ACTS 16:1-15 MINISTRY HAS UNEXPECTED TURNS2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 16:1-15 Ministry Has Unexpected Turns

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. We are here this evening in Acts chapter 16, beginning chapter 16, and we'll be working our way right about through half the chapter. But I'd like to begin this evening just reading verses 1 through 5. And so here's what it says. Acts chapter 16, verse 1 says...

Then he came to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek."

And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. Verse 5. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers, or increased in number daily. Here in Acts chapter 16, we are looking now at the beginning of Paul's second missionary journey.

You remember Acts chapter 13 and 14, I'm sure, where Paul and Barnabas went on the first missionary journey and they went around and preached the gospel and established churches. And then in chapter 15, they came back to Antioch, which was their home church, and

And they stayed there for a bit, but then there was this dispute over whether or not Gentiles had to become Jews and be circumcised in order to be saved. And so chapter 15 records their journey down to Jerusalem where they bring the matter before the apostles and the council there, the elders there at the church of Jerusalem and have that discussion.

and that gets resolved. Gentiles do not have to become Jews in order to be saved, and so they bring that word back to Antioch, and then you remember that Paul and Barnabas start to have a discussion.

They want to go back and visit the churches that they had planted on the first missionary journey. And last week we saw the closing verses of Acts chapter 15, and we got to look at some of the details of the disagreement there between Paul and Barnabas, and how they split and went separate directions, and how they went

over the issue of whether or not John Mark would join with them on the missionary journey. And they were at such a disagreement that they actually went separate directions. And we talked about it last week. And if you weren't here, I encourage you to make sure you listen to that message because I really think it's important principles for us to understand and acknowledge that, you know, there are disagreements and it's okay and it's

probably right many times for us to disagree. There's lots of wrong, you know, ways for us to disagree, wrong times and wrong things to disagree over. But to also acknowledge that there are good disagreements and it's okay and we can work together and love one another even though we disagree. But Paul and Barnabas, what they do is they go on the missionary trip that they talked about

But Barnabas takes John Mark and he sails to Cyprus. So Antioch is their home church. And so they kind of split up and they now are going different directions. And Barnabas is on the missionary journey going one way, visiting the churches that they planted there in Cyprus and ministering to the believers there.

And then Paul takes Silas, who came back with them from Jerusalem, and he goes by land up north and around through Tarsus, his hometown in Cilicia, which is that area up there. And so he goes kind of from the back end and goes into the region that way and begins to minister to those who are

beyond Tarsus, there's the churches that they minister to on the first missionary journey. And so they both go about the mission. They both go and do what God called them to do, but they go at it from different directions. And so they've departed now. They've gone. Barnabas has gone this way. Paul has gone this way. And now as we continue on in Acts, we're going to be following Paul on

on this second missionary journey. And so here's a quick overview of what that's going to look like over the next few chapters. Acts chapter 16, 17, and 18 covers about three years and about 2,000 miles of travel for Paul as he works his way across these different regions in sharing the gospel. And

And so that first part you have up on the right is the orange arrows, and that covers the areas that they previously visited on that first missionary journey.

And so he spent some time there. He connected with some of the churches, and we'll see that here in our passage this evening. And then you head into the purple area, and that is the journey into Europe and Greece, and specifically ending up in Corinth, where he spends a lot of time. And these will be familiar names for you, because he ministers in places like Philippi.

And we have in our Bibles the book of Philippians, because that's a letter to the church at Philippi that, you know, was established as Paul is going through there on this missionary journey. And so some of the things that we'll see later on as we get to the epistles and such, you know, relate back to these missionary journeys. There's also a city named Thessalonica.

And we have first and second Thessalonians there in Macedonia, right under Philippi is Thessalonica. And so there's that city that's, you know, a church is established there. Paul ministers there. And then later he writes letters to their people.

And then he moves down south into Athens and then over to Corinth. And of course, we have 1 and 2 Corinthians, and those are written later on after Paul has gone through Corinth on this missionary journey. And he spends about a year and a half in Corinth on this trip. So he kind of camps out there for a good season and spends some time establishing the church and

And then he heads back home. And so the red arrows is that journey back home. He stops in at Ephesus for just a moment. In the next missionary journey, he's going to spend a good amount of time at Ephesus. But then he goes down all the way to Caesarea and then works his way back up to Antioch.

his hometown. And so that's where this is a good quick overview of this second missionary journey. And we're going to see a lot of this unfold actually here in chapter 16 and the few verses we're covering. And then the rest is going to be taken a little bit slower as they go from place to place over in Macedonia and that side of the water there. So as we look at this second missionary journey and the beginnings of it, I've titled the message this evening, Ministry of

has unexpected turns because that map that i just showed you that's not what paul kind of drew out in his mind when he was planning the second missionary trip they talked about you know ministering to the churches that they had already established and so they they did that he went to that region that they had already covered

But he had other plans beyond that. He was going to go a different direction beyond that than he ended up going. And so there was some unexpected turns that took place that happened on this missionary journey as part of God's plan. And that is a part of life, of course, but also a part of ministry. And so important things for us to consider as we seek to serve the Lord, that there's going to be unexpected turns. There's going to be changes. The

The initial idea that we might have launching out into something or serving in some capacity is

Well, it might be a good place for us to start, but it might actually take us to a whole different destination that we had not dreamed or imagined or thought about or feared or worried about either. And so we need to understand that ministry is going to bring unexpected turns. And we'll see that as we work our way through. There's three points we'll talk about this evening. The first one we'll find is in verses 1 through 5, which is what we just read. And that is an encouragement to join the ministry team.

