When God Closes Doors Series

INTRODUCTION: THE IDEA OF SERENDIPITY

There’s a word we use in our culture: serendipity.

It means:

• A happy accident. I think about Bob Ross. His paintings contain no mistakes, just happy accidents that he turns into beautiful trees or something else that adds value to the whole picture.

• An unexpected discovery

• Something good that happens by chance

The word was coined by Horace Walpole in the 1700s, based on a Persian tale called The Three Princes of Serendip, a story about men who set out in search of great treasure, but keep making unexpected discoveries they aren’t even looking for along the way. The things they discover along the way are always more precious than what they were initially seeking.

Lloyd John Ogilve says that the parts of the word (seren-dip-ity) unlock its meaning: the dip of the serene into life. A serendipity occurs when the serene dips into and break the secular, It is the breakthrough of the Holy Spirit into our usual circumstances, the surprise that occurs to us when we are seeking to do his will.

For the believer, nothing is:

• Random

• Accidental

• By chance

What the world calls serendipity…

The Bible calls the leading of the Spirit.

What looks like coincidence…

What feels like interruption…

What seems like a detour…

Is often the invisible hand of God

guiding, redirecting, and positioning your life.

Acts 16 is a perfect example.

It looks like:

• Closed doors

• Confusion

• Delay

But it is actually:

The Spirit leading Paul into something far greater than he imagined.

READ THE TEXT

Acts 16:6–10 (CSB)

I. THE SERENDIPITOUS LIFE IS A LIFE IN THE FLOW OF THE SPIRIT

Before we walk verse-by-verse, we need to understand something foundational:

The Christian life is not meant to be lived by:

• Guesswork

• Chance

• Random outcomes

It is meant to be lived in the flow of the Spirit. We should be continuously open to unscheduled gifts of God as he breaks through into the world.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning said:

Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees,

takes off his shoes.

As Christians our thinking should gravitate to the good things of God. What wonderful surprise will God break through with next. There is security in that! We come to expect great things from God and to dare great things for God. There is a boldness that comes from confidence that He is the one who is in control and the life that learns to live in him. The life of the Spirit is presented like a flowing river.

Scriptural Foundation:

Psalm 46:4 — “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High…” God’s Presence among his people is like a flowing river. The “Most High” knows the past, present, and future. He is transcendent, beyond time and space; yet he has chosen to flow in the mundane affairs of humanity to guide and direct their decisions according to his infinite wisdom!

Isaiah 43:19–20 — “I am about to do something new… I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” He pours it out upon us in Christ!

Isaiah 44:3 — “For I will pour water on the thirsty land… and my Spirit on your descendants.”

John 7 — He that believes on Me, as the Scriptures have said, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water…

Revelation 22:1 — “Then he showed me the river of the water of life…”

From Genesis to Revelation, the life of God is pictured as a flowing river.

• Moving

• Living

• Life-giving

The “serendipitous life” is not accidental.

It is a life lived in the flow of the Spirit.

Where:

• God is directing

• God is arranging

• God is orchestrating

Even when you don’t see it.

Now let’s watch what that flow looks like in Acts 16.

Because sometimes…

The flow of the Spirit doesn’t feel like progress.

It feels like resistance.

II. VERSE 6 — THE HOLY SPIRIT FORBIDS

“They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.”

Let’s be clear about something:

Paul is not doing something wrong.

He is trying to:

• Preach the gospel

• Reach lost people

• Expand the mission

And yet the Bible says:

“They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit.”

A. Let that tension sit

The Holy Spirit says no to preaching. There are some people who would argue with God, “But, what about the Great Commission? Doesn’t it say to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature?”

We often think: