Bound to Set Free | Sunday, August 23, 2026

Amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Christian. Emily, you can have a seat. It is so good to see you singing about the love of God. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. It's good to be reminded of the simple truths of the Gospel: that God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is a wonderful reminder, especially when we think about the cross—the rugged cross. We are reminded of the greatness of God's love for us. He loves every single one of you this morning, and it is a wonderful thing to know of His love, to experience His grace, and to extend that to other people. So may the Lord give us the opportunity and the boldness to do exactly that.

We are going to continue in our study of the Scriptures this morning. If you want to take out a Bible, if you don't have one, you can raise your hand, and an usher will bring you one. We are still in the New Testament, which is the last third of your Bible. It begins with the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Today, we are going to be in the book of Acts. So, if you would open your Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 16, that is where we will be in a few minutes when we get there.

It has been a while since we have been in the book of Acts. Even this week, as I was reading through this story once again, I was reminded of how much I love this book because there are so many amazing things that take place. This is the story of the early church, the continuation of what God did through His church after Christ ascended into heaven.

We are nearing the end of summer, which, I guess, doesn’t mean a whole lot here in San Diego because it’s about to get hotter than it normally does. It is already hot this morning, and it is going to be quite a warm day. However, we are coming into what is kind of my favorite time of the year. I call it the "burr months," you know, September and October. Unfortunately, it’s not very "burr" around here in Southern California, but it is a wonderful time of year.

We are also nearing the end of our summer series. We have been in this series this summer, calling it "Fly on the Wall." I was talking to someone last week, and they told me how much they like the "Fly on the Wall," but they cannot stand the fly's hands. Is that bothering anybody else? They said, "That creeps me out." Now, some of you didn’t even notice, and now you might be thinking, "Oh, that is kind of creepy looking."

The whole point of this sermon series is that we get a chance to eavesdrop on a number of different stories and situations where it is kind of one-on-one communication, whether it was Moses with God at the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3 or...

Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 34 allows us to be a fly on the wall when Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead. We can also observe the nighttime meeting between Nicodemus and Jesus in John chapter 3, or the encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well in John chapter 4. Additionally, we see Jesus with the man at the pool of Bethesda in John chapter 5.

Pastor Garrett, last week, took us to the rooftop in the coastal town of Joppa in ancient Israel to witness God speaking with Peter. This moment marked the beginning of God bringing the gospel outside of the land of Israel to the Gentiles, which includes most of us here today. God's aim is to reach the world and the nations, and we will see that reflected in the text we will explore today.

In today's text, we are not exactly a fly on the wall for a one-on-one conversation between a couple of people. Instead, we will follow the Apostle Paul, who is a central figure in the book of Acts. While he is not the only character that receives significant focus, he is one of the primary ones. We will accompany him during one of his gospel journeys, often referred to as Paul's missionary journeys. Most of the book of Acts is dominated by three different journeys of Paul as he travels to various places to bring the gospel.

When I mention the Apostle Paul or the book of Acts, I sometimes have to remind myself that not everyone is familiar with the stories. Increasingly, people have less knowledge of the Bible stories that many of you might know well. Therefore, I think it is helpful to situate the story we will be in, which is Acts chapter 16.

We probably won't get to Acts chapter 16 for a little while, as I want to set the stage. Immediately after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, which is the climax of the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—Jesus rose from the dead and, not long after, ascended into heaven. This is where the book of Acts begins, marking the start of God's work in and through His church, His people, and His followers. This work truly begins in Acts chapter 2 when God, in a very mysterious and miraculous way, pours out His Spirit on the early followers of Jesus, who then begin to go forth.

and speak the truth of the gospel. They do exactly what Jesus commissioned them to do: go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, and preach the gospel to every creature. They begin to do that, and the church is birthed in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, which we celebrate every year in June. That is kind of the birthday of the church.

Pretty much immediately after the church started, the persecution of the church began as well. The chief persecutor in the early chapters of the book of Acts was a Pharisee, a religious rabbi from Israel named Saul of Tarsus. He made it his aim to try to destroy this early group of followers who were following this man, Jesus of Nazareth. He saw the message that these followers of Jesus were promoting as a blasphemous message, and so he did everything in his power to try to stop it.

Even though Saul's teacher was a man named Gamaliel, a very well-known rabbi in Israel during the first century, Gamaliel even told the religious ruling council, as recorded in Acts chapter 5, to leave these guys alone. He warned them that if this group of followers of Jesus of Nazareth, if this movement is of God, and they fight against it, they will find themselves fighting against God himself. He added that if it is not of God, it will come to nothing, so they should just leave it alone and let it work its course out.

Gamaliel noted that they had seen this kind of stuff before, but if they fought against it and it is of God, they would find themselves fighting against God. The interesting thing is that Gamaliel's chief student, or one of his standout students, was Saul of Tarsus. Saul did not listen to the counsel of Gamaliel at all; he made it his aim to try to destroy the church.

A few chapters later, the first martyr of the Christian church is killed for his faith and his witness. In Acts chapter 7, a man named Stephen gives this bold proclamation about who Jesus is and what Jesus has accomplished. A group of very zealous Jews comes against him, and they stoned him to death. The guy who was overseeing the execution of the first Christian martyr was Saul of Tarsus. He is the one who is consenting, as it says, to his death, giving permission, if you will, on behalf of the Sanhedrin to put this young man to death. We read in Acts 8:1, "Now Saul..."

Saul was consenting to the death of Stephen. At that time, a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem, and they were scattered throughout all the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. Devout men carried Stephen, the first man killed for his faith, to his burial, and they made a great lamentation over him.

As for Saul, he made havoc of the church. He entered into every house, dragging off men and women and committing them to prison. He was ardently committed to the destruction of this fledgling group that was beginning to preach forth the gospel, the good news about Jesus. In Acts chapter nine, he received permission from the chief priest and letters from the chief priest. He was now going to take his mission on the road, leaving Jerusalem and going north to Syria, to the capital of Syria, Damascus, both then and now.

While he was approaching that place, the text in Acts chapter nine states that Saul was breathing murderous threats against the Christians. With every breath, he was seething with anger and rage towards these followers of Jesus. When he was just outside the city of Damascus, the story tells us that a bright light appeared to him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice from heaven saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Isn't it hard for you to kick against the goads?" When he inquired, "Who are you, Lord?" the voice replied, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting."

I have a feeling that in that moment, Saul's heart stopped for a brief moment. Perhaps he remembered the words of his teacher, Gamaliel, who said, "If you fight against this, and this is of God, you will find yourself fighting against God." Here, the risen Jesus asked him, "Isn't it hard for you to fight with me?" Some of you sitting here this morning know the answer to that question because you've been there before. God is seeking to do something in your own life, and you are standing against it, being rigid to it. That was Saul of Tarsus.

Saul experienced a radical conversion, and the chief persecutor of the church became the chief preacher of the gospel. It is truly amazing what God can do in a person's life—the radical transformation that He works by His Spirit. I have seen it in some of the people here at this church, where God brings about, by His power and by His Spirit, just a radical change.

Transformation is one of the greatest proofs of the reality of God. We all interact on a regular basis with people who are skeptical about whether or not there is a God. You will meet people who refer to themselves as agnostic, saying, "Well, I just don't know." Others may even flat out say there is no God; they are atheistic. There are various apologetic proofs for the existence of God, such as the moral argument and the cosmological argument. However, one of the most impactful arguments for the reality of God is the transformed life of a person whose life has been radically altered by Christ. It's hard to argue with that.

The transformation that took place in Saul of Tarsus is a prime example. Even the early Christians were flummoxed by it, wondering how this was possible. In fact, the rumor circulating at the time was that Saul, who formerly persecuted Christians, was now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. You can be certain there were people in the early church who acted like first-century conspiracy theorists. They were saying, "This guy is on a secret mission. He's trying to infiltrate us. Don't trust him." For more than a decade, the early church remained skeptical about Saul of Tarsus.

Eventually, his name changed from Saul of Tarsus to Paul the Apostle. This change is significant, as the name Saul means "the one who is desired," while the name Paul means "little." I find it fascinating that he chose to adopt the name Paul, which reflects his humility. Later on, he would say about himself, "I am less than the least of the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church." One of the greatest statements in the Bible is, "I am what I am by the grace of God."

That is a good thing to remember. Whatever you may be or may become in the kingdom of God, it has everything to do with God's grace and His goodness. Saul, or Paul, was a great declarer of that truth. For the rest of his life, after his experience with Christ outside of Damascus in the early 30s AD, he continued to proclaim this message. It is believed that he was martyred, beheaded for his faith and witness.

