:18:31] having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit
[00:18:33] to speak the word in Asia
[00:18:35] see sometimes it's really easy
[00:18:37] when we read through this we're thinking
[00:18:39] oh yeah no big deal they went to these places
[00:18:41] I want to read that again and they went through the region of Phrygia
[00:18:43] and Galatia
[00:18:45] and I hope that's how it's pronounced
[00:18:47] Phrygia
[00:18:49] and Galatia having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit
[00:18:51] to speak the word in Asia
[00:18:53] they were forbidden
[00:18:55] by the Holy Spirit
[00:18:57] why would the Holy Spirit
[00:18:59] forbid anybody
[00:19:01] to speak about Jesus
[00:19:03] that doesn't make sense at all
[00:19:05] it's a closed door like slam on your face
[00:19:07] and when we're talking Asia
[00:19:09] we're not talking like Asia
[00:19:11] in the sense of far as China, Japan
[00:19:13] that whole kind of
[00:19:15] we're talking about what Asia Minor
[00:19:17] was like a province within the Roman Empire
[00:19:19] so it's like the far east part of the Roman Empire
[00:19:21] but it was not as far as China
[00:19:23] so we're talking about
[00:19:25] just from a geographical standpoint
[00:19:27] but they were forbidden to go
[00:19:29] I mean later on in Acts Paul does end up going
[00:19:31] they'll read about that in a few weeks
[00:19:33] but right here, right now
[00:19:35] they wanted to go
[00:19:37] and the Lord said no
[00:19:39] and I wonder what that must have felt like
[00:19:41] I mean I've been told no by the Lord before
[00:19:43] and I know if there's part of me
[00:19:45] it's like you know okay
[00:19:47] I think you're wrong but okay
[00:19:49] and he always proves himself right
[00:19:51] I didn't say I was agreeable to the Lord
[00:19:53] I struggled with that
[00:19:55] but why would the Holy Spirit
[00:19:57] forbid someone
[00:19:59] from going to talk about the gospel
[00:20:01] why? the Holy Spirit was guiding him
[00:20:03] that's important as well
[00:20:05] because we don't know how they were forbidden
[00:20:07] we don't know if there was a voice that came
[00:20:09] we don't know if there were circumstances
[00:20:11] doors were closing
[00:20:13] the trip was canceled
[00:20:15] whatever the circumstances were
[00:20:17] the door was closed
[00:20:19] so verses 7 and 8
[00:20:21] and when they had come up to Missiah
[00:20:23] they attempted to go to Bethinia
[00:20:25] but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them
[00:20:27] so passing by Missiah
[00:20:29] they went down to Troas
[00:20:31] a second time they were forbidden
[00:20:33] by the Holy Spirit from going somewhere
[00:20:35] it's kind of like bumping into walls
[00:20:37] okay I'm gonna go here boom didn't work
[00:20:39] okay I'm gonna go here boom didn't work
[00:20:41] they tried to go east they tried to go north
[00:20:43] it didn't work
[00:20:45] so they went to Troas their third choice
[00:20:47] have you ever been
[00:20:49] were ever picked for teams and school
[00:20:51] right? you know like yeah
[00:20:53] they line you up and it's like Lord of the flies stuff
[00:20:55] man I hated this I was always the last kid picked
[00:20:57] because I was not athletic right so
[00:20:59] there's always a you get picked
[00:21:01] and like yeah yeah want you want you want you
[00:21:03] and you're gonna go and you form this kind of team
[00:21:05] and it's this awful cultural weird mix
[00:21:07] of people that don't like each other
[00:21:09] elementary school and anyways
[00:21:11] all of that happened it's like
[00:21:13] kind of this who wants to be the third choice
[00:21:15] I don't
[00:21:17] right?