So ministry has unexpected turns, but it's still an exhortation for us to get involved and engage. And I would ask and encourage you this evening to consider your involvement in the work of God and not necessarily, you know, your schedule or your sign up on the schedule of, you know, this ministry or that ministry, but what are you doing for the kingdom of God? And that's what I really...

referred to when I'm talking about ministry. It's serving the Lord and being involved in the kingdom work. And what does that look like for you? And are you part of that ministry team? And you know, sometimes we might count ourselves out. And so I would put it this way. Maybe the unexpected turn in ministry for you is that you have a part and you have a role. And we see Timothy here become kind of the unexpected part

member of the team. As Paul launched out with Silas, he didn't have a plan to enlist new people. And you could see as he goes forward, he's not enlisting people from everywhere he goes, but there was this connection. There was this young man, Timothy, and now he becomes part of the team. And as we talk about ministry as a team or joining the ministry team, I like that. I

I like that visualization. Like we talked about a few weeks back, the body and how we have the different members. And that is part of it. We all are engaged in the work of God and the way that he's called us to be so that we can achieve what God has set before us. And so we can get the touchdown or make the shot or get the goal or whatever it is. We can be involved and engaged in each member of the team doing their part in the body of Christ.

And so picking it up in verse 1, it says, Now this is, again, the region. These are cities that he visited on that first missionary journey. Commentators have speculated. William Barclay, for one, thinks it's about five years since his first time there. So, you know, he was there about five years ago. He established some churches. You might remember in Lystra, that's where Paul was executed by stoning. And so, you know, he was there about five years ago.

You know, there's some serious memories there. There was some serious ministry and persecution that took place. But now, five years later, they've come back. And verse 1 tells us, And so now we're introduced to Timothy.

Timothy. And this is kind of a monumental occasion because Timothy has a very special relationship with Paul as this trip unfolds and throughout the rest of Paul's life. And you'll see Timothy with Paul for the majority of his travels. You'll see Timothy trusted by Paul as he, you know, writes different letters. He speaks really highly of Timothy in Philippians chapter 2.

Later on, when he writes to the church at Philippi, he says, I have nobody like Timothy. Everybody else with me, you know, they're good, but Timothy is like-minded. He's going to care for you like nobody else does. I have nobody else like Timothy.

When he writes to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, he calls Timothy his beloved son or his beloved and faithful son in the Lord. And so there's this connection. There's this really, you know, intimate relationship that they have, this close connection that they have as they go forward from here. And so it wasn't, again, expected. It wasn't planned. But as Paul is there, he's

There's this disciple, Timothy, and Paul recognizes there's something about this guy. There's something about the connection that we have here and what God wants to do. And so he now is going to be enlisting Timothy into this missionary trip.

Later on, we'll see letters written to Timothy as well. First and second Timothy are written by Paul to this guy, Timothy, when he is ministering in Ephesus. And so it's a very big meeting, a very big occasion here that happens as there's this disciple named Timothy. Now, Timothy, we also know, is a product of Paul's ministry. And that's one of the reasons why Paul refers to him as a son in the Lord, not just because he traveled with him, but it is...

very likely that he is a believer and he is walking with the Lord as a direct result of the ministry of Paul on his first missionary trip. In 2 Timothy 1, verse 5, Paul, writing to Timothy, says,

And so here's a little bit of speculation, but, you know, just to kind of entertain your imagination for a moment. As Paul is there going through Lystra and Derbe the first time,

Timothy's grandmother gets saved, his grandmother Lois. And she is there, you know, hearing the message from Paul and Barnabas and responding to it. She is a Jew and she believes in God, but now she believes in Jesus. And now she has brought on her daughter, Eunice, and she has become a believer also. And

Timothy is believed to be very young. Again, this is in chapter 16. It's probably about five years or so after when Paul was first there. And so, you know, Timothy would have probably been...

Again, just kind of guesstimating and speculating, but in his teens. And so as his mother and grandmother become believers, now he is being taught not just the scriptures from the Jewish perspective, but he's being taught in the things of the Lord. And while Paul is gone, he's, you know, being educated in the things of Christ and growing up really in the faith of

During this time that Paul was gone. And so there was these connections. It was a direct result of that first missionary journey. That Timothy is now walking with the Lord. And there's this growth. And there's this development. And now as Paul comes back. Here he is. This guy Timothy. He wasn't the only guy there. He wasn't the only one. But this guy Timothy.

but there was something special about this connection. And so now Paul is going to enlist him into this trip. Now it's interesting because it comes right after Paul and Barnabas just split over bringing in, you know, a young guy, John Mark, on the missionary trip. And so what's the difference here? Why is Paul so ready to bring on Timothy and he was so reluctant to bring John Mark with him? Well,

There's a few things I'd like to highlight from this passage about Timothy, which makes him a really good candidate, and he has some really good qualities for ministry. And I want to highlight these things for us to consider for ourselves so that we are like Timothy and ready to be part of the ministry team, ready to be part of the work that God wants to do.

You know, it's often been said that the thing that God is looking for is not your abilities, but your availability, right? And I've shared with you before, I think part of being available is not just, you know, hey, my phone's on and you can call me, but it's being prepared and ready ahead of time. And so these are qualities in Timothy that as we look to accomplish these things and work on these things in our lives, it can help us to be prepared for the work that God wants to do

Around the corner, we don't know about it yet, but we need to get ready now and prepare our character right now. And so here's a couple things from the text that we can note about Timothy. Number one, he had a serious commitment to follow Jesus. Verse one calls him a disciple of Jesus. And so we'll see that in just a moment. And then secondly, he had a good reputation in the church. And we'll see that in verse two. And then he was willing to sacrifice himself.

