Amen. All right, we're in Luke's
Acts 16, and we have just turned the corner on the departure and
separation between Paul and Barnabas. And if we were to look at the
passages very clearly in chapter 16, we saw how that Paul picked
up Timothy, verses one through five, or one through three, and
Timothy became a very good companion with Paul and Silas and others,
so much so that we see him Straddled through the New Testament as
one Paul commends to the churches. He will come back up for us in
a few chapters now we turn our attention to the journey of the
Apostles For the purpose of strengthening the church and we read in verse
5 and so were the churches established in the faith and increased in
number daily what I had stated last week was that If we were
sensitive to the division between Paul and Silas, we would discover
that God smiled on Paul and blessed his decision by granting him
resources and also supplying him with helpers so that his
task in blessing the church and strengthening the church would
occur. That did occur. This is what
we see in verses one through four in verse five tells us he
achieved his goal. And so were the churches established
in the faith and they increased in number daily. You can't ask
for better evidence than that when it comes to choosing to
do the will of God. You can't ask for better evidence
than that. The apostles are exceedingly
thankful. Paul is exceedingly joyful to
see the token evidences of God's favor in his decision. Isn't
that a joy saints? When you in the mystery of God's
will, which again is this is ancillary to it. We'll see this
here in a moment. And we are struggling to determine what's
right because we are God fearing people. That means that we are
not presumptuous. That means that we don't just
jump in with both feet in a kind of arrogant way. We want to know
what is right. And so we are driven to different
approaches, prayer, counsel, advice, searching the scripture,
et cetera, whatever it takes to facilitate a decision that
we hope will be honorable to God. And then when we do it,
for God to bless it is the greatest satisfaction we could have. For
God to say, yes, that was the right way to go. We didn't know
it, We just did everything we possibly could to make sure we
weren't presumptuous. And then we moved out in faith
and God honored it. It's a joyful thing when you
look back and go, okay, I'm in the will of God. Don't miss that. This is going to be a very important
topic for us over the next five or six or seven weeks as we look
at some crucial things around our walk with God. So now I call
your attention to verse six. through verse 10, and we'll back
up and work through it, so I'll read these. Now, when they had
gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden
of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were
come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the spirit
suffered them not. And they, passing by Mysia, came
down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. there stood
a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying, beseeched him, implored
him, that's what the word means, come over into Macedonia and
help us. And after he had seen the vision
immediately, we endeavored to go into Macedonia and assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them. Now there are a number of things
to learn in verses six through 10, around the way God works
to direct our paths, the way God works to direct our paths. Now if you're sensitive to scripture,
if you started learning what we've been teaching about how
to observe the text, how to hear what it says, how to appreciate
the clear perpiscuity of the English language, you would have
noticed that God did something in the apostles lives that gave
them direction into the will of God. And you would have marked
that and said, whoa, this is amazing. Because what we are
given by the author is how God impresses upon his people through
circumstances and events and the immediate presence of the
third person, the spirit of God. working and navigating and negotiating
their direction. So they end up where they're
supposed to be, which is exactly the work of the spirit of God
to lead us and to guide us into all the will of God. So I'm interested. Are you not at what this language
means for the apostles to be going and then hindered and forbid
And then let go and then a vision comes Relative to the will of
god for them. How do we negotiate all that
because you know you and I are not uh so privileged to have
the Dynamic of the spirit of god working in such a way that
you could wake up one day and say to your girlfriend You know
what the holy ghost did not let me go or the Holy Ghost allowed
me to go. Most of the time when people
talk like that, we know they are exaggerating about the will
of God, are they not? Now listen to me very carefully.
Most of the time when people talk like that, they are exaggerating. They're making statements about
God that they cannot prove. Now I'm going to talk about the
nuances and dynamics of sensitivity and perception of the will of
God, but here's what I do want to say. Folks love to talk like
they're right at God's elbow and can never really prove it.
And sometimes folks will say, God told me to do this or told
me not to do that. And nothing could have been further
from the truth. They were operating out of their
own impressions, out of their own assumptions, out of their
own desires and aspirations. And sometimes when they launch
out under those Personal misperceptions it ends up tragic This is really
true. This is really true. You and
I want to be very careful about blaming God for anything good
or bad We're gonna be very careful about that as Christians. We
want to be sensitive now Luke said in verse 7 the Holy Ghost
did not suffer them to go that way and he did say over in verse
6 and the Holy Ghost forbid them to And we want to be able to
work through that language. But what I want to first do is
start with the journey. So if you will pull up your map,
pull up the map, and you guys should also have the map in your
outline. You can follow me on the board
here. I just want you to see how this
journey unfolds. We are point one in our outline,
the journey northward to Asia. The journey northward to Asia.
So I have in my outline from Jerusalem to what? Philippi. You guys see that? From Jerusalem
to Philippi. Do you guys see that in your
outline? So now follow me on the board. I'm way down here
at the bottom of the screen toward the far right hand. Do you see
it? This is what we call Judea and Jerusalem. This would be
the center of Israel. I've said this to us before.
If we were using California as a model or an example of Israel,
it would be in the reverse. California has a almost left-handed
shoe. Israel has kind of a right-handed
shoe where it goes down at angles to the right, California angles
to the left. But the center of California
would be similar to the center of Palestine where Jerusalem
is, okay? Because down further down, Judea
all the way down, goes all the way to the bottom of Israel,
headed now towards Egypt. Here in the center of Jerusalem,
we are moving northward, because downward is what? South. Upward
is what? Now as we go upward we would
go past Jerusalem all the way past the regions of Galilee. This is where our Lord Jesus
himself would have been doing ministry early on before he made
his way from Galilee on down to Jerusalem where he would be
crucified. David would have been born in
this area. Bethlehem of what? Jesus was
born here too, but he would have been raised up here in the area
of Nazareth of Galilee, okay? Of the Gentiles, why? Because
Syria is Gentile country. So Jerusalem is where we had
in Acts 15, the council. You guys remember that, right?