[00:21:19] if I'm chosen I want to
[00:21:21] you know lead me I want to be chosen
[00:21:23] if I want to be first if I'm gonna be chosen for something
[00:21:25] right
[00:21:27] and here Troas
[00:21:29] was not their first choice
[00:21:31] but the funny thing is is that
[00:21:33] in a way there's an argument
[00:21:35] to say that we're all sitting here
[00:21:37] right now in church because they did
[00:21:39] let me just explain that a bit
[00:21:41] sometimes
[00:21:43] the Holy Spirit guides us through
[00:21:45] hindrance
[00:21:47] by showing us where to go
[00:21:49] and by showing us where not to go
[00:21:51] sometimes our plans
[00:21:53] are changed forever
[00:21:55] because the Lord has different
[00:21:57] plans for us
[00:21:59] you see our parents
[00:22:01] our friends ourselves we can all
[00:22:03] make plans for ourselves
[00:22:05] it means nothing
[00:22:07] in the eyes of God
[00:22:09] he may use them
[00:22:11] he may be guiding you through them
[00:22:13] but ultimately he has that last say
[00:22:15] and so all of our efforts
[00:22:17] up until that point
[00:22:19] may just be hitting doors
[00:22:21] that are closed and locked
[00:22:23] because he's not the one that opened them
[00:22:25] somebody else did
[00:22:27] or tried
[00:22:30] we think he's being mean maybe we even think
[00:22:32] he's forgotten our plans
[00:22:34] but if you say this
[00:22:36] I went through seasons
[00:22:38] of this because for me
[00:22:40] from the point of being called
[00:22:42] to the point of opening the door of a church
[00:22:44] was about 20 years
[00:22:46] and those 20 years were not
[00:22:48] spent faithfully or well
[00:22:50] because I was mad
[00:22:52] I was an angry Christian
[00:22:54] because I thought Lord you told me to go
[00:22:56] I'm ready to go but the thing is
[00:22:58] I was going on my own terms
[00:23:00] I was trying to define it in my own way
[00:23:02] I need my help to figure this out
[00:23:04] so I'm going to go to school
[00:23:06] go to the internship wouldn't pray about it
[00:23:08] but I would go to these things
[00:23:10] they would end horribly and miserably
[00:23:12] because he wasn't behind any of them
[00:23:14] and I think in so many ways he was waiting for me
[00:23:16] just to sit there and say
[00:23:18] where
[00:23:20] when
[00:23:22] how
[00:23:24] let it be your will, your way and not my own
[00:23:26] I think he was waiting for me to say that
[00:23:28] and the moment I did
[00:23:30] I was going through the process
[00:23:32] because I had expended myself
[00:23:34] my family I'd expended everything
[00:23:36] trying to reach that goal that I saw
[00:23:40] and then when he opened the door
[00:23:42] everything just fell together
[00:23:44] like a recipe that's
[00:23:46] meant to be delicious
[00:23:50] if there's any question in our hearts and minds
[00:23:52] that's more often posed
[00:23:54] it's Lord what do you want me to do
[00:23:58] what's your will father
[00:24:00] maybe a situation do you want me to go here
[00:24:02] or say this to this person
[00:24:04] or be silent to this person
[00:24:06] we ask what God's will is
[00:24:08] on a consistent basis in one way or another
[00:24:10] we always want to know
[00:24:12] and I often tell people just take a deep breath
[00:24:14] relax
[00:24:16] don't be anxious
[00:24:18] don't let anxiety overrule you
[00:24:20] just relax
[00:24:22] breathe
[00:24:24] I say that a lot
[00:24:26] just let it go
[00:24:28] because he's a gods in control
[00:24:30] and in his timing we don't need to be
[00:24:32] in a frenzy and whip something up
[00:24:34] we can literally just sit
[00:24:36] and wait
[00:24:38] and he'll reveal himself to us
[00:24:40] so let's play a game
[00:24:42] okay
[00:24:44] and if you know this game
[00:24:46] speak these words with me as best you can
[00:24:48] okay
[00:24:50] trust in the Lord with all your heart
[00:24:52] lean on
[00:24:54] lean on in your own extent
[00:24:56] in all your ways acknowledge him
[00:24:58] in your path of strength
[00:25:00] most of us know this
[00:25:02] Proverbs 3, 5, 6
[00:25:04] do you believe it though
[00:25:06] that's the sobering part
[00:25:09] we know it well enough to recite it
[00:25:11] we know it well enough to even just have
[00:25:13] the gist of it even if we know the words
[00:25:15] but do we really believe that
[00:25:17] I'm going to read the whole thing
[00:25:19] trust in the Lord with all your heart
[00:25:21] and do not lean on your own understanding
[00:25:23] in all your ways acknowledge him
[00:25:25] and he will make your path straight
[00:25:27] there are definite
[00:25:29] definite points in here
[00:25:31] okay
[00:25:33] trust is not a half hearted thing
[00:25:35] you either do or you don't
[00:25:37] trust can't be partial
[00:25:41] it's like love
[00:25:43] you can't partially love someone or something
[00:25:45] you may on just the degrees
[00:25:47] but is that truly love or is it like
[00:25:49] faith is the same way
[00:25:51] you either have faith in the Lord
[00:25:53] or you don't
[00:25:55] you either trust the Lord
[00:25:57] or you don't
[00:25:59] and you may think well that's a little harsh
[00:26:01] I mean I trust the Lord all these kinds of things
