Book of Acts Series - Part 21 | Red Light, Green Light — Jim Cymbala

The Book of Acts and the Birth of the Church

For those of you that are visiting we've been doing a series here for a number of months now on the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the fifth book of the New Testament. Acts is a historical book written by Luke a Greek a Gentile the only Gentile writer of the New Testament of a letter a book and he also wrote the gospel of Luke and what he does is he picks up the story of Jesus's death and resurrection and now in the book of Acts, it's the birth of the church.

It's who we are not what you saw growing up not in your Baptist Church your Methodist Church Your Indonesian Church your Polish Church your black church or whatever. But the Christian Church as God planned for it to look like that's why he gave us the record of it not without flaws not without problems, but The Christian Church God using it to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's the great purpose we find of the church being on the earth so that it can witness for Christ and then disciple those who could come in to the saving knowledge of Christ. Many things are part of that as we've learned we've learned about preaching and prayer and worship and all kinds of things.

We've lately been talking about after the conversion of the worst persecutor of the Christian Church Saul of Tarsus he gets converted and becomes eventually the Apostle Paul. He ends up in Antioch in Syria.

And we learned over the last couple months that he went out with a man named Barnabas on A missionary journey we studied what happened on that as he went into what we would now know as Turkey and as he went from Place to place spreading the good news with spiritual results.

But also with adverse reactions from the population and persecution ensued. So now we've learned that they went back to Antioch Paul and Barnabas to give a report of what God had done and while they're there a number of other things happen.

But they got into a disagreement over who they should bring on their next trip as They go out. John Mark who wrote the book of Mark had Kind of gotten frightened on the first trip and returned home early left them without his assistance.

Paul said no we can't take him on the next one. Barnabas said yeah, we have to. They had a sharp disagreement. Barnabas went out with John Mark to Cyprus the island in the Mediterranean and then Paul joined up with Silas Wonderful worker man of God and they took off on what is in the back of your Bible if you have a map.

Called Paul's second missionary journey. He's now with Silas and what we learned is they went back To the cities where they had planted the gospel and started churches and that took great courage. Because they were going back to places where they had been chased out of town.

Beaten in Lystra Paul had gotten stoned and yet he says no I got to go back. Why. I got to see how the spiritual children are doing. Oh, it's something when the love of God grips your heart. You stop thinking about yourself, and you start thinking of others.

That's the story of the book of Acts really sacrificial living so they go back on this trip. And they're going around and they visit the places that they had been in reverse order. Place called Derby and then Lystra where he had been stoned then Iconium then a place called Antioch in Pisidia.

The Holy Spirit’s Red Light and Green Light

And now they want to move on, but they run into what I'm calling this sermon red light green light. Because some things ensue that we're not used to hearing about but we need to let's look. It's only a few verses.

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. Asia there means Turkey northern Turkey.

That's where they wanted to go when they came to the border of Messiah they tried to enter Bithynia. That's even further north. But the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to so they passed by Messiah and went down to Troas and During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia.

That's northern Greece. Standing and begging him come over to Macedonia and help us. That's odd. They want to preach the gospel. But the Holy Spirit forbids them. Then they want to preach the gospel elsewhere and the Spirit of Jesus same spirit won't let them.

What's that all about? What's it mean to us today? Let me ask you a few questions. Moral teaching for the Christian faith comes from the Bible right and wrong is decided by the Bible. Not how you feel led or what your friends think or how you grew up in wherever you're from.

We go to the Bible to find out that lying is wrong. We go to the Bible. We can't justify anything the Bible condemns. Amen, and we know what God wants us to do from the Bible how to live a life of love.

Wisdom for Decisions the Bible Does Not Directly Answer

But let's say how about this man who came to my office Now many months ago and had a great job here in the city. He's a member of the church. He's here in the building today, and he had been released from his job.

They cut back and he was part of that and now he's without a job. And he's got a high mortgage and he's got two boys and a lovely wife. So he's smart and he loves God. So he comes to me and he says so here's what pastor simple.

I want to talk to you. I got a chance possibly for a job. Let's say down in Nashville. But then there's the possibility we could go to another state where I think one of them is from and just start all over there lot less Standard of living a cost of living because New York is a beast when it comes to cost of living.