And that's found in verse 3. So first of all, he had a serious commitment to follow Jesus. It describes him as a disciple there in verse 1. A certain disciple was there named Timothy.

Now, a disciple, biblically, is, you know, it's a specific word. It means a learner or a student, and we talked about it a few weeks back, that it's something more than just, you know, I'm interested in what this guy's saying. I'm interested in what he's taught. I know his teachings. But a disciple is one who takes on the character and the nature and follows the example of the teacher, right?

And so as Timothy is described as a disciple, he has made a serious commitment to follow Jesus. He is committed to the teachings of Christ and living out the truth, living out the character and the nature of Christ that he has been taught. And so he has this commitment. And

as we talk about being involved in ministry and being part of the ministry team, this is first and this is foremost. We must have a serious commitment to follow Jesus. We must have a willingness to be connected with him at all costs and that he's first and foremost in our lives. That is the most important thing. Really, you could lump this into, you know, what are the two greatest commandments? Love God and then love your neighbor, right? Well, ministry is loving your neighbor and

It's part of loving God too, but you get what I'm saying here. Loving God is still first. It's still the greatest. And that commitment to follow the Lord and walk with the Lord still needs to be first and foremost. And Timothy was a man who had this character. He had this quality.

He was in a real relationship with Jesus Christ. He was a disciple of Jesus Christ. And I would encourage us to consider that for our own selves. Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ? And not just do you know what he said or do you believe that he died upon the cross, but do you follow, do you model your life after the life of Christ?

Jesus made it clear in Luke chapter 14 that there is a serious cost to being a disciple, that there's a serious requirement. There's a pretty heavy standard that comes with being a disciple.

In Luke 14, 26, he says, And Jesus said, That's the only way that you can be a disciple.

Jesus also went on to say, if you don't bear your cross and come after him, you cannot be a disciple. And then he also went on to say, if you do not forsake all that you have, you cannot be my disciple. And so joining the ministry team is, you know, it's more than just, you know, signing up and putting your name on the light the night list and saying, all right, you know, I'll serve as security or I'll cook some food or, you know, that kind of thing.

But it really means, hey, I'm going to be committed to follow Jesus, to listen to him, to walk with him, to hear from him, to obey him, that I'm going to put him first in my life. And that's a quality, that's a characteristic that we all need to have. We need to be disciples. We need to be drawing near to the Lord and serious in our commitment to follow him. Well, that's not all Timothy had. That resulted in a good reputation in the church. Check out verse 2.

It says he was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. So Timothy not only was a disciple and not only, you know, was there and committed to the Lord, but the result of that commitment to the Lord and that, you know, relationship that he had with God overflowed in his life so that he had a good reputation in the church.

And so he was spoken well of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. These are two neighboring cities. And so they were familiar with Timothy. They said, oh yeah, we know Timothy. Yeah, yeah. He, you know, he comes here and he's just faithful to minister to us. He's faithful to just represent Christ. And he had a good reputation. He had demonstrated that he was walking with the Lord.

And so our commitment to walk with the Lord, our serious commitment from, you know, the first part, it will overflow. It will then be demonstrated with, well, our relationship with people around us. And so many times people want to be part of the work of God, but they don't have a good reputation amongst their brothers and sisters in the Lord. I would ask you to consider, do you want to be part of the work of God?

Do you want to have an eternal impact in the lives of, well, people that God has placed around you for the kingdom of God? Do you want to have an impact in their life? But that can't happen if we're destroying the relationships that we have or showing and demonstrating that we don't really have a relationship with the Lord. As we walk with the Lord, it's not that, you know, we're going to be perfect, but there's going to be a good reputation that goes along with that.

Now understand, a good reputation doesn't mean a perfect reputation. That's not saying, you know, Timothy, we've never heard him say a bad word ever, Paul. I mean, that's pretty impressive, right? Most everybody else, they say bad words, but we never heard Timothy say it. It doesn't mean that Timothy never, I'm not suggesting Timothy did. I don't know if he did, but here's the thing that I want to say. If he did, then he modeled repentance, right?

If Timothy, which he did, he was sinful just like the rest of us, right? So he did blow his witness. He did mess up in his relationships with others. He did. But see, the thing that we need to understand is that we're going to do that. We're going to mess up in front of people. We're going to, you know, do things that, well, are worthy of a bad reputation.

But then we have to go make things right and demonstrate and model repentance. And we can have a good reputation even in the midst of our failures because, well, we are then having a reputation of repenting. We have a reputation then of making things right, of getting things right. But, you know, in ministry, in, you know, serving at church or serving in things that are part of the work of God, the kingdom of God,

There's a lot of times where there's people who want to get involved, but, you know, they've got all these conflicts with people around them, and they've burned bridges, and they're offending people, and they're causing problems, and there's all this ruckus between people, and it really becomes a distraction to the work of ministry. It's not appropriate. It's not good. It's not a good quality for someone who's going to be part of the ministry team. And so I want to encourage us to consider, do you have a good reputation? Do you have a good reputation?

Do people speak well of you, not because you've convinced them of something, you're something you're not, but because, well, you've been walking with the Lord and you've blown it. But when you've blown it, you've also repented and you've, you know, demonstrated that and modeled that and made things right. It's really part of our character. And again, you know, talking about availability, this is more important than our talents, than our resources, than what we think we have to offer.