[00:26:03] really how are your finances
[00:26:05] do you trust him with them
[00:26:07] or are you holding on
[00:26:09] with a white knuckled grip
[00:26:11] something that you will not let him touch
[00:26:13] no this is mine to deal with
[00:26:15] mine alone my precious
[00:26:17] right
[00:26:19] another Lord of the Rings reference
[00:26:21] I don't know how I go back there
[00:26:23] anyway
[00:26:25] trust in the Lord with all your heart
[00:26:27] not part of it
[00:26:29] it's not give the Lord part of who you are
[00:26:31] it's all of your heart
[00:26:33] trust in him and do not
[00:26:35] lean on your own understanding
[00:26:37] that's not partially it's not sometimes
[00:26:39] it's do not do that
[00:26:41] our own understanding
[00:26:43] of things will always get us
[00:26:45] in trouble delay
[00:26:47] his reality
[00:26:49] or keep us button up against closed doors
[00:26:51] or maybe even one another
[00:26:53] and then it says
[00:26:55] in all your ways acknowledge him
[00:26:57] so again not just one or two
[00:26:59] parts of our life
[00:27:01] not just church on Sunday
[00:27:03] in all your ways
[00:27:05] so that means finances
[00:27:07] time spent
[00:27:09] private things do you drink
[00:27:11] or not do you smoke or not
[00:27:13] right in all
[00:27:15] your ways acknowledge him
[00:27:17] not just partial
[00:27:19] so there's a challenge and a dare here
[00:27:21] for each of us
[00:27:23] this is what Paul was trying to instill in Timothy
[00:27:25] okay
[00:27:27] you can't be half in
[00:27:29] you've got to be all in
[00:27:31] or you're not in at all
[00:27:33] and that's a message
[00:27:35] that I think quite often
[00:27:37] the North American Christian church doesn't want
[00:27:39] to hear because we
[00:27:41] treat it like a subscription
[00:27:43] to a magazine we can cancel
[00:27:45] anytime we want
[00:27:47] keeps showing up on the doorstep
[00:27:49] we'll flip through it in our leisure
[00:27:51] but the thing is
[00:27:53] church isn't about Sunday mornings
[00:27:55] you could never go to church again
[00:27:57] on a Sunday morning and that would be okay
[00:27:59] provided
[00:28:01] you were actually really doing this
[00:28:03] if this
[00:28:05] that passage was truly in your life
[00:28:07] trust in the Lord
[00:28:09] in all your ways acknowledge him
[00:28:11] and he will make your path straight
[00:28:13] I don't know how he's going to how you'd be able
[00:28:15] to avoid the family of God
[00:28:17] okay
[00:28:19] but do you trust him
[00:28:21] in all your ways acknowledge him
[00:28:23] and he will make your paths
[00:28:25] straight
[00:28:28] okay again that's a promise
[00:28:30] he will
[00:28:32] make your path straight
[00:28:34] we are so often on the crooked path
[00:28:36] we are so often
[00:28:38] on by leaning on our own understanding
[00:28:40] and not trusting the Lord
[00:28:42] we're off in the woods
[00:28:44] we're on the circles
[00:28:46] we're doing this, we're off on rabbit trails
[00:28:48] but you want a straight path through the woods
[00:28:50] to get through the night
[00:28:52] to get into the daylight
[00:28:54] and only the Lord can do this for us
[00:28:58] the Holy Spirit directs us
[00:29:00] by telling us no sometimes
[00:29:03] no
[00:29:05] and it can be one of the most loving words
[00:29:07] we can hear from God
[00:29:09] at times is no
[00:29:11] and it's not because he's mean
[00:29:13] and it's not because he's forgotten you
[00:29:17] it's because he doesn't want you to go off the cliff
[00:29:21] no
[00:29:28] sometimes we're guided through open doors
[00:29:30] and sometimes we're guided through closed doors
[00:29:34] I mean think about all of the things in the past
[00:29:36] that you prayed for
[00:29:38] maybe sleeplessly
[00:29:40] prayed for
[00:29:42] they didn't come to pass and now you're looking back
[00:29:44] and saying thank the Lord
[00:29:48] and even in the moment though
[00:29:50] you're so passionately invested in whatever it was
[00:29:54] it wasn't your path
[00:29:57] and now you can look back and say
[00:29:59] well Lord you really saved me
[00:30:01] as if by fire there
[00:30:03] thank you
[00:30:05] isn't it possible he's doing the same thing
[00:30:07] right now
[00:30:09] if you're experiencing a no
[00:30:15] God guides us along the way
[00:30:17] to just the right place at the right time
[00:30:19] and then
[00:30:21] after those no's and after Troas
[00:30:23] let's read verse 9
[00:30:53] are you listening to me yet
[00:30:55] because Paul was still running on
[00:30:57] his ideas
[00:30:59] let's go here, let's go there
[00:31:01] this is exciting we get to preach the gospel ever
[00:31:03] let's go there it wasn't a bad idea
[00:31:05] but it was the wrong place the wrong time
[00:31:07] and he was the wrong guy
[00:31:09] wouldn't the vision of the man of Macedonia
[00:31:11] been okay then
[00:31:13] no because everything's
[00:31:15] suitable and right in God's timing
[00:31:17] and not our own
[00:31:19] I love that God did this weeks after
[00:31:21] before all of those
[00:31:23] other directions would have been great
[00:31:25] but God waited when they were in
