When God Says NO

The Macedonian Call| Acts 16:6-10| Alex Sands

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“We exist to glorify God by making disciples that CONNECT passionately with God and His family, GROW progressively to spiritual maturity, SERVEselflessly with their gifts and talents, and GOrelentlessly into the world with the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Kingdom Life Podcast. What if we want to go out from one city to another city spreading the gospel? And God says no. Let's listen to Pastor Alex says. Teach on Acts 16, 6 through 10 for a greater explanation.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Amen. How many of you are glad this morning that God's goodness chased you down? Ran you down? We were all astray. We were all running away from God. Scripture says that we were all enemies of God. But if when we were enemies of God, God still sent his son, God still put a plan of salvation for us, what good will he withhold from us? There's nothing good he will withhold. Oh, thank you, Lord, for your goodness. Thank you, worship team, for leading us in our in worship and getting our focus on Jesus. And you know, one of the benefits of being in a body of Christ, being connected in the body of Christ, the the uh being connected in in God's family is you you get to know what's behind the song. You know the person. To see Liz give glory to God like that in her praise and in her prayers, if you knew what she has been through, she lost both of her parents in the last three weeks. So to lift up her praise to God and say thank you, God, just hearing that ought to make you rejoice. And God is encouraging my sister and building her up, and thank you all for your prayers for her, and just for all of us going through together, the body of Christ, we are in this together. And he's put the body together to heal the body, to encourage one another as we are on this journey. On this journey to seeing our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Amen, church. He is good to us and good to see everybody this morning as we continue in our study of the book of Acts. As I shared earlier, we are in Acts today, Acts chapter 16, verses 6 through 10, what we're going to cover today. And uh, as many of you know, if you are following, if you follow basketball or sports, you know we are just started, you know, into the March madness season. The uh champions, the conference championships are this weekend, the ladies' conference championships were last weekend, and uh there was a team from Durham that won their championship last night, unfortunately. But um one of the things that that I noticed in some of these events, especially when we're talking about college sports, I just think to myself, I would not want to be a college coach. I don't care how much money they make, I would not want my career to ride on the decisions of 19, 20, 21-year-olds. But the questions that they have to answer, the questions that they have to answer not only after the game by reporters, but by fans and then social media and criticizing every step. Why, coach, did you call that time out with three minutes and nine seconds left in the first half? They won the game. Why are you asking all these questions? But you know, that's systemic of our culture. We live in a culture of critics. You know, just backseat drivers. I feel for young people growing up in this age of social media because you post a picture and and and people are all looking at, well, you look like she looks like she gained five pounds and this. Oh, you know what? I'm sure AI touched that up and touched that up. Constant critics. Always criticizing this. Oh, it can't be that. How can it? Why did that person make that choice? Why this, this, this? Isn't it just enough is enough? Some point you just say, but then sometimes those voices, we internalize them. If we're not careful. And the one that's the constant critic, the constant question asker is yourself. The constant second guesser is you looking at you in the mirror. Why? Why? Why? Why didn't you make that turn? Why didn't you do that? Why, why, why, why? Can we be real this morning? No one has criticized yourself more than yourself. No one has second guessed yourself more than yourself. And you know, sometimes after becoming a child of God, that inner critic gets worse. Because there's this thought in the back of your mind that if a door is closed, if a plan falls through, if an opportunity doesn't materialize, oh, you must have got it wrong. You must have missed it. This is all your fault. God was telling you left, right, and you prayed and you fasted. You don't see any sin in your life, and you said, like, well, I I but the first voice is yours or the enemy's, you are so wrong. Otherwise, if you were really listening to the spirit of the living God, I remember the late Charles Snaley would say, the Spirit of the Living God dwelling in the inside of you. If you were really listening to the Spirit of the Living God dwelling inside of you, all of the lights would be green. It should be a straight path. And as we've studied the book of Acts, we've seen some periods where it is just direct and straight. Case in point, Philip. Philip minding his own business, and the Holy Spirit said, Go join the eunuch in that chariot. Join that man. Heat of the day, go. And he ran and joined him. And right at that point in which the man in the uh in the chariot, he was reading Isaiah 53 right at that moment, and he explained to him, because he asked, Philip had asked him, Do you know what you're reading? And the man said, How can I? Unless somebody explains it to me. And Philip, at that scripture, shared with him Jesus. Oh, that was a green light. Go right there, and right at that right time, bang. Right at the scripture. We see examples of the green light and da-da-da-da, but it's not always like that. It's not always like that. And you know, sometimes just listening to other Christians who may just tell you one part of the story and tell you about the one time God did it all like that, but not the 50 times in which they were just struggling to find it out. You and I can get the idea that what's wrong with me? How come I'm not just seeing green lights going straight forward? That's why I like this passage. I love when you study the whole counsel of God. When you look at the big picture, you don't just take little snippets, but you look at the whole story. You're able to find nuggets like this that will help you understand as a child of God this point. Sometimes God's best work, sometimes his best work, sometimes is best leading and directing of us, is in the know. Sometimes the best leadership the Lord gives us is a red light. We're gonna unpack that this morning as we picked up in Acts chapter 16. Now, last time we were together, we looked at verses 1 through 5 where Paul and Silas they went on their second, on Paul's second missionary journey, what's called his second missionary journey. But originally he wanted to go with Barnabas, but that didn't work out. Paul and Barnabas had a falling out about John Mark. But Silas was there, and he was, he and Paul, they they went out of uh the church at Antioch, they were released by the church, and they went back backtracked to the churches that Paul and Barnabas had established a few years earlier on Paul's first mission trip. So they backtracked, they went to Derby and they went to Lystra, and at Lystra, they met a young man named Timothy, a fine young man, a godly young man, one spoken of well by two churches. And Paul had it in his heart to take Timothy with him. Well, they laid hands upon him and commissioned him. We find that in as we read his letters, Paul's letters to Timothy, that he was conferred. Not just, it wasn't just like a thing that Paul wanted, but the church could see this in him. And so we found at the end in verse 5, they were going to the various churches and explaining the decrees that the Jerusalem council had issued. Decrees meaning that the Gentiles didn't uh need to be circumcised and keep the Jewish law in order to be saved. Jesus is enough. So they continue in the backtracking. So you can see uh you got Lystra, you got Derby, you got Lystra, you got Iconium, and you have Antioch, Basidia, Basidian Antioch. That's the backtracking. Well, now that that is done, what's next? Let's pick up in verse 6. It says, and they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. Before I get too far ahead of myself, I want to share with you this. I want to share with you the word that Jesus gave. In Matthew chapter 16, verses 16 through 18. And I'm gonna make reference to this later as we go through the text. This is where Jesus had asked the disciples, Who do you say that I am? And Peter rose up, he said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will build my church. The book of Acts is about Jesus building his church through the church, through the body. But we can find here in verse 6 that the plan was to go where? Where did they want to go? Where did they want to go? Asia. Correct. That's where they wanted to go. So that's where Paul, Silas, and Timothy, they want to go. They want to go to Asia. Now, when you hear Asia, don't think of Asia, the Asia that we see today when you look at on the map. This Asia was uh the area that was say, uh part of the Roman Empire there, that that was the West, there's a Eastern Asia, Western Asia, but included uh uh uh excuse me, Ephesus and included Colossae. And it wasn't the same as we see today, but this whole area here is a Roman province, it's a region, and it was filled with cities and and traffic, you know, roadways. It was highly developed, highly commercial. It was a good, a great choice if you were thinking about, hey, places that that you would want to go that would be wise areas to share the good news of Jesus, hey, that should be high on the list. Should be. But what happened there? Sorry about all this. What happened when they got there? The spirit of excuse me, they were forbidden by who? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Their intention was to go to a good place, but they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word. Their agenda was to share the good news of Jesus Christ. They want to share the gospel in a good place, major cities, strategic, influential, logical. But the Holy Spirit Spirit forbid them to go. And that word uh forbidden, it's it's it's not a light word. It means to hinder, to prevent, to stop a course of action. This wasn't like a small hint. This wasn't just like a feeling. It's like going to a door, walking up to a door, and it's closed and it has a big old sign on it, do not enter. This is the Holy Spirit's do not enter. Why did the Holy Spirit forbid them to do it? Luke doesn't tell us. How did he prevent them from doing it? Luke doesn't tell us. The Holy Spirit didn't lead him to tell us. Because it's not important how he did it or why. The important factor is who did it. That it's the Holy Spirit who blocked the advance into Asia. Now, going into Asia, again, was a good thing, and it was a logical course of action because if you look at the map and they're at Poseidian Antioch, well, you know, the team had already been south. The way where the the the first mission trip had started was Poseidian Antioch after going through Cyprus and everything else. So that's where it started. You well, we're not going to go back south and like Barnabas and uh uh John Mark there in the island of Cyprus. So South isn't it? Going west would have taken them through Asia. We don't want to go east back to the churches we've been. Well, you know, it makes sense to go east-west. Holy Spirit says no. Asia was a good thing, it was a good door to go through. But the Holy Spirit forbid them to do it. That can be the most frustrating thing, can't it? When there's a good place to go, where it's a good opportunity, and God just says no. No explanation, no further details, it's not about poor planning on your part, it's not about anything else, it's just the Holy Spirit said no. And that can be real frustrating if you put a lot of your time, your heart, your energy into the plan because it was logical, and getting up to the door. Listen, walking up to the door, there was no sign that it was going to be wrong until you got right there. And there's the big fat sign, do not enter. And this is where you can be tempted to draw the wrong conclusions. Maybe God don't love me. Maybe I never heard God in the first place. What's wrong with me? It's only me. I'm the only one who misses it. Everybody else seems to get it right. Saints, always remember this. This has just blessed me so much, this whole thing. Being redirected is not the same as being rejected. Hear me, saints. Logic is not enough to lead the people of God. There are a lot of plans that are logical, but that the Holy Spirit, the Lord, will just say, nope. And not that it's bad, it's just not now. And being redirected is not being rejected. And it doesn't necessarily mean you've done something wrong. Sometimes we go right to that default because it seems like all we've heard is green lights. Well, sometimes there's a red light. It's not always logic. Sometimes things aren't logical and God just goes leads right through. But sometimes discernment matters, church. Discernment matters. And and depending on how much of yourself you've put into this, often determines how you'll respond. And it's not just how much you may have wanted to go through it and just knew God was on the back side of the door, He was working us right through the door as much as you want. The other part of the equation is if other people are with you, and you told everybody that's the door. But what did Jesus say? I will build my church. This is about the Lord's plan, not our plan. And just because the door was closed doesn't mean you were out of the will of God. Don't interpret a red light as God rejecting you or having been out of the will of God. Sometimes God brings you to the red light for a reason. One of the most spiritually mature things we can do is to receive a no from God without demanding an explanation. We want explanations. You know, we want details. We want we want that. Okay, tell us. Lord, it's time for a debrief. He could give you that, but don't you dare feel entitled to it. He could. He could explain the whole thing or not. First kingdom truth is that the Holy Spirit often leads by closing good doors. Here's the truth. Here's how it plays out. The door was closed at this point in time, but a few years later, Paul will get to Asia. He'll get to Ephesus. He'll spend a lot of time in Ephesus. It wasn't a matter of Paul being wrong or Ephesus or Asia being wrong. It just wasn't the season yet. It's just not where God wanted him to go at that time. Jesus said, I will build my church. It's not just where, it's not just how, it's when. Getting on a boat. And there's a lot in between where this starts in verse 6 and Troaz. You could say, well, why didn't God just say go to Troaz? Sometimes he leads directly like that, and sometimes he doesn't. And listen, I I have a hypothesis, and I'll share it with you later, but we're not told exactly why. We're