Having a good reputation in the church is an important part of us and our effectiveness in the work of the kingdom of God because it involves our relationship with our brothers and sisters. And again, we are a body. We're united together. We're a team. We work together. And so we have to be able to work together to be able to work together. There has to be those good relationships that come out of our good relationship with the Lord.

And so being part of the ministry team means that we have a serious commitment to follow Jesus. It means that we have a good reputation in the church. And then thirdly, it means that we're willing to sacrifice. And maybe your sacrifice won't be as painful as his. But verse 3 tells us, Paul wanted to have him go on with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek."

So here's an interesting situation. Paul sees this guy Timothy. He's got a good reputation. He's got a good walk with Jesus. He's like, I want this guy on the trip with me. There's great potential here. God has a call in his life. I mean, this guy, you know, is going to be used mightily of the Lord. And so Paul wanted to have him go on with him. Again, it's an interesting contrast between last week with John Mark, you know, where he refused. No way, I'm not letting John Mark come. But here,

he's, you know, kind of just as much insisting, Timothy, you need to come with us. You need to be part of this work that is going on. And so first things first, Timothy, I have a great idea for you to get involved in ministry. Let's get you circumcised. Now the timing for this is interesting too, because again, chapter 15 largely deals with the subject of circumcision. Whether or not Gentiles have to become Jews in order to be Christians. And

In order to get right with God. And the conclusion there in Acts chapter 15 was, no, they don't. We as believers are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, not by rituals, not by rights, and not by the old covenant.

And Paul is, you know, the prominent figure in this fight, fighting for, you know, hey, no, we are saved by grace. That he's the one who took this fight down to Jerusalem and said, no, we need to deal with this because this isn't right. Look what God has done. And it's not about circumcision. It's not about the old covenant any longer. And so here is the one who has been, you know, demonstrating and declaring, hey, circumcision is not a requirement. And now first thing he does with Timothy is he gets him circumcised.

So what is going on here? Why is Paul kind of going backwards in this thinking? Well, of course, he's not going backwards. In chapter 15, we were talking about circumcision as a requirement for salvation. And so that's what Paul was fighting against. That's what Paul was dealing with. But now as we talk about this in verse 3, this circumcision is not a matter of, all right, Timothy, you're doing really good. You're almost saved.

And so we need to take this next step to make sure you're fully saved. Now notice what it says. It says he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. Why did Paul circumcise him? Because he needed to be saved? No. Because of the ministry opportunity, he was circumcised. Because...

Not being circumcised would limit his ability to minister to the Jews in that region because they all knew his father was Greek. His father was a Gentile. His mom was a Jew, but his father was a Gentile. Everybody knew that. And for the Jew, that was a big deal.

For the Jew, they would know, hey, well, you weren't raised, you know, in the things of Judaism and you weren't circumcised. That's our, you know, identifying mark. That's the covenant that God made with us. And there would be a severe limitation for Timothy, but then also for Paul associated with Timothy, ministering to the Jews in that region because they all knew his father was Greek. And so here's Timothy. He has a serious walk with the Lord. It's resulted in a good reputation.

And it's resulted in a heart that says, you know what? I'm willing to suffer. I'm going to go through some pain to enable me to have a better opportunity to minister to people. And this reflects a really good heart for ministry, a willingness to sacrifice so that there would be an open door, a willingness to go through suffering, to go through pain. Later on,

In Romans, Paul's going to talk about restricting himself in freedoms that he has. He talks about this in Corinthians as well, that he doesn't partake of these things in certain occasions. He withholds rights that he has, for example, rights of receiving support from the ministry so that he could continue the ministry he provided for himself. He would put himself in that kind of situation to suffer, to sacrifice himself

for the sake of the ministry. And when it comes to ministry, you know, so many times we approach ministry with a heart that is not there as far as sacrifice is concerned.

We approach ministry because we want to feel good about something. We approach ministry because we know that there's a need. We approach ministry because we feel obligated. We approach ministry because we want the limelight or we want attention. We can approach ministry for all kinds of various reasons that are not of God. But one essential element of real ministry is a willingness to sacrifice, a willingness to pay the price and to suffer in order to do good.

what God's called you to do. So we are going to implement a new requirement this year for light the night. You have to go through a painful operation first, and then you can serve. And it's just going to be, you know, Harvey out there serving all by himself because he's the only one who's willing to sacrifice. But you know, it's interesting when we have requirements, when we have needs, when it gets really difficult, it's hard to find people that are willing to sacrifice, that are willing to

You know, well, I thought I was going to get to do everything that I wanted to do that was easy and fun and not be hard and not have to sweat and not have to work around my schedule and not have to deal with things. But that's not the reality and that's not the heart of ministry. And so Timothy here, he demonstrates this willingness to sacrifice. He's in it for good reasons. He's willing, hey, if it's going to cost me some pain and suffering so that I can minister to these people, then that's worth it. I will do that.

And it's a good heart for us to learn from Timothy. It's a good check for us to reevaluate and consider, what am I doing these things for? And am I willing to sacrifice? And what am I going to do when it gets hard? If you're in it for the glory, if you're in it for good feelings, if you're in it for prestige, it's all the wrong reasons. And you're not going to last long because ministry is going to require sacrifice. And so the team now is assembled. It was unexpected. They weren't planning to

add this person to the team, but here is this guy that God knew he's a necessary part of the work that I want to do. And so he's prepared. He's ready. He's available. Why is he available? Because he had a serious commitment to follow Jesus, and he had a good reputation in the church, and he was willing to sacrifice. Remember on the first missionary journey, there was persecution in every city, every city, every city, every city. In fact,

Timothy was from Lystra where Paul was stoned to death, right? I mean, he knew what he was getting into. This is going to be a sacrifice. There's, you know, maybe a loss of life. This is going to be serious threats to my life. And so that was what he knew as he went into it, as he went for it. But he was willing to sacrifice. He was willing to count the cost. And so now you have the team. Paul,

with Silas, now Timothy. Later on, we'll see Luke join them as well. And this team is going to be a powerful team used by God to accomplish great things for the kingdom of God. Well, it begins in verse 4. It says, "...as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily."