[00:31:27] Troas where they did not want to go
[00:31:29] you start to see
[00:31:31] kind of the rhythm here
[00:31:33] will you obey me
[00:31:35] so you will listen
[00:31:37] because you see Paul
[00:31:39] could have gone off and gone to the north
[00:31:41] he could have said
[00:31:43] in Gondasian minor anyways
[00:31:45] he could have done those things
[00:31:47] against God's will
[00:31:49] and think well no
[00:31:51] this can't be from the Holy Spirit
[00:31:53] forget it no no I'm going to go off
[00:31:55] I'm going to do this anyways
[00:31:57] and Lord you'll just bless this right
[00:31:59] but the funny thing is some pretty significant
[00:32:01] things happened on that third choice
[00:32:03] that makes me realize
[00:32:05] I wonder if Paul looked back and said
[00:32:07] that was our first choice when I started listening
[00:32:09] to God
[00:32:11] when I was finally starting to be obedient
[00:32:13] that was our first choice
[00:32:15] maybe because some pretty amazing things
[00:32:17] God made Paul's direction very clear
[00:32:19] go west young man
[00:32:21] Paul would end up going to Europe
[00:32:23] you see Paul's vision before
[00:32:25] was too small
[00:32:27] he was thinking villages and cities
[00:32:29] and God is thinking continent
[00:32:33] we think too small
[00:32:35] we sometimes hold on
[00:32:37] to things with a white knuckle grip
[00:32:39] thinking no Lord I need you
[00:32:41] I need my help with this I need to do this
[00:32:43] I'm the only one that can do this
[00:32:45] and so you get the talents and the gifts and stuff
[00:32:47] and you're thinking too small
[00:32:49] you may be thinking a neighborhood
[00:32:51] he's thinking a city
[00:32:53] you may be thinking a city he's thinking a country
[00:32:55] God thinks big because he's
[00:32:57] the impossible God
[00:32:59] nothing is impossible to him
[00:33:01] and if he has called you to be a messenger
[00:33:03] it might be to the entire planet
[00:33:07] so don't think too small
[00:33:09] don't think Winnipeg
[00:33:13] people will hold you down
[00:33:15] The Lord will set you free.
[00:33:17] Don't think too small.
[00:33:20] If Paul had done that, it would have been disobedient.
[00:33:24] Think big.
[00:33:25] You never know.
[00:33:27] But this would be the first deliberate effort in Europe to spread the Gospel.
[00:33:34] And like I said, in a way, if you want to follow that trail, we've all inherited that
[00:33:39] decision.
[00:33:40] We're all a part of that.
[00:33:43] This would be the first deliberate effort into Europe.
[00:33:48] Pretty huge calling.
[00:33:50] It reminds me a little bit, if I could take a segue, is the man who had the demons cast
[00:33:57] out of him in Genesaris.
[00:34:01] There was this guy that was just nuts, living in caves.
[00:34:05] He was freaking out and everybody was terrified to go near him and stuff.
[00:34:08] I've been there.
[00:34:09] We stood in this pull-off parking lot.
[00:34:12] You could see those caves right there, right on this incline into the Galilee.
[00:34:19] It's amazing.
[00:34:20] I'm thinking, okay, I remember reading this and we read it right when we were there.
[00:34:23] And suddenly you start to see that this guy was cleansed, he was healed.
[00:34:27] The demons cast out.
[00:34:28] The pigs ran off into the water.
[00:34:31] You could see how it happened.
[00:34:32] It's one of the only places that isn't too steep for that to happen.
[00:34:36] And then he comes and begs Jesus and says, let me go with you because he's thinking
[00:34:40] too small.
[00:34:42] Let me follow you.
[00:34:44] And Jesus said, no.
[00:34:47] And you're thinking like, aren't you trying to collect disciples?
[00:34:51] Aren't you all we want people to learn from you, Jesus, right?
[00:34:55] And then send them out after they've spent some time with you.
[00:34:58] And then it goes on to say, and this is one of the things we can miss it if we're
[00:35:01] not too careful, that he went on to minister to the decapolis, which is where he was
[00:35:06] from.
[00:35:07] And if you stand on Mount Carmel, you can only see two, maybe on a clear day, three cities
[00:35:14] of the decapolis because they were 10 cities.
[00:35:17] This was a huge calling.
[00:35:20] And yet we don't read much about this guy.
[00:35:23] And it came from the Lord saying, no.
[00:35:27] So we think too small.
[00:35:30] God thinks huge.
[00:35:31] This man, this demon possessed man that I was afraid of went to preach the gospel
[00:35:35] in 10 cities.
[00:35:37] That's an enormous area.
[00:35:40] enormous area.
[00:35:41] Oh, what the Lord could do if we simply say yes.
[00:35:45] Verse 10 and when Paul had seen the vision immediately he sought to go on into Macedonia
[00:35:50] concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
[00:35:54] Paul didn't hesitate.
[00:35:55] Part of him was probably like, finally, a yes, let's go.
[00:35:59] But God still radically calls people today.
[00:36:04] And I'm saying that I'll say that again.
[00:36:06] God still radically calls people today.
[00:36:10] Calling is uncomfortable.
[00:36:13] It's unpopular.
[00:36:15] It is rarely something you want to talk about around the Thanksgiving dinners.