not told all of the Reasons why, but we just know right now, at this point, as we're reading the text in verse 6, it wasn't time to go to Asia. You know what? Scripture reminds us over and over and over again. Proverbs 16:9, the heart of the man, the heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. James 4, 13 through 15. James says, Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you don't know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist, a vapor, that appears morning fog that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will do this or we will do that. If the Lord wills, we will do this, we will do that. Because the Lord is building his church. How, when, everything he desires. And he gets his people in place when and how he wants them. And so here's our kingdom life. This is how we apply the truth. Making plans isn't the problem. Believing they're final is the problem. You know the saying, write your plans in pencil. Making plans isn't the problem. It's when you begin to worship the plan, begin to put all of yourself into the plan and not say, God, if the Lord wills, God, you have direction and you tell everyone else, if the Lord wills, we'll go here and do this, this, this. Plans aren't the problem. Believing they're absolutely final is we live in a time where we're kind of told, coming up, everything needs to be a logical, there's a plan of life. You do this, you go to this school, you do this, this, this, this, and you follow this path, and everything went. Life isn't a recipe. God has all of the ingredients, He's putting everything together, not us. So He leads us as He wills. And sometimes logic doesn't lead where God is leading. Sometimes the path we've been told to always take, all of our lives, that career advancement, and everything else, and the house, 2.4 kids and the pets, the fish, all of that, sometimes that's just not what God has for you. And not in the place that you thought it would be. But hey, it's his plan, not ours. All we want is to hear from the Lord. A no is just as anointed as a yes. Just if it comes from him. I'm looking out at y'all and I'm like, you know, I think I think I got y'all's attention. I think I'm looking at folks who who, I'm serious. Y'all looking at me like I know exactly what he's talking about. But many of you have been in church settings where you've been embarrassed to admit that you missed something, that you thought a door was what you were supposed to go to, but but you got there and it wasn't. Don't be ashamed. Read this text and you'll find out. This is how God leads. It's not always a green light. You don't always get the map ahead of time. But you trust the one who put the map together. He knows the way. We are just on the journey. All right. Forbidden to speak the word in Asia. Verse 7, they decide to go north. Can't go west. East would have taken them back to where they had been, south would have taken back to where there's no churches there that were established. So, well, let's go north. When they came up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia. But the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. Okay, first let's understand this. The team didn't quit. The team didn't sit at that door and just say, I'm gonna wait till it opens. They said, Well, God has us do something. And look, the Holy Spirit didn't tell them at this point to go to Troaz, and we don't read of him telling them to go into Bithynia. But we got to share this good news. Sometimes there's a compulsion that the Holy Spirit already put in you, that he doesn't give you all of these specific steps. You just know I got to get places somewhere, I gotta tell somebody the gospel, I gotta share, I gotta share. And Bithynia would be a great choice. It was also a Roman province. Also had uh important cities and a lot of good trade routes, and and and uh also very attractive about Bithnea, there were a lot of Jews there. So if they would have continued all the way up north, they would have gotten into this region of Bithnea, and that and that would border the sea and all that. If they continued all the way north, that's what they would have gotten to. And again, that sounds like, hey, that's a good plan. But the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. Just changing these up so we can I can highlight some things so you can really see them. They came up to Mysia. And in Mysia, they tried to go up north into Vithnea. But the Spirit of Jesus didn't you notice the shift there from the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus? The Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus are the same. Same. Well, why the change? To emphasize that Jesus said, I will build my church. This is Jesus' mission. And he is using the apostles to get there, and so for the second time, God is blocked. But this is Jesus, Jesus' plan. He blocked this, but the key word here is attempted. They attempted to get in. They attempted to get into Bithhnia. And that means it's to make an effort to try to test a way forward. And it's in the