In 67 AD, through those 30 years, Paul committed himself to give everything he could to traveling the known world at that time to preach the gospel. He says in the opening words of the Book of Romans, "I am a debtor to preach the gospel." He saw it as his obligation; he felt he couldn't do anything else but preach the gospel. The Book of Acts serves as a kind of journal or diary of his travels in many ways.

Today, we will be in Acts chapter 16, where we see his journey taking place in the midst of what is commonly referred to as his second missionary journey. I would refer to it as his second gospel journey, which implies there was a first gospel journey that took place in Acts chapter 13. In Acts chapter 13, a very faithful early Christian named Barnabas, along with Paul, went into the region of the world at that time known as Galatia. Today, this area is located in southern central Turkey.

If you can picture in your mind the Mediterranean, you see the boot of Italy, my family's homeland. Moving across to the east, you have the Adriatic Sea, then Greece, and finally, across the Aegean Sea, you reach Turkey. Galatia was in central southern Turkey. In Acts chapter 13, Paul and Barnabas went there to preach the gospel in the major cities of that region: Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe. They planted churches there among the Gentiles, the non-Jewish people, who began to receive the gospel.

Afterward, they returned to their home in Syria and eventually went to Jerusalem to share all the good news of what God was doing in Galatia. Sometime later, Paul determined he wanted to go back to Galatia to continue the work of carrying the gospel to places where it had never been spoken before. That was his aim and mission: to name the name of Christ and preach the gospel where it had never been named before. He was a pioneer of the gospel.

In Acts chapter 16, another man named Silas joined Paul as they set out to return to Galatia and minister to the Christians in those cities. They picked up another traveler, a young man who had become a Christian through Paul's preaching during his first missionary journey. This man was Timothy, who was probably just a teenager at that point in time. Now, Paul, Silas, and Timothy were going to continue their journey to carry the gospel into places that had yet to hear it.

Never gone before, they are leaving central southern Turkey and heading northwest to carry the gospel to new places. This is where we pick up the story. If you have your Bibles, turn to Acts chapter 16, where we will begin reading at verse 6. It says, "Now when they," referring to Silas, Paul, and Timothy, "had gone through Phrygia," which is just another region, another county, if you will.

We can think of it like being here in San Diego County and making your way to Riverside and Los Angeles County. They are moving from Galatia to Phrygia. In the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. Afterward, when they had come to another region in Turkey, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So, passing by, they came down to Troas.

This is one of those curious passages in the Bible that we encounter frequently throughout our studies of Scripture. You might scratch your head because we read that Paul and his team are making their way to preach the gospel. This is exactly what Jesus commissioned His disciples to do: go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, and make disciples of every nation. Paul is committed to fulfilling that commission.

As they travel, they reach a split in the road. They can turn left and go to Asia Minor, where the chief city is Ephesus, an important city in ancient times, especially in the New Testament. We will see more of this at another time in the future. At this break in the road, they have the option to continue northwest or turn left to Ephesus. However, it says they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. That seems strange.

So, they continued on the same road and eventually reached another split. They could go to the right and head toward Bithynia, which is moving northeast into northern Turkey. It says that when they came to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. You read this and wonder, "Why?" Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Paul wants to do that; he is trying to go to Asia. Yet, the Spirit forbade them.

You might ask, "How did that work?" I don't know. The Bible is silent on that. Somehow, they knew, "Nope, can't go that way." Perhaps the road was closed; I don't know. The same thing happened as they continued along their journey.

They get to the split in the road. They can go this way to Bethnia, but the Spirit did not permit them. Why? I don't know the answer. How did God not permit them? We have no idea. We just know there was something that hindered them from moving in that direction.

So, what did they do? They couldn't go to the left, they couldn't go to the right, and they couldn't go that way because they came from that direction. What's the most logical thing to do? Just keep swimming. As Dory would say, just keep going. And so, they keep moving along the way until they reach Troas. They pass through Mysea and arrive at Troas.

