Leading of the Spirit - Acts 16.6-12 (Sermon)

49 days ago, we celebrated Easter. Today is the day of Pentecost. This day, about 1980 years ago, give or take, the church was born. The people who had come or stayed in Jerusalem from the Passover were now witnesses to this great and monumental event.  It started with the rushing wind, though there was no wind. Then the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles, as tongues of flame. He then enabled them to communicate the Gospel message to everyone listening in his or her native language.

Can you imagine what that would have been like? 3,000 people came to know the Lord that day. 3,000 people repenting of their sins and being clothed into Christ Jesus. No church plant can claim such success! 3,000 that day, with the Scriptures telling us that the Lord was daily, DAILY, adding to those being saved!

I did get ahead a little bit. They heard the initial good news, the masses, after being led by God to where the Apostles were. But not all of them were amazed. They thought that this was a neat parlor trick brought about by too much wine. They scoffed. So Peter then stood up and gave account to what it all meant. He showed them how Jesus was the long awaited Savior of Israel. And that this is the same Jesus that the crowd had 50 days prior, called to be crucified. But the good news is that Jesus did die and was buried, but he conquered death to pay our sin debt to God, our Heavenly Father. He continued that in order to become right with God, they would need to do two things: Repent and be immersed into Christ for not only the forgiveness of our sins, but also to receive the Holy Spirit.

We forget that last part, too often. Oh, we know in our heads that when we are immersed, we receive the Holy Spirit, but do we allow that knowledge to affect our hearts and our actions? Or do we tend to continue on with our daily lives paying mind only when we hear or read about the Spirit?

As we continue our journey through the book of Acts, Acts 16 this morning, verses 6-12, we find that Paul is continuing on in his journey having added Timothy, and a few verses later, Luke, our book’s author. Here, we see the Holy Spirit working actively, in a way that hasn’t been seen since Acts 2. Let’s read the text: [Read]

Here we see that Paul has a plan, but the Spirit directs him differently. Then Paul adjusted his plan, only to be denied once again. Finally, the Holy Spirit gives Paul a vision to follow. There are a few lessons here that we should take to heart about the Spirit.

As we know, He is already part of our lives, if we’ve been baptized into Christ Jesus. But are we sensitive to the Holy Spirit? That is something that comes from spending time. Paul, as he is traveling, preaching Christ, has been a Christian to this point perhaps as many as 10 years now. We know that he spoke of going to Arabia for 3 years before going to Jerusalem to meet the Apostles. We also get the sense that he was in Antioch for a number of years. We can’t be sure how much time has passed, but we do know that to this point, Paul is not a new believer. He has developed a spiritual life that allows him to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

We can as well. Paul went into study, spending time with the Lord in prayer, meditation and the Word. I suspect that he looked at the Old Testament with new eyes in his time preparing to meet the Apostles in Jerusalem. We know that he fasted the first days waiting to be healed, he did so again before going out on the first missionary journey with Barnabas and again when he appointed elders in each of the churches they planted. And he fellowshipped with the believers. They became family to him.

Just as Paul did, do we spend time in the Word? We need to spend time in the Word so that by it, we might grow. This was one of the most common problems that Paul dealt with, immature Christians who refused to consider the Word. But looking at the word for understanding isn’t enough. We also need to be able to gather together to encourage one another with the Word. Past few weeks, it seems that through our time of fellowship on Wednesdays has refocused how I viewed passages. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Now I am going to step on some toes here, including my own. Praying to God doesn’t seem to be a problem. I’ve adopted Paul’s advice to the Thessalonians, to have a constant attitude of prayer. But here is where I am weak: the other half is fasting. Its been said that God has never told us to fast as Christians. This is true. There are no commands about it. Paul, Peter, James and John never wrote about this exercise. But what of precedent? We after all meet on Sundays, the first day of the week, because the early church met on the first day of the week, because Christ arose on the first day of the week. If we follow that precedent, then why not the precedent of fasting, especially when we have a monumental decision to make, such as a direction for the church, or installing a elder or preacher. And this is hard to say because I know that there is lunch waiting for us when I finish the message here.

So let’s move on to the next lesson about the Holy Spirit. When He guides us, it is to help us in our mission. Remember, we were all called to be witnesses of all that Christ has done and taught. It isn’t just a select few who are to carry this out. Now how was Paul’s guidance a help to the mission? We know that from Peter’s writing, where Paul wanted to travel with the Good News, Peter would instead travel. There is that side of the coin. Another side is that Paul was uniquely qualified to take the message west unlike any of the other Apostles. Paul was a Roman citizen. There would be no way that Caesar would grant audience to any of the other Apostles. But as a citizen, Paul had that right. So the Holy Spirit helped him move towards Rome.

Now about us. By listening to the Holy Spirit, we are able to make choices that are between good and better. Next week, we will see Paul make such a choice. His choice was to stand up for his rights as a citizen, or to trust God to advance the Good News. These are the choices that we need to make. Is what I am doing advancing the Gospel message? As a parent, am I making sure that what my children are exposed to pro-Jesus? Now I have children, but you have grandkids or nieces and nephews. They are needing to be influenced as much by you as you possibly can.

Often, I’ve seen my parents do this, to allow my nieces and nephews to carry on as they would at their own homes. Do you know I get ribbed for not allowing Sponge Bob or even Dora the Explorer in my home? This is on top of my attitude about Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. But I believe that I need to make sure that I am teaching them to follow Jesus as much as I can. When there is a show that is questionable, then we sit and talk about it. Ricky loves picking apart these evolution shows such as “Walking with the Dinosaurs” or even “Meer Cat Manor”.  My point is, make sure that we are making the choices that best helps you to further your witness to those around you. This is done when we listen, when we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Now there is a final lesson here. Paul was not mandated to go the Macedonia. God may prohibit us from doing something. But God will not force us to do something. For example, Paul received a vision of a Macedonian. He was not told he had to go that direction. He was free to go another direction.

Jonah and the fish doesn’t count. The fish was God’s punishment for Jonah disobeying God in the first place. Going to Nineveh was Jonah’s acceptance of God’s will, to carry the message, to a people God wanted to reach. Jonah repented of his disobedience. Now mind you, Jonah is a bit different in that he signed up to be a prophet of the Lord. When a person accepts that responsibility there is a surrender of free will to a great extent.

Come to think of it, there is a surrender of free will when we come to Christ. The Word is always challenging us to live a higher standard. We can see how the world around us lives. People who don’t know Jesus, who are not truly clothed in Christ, live a truly selfish life. We who are in Christ are encouraged, not forced, but encouraged to live a selfless life. Even then, God, by the power of the Spirit, the same power, Paul wrote, that raised Jesus from the dead.

We have this same Spirit who gives us this same power so that we can live a life different from those around us. So let this day of Pentecost be the day that we decide that we are going to be more sensitive to the leading of the Spirit, that we will be more open to sharing God’s love with those who are hard to love, that we will be the witnesses of the message. Then perhaps once again, we can see God add to those being saved.