This is where we were with the apostles and they gave the instructions
to tell the Gentile churches, rest in the grace of God, don't
commit fornication, don't commit idolatry. So from Jerusalem,
Paul and Barnabas were sent with the letters to take to all the
churches where we had learned before in our first missionary
journey, they started off where? In Antioch, remember? Acts chapter
11, they were first called Christians where? Right, and Paul's first
missionary journey went from Antioch, Cilicia, Derbe, Cappadocia,
Iconia, remember that language? Lystra, Derbe, Pisidia, and now
you guys see the seven churches of Asia Minor going up even further
north, you guys see that? Thyatira, remember that? And
we're gonna follow our scriptures for a moment and see this last
journey upward from Jerusalem on up. So in your outline, I
have point B, Jerusalem to Antioch, from Antioch to Sicilia, okay? In Acts 15.2, that's Jerusalem. From Acts 15.30, that's Antioch.
And then Acts 15.41, that's Antioch. We are moving now to Cecilia.
Cause if you see in Acts 15 verse 41, it says, and he went through
Syria and what Cecilia confirming the churches. This is when they
had split up. Paul and Barnabas had split up. That's what we
are in our texts. Now, if you were going back in
your Bible to verse 41, you guys see that. So you want to kind
of have your Bible right along with your notes. So you can see
the chapter 15 closes with Paul going to Sicilia and Syria keep
the map up for me, please because I want them to be able to work
with the map because they have their outline so from the time that they leave
Jerusalem Paul and Barnabas deliver the letters they get into conflict
and Then Paul up here now is going to move forward Barnabas
goes off the scene. Remember that and But Paul goes
leaving here from Sicilia. We find that Paul now goes according
to chapter 16 verse 1 Derby and Lystra. Do you guys see that
right up the street here, right? From Sicilia, he goes west to
Derby and then from Derby to where? Now who does he meet in
Derby and Lystra? Timothy is the way he picks his
brother Timothy up. But from here, where are we going?
We're going north, aren't we? We're going north. So then again,
in your outline, we will see that not only do we go from Derby
to Lystra, but we then go to Phrygia as verses four through
six. And you see Phrygia is further
up, isn't it? Phrygia is further up north. So we are going north. So it's in Phrygia that we begin
to have this conversation about the work of the spirit of God.
And I want you to keep the map up because I want them to get
a visual of what the spirit of God was doing regionally. Within
the area there and for reasons that we want to learn so we read
in verse 6 now when they had gone through Phrygia and the
region of Galilee, so we see Phrygia, right? Here's Galatia,
right? That means they had done they
had attempted to do ministry in this area where churches were
already started He's on his third missionary journey You remember
the second time he went through this is where they had to drop
off brother mark And then he comes back to jerusalem because
of the craziness. This is his third missionary
journey And he's trying to do work here. So you're getting
ready to hear about troas here in a moment and uh, samothrace
Uh samothrace here in a second as well. But when we get here,
are we not further north? And then we're going to find
ourselves in Neopolis. And then finally, where? Philippi. That's our next chapter. Our
same chapter, rather, because it's up in this area. Who are
we going to meet in this area? Lydia and her gang praying and
God using Paul to open her heart through the gospel and establish
a local church there. And then Paul's going to get
in trouble up here because he's going to end up in jail. Is he
not? They're going to end up in jail, Paul and Silas. And
they have come from Jerusalem, what? North, north. But in here
is the area that we want to learn some things about when it comes
to the will of God and the impressions or the insights or the clarity
or the specific will of God revealed to the apostles by the spirit
of God. So we look at our second point
now and we can get ready to go to our text for this. the sensitive
work of being led by the spirit. That's the way that I put it.
The sensitive work of being led by the spirit. I think it's Romans
chapter 8 verse 14. As many as are led by the spirit,
they are the what? Sons of God, right? So in evidence
of our sonship is God leading us. I just want you to get that. I wanted to just resonate with
you. That's that's Romans 8 14 pull that up for me Romans 8
14 as many as are led by the Spirit of God These are the what
sons of God That's what we want to we want to capture that We
call ourselves children of God don't we we want to capture that
because the third person is not some gust of wind He's not some
blob He's not some ethereal, abstract, non-personal entity.
He's not the imagination of your mind. The Holy Ghost is not your
feelings. He is not your feelings. He is
not Plato that you and I shape into our own image and make him
our running buddy. You don't get to give him the
common nomenclatures and terminology that we do other cats in the
world. The Holy Ghost is not your partner.
He is God. And he is the immediate presence
of Christ, representatively, to lead and guide you as a Christian. You guys hear what I just stated?
To lead and guide you as a Christian. That's who he is. Man, I'm amazed
at these phones, aren't you? I don't have one like that, but
that wouldn't sound like the old telephones we used to have. Remember
the old phones that almost break your fingers when you turn them.