Later, you can look in the back of your Bibles. Most Bibles have maps, and some of those maps will show the journeys of Paul. You can find Troas; it's on the coast of the Aegean Sea. However, they are kind of locked in. They can't go to the left and down to Ephesus in Asia Minor. They can't go to the right and head to Bethnia. They can't go backwards because they just came from Phrygia and Galatia. Now they are stuck. They have a body of water, the Aegean Sea, in front of them, and here they are in Troas. They cannot go any further; they are kind of locked in.

I think this story teaches us an important point. Point number one: God sometimes leads by closing doors and limiting options. This is a hard lesson for us because we're Americans, and we don't like closed doors or limited options. I mean, we have 797 different options for mustard, right? Sometimes it feels like too much mustard. Then you go down the aisle and find 87 different kinds of mayonnaise. There are just so many options! We want more options, and you can bet there will always be someone coming up with a new concoction for a better mayonnaise.

We do not like limited options or closed doors. To be honest, I think we will discover that Paul didn't like them either. In fact, I think they sometimes made him a little bit annoyed. In this very text, we will see the Apostle Paul get annoyed, which makes me happy. It reminds me that the Apostle Paul, whom we sometimes put on a pedestal, is human too. He gets annoyed and ticked off, and there's something about that that just makes me happy. Maybe I'm weird, and yes, I am, but it’s comforting to know that even great spiritual leaders experience frustration.

But they're locked in, and they feel kind of walled in. Where do you go? What exactly do you do? Well, sometimes God allows you to be closed in and locked off because that's exactly where He wants you to be in that moment. Certainly, there are ways that God leads us into things in fantastic, mysterious, and sublime ways, but there are times when He just kind of hems us in and stops us.

And then what do you do? You have to wait. Oh, there's another word that Americans hate. We don't like to wait. I mean, I ordered something on Amazon.com on Friday night, and it said that it was going to be at my house between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., and it was not there yet. I was looking at the tracking information, going, "Where are you?" I don't like to wait. Is anybody else here impatient? Yeah, you are. I know. Don't raise your hand; you're still impatient. We can be that way.

So, here they are: Paul, Silas, and Timothy. They get to Troas, and they can't go to the left, can't go to the right, and can't go backward. They've got body water in front of them. What do you do? Wait. That's a good place to be, even if sometimes it might be a little uncomfortable for us.

Then what happened? Verse 9: 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." Now, after 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.

Sometimes God leads by closing doors and limiting options. But we have to be very careful with this. It does happen, as we see here in the text. Sometimes God makes His will known through dreams and visions. I want to caution you on this because not every dream or idea that comes to your mind is the leading of God. You do have to be careful to test, to determine, to discern whether or not this is actually of the Lord.

But there are times when God, in rather fabulous ways, reveals His will, as He did here. Whatever the case, I have learned by observation and experience, and maybe you have seen this as well. Point number two: God makes known His will because He wants you to walk in it. This is such an important truth to grasp because I think some Christians believe that God hides His will so that you have to be some sort of cryptographer to figure it out. I don't think that's true. I think God makes His will known to us because He wants you to walk in it.

I had the privilege of teaching at a Bible college for nearly 20 years. Every single semester, I had a whole bunch of students who were around 18 to 21 years old. Most of the young students at Bible college were trying to figure out their lives. Many of them were looking for a spouse, but a lot were trying to find God's will. That was the number one question: What is God's will for my life?

When I talked with them, it often seemed as though they thought it was some sort of weird, astronomical thing that they had to divine and figure out, and it felt spooky. However, I don't think that's exactly the case. I believe God wants you to walk in His will, so He makes it clear and explicit for us. It does require that there are times when we have to patiently wait, seek Him, and trust.

Isaiah says, "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up on wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint." There is a time and a place where you just have to wait. I think that's what Paul, Silas, and Timothy were doing when they got to Troas. They couldn't go to the left, couldn't go to the right, and couldn't go backward. They had a body of water in front of them, so they had to wait.

When you're in that season of waiting, what do you do? You trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path. That's the promise of Proverbs 3:5-6. As you trust in Him, He will direct your path.

If you ever find yourself in a place where you're not exactly sure what to do or where to go, and it seems like the doors around you are closed—where you can't go to the left, can't go to the right, and can't go back, with a body of water in front of you—what do you do? The best thing you can do is hold for a moment, wait, and trust. You might say, "I'm here. I'm in this place. I feel stuck. I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. God, what do you want me to do?" That's the right question. It's a good question: What do you want me to do?