imperfect, meaning it wasn't just once. The tense of the word, the the the way the verb is is structured, they kept trying and kept trying and kept trying. If you want to picture it as being a door, there isn't a big fat do not enter, but they get up to the door and it's locked. So they get up to it and they try to open it. It's locked. Let's try again. It's locked. Maybe there's another door. It also leads to the same place. Well, let's try that door, and it's locked. They kept trying and kept trying. That's a lesson for us, church. Hey, and until you hear otherwise, stay with the last instructions you got. He didn't tell us to stop, so we're gonna keep on going. Keep trying, keep going into new areas. This is what the Lord has called them to. What does the Lord call us to? The same mission, different platforms, different people, different jobs. What's the mission? Share Jesus, live out, incarnate Jesus in front of a watching world. But the promotion that you wanted, the job change, the door was locked, and you thought it'd be open, everything pointed to it all being open, but it wasn't. They didn't know where the Lord wanted them to be, but they kept going and going and trying, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them permit to let someone proceed to grant permission of a course of action to continue. How did the Spirit of Jesus do this? How did he not allow them? We don't know. We don't know how. Why? Why? Why did he do it? Bithynia would have been a good place. We don't know why he did it. But the emphasis is not in the how or the why, it's the who. The Spirit of Jesus. Jesus says no. Uh-uh. But he let them continue to try. That's another level of frustration, isn't it? If that's not what the Lord wanted us to do, why did he let us keep? Then that starts playing in your mind. Again, maybe it was never God in the first place. Man, does God really talk to me even at all? I'm so glad I'm not alone because I'm reading y'all's faces. You thought it was just you. Don't look down and be embarrassed. All saints have gone through this. Elijah didn't know what God was up to. He thought he knew God's plan. He thought he was alone. God said, You think my plan rolled on you, one man? I got 7,000. But he comforted him before he told him that. Get something to eat. Here, take something to eat. Care it for him. Because he's kind like that. But you know, when you've had multiple attempts to the door to do something good, and you thought God was leading you right to the door, and then right when you get there, it all just doesn't material, it all just falls apart. The door is locked, and that happens multiple times. You question everything. I know I did. I questioned everything. What in the world? What? You know what? I probably made all that up to begin with. Two temptations at this point. See, the first time there was a big fat do not enter. Second time, the Lord let them get to the door and keep trying and keep trying. Two temptations at this point, discouragement. We understand that. But then there's another one. And it's a stubbornness. But not a holy stubbornness, a stubbornness born out of pride. Especially if others are watching. And you've told everyone that's the door, and it's locked, and there comes a stubbornness that's not led by the Spirit, but is led by you. Because I got to prove to everyone I'm right. Sometimes the whole part of this process is to break down our pride. So we will stay humble. Because maybe we're not ready to go through the door, and we need to stay outside for a little bit. Sounds like a parent. No, you got to stay outside. You're a punch. You can't come in yet. Sounds like you're grounded, but that's not it. Sometimes the best way for him to instruct us and to teach us is to lock doors. And we and look, we're just sitting there, we're trying, trying, trying, trying. And understand, the Lord is always refining, perfecting, always growing, always teaching. Here's a lesson through this. Bithynia was a good destination to go to, and the gospel reached Bithhnia. When you look at 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, Peter says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. They're believers there. The gospel made it according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. God had foreknowledge. In the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for the sprinkling with his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. He had folks there that were going to be saved, but it wasn't through Paul and Silas and Timothy. Bithhnia. That's causing the temples to be deserted. He executed some. Wouldn't it be awesome? Wouldn't it be awesome to be called a contagion? Just because the gospel spreads so easily, like a petri dish. We just are in it everywhere. It's a contagion. God had a plan for Bismia, but it wasn't through Paul. And it wasn't through Silas. It wasn't through Timothy. Watch this, church. Sometimes we're not just attached to an outcome. We're attached to being the one who gets to do it. That's that stubbornness rooted in pride. Sometimes