Am I right folks? Or I could keep looking here in New York. So what should I do? I said, I don't know. Let's talk about it. He elaborated on the options. What verse could we go to in the Bible that would tell him what to do?

No, no verse in the Bible says go to Nashville or if there is you have a bad Bible. We agreed and we prayed God. Show him what to do. It's not a moral question. Whether he went to Nashville or any other place or stayed in New York, nobody could condemn him and say you're a disobeying God.

Let's take another situation let's say your children are in school and With the Board of Education and all schools now being affected by it you find out that even though they're very young. They're being taught things that are totally contrary to the Bible about sexuality about what marriage means.

So now what do you do? Pull the kid out of school. You can't be around that kind of teaching not so fast. How about other people who can't afford to pull their children out of school? Where would they send them?

You got to homeschool them if you can you feel so let do it. But not everybody can homeschool because a lot of mothers are working. What verse would tell us what to do. None? Surely you need wisdom. Let's say you feel like I got to keep him in that school, which a lot come on.

We're all facing this here in New York City the board had got some nasty textbooks. Speaking of nasty nasty textbooks, and they endorse it and the whole agenda and philosophy of The Board of Education is not a Christian agenda whatsoever.

How many are aware of that just say amen. So now what do you do? You can offset the teaching in the school because you have the children all day long. How do you approach that subject? What if the kids are so young they don't know about the birds and the bees and you have to start talking about all.

How do you do that? But how should you do it? Should you pull them out or move to where you're gonna escape this in this city or in this country? Or how about a simple thing like your lease is up in your apartment?

And you know you decide with do I keep the raising it do I keep paying money in every month? Which goes down the drain or do I try to scrape some money together and we buy something? Because buying is better than renting isn't it?

Well, but what if you can't afford so should I stay here or should I move or how about if you meet someone? And they're a Christian and you start to have feelings toward them. So where is this going? How do you know if this is the one that you're to marry if that's what God's will is?

How would you find that out? Would you look in the Bible and find a verse look for her picture? You won't find it in there. Or take for example this week. Somebody came to my office and said our Organization would like you to consider going overseas and representing us and working with us.

To help pastors in Lithuania and showed me the letter of the leaders of Lithuania say, please come over and teach our pastors. It's hard here encourage us. We need it. So should I go or not? Go? Let me see.

Let me look in the Bible. Maybe it's in the Psalms. No, it's not in the Bible. Well, wait a minute if someone was led to invite you pastor Jim Simbala to go somewhere. Shouldn't you say yes, because God must have put it on their heart.

Well, if I go to every invitation I get I would never pastor a church. I turned down 90 of those kinds of invitations. So then maybe you should just not go to anyone. Well, is that God's will that I should never go anywhere to help anyone.

You're not gonna find that in the Bible. You're gonna find it by the red light green light. That Paul and his companions. Experienced. I want to tell you something in the next 10 minutes. That can really help you enjoy the richest blessings of God and avoid a lot of bad Stuff along the way in life.

I want to tell you something now simply if you and I can receive it to Enjoy being in the right person at the right time blessed by God. Although they'll always be problems but avoiding all kinds of problems financial and otherwise.

And what it is, it's the red light green light being led by the Spirit of God. This is what's happening to Paul and Silas and the team they went out. Originally from Antioch and do you remember how Paul and Barnabas went out?

The Bible says as they were worshiping the Lord and ministering to God the Holy Spirit said Separate me Barnabas and Saul to the work that I have called them to do. How in the world did the Holy Spirit say that obviously through some gift of the Holy Spirit in a public meeting?

They actually had their name mentioned and that's why they went out. No committee decided it. They didn't feed it into a computer with some software. No the Spirit said you two don't stay here you go.

I have work for you to do. The Christian Church for more or less now has totally abandoned the idea that the Holy Spirit is in charge of the Church of Jesus Christ. We leave it to councils and really smart people and books on church growth or whatever.

But that's why the Holy Spirit was sent to direct the affairs of the Christian Church and of each individual Christian life. We see this back in the Old Testament. Don't we when God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses?