[00:36:19] Okay, because it's weird.
[00:36:22] It's a hard concept for some to understand to be called out to be called into means
[00:36:28] you are being asked to do something different than normal.
[00:36:33] You're being asked to go and that go maybe 10 feet down the street and it may be in another
[00:36:40] continent.
[00:36:42] You can't think too small.
[00:36:44] Don't be bound by your circumstance.
[00:36:46] Don't be bound by your advice, be a good or bad you're getting from other people.
[00:36:50] Listen to what the Lord says.
[00:36:52] Follow his plan and be obedient.
[00:36:54] And when the doors close don't look at them as a, you know, a finish like you're
[00:36:58] done.
[00:37:00] Look at them just as simply as a wait.
[00:37:03] The Lord has a plan and he is revealing that if we would just simply wait and listen, be
[00:37:09] faithful where we are because God radically calls people today.
[00:37:13] Just as he did this whole circumstance here.
[00:37:17] I know that there's a lot of work to do in Winnipeg.
[00:37:20] I know that.
[00:37:22] All right.
[00:37:23] But there's a lot of work to do all over the world.
[00:37:27] And you may be the one to go and do it.
[00:37:30] Don't think too small.
[00:37:33] Don't let others force you into thinking too small.
[00:37:38] God radically calls people and it will be somewhere and something uncomfortable.
[00:37:44] It will be somewhere and something beyond your capabilities because it's not about
[00:37:48] you.
[00:37:50] Okay, it's about the Lord.
[00:37:52] And he always.
[00:37:54] Yes, bless you Richard.
[00:38:02] Verse 10.
[00:38:03] And when Paul had seen this vision immediately he sought to go on to Macedonia, concluding
[00:38:09] that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
[00:38:12] Who is this we?
[00:38:15] Immediately we sought to go into Macedonia.
[00:38:17] Who is this we?
[00:38:18] Well, here's another funny part of this third choice being the right choice because it wasn't
[00:38:23] just about Timothy.
[00:38:24] Paul met Luke there.
[00:38:26] And there's an argument to say that we have much in the New Testament thanks to
[00:38:29] Luke in one way.
[00:38:32] Luke was a doctor.
[00:38:33] He had a practice.
[00:38:34] He was called out of that practice to go work for the Lord.
[00:38:39] He was faithful.
[00:38:40] He left everything he knew behind him.
[00:38:43] Some will say that he went on to be Paul's personal physician.
[00:38:47] That's quite possible too.
[00:38:50] But all of this when you start looking at this, this was supposed to be their third choice.
[00:38:54] This sounds like the best choice.
[00:38:56] Pick up Timothy and Luke along the way.
[00:38:58] Heck yeah.
[00:38:59] Right?
[00:39:01] That's amazing.
[00:39:02] And it all came from a couple of big solid news versus 11 to 12.
[00:39:10] So setting sail from Troyes, we made a direct voyage to Sama Thrace and the following dates
[00:39:15] in Neapolis.
[00:39:17] And from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia at a Roman
[00:39:21] colony.
[00:39:22] We remained in the city for some days.
[00:39:24] New people, new city, new continent.
[00:39:27] Paul's excited.
[00:39:28] He's gripped.
[00:39:29] He's thinking, all right, where's the Jewish people that I could go to the synagogue?
[00:39:31] Right?
[00:39:32] Because that was exactly what he's been doing ever since.
[00:39:36] And now there wasn't one.
[00:39:39] You're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.
[00:39:41] Like Paul wasn't at home anymore.
[00:39:44] He was in a different place.
[00:39:46] There wasn't a synagogue to go to.
[00:39:48] That means from an ancient understanding that there wasn't even 10 Jewish men.
[00:39:54] Because if you have 10 Jewish men or more, you have to have a synagogue.
[00:39:59] So this means there was not even 10 Jewish men to be found.
[00:40:03] There was no synagogue.
[00:40:04] What do you do?
[00:40:06] There has to be Jewish people here.
[00:40:08] Where do they meet?
[00:40:09] I love.
[00:40:10] I love what's about to happen.
[00:40:13] Verses 13, 14.
[00:40:15] And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside where we supposed there
[00:40:19] was a place of prayer.
[00:40:21] And we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
[00:40:25] One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple
[00:40:30] goods who was a worshiper of God.
[00:40:32] The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
[00:40:38] This is beautiful.
[00:40:39] The women weren't able to start a synagogue but they sure could hold a prayer meeting.
[00:40:44] And I love that.
[00:40:45] When the men fall down and don't know what to do, the women usually have a pretty
[00:40:48] good idea.
[00:40:49] This was a pretty great idea.
[00:40:51] Let's hold a prayer meeting.
[00:40:52] I love this.
[00:40:54] I love this so much.
[00:40:57] Do what is in your hands to do.
[00:41:00] They held this prayer meeting.
[00:41:01] Paul stumbles a comment and they're thinking like, wow, this guy's a rabbi.