And then it took, you know, somebody breaking out of the house, they'd
kill us before we even get a chance to call 911. I'm so glad we got
cell phones. Don't you? Um, I hope you're
done with that. So now what I want us to do is
just watch the nature of the language. Cause the language
is nuanced. I'm going to try not to be technical
because you know, it's late. I understand that. And I don't
want you to be, uh, distracted by technicalities. I do want
you to be sensitive though, to the grammar, because it's going
to speak to us going back then to our texts. We have already
embraced the notion, the idea that as many as are led by the
spirit of God, they are the sons of God. We profess to be sons
of God, father through your son and by your spirit lead us. Because if you lead us, we will
not waste our time. If you do not lead us, we will
waste our time. We will spin our wheels, we will
dig holes, and we will bury ourselves in the oblivion of being outside
of the will of God. So the apostles are going to
be kind of a microcosm, a micro model for us of how when God
really cares, cooperating with our willingness, he will see
to it that you just don't go the wrong way. If you go the
wrong way on God, the immediate presence that is the spirit of
God, you got to jump fences. You got to dig under the gate.
You gotta put cement on the wall and let it explode. And you gotta
be projected by a power greater than your sanctified conscience
to let you go in a direction contrary to God's will. In other
words, you have to be laden with guilt and accept it when you
go contrary to God's will. Did you guys hear what I just
stated? It's very important for you to know that a lot of Christians
do that. They live in guilt. I didn't say condemnation. Don't
mix the two up. There's a big difference between
condemnation and guilt. Guilt is the healthy reality
of your rebellion against your God. Condemnation is the final
judgment that God lays on sinners who end up in hell. There is
no condemnation for those that are in Christ, but guilt is a
necessary commodity when we are walking contrary to God. Is that
true? That means my conscience is alive and well, and if the
airbag is not working, that signal better come on. Cause if I'm
going the wrong way or I'm sleeping and I've crossed the road and
I'm about to hit a semi, I need to know the airbag is going to
save me. Cause I'm going contrary to the will of God. I'm getting
ready to have a rude awakening, but I'm going to live. And that's
how God works. Whether you know it or not, that's
how he works. Sometimes people wonder why is
it so painful? Because we are hard headed. That's why it's so painful. That's
why it's so painful. So going back to our text, let
me work with this. I'm in verse 6 of Acts 16. Now, when they had gone through
Phrygia up north in the regions of Galilee and were forbidden
of the Holy Ghost to do what? preach the word there. So I just
want you to understand what the language is saying here. You
and I are, um, you and I are captivated by the third person. We ought to be the new Testament
or the apostles. They don't know about near as
frequently as we like to say the Holy ghost, the Holy ghost,
the Holy ghost. You don't hear that language a whole lot in
the Bible at all. They're not quickly using that
term. The Holy ghost, the Holy ghost, the Holy ghost. Every
now and then you hear the term. And that's because the role of
the third person is not to be featured for himself. His role
is to exalt Christ in your life. And therefore his name is not
mentioned all over the place like we do in religion. He is,
if you will, for lack of a better analogy, the servant of Christ. And his goal is not for you to
commonly talk about him, but for you to commonly talk about
Christ. And so his job is to lead you
into a more profound, a more impactful knowledge of your savior. So that the end result of the
leading of the Holy Ghost is not only you knowing Christ,
but you loving him and being conformed to his image and then
talking about him. That's the job of the servant.
Are you guys following me? That's why you don't hear the
Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost. Though you do hear
enough about him to know that we are not dealing with just
a figment of our imagination. So when we are regarding this
text, observing verse six, it says, now when they had gone
through Phrygia, so they were moving in the regions of Galilee
as we saw. Now the second clause says, and
they were forbidden of, Spirit of God so for me the first question
that would pop up is What does the author mean by what forbidden? And I need to ask that do you
know why I am a child of God? You know what that also means.
I am by nature rebellious You know what else you are too
I And this is where understanding no from daddy is such a long
drawn out process. I just want you to get this. Sometimes God is saying no, and
we're not taking no for an answer. Can I get a witness? See, when
our will rises beyond the will of God, we are really pushing
the envelope When all of the measures that god is using in
our life is saying no This is and i'm pouring over into the
the series i'm going to do on the will of god to help us understand
How important it is for that to become a thesis in our life
something that we learn to learn what the will of god is so that
we might not be as Disobedient as we often are and thus out
of the will of God and thus as not as happy as we should because
we should Be happy people shouldn't we and I mean authentically happy
because we're in the will of God, right? There's no other
way to be happy in Jesus, but to what and to do what obey right,
but that's a process, isn't it? That's a learning process for
sure. It's not easy because we his children want our own way
As we learn with David We can have a right motive and a wrong
method. We can have a right desire and
it'd be the wrong time. Is that true? I'm going to show
you here that that's the case tonight. So what if God says
no to us in a given endeavor and he's gradually and incrementally
and God-like making it known to us? You know what I mean by
God-like? He has attributes and characteristics
consistent with being a servant. Like, you know, he's not going
to shake your house. He's not going to do wild things to let
you know, but he is going to do things in such a fashion that
it's going to stop you in your tracks and make you think, hmm,
maybe God is saying no. Right? Now, the reason why I'm
milking this is because there is a tandem objective here. One
is that you would be more sensitive to the will of God, but more
sensitive to the will of God as a child of God. These are
the tandem thoughts I'm holding. I don't expect the ungodly to
listen to God, even though God is talking to them all the time
too. He is not talking to them in the way he talks to his children,
but his children have to learn that you and I are still here
in order to develop and to cultivate and to nurture simultaneous with
God, reciprocally with God, a relationship. Do you guys get what I just stated?