there's a holy stubbornness, but there's a difference between stubbornness that's given by the Lord and a stubbornness that's driven by pride. And sometimes the difference primarily is who gets the glory? We want everyone to be saved, but we want to be the one that gives them the gospel presentation. And then they come to faith. We want to be like at the end at the harvest. Well, maybe the Lord, your call is to water seed. Sometimes it's to throw out the seed. But it doesn't matter if you water or if you're the one who sees it mature, it doesn't matter. You're part of the process. But sometimes we want to pick our role. And there are times that God has to lock the door, close the door, so you can lose that illusion. God's got to break down your pride because if you get behind the door, folks will see you instead of Jesus. You'll put you on the stage. If somebody's being led by God, you can trust God has broken them down where no one sees. God has had to break, whoever God has used, he's got to break them down like a fraction. To the least common denominator. All I got, Lord, is you. And thank the Lord that he does. Again, Paul could have been embarrassed. He could have continued trying because he's got Silas and Timothy. Timothy's a young man and he's watching me. I'm supposed to be leading this. I am the apostle to the Gentiles. He tried different doors. He tried to get in because that was the call. But there comes a point where just the door is closed. But none of this was wasted. Again, just to emphasize, Jesus personally actively directs his mission by his spirit. And he let the team experience the tension of locked doors. I got a hypothesis. I'll share it later. But we've already talked about some of the some of the things that happens during this time. Pride being, you know, stripped away. Our dependence on God growing. Humility growing. He personally directs his church. We see this terminology, this terminology, spirit of Jesus, or spirit of Christ, isn't used often in the New Testament, but we find it in places such as Romans 8.9. You therefore are not in the flesh. Oh I got ahead of myself. There we go. Romans 8.9, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. You receive the Holy Spirit as salvation. After you believe, you receive the Holy Spirit of promise. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13. And if you don't have the spirit, you don't belong to him, but it's the Spirit of God dwells in you. And anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God, because God, Jesus, is fully God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, co-equal. Psalm 1, excuse me, Philippians 1.19. For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. Saying the Spirit of Jesus Christ is like saying, listen, Jesus has a mission and I'm part of it. And Paul says, by your prayers, I believe the Spirit of Jesus will bring me through this so I can continue about his mission. It's the same way, it's the same way. I mean, it's the same spirit, just talked about in a different way to emphasize this is of Jesus. Now, here is the life principle, church. When a door is locked, do a heart check. Check your heart. Sometimes a door is locked, another door is locked, another door is locked, but always check your heart. Because it could be you. There could be a sin. There could be something, some way that you stumbled, but check your heart. Always examine your heart. Because there are times we are more attached to our role than the outcome itself. Living in 2026, it is amplified more than I can ever remember. I mean, I would not, again, I would not want to grow up in this culture where everything is critiqued, everything is evaluated, everything lasts forever. Every time a young person stumbles, that can last forever. A mistake in college can ruin somebody's career, depending on who was recording. I was telling a group this week, live like this is a group of pastors, live like someone's recording you all the time. Someone has their phone and there's what they're watching you. Because most likely there's somebody out there who knows who you are, and you better, you you just be, walk with the character of Christ, just live that out, and sometimes if you're not in a feeling right, or whatever, just don't say nothing. Just give through the day. But live like everyone's watching because it's probably true. There's a camera somewhere. I wouldn't want to live in this age, grow up in this time. But if you're living for a performance and trying to show folks how much you know and how close you are to God, that's a take heed lest ye fall. If you think you stand, take heed lest you fall. You know what? It's one of the best things you can say, one of the best words, some of the best words you can ever say. I don't know. I'm still waiting for God's direction. I thought it was here, but it's not here right now. That way, Jesus, it's about his mission and his glory. The more you give it to him, the easier life will be. I love that. That's liberating. That may not be liberating to you yet. Just wait a little