[00:41:05] Boy we haven't seen one of these for a while.
[00:41:08] They're excited to hear him teach and share.
[00:41:09] And the Lord had already been doing work in them.
[00:41:12] They were faithful enough to show up and pray by the river side.
[00:41:14] They were faithful enough to seek God.
[00:41:16] Lydia was there.
[00:41:17] And the funny thing about Lydia, as we have to understand is that she was a dealer in
[00:41:20] purple goods.
[00:41:21] That means some things.
[00:41:23] Okay.
[00:41:24] Purple was an incredibly expensive color.
[00:41:27] You only really wore it if you were very, very wealthy.
[00:41:30] The clothing that you made for it was difficult to make.
[00:41:32] Right?
[00:41:33] You'd be dealing with wealthy upper echelon kind of people.
[00:41:37] And this was a heavy class system back in the ancient days.
[00:41:41] So Lydia was there as a very, very wealthy business woman.
[00:41:45] She knew what was going on.
[00:41:46] But at the same time she was down by the river side leading prayer.
[00:41:49] She was there with prayer with the women.
[00:41:51] I mean, this is a beautiful, beautiful moment.
[00:41:53] And the Lord opened her heart to what Paul was teaching.
[00:42:00] She's the first convert to Christianity that we know of in Europe.
[00:42:06] So again, there's an argument he said because these women met down by the river side and
[00:42:11] prayed, we're all here.
[00:42:13] It's a bit of a stretch.
[00:42:15] I'll give you that.
[00:42:16] Give you that.
[00:42:17] But it's interesting to think about the path of all of these little events that happened.
[00:42:21] Okay.
[00:42:22] Verse 14 and 15.
[00:42:24] One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a cell of purple
[00:42:28] goods who is a worshiper of God.
[00:42:31] The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
[00:42:34] And after she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us saying, if you have judged
[00:42:39] me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.
[00:42:43] And she prevailed upon us.
[00:42:44] I mean, Lydia was not going to take no for an answer.
[00:42:48] She prevailed.
[00:42:49] And she also kind of did it in a way where it's like, if you really believe we're
[00:42:52] faithful and come to my house, there's no out.
[00:42:54] Okay.
[00:42:55] They were going.
[00:42:57] So we can look at this this morning in different ways.
[00:43:00] The Holy Spirit guides us and we can trust his guidance with our lives.
[00:43:06] He always has the best plan laid out and it may not come from you and me.
[00:43:13] It won't come from humans.
[00:43:14] I'll tell you that the Holy Spirit works by opening the hearts of people to hear the
[00:43:20] things of God, just as he had been doing with Lydia.
[00:43:23] Lydia was pretty warm in that way.
[00:43:25] She heard it.
[00:43:26] They probably was something in her heart.
[00:43:27] They were just like, yes, this is what we've been looking for.
[00:43:32] We all know that there are some people in our life right now that need Jesus.
[00:43:38] And we may want to think, well, if I just have the right argument, if I just kind of
[00:43:42] sit across from them, if I just sit in their face and just argue them into tears into
[00:43:46] the ground, then they'll submit.
[00:43:48] It's like, no, no, no, no.
[00:43:49] You know what you can do?
[00:43:50] You can pray.
[00:43:52] I think that's the first best weapon when it comes to evangelism and speaking Jesus
[00:43:57] to people is pray.
[00:44:00] We just had a pastor Lance let us a week prayer.
[00:44:03] It was like, wow, that was awesome.
[00:44:06] Like awesome.
[00:44:07] And it was great.
[00:44:08] All the things that came out of that.
[00:44:09] I don't even know if we know all of the stories yet of what the Lord has done,
[00:44:13] but it was really good.
[00:44:15] And we can do that with people where we don't even know them, that they know
[00:44:19] that he'd come to Jesus.
[00:44:20] We can do that with people we know that need to come to Jesus because the Lord
[00:44:25] does his work in their hearts beforehand.
[00:44:29] The Holy Spirit guides us in ways through open and closed doors.
[00:44:34] The Bible never tells you to try and believe.
[00:44:37] It just says to believe.
[00:44:41] It's again this idea of being all in trust in the Lord with all your heart.
[00:44:50] It's not a half measure.
[00:44:53] The Bible isn't telling us, believe a little sometimes believe just at least make it look
[00:44:58] like you believe on Sundays.
[00:45:00] Right?
[00:45:01] The Bible is not telling us it's telling us believe.
[00:45:05] Decide make that decision.
[00:45:08] As Paul preached this message, he could see people getting it and especially Lydia.
[00:45:13] I can't imagine what must have been going on in her face right at that moment.
[00:45:16] Maybe she was welling up with tears just like, it was like, oh, this is a rain
[00:45:19] we've been praying for in a dry land.
[00:45:21] I don't know.
[00:45:22] As it says in John 644, no one comes to me unless the father who sent me draws him and
[00:45:28] will raise him up on that last day.
[00:45:30] The father had been doing the work.