Your job, the reason, you know what, when God saved you, the
reason he didn't take you right to glory is because he wants
to develop a relationship with you. That's the reason you're
still here. That's the reason. And the other
thing is, He left us in this first state of human existence,
this first creation paradigm of six days laboring, the seven-day
rest, 24-hour day, seven days a week, right? This cyclical
pattern that we're in. This cyclical pattern that we're
in is in order that we might get up the next day, the very
next day, the very next day and start school all over again with
God. Somebody will get that. You know how we, we, we, you
know how we struggle with monotony? Anybody struggle with monotony?
You ought not to. You ought not to. But this goes
to show you that you don't understand what it means to be in school.
Are you hearing what I just said? See, we, we struggle with monotony
because we're carnal instead of spiritual, because we are
really operating on a clock that's predicated on our imagination
rather than on God's providential will. That's based upon him teaching
us as a student every day, a little here, a little there, a little
this, a little that. You guys understand what I'm
saying? So every day you get up and you go to class and class
is your daily life. And first period starts or a
period starts. If you want to graduate with
honors, a period starts in a period. You got to learn how to do a
period better than you did yesterday. First period, second period,
sixth period, even seventh period. You got to learn how to do those
periods better today than you did yesterday. I'm here to tell
you that's the only reason you're still living. Cause your ticket
for glory is already established. If you've been born again, are
you guys hearing what I'm saying? So this is the whole goal. So
again, I just want to make sure that there is a depth of application
being derived from our texts. So you don't miss it. The text
does two things. It says certain things explicitly,
and then it leaves other advice out. which again is the way of
God. Here's how God works. He'll tell
you something that's explicit, but he won't give you enough
details for you to have all the factors. This is the side of
God that is both light and darkness. The light will be, no, you can't
do that. The darkness will be, and I'm
not telling you why. Ask brother Joe. J-O-B. It corresponds to job,
but it's Joe. If your job is a suffering, then
there you go. They're parallels. But you can
ask brother Joe, because he went to both class. Remember, we learned
that over the years. Remember what I said? The tests
were the same and the answer is the same. Every day he had
to learn to walk by what? And every day he had to learn
that the answer was the cross of Jesus Christ. Did you guys
get that? Every day he had to learn how
to walk by what? And he had to learn that what he was going
through corresponded to the cross of Jesus Christ. Where he missed
that and where we miss that, we totally misunderstand the
difficulties of our life. That's what this next series
that's starting tomorrow is all about. Sunday, rather. Where
you miss the cross, you miss the major and central purpose
of God in your life. And once the cross is removed
from your equation, you don't know what to do with trouble.
You don't know what to do with setbacks. You don't know what
to do with opposition. You don't know what to do with
adversaries. You don't know what to do with
no's because you don't have a cross theology Because if you did you'd
understand that suffering and setbacks and no's and oppositions
and hindrances Are all designed to conform you to jesus Did you
guys hear what I just stated and conformity to christ will
be for you and me preparing us To receive The will of god You
don't know that this is a good study. You don't know that this is a
good study. Because we often wonder why, you know, Lord, I'm
just going to the store. Why did I get a flat? I was dropping the speed limit.
Why did that fool hit me? Right? You know, you're walking
in the store and you realize, where my wallet at? or you just
went to the ATM and you pulled out some cash and, man, where
my $100 at? Now you tripping, right? Come
on, can I get it with you? Now you tripping, especially
when you start messing with your little God money. That money
God, now you really tripping. See, and you can never ever get
the answer if you make a caricature out of God that's bent out of
your own imagination. Absent of the biblical paradigm
of the cross that's designed to shape you Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? It's very important for you to
get this very important for you to they're gonna be a lot of
things that go on in our life That don't well that will not
Have for you a sufficient answer beyond who you are and who God
is and what God is doing in your life, which you supposed to already
know and Do you guys get that? See, if you can remember, I'm
a child of the living God. If you can remember that the
most high God is operating in my life, if you can remember,
and his job primarily is to conform me to the image of Christ, you
got your answers right there. You got that? You got your answers
right there. Now, if you can do that, you're
going to be positioned, you're going to be poised for the will
of God. It's going to position you for
the will of God. I'm going to say it again because
I just know God is talking right now to somebody. I just know
this. I just know this. I know that some of us are scraping
and scratching from the perimeters from the outer parameters of
God's will. And we are not successfully achieving
that because actually what is hindering us is our own will.
I know that. I know that. I actually know
that that's what's going on with us. And until you submit to the
sovereignty of God and the providential circumstances that are surrounding
your life, believing that God has your best in view, you won't
experience the vortex that will gradually put you in the center
of his will. Did you get that? See, cause
we're in a vortex. And that vortex is designed for
you to submit and just ride that. You know how you got those big
old giant slides where they do this? You ought to be happy,
say, whee! I'm getting brought right there,
boom! In the middle of my God's will. Now, when you're riding
that thing and you're going around these corners and these blind
circles, you wonder you gonna fly off, right? That's why I'd
never get on those. I ain't not old barbie. So let's
go No, no, I'll stay out here and take pictures of you you
get on I'm watching you now But when it comes to the will of
God you have to roll with God and then when you submit then
it becomes more fun So this is a precursor to this
fact, I know that the apostles already know this Are you guys
following me what I'm sharing with you? I know they already
know. How do I know that because they've already been beat up.