They went out in a wilderness and they were there for 40 years in the wilderness and When they camped people believed there was about a million people who camped well. How long would they camp in a certain place.

They had no idea because God led them. God kept them there sometimes for six months sometimes for nine months sometimes for two weeks. He put a pillar of fire at night and a cloud during the day and when that moved they knew to move.

Why because God said move. He knows better than us. He knows what's waiting for us around the bend. So we got to follow the way God leads us. There was no law verse in the law of Moses when to move when not to move.

This was done on a daily hourly Sensitive basis for them looking up and saying we're going. And if someone would ask them how long are you staying here? I don't know. I'm not in charge. The cloud is in charge.

God is in charge when he moves we move when he stays we stay. Well, isn't that boring? No, it's good. It's exciting. It's great to be under the protection and guidance of Almighty God. Can we put our hands together and say amen?

Following God Instead of Personal Ambition

So today we have ministers switching churches because they want to make themselves go up the chain of really being important in their Denomination. They have plans. I hear ministers say I only want to stay here about two or three years because I want to get a bigger church in This 500.

I want to get to like a 1500 member church because then I can be a super pastor one day. No, that's told to me all the time. That's a long way from the book of Acts, isn't it? Let's get down to the nitty-gritty of this and just apply it to our lives.

You notice something about this story that's unusual. You would think that the Holy Spirit would check us and stop us if we were going to do something bad. And that's true. Romans 8 I think 14 says those that are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God and it's in that context of Overcoming the flesh and sin.

The only way to do that is to be led by another impulse. You don't fight sin by fighting the sinful impulse. You fight sin by getting under a different directive a different leader. Flowing with a different source instead of the flesh or pride the world and its ideas.

We submit to God and as we yield to him and his thoughts and suggestions. We find ourselves being delivered from that junk that we were in. But it's only done by following the Spirit for they that are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

But it goes beyond that doesn't it here in this story? Because they're not trying to do anything bad. Notice the strangeness of this. They want to go into Asia ie northern Turkey to preach the gospel.

To preach the gospel and the Holy Spirit forbids them to do it. Why. Because He's in charge and we follow God's orders. God loves us so much that he has a plan for our life. How many believe that he has a plan for your life.

Just lift your hand if you. How detailed is that plan? Does he care about living and dying or going in the ministry or being a missionary? Yeah, he would he would certainly be interested in that. But how about everyday affairs?

How about leasing or renting or buying or Or going to Lithuania or not or getting a job in the city or moving out. Would he be interested in that there's a whole school of thought now in Christian leadership.

Especially in the church growth cutting-edge business that stop praying and asking God to direct you. That's too supernatural for a lot of people. It scares them like Fanaticism and emotionalism like God told me God told me God told me and people who always say God told me scare me, too.

Like they have a running conversation with God and they can't say anything except God told me God showed me God told me. It's best to always say I feel God is leading me or I feel God said that in case she gives you wiggle room in case You're wrong.

The first rule in being led by God is to have the humility to know you could be wrong. My late friend David Wilkerson one time said to me when the last times I saw him Founder of tea challenge and all of those good things.

He said Jim. Did you ever miss God totally? I Said what do you mean brother Dave? He said no, I mean think God was leading you and you were totally wrong. I said, yeah, I have he said oh it just happened to me the other day I was sure God was saying something to me leading me and I found out it was totally wrong but just because we're wrong at times and we can't get that direction or just because people abuse it and use it to justify their agenda doesn't mean there's not the true leading of the Holy Spirit and Notice that God can forbid us to do good thing.

It's something Paul wanted to do. He wanted to spread the gospel. He didn't want to make money sell some product. He was wanted to preach the gospel and the Holy Spirit said no don't you're not allowed to go there.

Why. Because God knows the plan for my life and he's moving other people around and he knows exactly where I should go. You can't just respond to need in life or you'll go crazy because there's need everywhere.

The map of the world was put on my desk by the representative of this organization and She was showing me all these countries and all these places and there was need everywhere. We're where our pastors not in need of encouragement.