Sometimes the answer is to not do anything yet. Just wait until you receive further instructions. While you're waiting, I encourage you to wait like a waiter, serving the Lord. One of the best things you can do when you don't know exactly where God wants you to go or what He wants you to do is to serve Him.

The specific will for you or for me is to do the things that He has clearly identified to us through the Word. Therefore, you need to get to know the Word. You must make it a practice and a habit to go through the Scriptures, read, and say, "God, would You speak to me?" Additionally, spend time with other Christians who are also seeking the Lord. I can't tell you how many times great wisdom has come to me from another believer who has been reading in the Scriptures. They share with me what it is that God spoke to them, and suddenly, God speaks to me from that passage they were looking at.

When I was in my devotions, I found that if you spend time in God's Word, in prayer, and in community and fellowship with others—like in a life group, which is coming up in a few weeks—you will find that God will begin to speak to you and lead you. Sometimes, when it feels like everything is silent and all the doors are closed, those are probably the times in my life when I've been the most disciplined about journaling. Let me tell you, I'm not the most disciplined journaler, but if you look back at my journals, which I will not let you do, you will see that they are most of the time dominated by me not knowing what to do.

I often feel like I'm in a place like the Israelites at the Red Sea. I can't go to the left, can't go to the right, can't go backward, and there's a body of water in front of me. I don't know what to do, and it drives me to a place where I intentionally get up early and spend 20 or 30 minutes just sitting there with a pen in my hand and a piece of paper, writing out, "Lord, I don't know what to do." So many of my journals are filled with prayers like that: "God, I don't know what to do. Help me to figure this out."

You know what eventually happens? Those journal entries stop because He answers the questions and directs us. Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. If you trust in the Lord, He will direct your path. However, probably the most important thing you can do in trying to figure out what God's specific will for you is to do His explicit will that He has clearly identified in the Scriptures.

What is that? If you have your Bible, you might want to turn and fact-check me. First Thessalonians chapter 4. We'll even put it on the screen. Let me read this to you: "For this is the will of God." That might be a good thing to underline. This is the will of God. Could it get any more explicit than those words? What is the will of God? The next two words are "your."

Sanctification. Did you know that's God's will for you? Every single one of us, at this moment, has God's will as our sanctification. That's a big theological word that means transformation, cleansing, and to make holy. God wants to make you the best that you can be. He wants to make you better, which means He wants to make you more like Him. This is the will of God: your sanctification.

What does that look like? Here are some specifics. This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should. That's an ethical indication; this is what you ought to do. If you can't figure out what God's will for your life is right now, this is a really valuable and wise place to start: you should abstain from sexual immorality. Yes, that's a good thing. Sexual immorality with your body, with your mind, and with your eyes— you should abstain from that.

Every one of you should know how to possess his own vessel, his body, in a sanctified and honorable way. You should learn how to use this thing that God gave you in a way that is honorable to you, to God, and to others, not in passion or lust like the Gentiles or those who do not know God. No one should take advantage of or defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness but to holiness.

This is a really good place to start if you're trying to figure out what God's will for your life is. He continues and gets a little bit more explicit a few verses down. Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:14. Now we exhort you; we encourage and challenge you, brethren.

Warn those who are unruly. Comfort the faint-hearted. Uphold the weak. Be patient with all. See that none of you renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good, both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always.

Pray for one another. Rejoice. Seek the Lord. Do what is honorable. This is God's will. Do not despise prophecies. Do not quench the Spirit. Test all things. Hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

If you want to know God's specific, personal, unique will for you and for your life, do the things that He has explicitly revealed in the Scriptures. Make that your aim. I can assure you of this: if you made it your aim to do the things that are explicitly stated in 1 Thessalonians chapters 4 and 5, and if you said, "I'm going to make it my aim to do these things for the next year," that would be a good endeavor. It would transform your life and probably the lives of many people around you if you said, "I'm going to make it my aim by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Let me tell you, you're going to need the power of the Spirit of God to do this. How do I know that? Well, when He says, "This is God's will: be patient with all," I guarantee you there is someone in your life right now that you are impatient with. It might be me. You might be thinking, "Just wrap it up. Next point, let's go." So, you're impatient with somebody, and God's command is clear: "This is my will for you that you are patient with people."