I Paul has gone on this journey for the first time and they try
to kill him. He's already been stoned. He's
already been ridiculed. He's already been threatened
to be torn apart. Remember that? All that was the first go round
where he began to understand the nature of apostolic ministry
and missionary work. And then do you guys remember
once he got it, he said, okay, I want to go again. You know
how it scares you the first time. And then when you when you make
your way through you go, okay I better go up and do it again
because I want to make sure I can handle this thing Paul turned
around and said let's do it again And now he's doing it for what
third time and this third time is easier for him Because he
has been shaped in his character to be sensitive to the will of
God This is good, isn't it? This is very important So now
when they had gone through Phrygia and the regions of Galatia and
were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word there. Second
point, the sensitive work of being led by the Spirit. There
are four sub points there that I want us to grasp now. The first
one is forbidden by the Spirit means in verse six, constrained
by an external what? It constrained by an external
power. And the way this particular verb works, there are a few verses
we're gonna look at to see how this works. It simply means that
there were influences that stopped them in their tracks and they
yielded to it. There were influences that stopped
them in their tracks and they yielded to that influence. In other words, they weren't
fighting it, they yielded to it. So forbidden by the spirit,
And there are examples used in Acts chapter eight, verse 36. If you're back up there, I'm
gonna share with you a few. Acts chapter eight, verse 36. This
is, I believe, where the question was raised by the Ethiopian eunuch
to Philip in verse 36. And as they went on their way,
they came into a certain water and the eunuch said, see, here
is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? Did you see that? What would
constrain me so that it would not be lawful for me to be baptized. He's looking for the lawful restraint
from an action that he wants to engage in to complete his
faith in Christ. Because baptism is a completion
of the obedience of faith, is it not? We believe in our heart
and now we want to evidence it by entering into the waters of
baptism and publicly confess Christ as Lord. He is asking,
is there anything that would hinder me from doing this? And
then we see again over in Acts chapter 10 verse 47. Let's look
at a couple more. Acts chapter 10 verse 47. Can anyone forbid water that
these should not be baptized? You see what Peter is doing now
in Cornelius's house when once they evidenced being born again
by speaking in languages while Peter is preaching the word.
So he turns and says is there anything that hinders them from
being baptized that would restrain them any kind of authority any
kind of witness any kind of testimony Can it can any man forbid water
that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy
Ghost as? well as we and now you'll notice
in these contexts that Both those who are the recipient of the
blessing of the Holy Ghost and those who are the vehicle by
which the Holy Ghost is communicated are wanting to be obedient to
the will of God. Is that true? They are wanting
to be obedient. So in the context of the possibility
of a note from God, we're simply asking, is it all right? Do we
have permission God to move forward in acts of obedience? So then
let's move to our next verse in Acts chapter 11, verse 17.
Acts 11 verse 17 Peter is repeating now to the rulers at Jerusalem
What had happened when they received the Spirit of God? For as much
then as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ What was I that I could what? Whoa,
that's our word there strong verb is in what we call the Aries
form and that means that It's it's something that this one
actually is different Peter is anticipating the possibility
or he's making the assumption He's arguing history and saying
to his his Jewish brethren almost in a satirical way. Do you think
I could stop God? Do you think I could withhold
from God forbid God from giving them the Holy Ghost? The rhetorical
answer would be what? Right, so Peter doesn't have
the external power and ability to constrain God from blessing
those Gentiles. Another example then, so that
we can move forward, would be in chapter 24, verse 23. And I'm using all examples in
the book of Acts. And why am I doing that? Because
the book of Acts, beyond being the book of the Acts of the Apostles,
it is the book of the Acts of the Holy Ghost. Beyond being the book of the
acts, the proxies of the apostles, it is the book of the acts of
the Holy Ghost, because the Holy Ghost is the resident Lord leading
and forming his church. So in chapter 24 verse 23, and
he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have
liberty and that he should forbid none of his acquaintances to
minister or come to him. So the authority of the prisoner,
prison is saying to the centurion that he, that Paul should have
what he wants. And the word forbid there once
again means to constrain with an external power. One more chapter
27 verse 43, we're moving towards the end of the book. And in our
own studies, we'll probably get there in about two years. Acts
27 verse 43. Notice what it says here again
is the usage of this particular verb. Acts 27 verse 43. But the centurion willing to
save Paul kept them from their purpose and commanded that they
which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea
and get the land. Where's our word? Kept. Do you see it? Kept. But the
centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose,
forbid them, restrain them from their purpose. So it indicates
that there were things happening. Let's go back to our text. It
was indicating, therefore, in Acts 16, that things were happening
by which Luke and Paul surmised that the Spirit of God was saying
to them, you cannot preach to these people. You guys see that? But in a real interesting way
if we wanted to we could read verse 6 this way now when they
had gone through Phrygia and the regions of Galatia Preaching
the Word of God Because really that's what they wanted to do
But it says and when they were going through Phrygia and the
regions of Galatia They were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to
preach the Word of God If you took just and were forbidden
of the Holy Ghost out, you'd have now when they had gone through
Phrygia and the region of Galatia to preach the word in Asia, that
was their desire, but they were forbidden. Right? So in our second
point, we have forbidden by the spirit at some point convinced
to what? So, so when I give you the second
sub point, at some point convinced to forbear, I'm reading into
the text. several assumptions that I've
talked to you about now for some 25 or 30 minutes, right? I'm
reading into the text several assumptions. One is God is with
them. Secondly, they are believers
in Christ. Thirdly, they've walked with the Holy Ghost enough to
know how to determine when he is saying no. You guys hear me? And it's not because of the pizza
or lasagna they ate. is because they have become sensitive
to his presence and to the way he works. Now, that they, that
the author Luke tells us that they were forbidden by the Holy
Ghost, that they were, yeah, forbidden by the Holy Ghost to
preach the word in Asia. We must contemplate that there
had to be a more personal communication taking place because it's between
them and the Holy Spirit. There is not revealed in this
portion of scripture any kind of mechanism or instrumentality
by which he did it. The emphasis therefore is on
this, their submission to God. So I'll say that one more time
just in case it was foggy to you. You will use this word as
we did and we will see that men could forbid, things could stop
you, You could be hindered by other powers and influences.