But ah, where am I supposed to go and she's trying to find out where they're supposed to go. The Billy Graham Association Has asked and we feel very good that it is God's will for the singers. Carol smaller group to go to Japan next year and singing crusades.

Backing up the presentation of the gospel by Franklin Graham and possibly others who will go with him. But then there are other places you're not supposed to go and we turned it down. So notice it's not bad things.

We want to do but sometimes God says to a good thing a rational thing a logical thing. No. So then they went and if you saw the map. They went kind of north and then turn west and they wanted to go further north into a place called, Bithynia.

They really needed the gospel and the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them. The Spirit of Jesus is the same as the Holy Spirit for when the father sent the son and the son accomplished his work. Representing the father then the son went back to heaven and he sent the Holy Spirit.

The only agent God has on planet Earth is the Holy Spirit. When we say Jesus is doing Jesus is doing that. It means the Spirit of Jesus the Holy Spirit is doing that. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the father where Jesus said where two or three are gathered.

I'll be there in the midst. He meant by his spirit because he's seated at the right hand of the father and right now he's praying for us. Oh praise God, isn't that a good thought? He's making intercession for us right now.

So everything is wrapped up with the Holy Spirit and now there's a very strong Anti-supernatural tenancy into not evangelical denominations. Stop talking about the Holy Spirit. We don't want to hear just go by the word, but I'm asking you brothers and sisters.

How can you find answers for things that are not in the word? Well, then they're not important. They say just do what you want and God will back you up. Oh, I don't know about that. I've seen a lot of people marry who they wanted to marry and it blew up in their face.

Discernment, Counsel, and the Peace of God

My son-in-law and I pastor Brian Petrie we begged a young lady some years ago not to marry a certain person who had come into this church and who had made such a ruckus that We had to ask him to leave but he had kind of gotten a hold of her mind and heart.

I pleaded with tears. I sat in front of her like a father would his daughter and I told her I'm gonna treat you like I would my own Daughter don't do this, please. You'll be sorry, please. No, no, no.

No, no, you don't understand. He said that you you you're all judgmental there at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. I said, okay I Fault myself to this day because I should have laid down in front of the door and blocked her and not let her leave.

Because she did marry him and it wasn't ten months later when she wrote me a letter and said everything you predicted came true. He used me and then threw me away. So you just can't do what you want and think God will bless it because sometimes what we feel like doing is not good.

Some of the moves we're gonna make are bad. They're not part of God's will for our lives. This plan that he has has to be worked out on a daily basis. So, how do we find these things out notice this? How sensitive they must have been to know that the Spirit of Jesus was forbidding them or the Holy Spirit?

Forbid them and then the Holy Holy Spirit of Jesus would not permit them first forbid then not permit. How did that happen? Most likely it was not a prophetic utterance by someone through the gifts of the Spirit tongues.

Interpretation of the gift of prophecy that doesn't seem to be the way that happened. It seemed to be something more subtle or maybe more Providential that they took that God was saying don't go there even though they wanted to go to represent him.

God has many ways of telling us what he wants us to do. Sometimes he uses providence or things that people say around us or things that happen. A late great friend of This church pastor John Garlock great missionary statesman told us years ago from this pulpit.

That he once was debating going on like a two-and-a-half-week trip to Siberia and Mongolia or something like that. But he wasn't sure the invitation was there wasn't sure if God wanted him to do that.

You know to go away for two two and a half weeks. Spend that energy that time. Well, I know but they need the gospel in Mongolia. Yeah, but there's another question am I supposed to go and that's what he was asking God.

So he's driving one day. He had been praying for days. He was driving one day in Dallas in the traffic there and he had been saying to God in the car. He got desperate God. Should I do it or not? Do it should I do it or not do it because they need to know they need to buy my ticket.

And this is a big thing God. I want to do your will. I want to be where you want me to be should I do it or not do it and he stopped at a red light and The car in front of him had a sticker on the back and it said just do it and as he read it The Holy Spirit bore witness with him.

There's your answer do it. God can use a sticker. How many say amen? God can use a verse. God can use a dream. God can use a vision. God can use a still small voice. One of the ways that God leads us and checks us red light green light is through something called the peace of God as a monitor.

