The Vision, The Venture, & The Victory Acts 16:6-15
Paul chose Silas as his ministry partner, and headed out on his 2nd missionary journey. The trip has barely begun when something interesting happens.
Look in verses 6-7. This happened because they were sensitive to the leading of The Holy Spirit.
We as individuals as well as corporately should be sensitive to the Spirit of God.
This should be our prayer every day, “Lord, I’ll go where You want me to go, I’ll be what You want me to be, I’ll do what You want me to do, I’ll say what You want me to say.”
Paul and Silas tried to go south into Asia, but God said no. When they tried to go north the Holy Spirit held them back.
They had just come from the east, so west was the only direction left. They headed west to the region of Troas and waited for instructions from God.
Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord…”
I want you to understand that not only does God direct the steps of a person who lives in obedience to His Spirit but, if a person is sensitive to the Spirit of God, He also tells them when to stop.
Sometimes when God puts up roadblocks, He won’t use an audible voice, but sometimes there is a lack of peace inside or God will use outward circumstances to guide us. We often describe it as a door closing.
The worst thing we can do is kick it down the door He closed and barge thru anyway and I’ll tell you why.
If we insist on having our way God may do something that we won’t like in the end. He just might let us have our way!
We need to have God’s wisdom to know the difference between Satan’s hindrances and the Lord’s roadblocks.
Our disappointments are often God’s appointments! And when God closes one door he opens another.
That’s what happened in v. 9. Paul wanted to go one way and God said no. That brings us to the first point.
1. The Vision verses 9-10 He heard the “Macedonian Call” and they crossed
over into Europe. Had Paul and Silas not listened to the Holy Spirit, you and I would not have been given the opportunity to hear the gospel. As far as you and I are concerned, that’s the most important call that’s ever been made or answered!
Let me ask you something.
Have you seen the vision and answered the call?
Have you had a vision of your relatives walking toward the cliff that leads to hell? Have you answered their call—“come and help me!”?
Have you heard the call from broken homes—come and help us!?
Broken hearts/ruined lives/failing marriages/lost jobs? PLEASE come and help us!
Now, they may not come right out and say it that way. Those cries for help may be in the form of rebellion, but it’s a cry for help!
We all have a God-shaped void inside of us, and often people try to fill the void with things of the world. We think pleasure, sex, drugs and alcohol, material goods, achievement, money, relationships, and even good works and social involvement are going to fill the emptiness deep within!
But the only thing that can fill the God-shaped void is God!
While they are trying all these things they are really crying out, please come and help me!
Oh I wish each of us could catch the vision of people drowning in debt, despair, and corruption, crying out for someone to “come help us!”
Now, they may not see this because they are misled by the enemy of God and that’s why they aren’t beating down the doors of this church to get in here.
The church is like Noah’s Ark—people don’t believe or come near us unless their sky is falling!
But did you know it’s not their responsibility to come to us?
It’s really our responsibility to go to them.
I read about Evangelist Freddy Gage who told of visiting 2 churches back to back. This was a great lesson in opposites. He said that 1 church was dying, the other was growing and thriving.
The first had a big sign out front that said, “All welcome…come on in.” That was the dying church.
The other church was thriving, but it had no sign on the outside. Their sign was just inside the door and you could only see it from the inside, as you made your way out.
It read, “you are now entering the mission field”. That sign was saying, “go out and bring them in from the fields of sin!” You know, I do believe that’s what Jesus said! “go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.”
Nowhere in the Bible are sinners commanded to come to church!
Paul understood and he didn’t sit in Troas saying, “hey, ya’ll over there in Europe, you wanna hear the gospel? Come on over, all are welcome!” No, he got in a boat and took the gospel to them!
Examples:
David Brainerd, won thousands of American Indians to Christ. He said, “I cared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went thru, so that I could but gain souls for Christ. While I was asleep I dreamed of these things, and when I awoke, it was the first thought that I had, the thought of this great work.”
He caught the vision, he heard the Indians crying, “come over here and help us!”