But what we are attributing in our texts to hindering them is
the Holy Spirit. You guys got that? The Holy Spirit. Paul talked about this in Romans
chapter one. Then he talked about it in chapter
15. He talked about being hindered to come to the Roman church.
And then he said later on down, but Satan forbid me or resisted
me. So one is he was not attributing
it to Satan. He didn't know who to attribute
it to. He didn't say the Holy Ghost did it. He just said he
was hindered on another occasion. He said Satan hindered me at
that point. We get to Tagged the means by
which he was hindered right we identified as Satan then we can
look at his mechanisms his techniques His methods by which he hinders
the people of God in this context is the Holy Ghost If we were
to just draw it out, it could it could have been a dream. It
could have been a vision It could have been in the reading of the
scriptures. They learned something about watch this now being sensitive
to Doors being open and doors being shut in the context of
missionary work And that could have come through
their prayers That could have come through their reading of
scripture That could have come through the Holy Ghost bringing
back to remembrance to them that they're going to be Seasons where
the door is open and you can share the Word of God with people
and there will be seasons where you can't Watch this They could
have gone back and tracked through all of those regions in Galatia
and Phrygia where they had already gone and discovered that there
were stratagems and policies that made it impossible for them
to get into the churches and share the gospel. Are you hearing
me? And yet there wouldn't have been
any kind of objective medium by which they could say, they
stopped us. They stopped us. They stopped
us. No. The Holy Ghost stopped us. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Because the Holy Ghost is God. He can kick a door open anytime
he wants to, can't he? I know I'm belaboring this, but
this is very important. You know how sometimes we go,
Lord, is that you? Do you ever do that? So stay
with me. We're in class. We're in class. Cause Christians are very unique
people on planet earth. I'm talking about real Christians. You're, you're in communion with
God and you don't have to go anywhere to talk to him. And
when you're sensitive to the reality that he saved you to
commune with you and his spirit is with you and in you, he just
go to talking to him. Remember that's what you're made
for. And so when a thing occurs that is beyond your capacity
to reason through cerebrally, intellectually, rationally, Lord,
is that you? You guys follow that? Lord, is
that you? I can't identify the instrument by which this thing
is being held up, but is that you, Lord? Because if it's you,
I want to chill. Because sometimes it's not the
Lord, and sometimes he wants you to kick that door in. Is
that true? Absolutely. Knock. It's in the continuous
verb form. Ask. Continuous verb form. Seek. Continuous verb form. You know
what that means? You continue doing it till you get a breakthrough.
That's when it's not the Lord hindering you. Y'all learning
something tonight very poor I mean It's very important for you to
get this because this is what it means to be led by the Spirit
now Remember to be led by the Spirit is to be authentically
Children of God and when we are led by the Spirit, we're gonna
be led into blessing We're gonna be led into blessing and you
know what you get to do when you're led into blessing you
get to boast in God You get to when you go home to
your children or your husband or your wife or whomever your
friends and companions are. And you get to actually augment
your ordinary day with the work of God. You get to say, let me
tell you what the Lord did today. Only children of God get to do
that, but we've got to learn how to walk with God. So what
my men are be learning this Saturday for the next four Saturday what
it is to be able to understand the nature of the kingdom of
God and where your part in that kingdom is Because you and I
should be able to say yeah, you know, this is what I saw the
Lord do today Being that sensitive to his presence All right, then
under second point sub point two at some point convinced and
foreborn Some point through I get into the basic language of nature
of the language here. It says the emphasis is on the
impact of the influence as opposed to the The one that's doing the
work the impact of the influence Here's the impact of what the
Spirit of God was doing in their life The impact is is that they
surmise that they should not be preaching So here a lot of
times is what we want to adduce from a situation. We want to
do something and that something in and of itself is okay to do.
Isn't? Aren't these men made to preach?
Aren't they called to preach? But somehow they're hindered
from what they were made to do and called to do. Now watch this. And it's all right. When you
are walking with God, even your gift cannot trump God's will
for your life. I'm called to preach, Lord, so
therefore I should be able to preach whenever I want to. No,
you don't. Your gift can never usurp the authority of God. Am
I making some sense? Very important to know. Now,
so what the text is doing for you and me by way of application,
It's teaching us what it means to be submissive to God. Get
it? Get it? They put everything together.
