“The Spirit’s Direction” – FBC Morning Light (5/26/2023)

Well, good Friday morning to you. I hope you're looking forward to a good weekend, gathering with God's people on the Lord's Day. This is graduation season, and there's already been some graduations on the college level, high school level is another thing.

If you're a high school or college graduate this time of year, congratulations to you. If you have a child or grandchild graduating from college or high school, again, congratulations to you, and I trust that God will guide your graduates as they seek His face and seek His direction in the days ahead.

Reading Acts 16 and the Spirit’s Leading

Well, today in our Bible reading, we're reading in 2 Samuel 21 and 2, Acts chapter 16, and the 105th Psalm. I want to zero in on Acts chapter 16 this morning, and notice just how interesting are the workings and the leadings of the Holy Spirit.

In verse 6, it says when they, that is Paul and the missionary team, had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, it says they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word in Asia. Now, that would be the Roman province of Asia, that's not like China and, you know, okay?

The Roman province of Asia, that would be modern Turkey and that region, okay? So it says the Holy Spirit forbade them to preach the Word in that province of Asia. Well, how did He do that? And why did He do that?

The next verse says, after they had come to Mycenae, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. Again, I don't know if you've read this before and you had these kinds of questions come into your mind, like, well, how did the Holy Spirit prevent them, forbid them in verse 6, and how did He not permit them in verse 7 from going into those areas?

I don't have a definitive answer to that question. My inclination is to say the Holy Spirit did so maybe the same way that He works even today, by arranging circumstances in such a way that it can't work out.

I really don't know, I don't have an answer to that. All I know is what the Scriptures tell us, that the Holy Spirit did not want them to go into the region of Asia to preach the Word, He didn't want them to go into Bithynia to preach the Word.

He had other direction for them to go. And the Lord used, the Holy Spirit apparently used, a dream that Paul had in verses 9 and 10. He had a dream of this Macedonian man pleading, come over to Macedonia and help us.

Paul had this dream, he woke up from the dream and he concluded, the Lord wants us to go to Macedonia. And so they sought to follow that, what he thought was the Lord's direction, and everything worked out.

They made their way to Macedonia, and they were heading to Philippi. And when they get to Philippi, sure enough, they go down by the riverside where there was some Jews gathering for prayer, and Paul spoke to them of the things of Christ, and this woman Lydia, whom it says in verse 14, whose heart the Lord opened to heed the things spoken by Paul.

She became a convert because the Lord opened her heart to hear the Word, and so did her household. And they were all baptized, and she begged them to stay, and so they did. They stayed and preached and taught the Word.

But then they ran into this slave girl, who was a demon-possessed girl, and she was using her demon possession to discredit the Gospel by pointing to these men as men of the Most High God who proclaim to us the way of salvation.

And you say, well, it seems like that's a good thing, you got some free publicity here. Yeah, well, consider the source of that publicity. Do you really want a notorious demon-possessed individual being your promoter?

I think not. Neither did Paul. So he commanded the demon within her to come out in the name of Christ, and did so. That led to conflict, because this girl had some handlers that were making a profit out of her divination, and now they lost their means of income.

So they brought Paul and Silas before the magistrates, and had them put in prison. Locked up and put in prison. So at this point, you might wonder, was that really the Holy Spirit that told them to go to Macedonia, and they went?

I didn't see some fruit, but now they're in prison. Well, I think, well, I know. They were convinced, yes, this is where the Holy Spirit wanted us, this is where God wanted us to be. And I get that from the way they handled the prison experience.

It says in verse 24 that, well, earlier, that they laid, in verse 23, the magistrates had Paul and Silas beaten. It says after, when they had laid many stripes on them, then they threw them into prison, and fastened their feet in the stocks.

That doesn't sound like spiritual blessing. Ah, but it is! And Paul and Silas recognized, we're where God wants us to be. How do you know that? Because it says in verse 25, at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

You don't sing hymns to God when you're feeling like you're out of God's will. You know, you might pray and you might lament, but you don't sing hymns to God. They were singing hymns to God because they knew that God is up to something here, and sure enough, He was.

The earthquake came, the prison doors were opened, the jailer comes in, and eventually Paul and Silas were able to bring the gospel to the jailer and his household, and they came to faith in Christ. And there was this great fruit that was born in Philippi, all because the Holy Spirit prevented them from going in one direction, then wouldn't let them go in another direction, but funneled them to Macedonia, to Lydia, to the Philippian jailer, and to souls who came to faith in Christ.

The Marvelous Workings of the Holy Spirit

Ah, the marvelous, mysterious, wondrous workings of the Holy Spirit. If you have the Spirit dwelling within you, give thanks today for His work that you may not always recognize, but be grateful for it, because He is there working to accomplish His purposes in your life.

Our Father and our God, we do thank you for your Spirit, for His work in our lives to mold us and shape us and even direct our steps. Help us to appreciate all that He does for us and for your glory. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

All right, well listen, have a wonderful weekend, and I trust the Lord will bless you in it. You gather together with God's people on the Lord's Day, and have some spiritual refreshment on that day. Good day.

God bless.