Have
you ever wondered if God really speaks to people and tells them what to do? If so,
all you have to do is read the Bible. It is full of stories of God telling
people what to do. We heard one of these stories in Acts 16:9-15 a few minutes
ago.
Paul
wanted to go to the Roman province of Asia. He was convinced that this was the
next step of the strategy for reaching the Gentiles, but God had other plans.
When the Holy Spirit lives within us, he will use our emotions and intelligence
to tell us if something we are doing is right or wrong. When our purpose and
long-range goals are clear, we can trust our consecrated thinking and emotions
because our thoughts and feelings are dedicated to serving God.
When
God shut down Paul’s plans, Paul moved on to new cities. He followed his
purpose of preaching Christ and reaching the Gentiles. God was able to get Paul
to go where God wanted him to go. Similarly, God can get us to go where he
wants us to go and do what he wants us to do by whatever means he decides to
use. Being with God wherever he wants us to be is better than being without
him, and doing what God wants us to do with him by our side is better than
doing things without him by our side.
Faith
involves actively listening for God’s presence in our lives. Once we have heard
God, he wants us to act, and that is easier said than done. God wants us to
remember that he knows whom to call and why. Paul had a vision that was so
forceful and so powerful that he knew God was guiding him. Paul was sensitive
enough to the Holy Spirit that he could tell the difference between yes and no
when it came to discovering God’s will-and he was obedient enough to respond to
both. This time, God directed Paul to leave Asia Minor and go into Europe.
Philippi
was a Roman colony, taking its name in 356 BC from Philip II of Macedon, the
father of Alexander the Great. It was a favoured city of Rome and its citizens
were exempt from paying provincial Roman taxes. Since Paul seemed to prefer to
establish ministry beachheads in key regional cities, it should be no surprise
that he picked Philippi. There was no significant Jewish population, so Paul
witnessed in the closest thing to one-a group of women gathered outside the
city for prayer.
One
of Paul’s first converts was a businesswoman named Lydia. As a seller of purple
goods, she had some wealth. Her house became the gathering place for Christians
in the city. That encounter opened the way for Paul’s ministry in Philippi. Lydia
was a Jewish “God-fearer” Purple was the colour of royalty and nobility, so she
was probably a very successful businesswoman. She also had a home large enough
to host Paul and his team.
God
opened Lydia’s heart to the truth of Gospel. No human has ever had the ability
to open anyone’s heart except Jesus. Even faithful preachers like Paul can’t do
it. God’s servants can sow the Word, but ultimately the Holy Spirit is
responsible for accomplishing the harvest.
Lydia
was not saved by doing good works.
She was saved so that she could do
good works. Once she was saved, she began to fellowship with other Christians.
God gives us the same responsibility to have fellowship with other Christians,
just like all of us are having fellowship right now. Fellowship helps us in our
faith, and it will help other believers in their faith. It doesn’t matter if
these believers are down the hall, across town, in another part of the province
or the country or even in another country. When someone cries out for answers
or help, God wants us to answer the call.
Bibliography
1.
Jeremiah,
David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 1515)
2.
ESV Study
Bible. Part of Wordsearch 11 Bible software package.
3.
Ogilvie, L.J.
and Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s
Commentary Series, Vol. 28: Acts (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1983,
pgs. 244-245)
7.
Butch Odom, “Sixth Sunday of Easter 2016-Acts
16:9-10." Retrieved from comment-reply@wordpress.com
8.
Bruce N.G.
Cromwell, Ph.D., “A Plain Account-A Free Online Commentary-Acts 16:9-15.”
Retrieved from http://www.aplainaccount.org/
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