The old saying among Holiness camp meetings was this I can't do that. I feel a check. I Feel a check. What does it check mean? It means that there's a loss of peace of God about something. So you have to be sensitive and walking with the Lord like that looks right.

But that's not something for me to do. Many years ago when the promise keepers rallies were filling stadiums and all that I got it was embarrassing. I got Invitations like four five consecutive years with dates.

No, like 12 12 dates each year could you go to one of them and a lot of my friends were speaking there. Tony Evans and different different friends of mine were speaking at these events and I knew the coach who ran that organization as I prayed about it.

I felt no peace. But my goodness stand in front of 50 60 thousand people and speak that's an honor to be invited, right? Think of all the good you could do. I felt no peace. I used to just send back Sorry schedule won't permit because I didn't want to say no.

I don't want to go. God told me don't go that could hurt them. So I just said schedule won't permit because it was true God's schedule for me would not permit me to go. And I said to my wife at the very beginning.

I said I have all these invitations. They keep coming, but I don't feel peace. She said don't go. Don't go. I Have no idea when I see the Lord why but it wasn't something I was supposed to do. They certainly didn't need my Ministry they had great people there to to minister to the men who were gathering.

But I felt a lack of peace and then when the green light is you feel peace. It might not even seem so great to you, but you feel peace. That's something I'm supposed to do. That's where God wants me to go, but that means a couple things.

Surrendering Personal Agendas to God’s Will

Let's start and close then with this. First of all, you have to want to do God's will. You can't be led by God when you have your own agenda. This is where the main problem is with all of us. You can't be dead set on where you want to be.

You know, there was a guy who came and tried out for a church here in New York 20-something years ago. I never forget that story. He came to New York and a church had him preach like to try out or whatever and he preached.

But I heard he turned it down because he and his wife when they were going back to the airport. They didn't like the traffic in New York City and they wrote back and said sorry. We can't take that the traffic like who would want to live with this kind of traffic?

What do you what is the the LIE is like the highway of death? What is that the BQE or whatever? Well, then you have your own agenda. You're looking for something comfortable. You'll never hear God lead you.

The first thing we have to do is want to do God's will. My mom is here. I don't want to embarrass her. She was going through a hard time in her life then but when Carol and I first came to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Rundown building no money we felt peace about leaving the church where we had a little salary in Newark, New Jersey and We were part-time Helping the Brooklyn Tabernacle because it was ready to close down and we both felt peace.

God wants us to leave where there's a salary to come where there's no salary nothing. $85 offering it didn't make any sense and my mother who's very practical picked it up and said Jim How are you gonna live?

You already have one child. I said, we're gonna live by faith and my mom said it and it hurt me. She meant it protectively. She said what does faith pay? How you gonna pay your bills? But when you have peace and you know God wants you to do something you got to go and do it and Where there's a red light and you feel no peace.

I don't care how good it looks. It could bite you in the end. God knows what's around the bend. You can't go by what your eyes see for my ways are not your ways. Neither are my thoughts your thoughts sayeth the Lord for as high as the heaven is above the earth.

That's how different my ways are from your ways. So the first thing you have to do you have to be surrendered and say I want to do God's will. God I want to do your will and if you're struggling with that be there some battle going on some idol some Fleshly deposit that won't give way.

You got to say to God God make me willing to be willing. I'm not willing and I'm not gonna lie, but make break me. That's why when we stop singing songs like spirit of the Living God Fall fresh on me break me melt me.

Mold me fill me when we stop singing those songs and it's all just praise to God. I'm all for just praise for God, but the hardest songs to sing when you're worshiping. God is break me. See if I can be set in my way and sing any hallelujah song you give me.

But to put your life down I said Lord. That's a whole different kind of worship. It also means that we have to walk close to Jesus because we have to become sensitive to the probings leadings peace. No peace whispers of God.

Lordship, Spiritual Sensitivity, and Everyday Obedience

But brothers and sisters I plead with you. God loves you and he wants us to be led by his spirit. He wants to take the reins of our life. That's what Lordship really mean. Lordship means you turn your life over to Christ and you say every day I want you to show me who to talk to and who not to talk to and Even if you want me to witness to the boss, and I know it could get tight.