David Livingston, the first man to take the gospel into the heart of Africa, said, “I must open a way to the interior or perish!”
It was do or die…he caught the vision, and he heard the Africans crying, “come over here and help us!”
J. Hudson Taylor, pioneer Missionary to China, said, “I feel as though I cannot live if something is not done for China.”
William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, said, "Oh, God, what can I say? Souls! Souls! Souls! My heart hungers for souls!"
I read the story about a little church in Germany sited near train tracks that carried Jews to their death.
"Each Sunday Morning," the German man telling the story said, "we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars!"
"Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sound of those wheels because we knew that we would hear the cries of the Jews en route to a death camp. Their screams tormented us."
We knew the time the train was coming and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the time the train came past our church we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more.
Years have passed, and no one talks about it much anymore; but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. I can still hear them crying out for help.
God forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians, yet did nothing to intervene."
And here we sit in our comfortable building singing our songs. We eat our food and enjoy our fellowship, and refuse to walk out those doors into the mission field with a vision, hearing the call, and answering it!
That’s the vision…
2. The Venture
Paul and Silas got into a boat and crossed the Aegean Sea and established the first church in Europe. This first church was in Philippi.
Verse13 tells us that when they got there they found a little group of women praying down by the river.
It was a just a little prayer meeting, made up by a group of women. Paul saw a man in his vision, and responded, and when he got there, he found a woman searching for answers! Lydia became the first convert on that side of the sea.
I want you to see something life changing about the start of this first European church.
Remember the apostle Paul, prior to his salvation, was a Pharisee. And every day when a Pharisee woke up he would pray 3 things by custom. He thanked God he was not a woman, he was not a slave, and not a Gentile.
Watch this. The 1st 3 converts were in Europe were a woman, Lydia, a slave girl, and a Gentile! Isn’t that just like God? He breaks down our walls of prejudice and bigotry!
Vision, venture…
The Victory v. 14
I see 3 things about Lydia’s tender heart in this verse. She had:
1. A ready heart.
Her heart was fertile soil and she was ready to be saved. She was a “seller of purple”, meaning she was in the business of designer clothes. Only the rich and the royal could wear purple. In those days, the purple dye came from a shellfish, and one shellfish would yield only 1 drop of the purple dye. It was extremely expensive. So, she was well to do herself. She would have had prestige and influence, and yet she still had a hungry heart.
I hope you understand that the things in life which really matter cannot be bought with money.
Money can buy a house, but not a home.
Money can buy a bed, but not sleep.
Money can buy a clock, but not time.
Money can buy people, but not friends.
Money can buy amusements, but not happiness.
Money can buy religion, but not salvation.
Money can buy a good life, but not eternal life.
Money can buy a crucifix, but not a Savior.
Money can buy a passport to anywhere…but to heaven.
Lydia had a ready heart but she also had.
2. An open heart.
Have you ever tried to witness to somebody who was totally closed? You can’t do it. We can open His Word and the Scriptures but God is the only one who can open the heart!
There’s a divine side of salvation and there is a human side to salvation.
Lydia recognized her need. Many today do not.
I read about a drowning man who yelled to another guy on shore, “I can’t swim, I can’t swim!” The guy on shore yelled back, “Well, neither can I, but you don’t hear me making a fuss about it!”
Some people won’t think much about the Lord until they sense they are in danger. That’s why we have to preach the gospel, the truth about heaven and hell, sin and salvation!
Some here may be 1 heartbeat from hell and not even realize it. I pray they hear the truth being preached today and have a ready heart and an open heart. Each of must also, like Lydia, have:
3. An overflowing heart.
When she said in verse 15 “come into my house” she was in essence saying, make
my home your base of operations, so others may know!
Paul opened the scriptures, God opened her heart, and then she opened her home!
The home should be a salvation sanctuary. It starts by mom and dad getting saved, getting right, and getting into church. Then they make sure the children come to Christ. Then they start reaching out to others, having them over, and sharing the truth!
Let’s pray.