Now as the team is assembled, Timothy is part of the team. Now they're working their way through the churches. This was the original plan, right? Paul and Barnabas talked and said, hey, let's go back to the churches and strengthen them and see how they're doing. And so that's what they're doing.

And the result is good. Now, there's not a lot of detail given. We don't know, you know, how many stops did they make and how many times did they, you know, meet with people and how many church services did they attend? We don't know that, but it just gives the impression. They covered the whole area. They went where all the churches were, where all the places they had gone before, and the churches were strengthened in the faith. Now, as this team is assembled,

Paul, Silas, and Timothy, each doing their part, each doing, you know, what God has designed them to do there within the work. And the result is the churches are being strengthened and there's growth. They're being established in the Lord and they're going from place to place, accomplishing the ministry that God has set before them. And so ministry has unexpected turns. And maybe one of those turns is your involvement in

in various things that God wants to do. And again, the saying is that God is more interested in your availability than your ability. And that is absolutely true. And this is how to be available. And so I would encourage you to really take some serious consideration of these three things. Do you have a serious commitment to follow Jesus? Are you really passionate about the Lord and

Is it a priority in your life to hear from him, to walk with him? Is that demonstrated in your life by the good reputation you have with the brothers and sisters around you, that you have good fellowship, you have good connections, that it's demonstrated and that you've proven that character by walking with the Lord for enough time that people have observed, yes, there is that solid relationship with the Lord. There's a good reputation within the church. And then are you willing to sacrifice?

And this is an important one for us to check our hearts. These are the things that we can work on. We can't determine what God wants to do with our lives. We can't determine what ministry, you know, that we really are called to be a part of, but we can work on our character to be available to God.

for whatever God would bring before us and whatever opportunity that God would bring us. But I don't know about you, but I want to be part of the work that God wants to do. And so these are things I want to consider and allow God to continue to work in my life so that I'll be prepared to join the ministry team. Well, moving on to the second point is found in verses 6 through 12. Point number two is let God direct the ministry. Now, as we go forward into verse 6, we're heading into new territory, right?

So up to this point, they've just been going over the regions that Paul and Barnabas visited in the first missionary trip. But now there's going to be something new, and it's not going to be as they expected. Verse 6. Now, when they had gone to Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.

So they get to kind of the edge of where they had gone before. And now, as they're looking to go into Asia, the Holy Spirit forbids them. And so here's what that looks like. I'm going to walk through some of the geography here in this chapter. So again, the orange arrows, that's where, you know, Paul and Silas went. They picked up Timothy. They ministered to those areas where they had already been. But then now the red section, now the red arrow is like, okay, now we're going out to

And they attempt to go into Asia, but God says, you know, roadblock. No, you can't go this way. And it's really interesting to me. It says they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. I mean, if you think about that, you know, that's interesting to consider, right? Because what is the mission of the church?

It's to preach the word, preach the gospel everywhere. That's the great commission, right? Jesus said, go into all the earth except for Asia and preach the gospel. That's not what he said, right? In Matthew 28, he said, go to the ends of the earth and preach the gospel. Make disciples, teach them to observe all the things that I've commanded you. That's the mandate for the church. That's the mandate for believers in general to bring the gospel to all the world.

But not everybody has the call to bring the gospel to every area. Again, being part of a team, being part of the body of Christ also means that, well, God has different people that he's assigned different tasks and different parts in the work of the kingdom of God. And so here, Paul is learning. He's figuring out. He doesn't know this ahead of time. He's going down the five on his way to Bakersfield. And God gives him a flat tire and says, nope, you're not going to Bakersfield.

The Holy Spirit forbid them to enter in. The great commentator Ironside says, was not the gospel for Asia as well as for every other part of the world? He says, yes, but there is often a specific time for a certain work to be done. And the spirit of God saw that the time had not yet come to enter Asia. Now, later on, Paul's going to enter Asia. Ephesus is part of Asia. Now, by the way, when I'm talking about Asia, we're talking about Asia Minor, right?

This is a region there in the way that the Roman Empire had kind of broken up the different regions. And so it's not the continent of Asia. It's actually part of the continent of Asia, but that's a whole other story. But so anyways, we're talking about this little region on the north part of the Mediterranean Sea. And so God says, no. Preaching the word's a good thing, right? I mean, that's what we're called to do. But when Paul wanted to do that, God said, no.

I think that's really important and some really interesting lessons there. But let's talk about verse 7 first, and then we'll come back to that. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So they try to go into Asia. It's a roadblock. God says no. So now, okay, well, let's regroup. Let's replan. Okay, we can't go into Asia. Let's go into Bithynia. Now, Bithynia was the northern area from where they were.

And so, okay, we can't go south into Asia. Let's go north into Bithynia. And there we're going to preach the gospel. But again, it says the Holy Spirit did not permit them. The Holy Spirit said no. Now, did God want the gospel to go to Bithynia? Absolutely he did. And in fact, he would bring the gospel to Bithynia. But that wasn't for Paul to do. And this is what I think is really interesting and important for us to consider.