[00:45:33] The Holy Spirit had been doing the work.
[00:45:36] Paul obeying was just one little puzzle piece in the grand picture.
[00:45:42] Paul knew it wasn't what he was doing.
[00:45:44] It was what the Holy Spirit was doing, which means if it's not about what you
[00:45:48] can do with evangelism and it's about what the Holy Spirit will do, then pray.
[00:45:54] Pray for someone that needs Jesus.
[00:45:59] He has to do prior work in our heart and that's the work I believe people need done in their
[00:46:04] hearts.
[00:46:05] It's a surgery that only the Holy Spirit can do.
[00:46:10] Don't neglect prayer with evangelism because the Holy Spirit can take a heart and heart
[00:46:15] and make it soft again.
[00:46:17] You and I, it's a little more difficult, isn't it?
[00:46:20] But the Holy Spirit can do that.
[00:46:23] There's a 16 to 18 and I'll be closing soon.
[00:46:27] As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of
[00:46:32] divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune telling.
[00:46:36] She followed Paul and us crying out, these men are servants of the most high God who
[00:46:41] proclaimed to you the way of salvation.
[00:46:44] And this she kept doing for many days.
[00:46:46] Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the
[00:46:51] name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.
[00:46:53] And it came out that very hour.
[00:46:56] There's a lot in here so I'm going to just kind of briefly go over it I think but it's
[00:47:01] amazing that this girl was demon possessed and a source of money as a fortune teller.
[00:47:08] Now there is a difference between unknown and known information.
[00:47:16] The future, etc.
[00:47:18] That belongs to God.
[00:47:20] Demons cannot work in that because they're created beings.
[00:47:24] They have no idea what's going on that way.
[00:47:26] But known information just like Richard is sitting over there in a chair.
[00:47:33] What if I phoned one of my buddies in Vancouver and said, Richard's sitting in a chair?
[00:47:38] It sounds weird but that's known information.
[00:47:41] That's not prophecy.
[00:47:42] That's not fortune telling.
[00:47:43] That's not divination.
[00:47:44] That's me taking a look at something and saying he's there telling somebody else.
[00:47:48] And I think a lot of fortune tellers work on that because you know the reality is that
[00:47:52] you can learn to read people.
[00:47:55] I'll give you an example.
[00:47:58] You walk in and I'll say let's say a coffee shop and there's a middle-aged guy there
[00:48:03] and his finger is depressed a little bit here.
[00:48:09] It's got a bit of a tan line and he looks really sad.
[00:48:13] His marriage is probably not doing so well.
[00:48:16] You can read that situation and say something happened, the guy got kicked out or whatever.
[00:48:20] You could start a conversation and it sounds like you're reading his mail and realize reality.
[00:48:25] You're just taking a look at the situation and deducting what's going on.
[00:48:28] Sherlock Holmes did this.
[00:48:29] He was a great story to character.
[00:48:32] He was a great deducer of this reality and this situation.
[00:48:37] So when you think about that there's a lot of people that can read people in that
[00:48:39] same way.
[00:48:40] That is nothing worth paying money for.
[00:48:43] Okay.
[00:48:45] A lot of people deal with known information, fortune tellers as well.
[00:48:51] You come down, you've got huge bags in your eyes, you sit down in front of somebody while
[00:48:54] you're really stressed out.
[00:48:55] Hey, has work given you a hard time?
[00:48:57] Duh!
[00:48:58] Whose work isn't giving them a hard time?
[00:49:00] Who isn't losing sleep over stress in some days?
[00:49:03] That's known information just like Richard is sitting in the chair.
[00:49:08] But here's a funny thing.
[00:49:11] What's really hard to grasp is that the demons were telling the truth about this one.
[00:49:17] She pawled Paul and us crying out, these men are servants of the Most High God who proclaimed
[00:49:21] to you the way of salvation.
[00:49:23] Even demons know that.
[00:49:25] The only way of salvation is Jesus.
[00:49:31] And that God is the Most High God and anything they serve is not Him.
[00:49:38] They knew this.
[00:49:40] Here's the problem.
[00:49:41] When it came to Paul and his group, the demons were telling the truth.
[00:49:44] And it is hard to grasp.
[00:49:46] But Paul at some point days later became greatly annoyed.
[00:49:50] I would love to know what the threshold was for Paul because you know for some people
[00:49:54] it's like you do this noise long enough, right?
[00:49:57] And they're like, stop it!
[00:49:59] You know?
[00:50:00] Other people, yeah.
[00:50:01] And there's other people where it's like you could do this all day for a week
[00:50:08] and they won't even notice it.
[00:50:10] Right?
[00:50:11] A dripping tap.
[00:50:12] Yeah.
[00:50:13] And so what's the threshold?
[00:50:14] At what point did Paul just kind of snap and just say like, that's it!
[00:50:16] That's enough!
[00:50:17] You know?
[00:50:18] Get out of her!
[00:50:19] At what point did he do that?
[00:50:21] I don't know.