They got their entourage. They got their goods. They got
their clothing. They got their bags. They got
their books. They got their whole ministry system set up. And they
set out to go. And they went from Jerusalem
to Antioch, Syria. And then they went all the way
up to Bithynia area, Sicilia, and Derbe, and Lystra, where
they are. And they were just ready to start preaching. God
said, no. Can't that be a letdown? Can't
that be a letdown? Just want a few true folks in
the house. Cause see, I know in their minds, if it was me,
I'm thinking, boy, we're going to get out of it. I can't wait
to reach more lost sinners for Christ. And my zeal and my desire
can be just sky high and then come across shut doors. Right? Now, you know, some of us will
start wondering whether or not we personally are out of the
will of God. some of us would start looking for some sin in
our life. The Holy ghost and took the gift
away. He getting ready to shut me down. Right? Right. Cause we are not sensitive enough
to the dynamics of how he works. This is an old colloquialism,
but it works. God says yes. God says no. God
says what? There you go. There you go. That's good for, You know, government
school students, right? Yes, no, wait. I'm going to give you the big
answer to this one. Are you ready so we can move
forward? He said, wait. On their way back down, other
churches are going to get established. Sometimes God will take you way
north to do a work. And when in your obedience you
do what he called you to do where he wants you to do it when he
wants you to do it Then he will bless you with extra measures
on the way back down Pastor that's good Point number three this is interesting
because in verse six we have Now, when they had gone through
Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy
Ghost, and Luke uses a particular verb form there, modifying it
now as a participle form. He says this in verse seven,
and after they were come to Mysia, they are saved to go into Bithynia,
but the spirit here, what? Suffer them not. Forbidden and
suffered. Two words that are similar, but
slightly different, similar but slightly different. So we're
looking at verse three. We'll be able to shut it down here
in a minute. I'll take a few questions if
you have it on the will of God or whatever. Not allowed to go
to Messiah and Bithynia. Subpoint A. The word literally
means to leave alone. So here's how this goes too.
When God suffers us to do something, he allows us to do it. It means
he leaves us alone. he leaves us alone. When he does
not want us to do it, he won't suffer us. He won't suffer us. He won't tolerate us. It won't
be something that he will allow. And again, the verb forms are
different here. In the first one, it has to do
with impact of the influence. In this one, It's in an active,
indicative Aries form. The word literally means that
God just did not let them do it. There's a providential restraint
or signs that he gave to the what? Sensitive. Signs that he
gave to the sensitive, right? Have Luke chapter four, verse
41. And I want us to look at that one right now. Luke four
41 uses the same word, not quite in the same verb form, but we
can look at it and see in Luke chapter four, verse 41, where
the same author, Luke, is speaking to us. He's going to give us
a little insight into this. Luke chapter 4 verse 41 says these words. And they feared
exceedingly and said to one another, what manner of man is this that
even the winds and the seas obey him? Why did I use that text? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm in Mark. I'm in Mark. Sorry, Mark. Here we go, let's see what we
got in Luke here. Here in Luke 4, 41. Here we go. And the devils
also came out of many, crying out and saying, thou art Christ,
the Son of God. And he rebuking them, what? Suffered them not to what? for
they knew that he was Christ. And the emphasis here then is
a very strong restraint, a very strong stopping them in their
tracks from doing something that he did not want them to do. The emphasis then is on the action
of the one restraining versus the outcome. If the outcome were
to be emphasized, it would have said something like this, and
he rebuked them and they did not speak. You guys follow that
logic? and they did not speak. Here
he rebuked them and stopped them from speaking. The emphasis is
on the one doing the act versus the impact of his intention influencing
those to whom he's speaking. Subject-object distinction here.
All right, let's look at one more. Let's see here. Acts chapter 20, verse 30. Acts
20, 30. Acts chapter 20 verse 30 where
this idea is used again. Here's what we read So providential restraints are signs
to the sensitive in Acts chapter 20 verse 30 I read and also of
your own self shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw
away disciples after themselves Now why did I use that? I don't know. So we'll leave
that one open for till next time. That's bizarre. Even I don't
know where the text is. So now go with me to point number
four, because this is where I'll close here with point number
four. I'm almost done here. Point number four, lessons in
witnessing and evangelism. Here we go. Let's do some practical
things here. In our account, they were told
that they couldn't preach, right? Subpoint A and point number four
is what? Times to be led to be what? Silent. That's true. Subpoint
B, time to be led to keep in what? Moving. That's good, isn't
it? Subpoint C, times to stop in
what? Freeze. All three of those actions correspond
to what happened in Act 16. Don't speak, keep moving, speak. the latter part of chapter 16,
they came to Philippi way north, right? And God opened that door,
didn't he? And that woman Lydia and her
band was sitting out there and a wonderful gospel ministry took
place and we have the epistle to the what? Philippians, where
God had blessed that work. So sometimes, sometimes just
being sensitive to God and let him draw us all the way out very
important under point number four lessons in witnessing and
evangelism this is very practical very practical how many of you
guys take witnessing serious very good all right 40% of you
know I'm kidding how many of you guys take evangelism seriously
all right so how many of you guys know that there's a difference
between witnessing and evangelism if you didn't know now you know
okay There is a critical distinction between bearing witness of what
God has done in your life through the grace of God, which is telling
people about how you came to actually know Christ. And then
the work of evangelism, bringing people into a saving knowledge
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They can be tandem tools, but
you are not evangelizing when you tell people how God saved
you. Please understand that. The idea
of giving your testimony is not the way people get converted.
They only get converted when you give Christ's testimony.