I'll say it this way. Nobody can do every good thing that comes to their mind. That's not God's will for you, to do every good thing that comes to your mind. Your plan to go to Asia, your plan to go to Bithynia, they may or may not be God's plans, even though it's a good thing, even though it's something that God wants for that area, you know? And so many times we can look at things and enter into things because we think it's a good idea. We know it's something God wants. So we

I'm supposed to be part of it. You know, it's something I want to do. But that is not necessarily the case. Some really good and very needful things, God doesn't want you to be part of them. And we need to be open to that. Now, it's not that God wanted this team to do nothing, but he was going to be working out a very specific direction for them.

And so he had to say no to these other things so that they would be ready and available for the work that he wanted to do over across the sea in Macedonia and then down into Greece and Achaia and that area. And that's an important lesson. I really, you know, would encourage, I get a little bit concerned when I, you know, see people saying yes to too many things, just talking, just kind of practically here at the church.

yes, I'll be involved in this ministry and that ministry and that ministry and that ministry, and I'm going to be here eight, seven times a week, you know, and I'll be here for everything, and I'll commit to everything, and I'll be a part of everything, and I love, I appreciate the gung-ho, I appreciate the passion, I appreciate the fervor, and if that's what God's called you to, great. But also understand that there's real great value in saying no so that you can be focused on where God wants you to be. There's a lot of good things that you should say no to, right?

There's a lot of great things that you should not be a part of because God wants you to be involved in the specific things that he's called you to. Now, some people, God's called them to be part of all kinds of things and to be, you know, spread thin across a variety of things. And if that's what the Lord has said, if that's what the Holy Spirit has led, then great. But

But we need to make sure and double check our hearts and make sure this is of the Lord. This is the Spirit's leading and not just good ideas that need to be done, but that God hasn't specifically called us to. And so Paul experiences this. He tries to go into Asia. It's a good idea. Needed. He tries to go to Bithynia. It's a good idea. It's needed. He wants to go there, but the Holy Spirit says no.

Now, there's always an interesting discussion around this of how did the Holy Spirit forbid this? What method, what manner did he use to prevent Paul from going into Asia or Bithynia?

And the reality of the answer is we don't know. There's lots of possibilities. You know, the Holy Spirit might have just spoken to Paul. He might have, and I don't know if you've experienced this, but I've experienced this, where there's things that I want to do, and the Holy Spirit speaks to my heart, and I have this, you know, strong impression and conviction from the Lord. As much as you want to do that, you can't do that. And so maybe Paul had that. Maybe Silas had that. Maybe Timothy had that. As they were working as a team, we don't know.

It might have been circumstances. It might have just been, you know, the roads were closed. There was no opportunity that as much as they wanted to, it wasn't actually possible. You know, maybe they ran out of money and they were, you know, trying to hitch a ride and nobody was going that direction. You know, circumstances might have prevented it. One of those things that has many times been speculated about regarding this is that Paul's health might have been the circumstances that

the Holy Spirit forbidding them to enter into these regions. Later on, when Paul writes to the churches of Galatia, he says, hey, you guys know when I first came there, I wasn't healthy and, you

You know, there was all this, you know, trouble that I was having physically, this ailment that I was experiencing, and you guys wanted to gouge out your eyes to give it to me if that would help, you know, and so we don't know exactly what kind of health issue that Paul had, but he had something going on, and there's lots of, you know, ideas about what that might have been, but health-wise, it might have just been not possible for Paul to go to certain areas of

and understand that time is passing as he's trying to go to Asia. This is 100 miles or so that he's traveling. This isn't just whether you get off at one on-ramp or the next on-ramp or off-ramp. Time is passing here, so maybe it's health-related. He wanted to go, but he's in bed. He can't go.

And, you know, through that, the Holy Spirit's telling him, no, that, yeah, you're not supposed to go. And so then he gets better and he goes, okay, well, let's go to Bithynia. And then he gets sick again. And God says, yeah, see, you know, I don't want you to go there. And so it could be, it's possible that that's what happened. We don't know exactly how the Holy Spirit spoke, but the Holy Spirit spoke.

And that's important. We need to let God direct the ministry. Let God direct what you're a part of. Let God direct what you do and how involved you are and the things that you're engaged in. But Paul is a good example in a variety of ways in that he pushed forward and tried new things and was seeking to do ministry that was on his heart. Because there's another danger that we can have sometimes in approaching ministry. It's not saying yes to everything necessarily, but sometimes it's just sitting there doing nothing and

Well, I'm waiting. Go ahead, Lord. Give me some ministry. And you're not moving. You're just sitting there. You're not doing it. You're not trying anything. You're not signing up for anything. You're not, you know, attempting. You're not looking forward. You're not testing out different things. You're just sitting there. And that's not what Paul was doing. He was, I want to minister. He was, in a sense, aggressive in that. I want to be part of this. I want to go forward. I want to bring forth the gospel, but not in a way where he didn't allow God to say no.

And so sometimes we can just kind of be barreling through, you know, just like, I insist, I'm stubborn. Don't force it. Let God direct the ministry, but be doing stuff and be getting engaged and trying out and exploring what might God want you to do in his kingdom. Because one thing we know for sure is that God has a part for every believer in his work in his kingdom. There is a role for you to play. There's gifts of the spirit that you have. There's a work that God has for you.