Let me tell you, I need God's help to be patient. This is confession time. You can pray for me, and I'll pray for you because I am impatient. I already told you I have a problem with the Amazon man; he didn't get there on time. God help us to be patient.

So, Paul and his associates, Silas and Timothy, were seeking God's will. They were on a mission from God. And you, whether you realize it or not, are on a mission from God, just like the Blues Brothers. They tried to go to Asia, to Ephesus, but they couldn't go there; the door was closed. We don't know how, it just was. They tried to go to Bithynia, and God said no. Now they are in Troas, with Galatia behind them and a body of water in front of them. What are we going to do?

They can't do anything until God says otherwise. They are there and will remain there until God says otherwise. So, what are they going to do? Well, what did Paul always do? Paul was an apostle. What is an apostle? An apostle is one sent with a message. That's you too. God has given you a message; it's called the gospel, and He has sent you with that message.

So, Paul is an ambassador and an apostle. What does an ambassador and apostle do? They have a message and need to find people to give that message to. And that's exactly what Paul did.

We are certain of this because we read in the next verse that after Paul had this vision, he saw a man in Macedonia, which is across the Aegean Sea in Greece. This man was saying, "Come over here and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we immediately noticed a pronoun shift. I know we don't really like to talk about pronouns in 2026 at Cross Connection Church, but there's an important shift here. After he saw the vision, we sought to go to Macedonia because we concluded that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

This pronoun shift is significant because it indicates that Paul, Silas, and Timothy had added a "we" to their "them." Now they had a new member of their team, who is identified as Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. While Paul was in Troas waiting, God had him meet someone who became very important. In fact, he became so important that he wrote, by word count, most of the New Testament.

How awesome is it that Paul could not have known when he tried to go to Asia Minor to Ephesus and when he tried to go to Bithynia that God was saying no? Why couldn't he go where he wanted to go? Have you ever felt like that? God says, "Because I have someone I need you to meet over here," someone you don't even know is going to be the most important person in church history for your life. Paul was to record everything that God was going to do through his life in the book of Acts. So, God took him to Troas, I believe, to meet Luke.

After he met Luke, Paul had a dream of a man from Macedonia saying, "Come over here and help us." Therefore, look at verse 11. Sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis. From there, we went to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. We stayed in that city for some days.

On the Sabbath day, we went out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made. We sat down and spoke to the women who met there. 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, when she had heard, her household was baptized. She begged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." And so she persuaded us. This is the first move of the gospel into the world of Europe of that day. It leaves Asia to come into Europe. Paul had this vision of a man in Macedonia saying, "Come help us." They went to the chief city of that region, the capital city called Philippi, which was a Roman colony.

This is Paul's modus operandi. This is what he would do when he went to a new place. In reality, he was using great wisdom. He knew he was going to the region of Macedonia, so he decided to go to the biggest city. Why? Because he wanted to have the biggest impact in the largest city. He did the same thing when he eventually went to Asia Minor; he went to Ephesus, the chief city of Asia Minor. He did the same when he went to Greece, first to Athens and then to Corinth, the two largest cities of the region.

Paul's mode of operation was always to go to these large cities using wisdom. He had what we would call in modern terms a go-to-market strategy. Once he arrived, he needed to find people to speak to. As a formerly Jewish Pharisee, a rabbi, and a teacher, he sought out people who were like him to share the gospel. He went around the city looking for a synagogue, which is where the Jews would gather on the Sabbath day, similar to what we do here on a Sunday. However, he did not find a synagogue in that Roman colony called Philippi.

Knowing there was no synagogue, he considered where he might find people seeking the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob on the Sabbath day. He went by the riverside, the traditional place where Jewish people or God-fearing Gentiles—those Gentiles interested in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—would gather on the Sabbath. There, he found not a group of men, but a group of Gentile women. One of them was a wealthy woman who sold purple cloth, which was highly valued at the time and a sign of royalty. She was a seller of purple from Thyatira and was now in Philippi. Paul began to share the gospel with her, as he always did.

Scripture said that God opened her heart. That's awesome! The Lord opened her heart, and she received the word; she believed and trusted. Paul was simply walking wisely, doing what a wise servant of the Lord would do. All I know is that I had a vision: we should go to Macedonia. Where in Macedonia should we go? Well, let's just go to the largest city and see if we can find anybody.

