A Missionary Call Series

Introduction

On March 17, we will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Patrick was born in 373 A.D. on the banks of the River Clyde in what is now Scotland.

His father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest.

When Patrick was about 16, raiders descended on his little town and torched his home.

When one of the raiders spotted him in the bushes, he was seized, hauled aboard ship, and taken to Ireland as a slave.

There, he gave his life to the Lord Jesus.

‘‘The Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief,’’ he later wrote, ‘‘so that I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God.’’

Patrick eventually escaped and returned home.

His overjoyed family begged him never to leave again.

But one night, Patrick dreamed of an Irishman pleading with him to come and evangelize Ireland.

It wasn’t an easy decision, but Patrick, about 30 at the time, returned to his former captors with only one book: the Latin Bible.

As he evangelized the countryside, multitudes came to listen.

The superstitious Druids opposed him and sought his death. But his preaching was powerful, and Patrick became one of the most fruitful evangelists of all time, eventually planting about 200 churches and baptizing 100,000 converts (Robert J. Morgan, Then Sings My Soul Special Edition: 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymns Stories [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010]).

Patrick’s dream of the Irishman pleading with him to come and evangelize Ireland is similar to a vision the apostle Paul had three centuries earlier of a man calling to Paul to come over to Macedonia and help them.

In today’s lesson, we will learn how God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel.

Scripture

Let’s read Acts 16:6-10:

6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Lesson

Acts 16:6-10 teaches us that God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. God Sometimes Closes Doors (16:6-7)

2. God’s Guidance Comes Through Continued Faithfulness (16:8)

3. God’s Guidance Comes Through Revelation (16:9)

4. God’s Call Requires Obedience (16:10a)

5. God’s Plan Is Best (16:10b)

I. God Sometimes Closes Doors (16:6-7)

First, God sovereignly directs the spread of the gospel by sometimes closing doors.

After their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas returned to their home church in Antioch and told the people about all God had done during that journey.

Then some men came from Judea teaching that the Gentiles had to be circumcised to be saved.

This created a controversy among the people, so the Antioch Church sent Paul, Barnabas, and others to Jerusalem for a definitive answer about what was required for salvation.

The Jerusalem Council convened with Jesus’ brother James as Moderator, the apostles, and elders.

Paul and the Antioch Church contingent asked the Jerusalem Council, “Is circumcision required for salvation?”

The answer from the Jerusalem Council was essentially, “No. Circumcision is not required for salvation. All people—Jews and Gentiles alike—are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.”

The Jerusalem Council gave some guidelines for how Gentiles should accommodate Jewish sensibilities, but these were not salvation issues but fellowship and service issues.

The Antioch Church contingent returned from Jerusalem, along with some others—such as Silas—to confirm the Jerusalem Council's declaration.

Paul and Barnabas continued their teaching and preaching ministry in the Antioch Church. (Wouldn’t it have been great to have them as regular teachers in the church?)

After some days (some scholars think it could have been as long as several years), Paul wanted to revisit the churches they had established on their first missionary journey to assess their growth in the Lord.

Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them, but Paul adamantly refused because John Mark had deserted them on their first missionary journey.

After a sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.

Paul took Silas and departed from the Antioch Church on the second missionary journey.

In Lystra, one of the towns that Paul visited on his first missionary journey, he met a young Christian named Timothy, who was likely converted to Christ on Paul’s previous missionary journey.