You got to find it out. And sometimes it's by trial and error. Let's try to go to Asia. Let's try to go to Bithynia. Let's try this. Let's try that. Nope, nope, nope. And so we have to be willing to let the Lord shut things down when he wants to shut them down. But we have to be willing to try things and let God shut them down and let God redirect us as he sees fit. So he's been shut down twice. And so he decides, well, I'm just going to pack my bags and go back home to Antioch. No, that's not what he does. Okay, can't go south.

Can't go north. We came from the east. What other option is there? West. And so verse 8. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And so can't go south to Asia. Can't go north to Bithynia. So let's just go west. And they end up at Troas right there on the coast.

And so the Lord has brought them here to this point. This isn't chance. This isn't coincidence. This isn't, you know, this is God's design. He closed doors. He shut things down. And now by force, they end up at Troas. In verse 9, it says, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us.

Verse 10. Now when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. Now God gives them a vision, or he gives Paul a vision, and he gives them some real clarity. Paul, you've been doing really good, man. You've been trying to go to Asia. You've been trying to go to Bithynia. You've been trying to preach the gospel. You've been trying to explore new boundaries and go forward in what I've called you to. Good job.

And good job not giving up when I've shut you down a couple times. Now I'm going to give you some clarity. Now it's interesting to think about that, right? Because God could have given the vision before they even tried to go to Asia, right? He could have given the vision before they tried to go to Bithynia. All that to say, sometimes God wants us to try things. He wants us to push forward. He could tell us sooner. He could. Absolutely. But

Being led by the Spirit and allowing the Lord to say no is just as much a part of the process. Closed doors are just as much God's leading as open doors are. And coming against those doors and coming to terms with that and accepting and understanding what God has called us to, that's part of the process. It's part of the way that God gives us clear direction and specific direction.

And so now he has this vision, the call to Macedonia for help. And it says, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia. All right, now we know where to go. Now we're making a beeline. We're just kind of wandering for a bit like, well, you know, we couldn't go there. We couldn't go there. Like, where do you want us to go? But now we know. Okay, so, you know, we're not dilly-dallying. Let's go. Verse 11. Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis.

And from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. So now they make their way across the Aegean Sea to the northern city there, Philippi. A very important and prominent city there.

And lots of details I'm not going to get into. But so there they are now in Philippi. Now they've arrived in this region that God has called them to. And now they're going to get the opportunity to minister. But they've come here by letting God direct the ministry. It's not the route that Paul planned.

But the Lord shut doors, and that was just as much God's leading as open doors. The shut doors in Asia and Bithynia were just as much God's leading as the vision that called them to Macedonia. It's part of the way that God works. And so we need to be okay with that. We need to acknowledge that. It's okay. There's that fear of failure that we have sometimes, so we don't try anything. And then if we try something and it doesn't work,

We think, oh man, I must have just been crazy or whacked or just out of it or just give up is kind of our conclusion sometimes. But that's part of the process and God's gonna take you through some things. And finding your role in the body of Christ, finding your spiritual gifts, a lot of times it's like this. It's try this, try that and see what develops and see what happens. And the process of trying that oftentimes is part of the way that God is going to bring clarity to his call in your life.

Well, moving on, verses 13 through 15, we'll finish it up with point number three. Minister to whomever you find. Again, ministry has unexpected turns. And so you need to let God direct you. As we're part of the ministry team, we need to let God lead. We need to be led by the Holy Spirit. And that means sometimes, that means many times,

The ministry that we're involved in is not what we imagined it would look like. It's not what we pictured it being when we first set out to do it. Verse 13. And on the Sabbath day, we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. So here in Philippi, we learned that there was not a large Jewish presence because there was no synagogue.

And their custom was when there was 10 Jewish men in a city, they would establish a synagogue where they would meet and study the scriptures and pray and all of that. But there apparently wasn't 10 Jewish men in the city. And so they met. What they would typically do when there was not a synagogue is they would find a nice kind of natural place by a river perhaps. And the Jews would meet there for prayer and the things that they would do at the synagogue. Okay.

But here they are. There's no large Jewish presence. Paul's practice, right, was to go into each area. He would minister to the Jews first in the synagogues and then go out and overflow into the Gentiles from there. But this is a different situation. It's not what they were used to. It's not what they were accustomed to, right? And they were probably expecting the man from the vision that called them there. Paul said, or, you know, Paul spoke to Paul and said, hey, come to Macedonia and help us.

But the man from the vision wasn't there. It was these ladies meeting by the riverside. But notice what happens. It says, we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. So they sat down and they preached the gospel. They brought forth the good news to this group of ladies there by the river. They ministered to the people that were in front of them. It wasn't what they expected. It wasn't what they imagined.

You could probably consider for the Apostle Paul, this demonstrates a real transformation in his life. He came from the Pharisee background, and the Pharisees traditionally would pray, God, thank you that I'm not a dog, I'm not a Gentile, and I'm not a woman. That was their prayer. That wasn't biblical, but that was Pharisaical, right? But that's where he came from.

They didn't have much regard. They didn't have much regard for the ladies, but here they are ministering to the ladies. And they're just ministering to whoever's in front of them. It wasn't what they expected. It wasn't what they planned. It wasn't what they thought. But they ministered to the people that God had set in front of them. And that's an important thing. God is going to use unique situations and unique settings and different people to minister to different people.

And so here's Paul, Silas, and Timothy ministering to this group of ladies. Now, in our church culture, it's kind of taboo, you know, for men to minister to women and women to minister to men. You know, I typically don't teach the women's Bible study. Kim usually teaches it. But understand that in the bigger scope, there's no problem with ministry taking place between men and women. And, you know, obviously, okay, I got to be careful here. So obviously...