I will witness to the boss. God just give me the words and then when I'm around and I feel like I should say something and you whisper be quiet. I Will be quiet. I will go. I will stay. I don't want my career.

I want your plan for my life. How many people my wife and I have seen mess up their lives especially those? Talented in music because they wanted to make it. You know how many people told me they were going to go into Whatever world and be a light and shine and I was dubious about what they were getting themselves into.

They didn't evangelize they got evangelized. They never came back to us because bad company corrupts morals. You really got to be led by God. You heard about the guy who went in? Former alcoholic, but he said I just know God wants me to go back into a bar and witness to everybody there.

They had to carry him out dead drunk about three hours later. Wasn't led by God, but who knows those things, but God you don't follow a pastor. People who are disciples of a pastor that's not a good thing be a disciple of Jesus.

Follow his leading his probing. I believe God put this on my heart. Because there are probably some people here in our church or visiting. Maybe you're at one of those crossroads, and you're contemplating even something facing something I talked about and I just want to tell you do not lean on your own understanding.

Do you hear me say that to you do not lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge your Lord. Let's bring a New Testament be led by the Holy Spirit. Be fanatical about it believe the Bible literally and say wait a minute God saved me and then just say figure it out while you're down there.

And I'll get you to heaven one day. Is that the Christian life as it's presented in the New Testament. I think not. I said to someone the other day because they were irritating me. About this stuff. No don't worry about anything just do what you feel like doing.

I say oh fine as long as you do that with your son and your daughter. Yeah, just let your son and daughter hang out with anyone. They want marry anyone. They want you won't be concerned at all. Oh, yes, I will.

Well. How about how about our Heavenly Father you don't think he's interested in every part of our lives. Every place we go every place we don't go everything I read everything I take in my eye gate my ear gate.

You don't think the father cares. Oh, yeah, we're putting all kind of safety devices on the on the Televisions because we don't want the kids watching stuff. That's inappropriate and a blocks and all this stuff, and that's all great.

And it's and it's obviously true and needed, but how about our Heavenly Father? Don't you think he cares what you watch what I watch what I see what I hear where I go. Oh, no, we just say to our 13 year olds go wherever you want.

Just hang out when you Curfew nah just come when you feel just we'll have the door open for you. I Don't think so. Why do we do that because we hate them or because we love them and? We know things they don't know.

We know stuff about life that they don't know so we put Boundaries and restrictions and we give them guidance. You Shouldn't have that guy as a friend right now. No. He's not good. Don't go to that party.

Prayer for Spirit-Led Lives

That is not a good place for you to be. And our Heavenly Father is that way. He wants to bless us and keep us out of a lot of ditches that we could fall into along the way. Let's close our eyes if you're here today and You're facing a situation where you need the leading of the Holy Spirit.

I Just want you to stand right where you're sitting just stand. I got actually convicted that I'm just unilaterally making all kinds of decisions and If you stood come out of your seat quickly and come down from the balcony to come quickly though Lord our simple prayers.

They're starting with me. Break us and melt us so that we want to do your will sometimes. The world the flesh and the devil they lie so subtly to us That we think there's another better way than your way.

There's a better life than following Jesus. But we repent of that today. If you gave your life for us, how much more will you lead us into green pastures every day of our lives? You'll feed us. You'll guide us.

You'll strengthen us. You'll use us. So God today we give you our feet. We give you our lips. We give you our ears. We give you our eyes. We give you our hands. We give you our future. We give you decisions big and small.

Would you help us make them? Would you lead us and guide us in the way? We should go, you know what prompted the people in front of me and behind me to step out. Would you leave them today God would you begin the process of directing our steps?

You promised you would you said that we would hear a voice behind us saying this is the way walk in it. You're not a guy a man that you should lie. You're God. You are God and you're gonna lead us and we're not gonna have to worry and be frantic with anxiety.

But we're gonna know God's hand is on me. God is gonna lead me. God's gonna show me. He's gonna hinder certain things. He's gonna encourage me in another way. So make us sensitive To the Holy Spirit forbid them make us sensitive to the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them.