They went to the largest city, and where could they find people? They looked for a synagogue, but there was none. So, where could they find people? They decided to go to the riverside. There, they found people whom God opened their hearts.

Point number three: God wills that His workers would work wisely for the sake of His kingdom. On this point, I want to encourage you today to consider the ways you can work wisely for the sake of the kingdom. What training, experiences, resources, understanding, or education do you have that you can use industriously and wisely for the kingdom? God wants to use that, and I would suggest that it's unique to every single one of you here in this room. You have gifts, talents, abilities, training, and experience that I don't have, and God wants to use that specifically for the things He wants to do in His kingdom.

I've watched God do this in my life for 25 years. When I graduated from high school, I was a weird 18-year-old kid who had a knack for computers, and the Lord used that to bring me into the ministry. What did I do? The first thing I did here at Cross Connection Church, when it was Calvary Chapel Esto, was wire telephones and networks, make sure the printer worked, and build the website. Next thing you know, I was a junior high pastor, which is normally the route to ministry for most people.

Right, Mark? We both started in junior high ministry, as did Pastor Jason, Pastor Nick, and Pastor Garrett. We all start there for some reason because, listen, if you can speak to a junior higher, you can pretty much speak to anybody. If you can speak to a 13-year-old boy, you have the Spirit of God. Let me tell you, there's a good chance that if you say, "I want to serve God," we're going to say, "Garrett needs your help in the junior high ministry." That's where we're going to test and see if you have the Spirit of God, which you do. Don't worry; you'll be just fine.

Now, I may have dissuaded like 90% of you from ever saying, "I want to help," but it's going to be great. You have to jump in. God starts you out with the abilities, the talents, and the things that you have.

He uses those for His kingdom in ways that you never have any idea He is going to use those things. I mean, I've had the great privilege over the last ten years to see how God has used that to help Enduring Word reach millions of people through their website, or Blue Letter Bible, which has reached billions of people with their website. For what? I just have a little knack with computers, and God can use that for His kingdom. But He wants us to use the wisdom that He has given us to move forward His kingdom.

Now, the interesting thing is that Paul is using his wisdom with Silas, Timothy, and Luke to bring the gospel to these people. However, God had to open the heart of Lydia. So, it's the age-old question: Was it God who worked, or was it Paul who worked? The answer to the question is yes. Yes, God has chosen to use you and to use me, empowered by His Spirit, to accomplish His work. This is why Paul would later write to this very same group of Christians in Philippi, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is working in you to will and to do His good pleasure."

So, who is it? Is it you that's working, or is it God that's working? Yes, because God has determined to work in and through His people. He expects that we will work, and we expect that He will show up. Then He shows up, and God does great things.

Now it happened, as Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us. She brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us and cried out, saying, "These men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to us the way of salvation." All true, but you don't really want a demon-possessed girl to be your promoter.

So, she did this for many days, and Paul was greatly annoyed. I love that; he feels so much more human to me when it says Paul was greatly annoyed. So he turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus, come out of her." And the spirit came out of her that very hour.

But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the marketplace to the authorities. They brought them to the magistrates and said, "These men..."

Being Jews, they exceedingly troubled our city. They taught customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe. Then the multitudes rose up together against Paul and Silas. The magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. They laid many stripes on them and threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stalks. If you do a study on this, Roman stalks were created in such a way to put you in excruciating pain.

This is a tough day, and it teaches us a tough and important lesson. You can be certain that if you seek to step out to serve the Lord, you will be met with opposition because we are engaged in a spiritual endeavor. In this spiritual endeavor, there are spiritual opponents who oppose the work and the workers of God. We refer to it as spiritual warfare, and that's exactly what Paul is experiencing here.

Point number four: God's workers performing God's will are not always warmly welcomed. It's a reality we need to level with and understand. It's not always the case, but it is often true that opposition indicates that you are right on target. It is the plane that's on target that receives the most anti-aircraft artillery. Paul is exactly on target here. He and Silas are beaten with rods, many stripes are laid on them, and they are thrown into the inner prison, kept in stalks. Later on, Paul would say, "Everyone who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." This is just a reality of following the Lord.