Everything needs to be decent and in order. Everything needs to be above reproach. But, you know, don't limit yourself. In public settings, listen, girls, if God puts on your heart to minister to a guy, you minister to a guy. I don't mean take him off by himself and then you disciple him. In public settings, if God tells you to pray for somebody, then you pray for them. And if God tells you to speak a word of exhortation, then you speak a word of exhortation.

And guys, in public settings, if the Lord puts someone in front of you and there is that need and that opportunity to minister, then it's not a law that men minister to men and women minister to women. It's a good principle. It's very wise, but it's not a law. And so here we have the example of Paul ministering to the ladies in a public setting in a way that there is no, you know, opportunity for, you know, that kind of reproach. But

but a willingness to just minister to, well, hey, if God said someone next to you and you weren't expecting that and you wouldn't typically minister to those kinds of people, but that's the person that God brought to you.

Well, let's go verse 14. Now, a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us. So notice what happened in verse 14. It tells us the Lord opened her heart.

The Lord opened her heart. See, God is orchestrating all of this. Closing doors here, closing doors there, leading Paul, giving him vision, bringing him over. And then here's this woman that the Lord knows he's ready and he's prepared her. And now he has opened her heart and she is there to receive the gospel. It wasn't their plan, but it was his plan.

He has orchestrated this. And so now there's this woman, Lydia, who has become a believer in Jesus. Her eternity has changed forever different because of this work that God has done. Well, it gives us some detail about her. She was a seller of purple.

We also know from this that she was a Gentile. So she wasn't a Jew. She was a seller of purple, which means that she was upper class because purple was the most expensive type of clothing that was possible in those days. So, you know, think of, I don't know, Armani or that's the extent of expensive clothes I know. Think of Kohl's, you know, Target, whatever.

It's more expensive than Walmart. And so, you know, no, she was upper class. This is probably not who Paul expected to minister to, but this is who God brought him all this way to connect with. Now he wasn't done. God had more stuff in store for him, but you understand that God has arranged this meeting and God uses some kind, sometimes those interesting pairings. It's so easy for us to think, well, I can't minister to young people because I'm an old person.

or i can't minister to old people because i'm a young person but you know god uses old people sometimes we think god needs young people to minister to young people and that's great you know ministry among peers is good and can be a great blessing but it's definitely not the only way that god works or even the primary way that god works god wants to use you to minister to different kinds of people than who you are different age groups different backgrounds different nationalities

different social class, perhaps, different economic status. He uses young to minister to the old and vice versa, physical age and spiritual age. Sometimes we think, well, I can't minister to that person because they've been walking with the Lord for ages. And I've just, you know, been walking with the Lord for a short time. You know, that doesn't matter. God uses young and old to minister to each other. And so minister to who God puts in front of you, whomever you find.

And we'll pick up from there the next time as we continue on in chapter 16 and see the continued ministry that happens in Philippi. But here to wrap up this evening, ministry has unexpected turns. And I just want to encourage you to be part of that. It's a, there's a lot of surprises when you're serving the Lord. There's a lot of things that, you know, you're going to be shocked by. You're not going to expect. God does things differently every time. Even if you go on, you know,

Like Paul's original vision, let's go back and minister to the people that we already ministered to. Let's repeat that mission trip. And God says, I'm going to change it up a little bit. It's not going to be exactly the same. All right, let's go to new areas. Okay, but not that area and not that area. He's going to mix things up. It's an adventure to be part of the work of God. It's going to be exciting. It's going to be surprising. And it's going to be worth it. And so I would encourage you to join the ministry team.

Get involved, get engaged in the work of God, be available. And that means that you have a serious commitment to follow Jesus. It means that you have a good reputation in the church and that you're willing to sacrifice. Make sure that your heart is right with the Lord in seeking to minister and to be part of the kingdom of God. And then let God direct the ministry.

Let him shut those doors. Don't let that frustrate you so much. I know it can be really tough. It can be really difficult. We really wanted things to be different, but shut doors are just as much God's leading as open doors. Let God direct the ministry. Let God direct you. And so if Cisco says, no, you can't serve in Spanish ministry, don't get so upset about it. You can stick around in English and God will use you here. If you want to go this way, you want to go that way. You want to start this, you want to start that. And the doors are shut.

You can take that in life in general as well. When God shuts doors in your life, it's just as much his leading as open doors. And so we can stop being so frustrated about it and seek to find out what open doors God has set before us.

And then I would encourage you to minister to whomever you find. And that brings us to our closing time this evening. Kim's going to come up and lead us in a closing song. And we want to give the opportunity just to put into practice some of the things that God has been speaking to us this evening. And I would encourage you in this last closing song that you would join the ministry team.

And that is, as we've been doing on Wednesday nights, we want to give you the opportunity, the freedom, to minister to one another in this last song. And that might take the form of an encouragement, moving something that the Holy Spirit's put upon your heart for somebody else. And I would encourage you, any time during the song, just go talk to that person. Go share that with them. Maybe it's a prayer.

that, you know, the Lord, you just want to pray together. Maybe you pray for you or pray for them, however the Lord leads. Maybe there's a scripture that God's placed upon your heart and there's just that burden that, you know, you know you need to share. And I would encourage you to think outside the box and don't just minister to the person you normally minister to or would always minister to, but maybe God wants you to minister to somebody else.

Maybe God wants you to do something different and encourage someone else and be part of the work in a different way than you expected. Ministry has unexpected turns. And so I would encourage you to take a chance this evening. Be part of the team. Minister to someone else in here tonight. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.