It's the preaching of the gospel of the person and work of Jesus
Christ by the spirit of God that saves men and women. When their
eyes are open to the glories of his redemptive work and they
see their need of a savior high and lifted up on Calvary as their
propitiation and as their substitute, then are they being drawn by
the spirit of God in a saving way for people to get emotional
and cry and get all teared up. How your life was tore up and
how God helped you is not how people get saved. They can get
interested that way, but they can't get saved that way. Are
you guys hearing what I'm saying? You can get people interested,
but they can't get saved until they hear the gospel. And this
is why Christ didn't say, go into all the world and be witnesses
for me. He said, go into all the world
and do what? Preach the gospel. And therefore you will be my
what? Witnesses. That's right. So those components
must never be conflated or confounded or made to be the same thing
because they are not. Some people live on their testimony
as a ministry. You can't convert anybody with
there's no power in your conversion. Now Paul used it. Didn't he use
it several times? He said to the rulers, I oppose
this thing called the way. And God met me in a massive light
of blistering glory and knocked me down. Which is what we're
going to get into more fully next week when I give us point
five obedience to the vision of God You guys see that obedience
to the vision of God because ultimately what we have after
the ethic of What it means to walk with God in sensitivity
Paul and them allowed and recognized the influence of the Spirit of
God externally They also allowed the work of the Spirit of God
internally to lead them all the way north when they were not
intending to go north. They were only intending to go
so far north. But north, north, they were not
intending to go. But do you know what God said
in the person of Christ to Peter? Peter, when you were young, you
did it your way. But when you are mature, when you are grown
up, when you have the Spirit of God, he's going to take you
and lead you where he wants you to go. Right. And this is what we mean by being
led of the spirit. So why I'll give you this as a caveat, um,
as we get ready to shut it down, when I started talking to you
about the will of God, I'm going to share a little note with you.
You can take it and write it down now, because for a lot of
people, the will of God is really difficult to apprehend. Is that true? It is. It's very hard to apprehend
the will of God. specifically the will of God
for you. But here's what I want to say
about it. The will of God factually is nowhere near as hard to find
as it is to submit to. Write it down. The reason why people often don't
find the will of God Is because they don't really want to So follow the logic follow the
logic Okay, follow the logic. It's really what you and I are
seeing in the act 16 verses 1 through 6 account It's just obedience
to the spirit which always results in blessing, but God's having
his way, not them. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? The will of God is nowhere near as difficult to find as
it is to submit to. So I'm going to show you one more
thing in relationship to that. Sometimes You are smack dab in
the middle of God's will for you. And you don't like it. You got it? And because of an internal resistance,
what you're saying is this can't be. God's will for my life. I know that God's got something
better for me than this. Now, if you actually know that,
if you actually know it, you will be resting right where you
are. Listen to me. Because to know
is a great comfort and a means of patience until it actually
happens. If you are in a place you think
is not quite what God wants for you, cause you are clear what
God wants for you. I know what God wants for me.
You're better than most of us. You're way better than most of
us. Because some days I'm just keeping my hand. I'll say, all
right, Lord, leave me, take me by the hand, leave me to the
promised land. And I'm not going to burn too
many brain cells trying to figure out what you up to today. But we create these idols. Our hearts are idol factories.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Idols, idols, idols. and consequently, we don't see
that we're right in the middle of God's will. Are you guys following
what I'm saying? I can pull up a ton of biblical
examples and show you how Joseph was in the middle of God's will.
Wasn't he? He was in the middle of it. And
you and I, prosperity preaching people will say, Joseph, You
need to rebuke that devil, brother, and get on out of prison. Walk
on out in the name of Jesus and start walking in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made you free. Or my sister Hannah, who had to
deal with what many of my sisters in the scriptures had to deal
with, the cultural compromise of polygamy. She wasn't able
to conceive. And that other chick was. And
that other chick really let her have it, didn't she? And Hannah
is bent over in Abba Father prayer, which is what the will of God
was designed for her to do. And she was constantly calling
on God, wasn't she? Because she was smack dab in
the middle of God's will. You guys got that? Smack dab
in the middle of God's will. Sister Ruth. Sister Ruth didn't go nowhere. It all came to her. She wasn't
trying to get to Jerusalem, wasn't trying to get the belt. She chilling
in Moab, doing the Moabite. And here come these Christians
running a business plopping right down in her city and one of the
boys happened to be handsome Right And it was all You see what I'm getting at God
came into her life through the disobedience of his children
and tagged her because she was one of his elect and He let her
go through hell before she married the baddest dude in Israel. Y'all following me? Anybody following? Raise your
hand if you're following me. If you're following me, then
you'll get this. See, remember, you're in school. A lot of people
talk about walking with Christ. You're not fooling me. You're
in school. And when you're in school, you
and I have to learn how to walk by what? And we must understand
that the answer to all of the ignorant stuff is the cross work
of Christ and our conformity to Christ through the difficulties
that these things are bringing. And it's not just always that
devil. Are you guys here? All right.
Anybody got any questions? No questions. No questions. All right. Going once, going
twice, going three times. Let's stand for prayer. Get some air in your lungs. Y'all
can stand for prayer unless you hurt or something. So father,
we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus. Thankful for
the exercise of faith tonight. Looking briefly at our brothers
whom you ordained and call into the ministry. And we see by application,
you've called us to, we may not be officially apostles are officially
prophets and officially called to the mission field in that
way. But every believer is called by you to walk with you and walk
in the spirit and be led by the spirit. And so be prepared in
any situation to hear from you. Yes, no, and wait. And so allow
the daily exercises of classroom, repetitive, cyclical, mundane
activity to be the means by which we learn to interpret your presence
and work in our life. And we ask that you would continue
to humble us so that we might find our joy in our relationship
with you, not our circumstances, but in the fact that you say
yes to us every day in the person of Christ by waking us up again
and saying, let's do it again. Let's do it again. Let's do it
again. And because you possess infinite
patience, you're not going to kick us out of class. You're
going to help us get it right. And we love you for it. We adore
you for it. You are such a magnificent God.
Have your way in our life. Have your way in our life. And we pray it in Jesus' name.
Amen. God bless you guys.