[00:50:22] But it took a few days so we know that Paul was at least a patient then.
[00:50:26] He didn't like the advertising.
[00:50:27] He certainly didn't like the source of recommendation.
[00:50:31] And Paul was annoyed, I think mostly at the control that the spirit had over
[00:50:37] the girl because nobody should be in bondage.
[00:50:40] Nobody should be in bondage.
[00:50:41] And that's a freedom that we can have in Jesus Christ.
[00:50:45] Paul didn't try to cast the demons out by his own authority.
[00:50:50] I have seen people try to do that and it looks dumb, you know?
[00:50:54] If I just yell loud enough, if I just spit at their face, if I just
[00:50:57] like this, I'll scare them out!
[00:51:00] That's not how it works.
[00:51:02] You know?
[00:51:03] I've seen someone come and just put their hand lightly on a possessed person's shoulder
[00:51:09] and just say in the name of Jesus, come out.
[00:51:12] Calm!
[00:51:13] Like they're having a conversation.
[00:51:15] Person changed.
[00:51:16] It just happened like that and it gave me the chills because there was so much authority
[00:51:21] that came from that.
[00:51:22] In Jesus' name, not in our effort.
[00:51:26] This all loops down to what we do about God's will in our life.
[00:51:30] Is it in our authority, with our understanding, with our trusting ourselves and our own hearts?
[00:51:38] Or is it putting it in the Lord's name, trusting Him?
[00:51:41] And even when the nose come, we see them as guidance and not as hatred.
[00:51:47] Because God loves us.
[00:51:48] He even likes us.
[00:51:50] Which is hard to comprehend some days.
[00:51:53] Loving people, even someone that you don't really like can be easy but it's like
[00:51:56] liking them.
[00:51:58] Right?
[00:51:59] Trying to spend time with them.
[00:52:01] Somebody asked me recently, what do you think of this person?
[00:52:03] It was a guy in Vancouver and I said, if I was stuck in an elevator with him for 6 hours,
[00:52:09] I'd be okay.
[00:52:10] Right?
[00:52:11] Because it's kind of my litmus test.
[00:52:13] If I'm going to be stuck in an elevator with someone, right?
[00:52:15] I want to be somebody I like.
[00:52:17] Otherwise it's going to be a long, long episode.
[00:52:22] Paul didn't try to cast the demons out on his own authority.
[00:52:24] He didn't speak to the girl because it wasn't the girl's fault.
[00:52:28] Right?
[00:52:30] He didn't speak to the girl and say, look to her.
[00:52:32] It's like, you're bad.
[00:52:33] You know?
[00:52:34] Change your life woman.
[00:52:35] He didn't say that.
[00:52:37] He spoke directly to the demon.
[00:52:40] The Holy Spirit can guide us.
[00:52:43] The Holy Spirit can save us.
[00:52:45] And the Holy Spirit can free us as people from the powers of darkness.
[00:52:50] The funny thing is with the number of people that are here today, I bet you there's
[00:52:53] some of us that need one or all of this.
[00:52:58] And that is an interesting thing to think about.
[00:53:01] Uncomfortable, isn't it?
[00:53:03] Right?
[00:53:04] I'm willing to bet that with the group of people we have here today that one of us
[00:53:13] or all of us fall on this scale of needing either one of these things or all of them.
[00:53:20] When I say that again, the Holy Spirit can guide us.
[00:53:22] I bet you we all need guidance.
[00:53:24] That's an easy one.
[00:53:25] Okay?
[00:53:26] That's the Sunday school version, right?
[00:53:29] But maybe there's someone here that needs to be saved.
[00:53:33] Maybe there's someone here that needs to be delivered.
[00:53:35] Maybe there's someone who needs all three.
[00:53:39] See only you can work that out with Jesus.
[00:53:42] But I'll tell you right now, he can work it out.
[00:53:46] So think about those for a moment because God's work is the same today.
[00:53:49] If that's what he did back then, that's exactly what he does today.
[00:53:55] Well, our most high God, the Holy Spirit can guide us.
[00:54:00] He could save us and he could set us free.
[00:54:05] So as we're struggling to figure out God's will for our life, as we're working through
[00:54:09] and making decisions, don't think small.
[00:54:12] Think big.
[00:54:14] Paul was going to be taken to a place like a city from his own mindset.
[00:54:19] And he thought, okay, well I'll just go to another city from his own mindset.
[00:54:23] I wanted to give him a continent to work from.
[00:54:26] And oh man, like I said at the beginning, that roller coaster that we're about to go down
[00:54:31] on and how fast and how much this picks up pace from here on in the book of Acts, it's
[00:54:35] pretty intense and it's amazing.
[00:54:38] And it's all from these little steps of obedience.
[00:54:41] So I don't know what step of obedience you're facing today.
[00:54:43] I don't know what challenges you have today, not really.
[00:54:47] But take them before the Lord, trust in him with all your heart and do not lean
[00:54:52] on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will set your path straight.
[00:54:57] Let's pray.