At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. That's amazing. He has just been falsely accused. He has done a good thing—cast a demon out of a demon-possessed woman—but he has been falsely accused, beaten, and thrown into the deepest part of the prison, in these stalks that are putting him in excruciating pain. Yet, in the middle of the night, he and Silas are worshiping God and singing hymns. Why? Because they love this? No. Christians have an attitude and a habit of praising God in whatever circumstance. This is the will.

of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. He wrote to the Thessalonians, "Pray without ceasing. Rejoice always," even when you are in a terrible circumstance. Later, he would write to the church at Ephesus, saying, "Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things." Here's Paul doing that. That's what this looks like. People take notice when Christians do what Christians do; the prisoners were listening.

What is it that Christians do? One of the things that Christians do is praise God even from the pit. Not because they like the pit, but because they love the Lord and recognize that He is with them there in that place. So, they worshiped the Lord, and suddenly there was a great earthquake. The foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains were loosed. It's like, man, answer to prayer. Let's go!

But the keeper of the prison, awakening from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew forth his sword and was about to kill himself. Why? Because it was his job to secure the prison and the prisoners. If they got away, his life was on the line. He figured he would just take his own life in his shame and dishonor. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." That's a miracle. Everybody in the prison was still there even though the doors were open. People take notice when Christians do what Christians do in situations like this. Christians don't take advantage of opportunities that are unethical and immoral. For Paul and Silas in that moment, it would have been unethical to run away.

So, there they were. The jailer took notice, called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. He brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" I've often wondered if maybe this was the man that Paul had seen in his dream, the man of Macedonia, saying, "Come here and help us. What must I do to be saved?"

So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. He took them the same hour of that night and washed their stripes. Immediately, he and all his family were baptized. When he had brought them into his house, he set food before them and rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.

All his household. Point number five: when God's workers perform God's will, God works to open doors that only He can open. He closed the door to Asia. He closed the door to Bithynia. He led Paul through the only open door to Troas. Why? Because there was a man there named Luke that God wanted to reach.

Then He opened the door to Philippi. He opened the heart of Lydia in Philippi. He opened the door so this woman could be set free from a demon. He opened the prison doors, and now He opens the heart of this jailer to receive the gospel. In every one of these circumstances, it was God who opened the door. But Paul still had to be faithful to go through the door. It is God working in us to will and to do His good pleasure as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. He is working, and we are working.

He says, "I want you to follow me, trusting me." Even when it seems like the door is closed to the left and the right, and you're hemmed in, God says, "I have you right here, right now, in that job that you think is a dead end." In that situation where you feel like all the options have closed, God may have put you there right now for such a time as this. To do what? To wait on Him, to trust in Him, and to be an ambassador.

What does an ambassador do? I heard an ambassador of the United States to another country once say, "My job as an ambassador is to make friends and influence them on behalf of my nation." As an ambassador of Jesus, that's exactly what it is: to make friends and influence them on behalf of the King and His kingdom.

When was the last time you intentionally made a friend with an unbeliever? Oh, no. We stay away from them. They're bad. They say bad words. They don't vote the right way. They do all the wrong things. No, God wants you to be a friend to them to share the good news of the gospel with them so that they might have their hearts opened by Christ to be set free.

And who knows if that person you're talking to just ends up being a Luke? Every team of rebels needs a Luke. Some of you know that reference. God wants to use you and the experience, the skills, and the training in the place that you are.

You're in to be a light to unbelievers, and He will use you if you simply say, "Here am I, use me." Yes, when that door is open, there will be challenges. Paul in Corinthians said, "A great and effective door has been opened to me, and there are many adversaries." But God is faithful and will lead you into the work that He calls you to do. Amen.

Let's stand and we'll close in prayer. God, I thank You for the opportunity to follow along with Paul on this missionary journey. Lord, just to get a chance to see that You work in and through Your people to accomplish Your mission, Your purpose, and Your task.

The awesome thing is, Lord, that the Book of Acts doesn't really have a clear ending because it's not over. You continue to work through Your people. The acts of the apostles, the acts of the church have continued for the last 2,000 years and are continuing today in and through our lives. There are opportunities and doors that You're going to lead us through.

I think there's even a record being kept in heaven of the things that You will work by Your Spirit through our lives this week. So I pray, God, that You'd help us to be aware and to be ready for the opportunities You'll give to us.

Lord, help us to rely upon Your strength and Your power by Your Spirit, knowing that You are working in us to will and to do Your good pleasure, even as You're asking us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. God, help us to do that, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.