bit. I got a track record of being wrong. I know you did it. That just really came out so wrong. That was funny. But again, often that's the best thing. We all have that. You've been walking with the Lord any length of time, you got a good track record of missing it. But God is perfect. Watch how he works this out. So passing by Mysia, they went down the Troaz. I wish I the map, I wish I'd put the map out. But if you notice the trajectory, Bisney is north, and they're doing like a curve, and they keep trying to go north. But all the ways they try to go north are blocked. So what you gonna do now? Go down to Troaz. That means it's a lower elevation. You gotta come, we gotta go down the hill, y'all. I mean, there's nothing else here. We can't go that way. I guess we just go on down and head down the mountains, and there's Troaz. Troaz was an important city. It was right on, it was a port right on the Aegean Sea, a lot of commerce there, everything else. But don't read, we don't read about them sharing the gospel there. You know, we don't read about them establishing churches there and so on, not at this point in time. But they went down to Troaz because there was nowhere else really to go. Ever been there? Ever been just like, uh, well, I guess every door was closed, and now all I got is to go through this hallway. Down the end of the hallway is Troaz. They ran out of land. They're right there at the sea. But at Troaz, look what happens. And a vision. A vision. You know, God speaks through visions, dreams, prophets, he speaks to other people, the church. Here he gives Paul a vision. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him, saying, Come over here and help us. A vision, not a dream. It's a supernatural sight or appearance given by God for revelation or direction. He's not snoozing. He has this supernatural sight of a man saying, Come help us. And he's not just the man is there, he's not just asking, he's urging. Which means to appeal, to plead with, like to beg, to call someone with earnestness and come and help. Bring aid. Bring relief. Oh, what's the relief? Is it food? No. Is it military assistance? No. What's the help that's needed? We need Jesus. How did Paul know it was a Macedonian man? Because he said, come to Macedonia and help us. God made it so clear where he wanted him to go. Made it abundantly clear. Come to Macedonia and help us. He delivered it in a way that's plain and clear. And what they had wanted hundreds of miles before was just God's direction. What's next? Now they got it. And it's crystal clear. And they're there at Troaz, where they can hop on a boat, just go across the sea, and there they are in Macedonia. That's where they needed to be anyway. If they were going to get to Macedonia, that's how they had to go. Maybe there's some other ways, but that's the most direct path. There it is. They needed Jesus. And all of those closed doors, it was just funneling them to Troaz. Verse 10. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately, that means immediately. I looked up the Greek. Know what it said? Immediately. Immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Boy, that concluding means it was a collective understanding. God had put things together to bring pieces into one understanding, connecting the dots, all of them, the whole team, had this together, this common understanding. God is calling us to preach the gospel to them. God had given the vision and the clarity for what he wanted to do. But notice now it's God. Who had it been before? Holy Spirit. And then after the Holy Spirit, who was it? Spirit of Jesus. And now who is it? All three members of the Godhead got them to Troaz. And it's unmistakable they heard God together collectively through all of their experiences. So this wasn't just Paul. Paul had the vision, and all everyone else said, Amen. Oh, and there's something else too. I don't know if you if you saw it. When God saw the vision immediately, what? What does it say? We saw it, but what's the pronoun? What? Who's the we? For the first time in Acts, Luke shows up. Dr. Luke. The physician. They met him in Troaz. What if all of this was to get Dr. Luke on the team? Further down as we continue to read in Acts, you'll see we, we, we, we. First time we see this pronoun, it's always been they. Now it's we. It's a team of four. And I'm giving you a little preview of coming attractions. Once they get over into Macedonia, Paul and Silas, they're gonna need a doctor. Oh, some of y'all have read that, haven't you? You've already been, they're gonna need a doctor. Throughout Paul's ministry, he's gonna need a doctor. And Dr. Luke, I don't know if he was practicing there or just happened to be there, but God makes no mistakes. What if all the closed doors was just to get there right on time and then speak to Luke at the same time? It's Luke, I got a call for you. I know you love medicine, but there's something else for you to do. And what if God, if look, Luke wrote the gospel of Luke and Acts. And they picked him up on this trip. Here he's able to get glean from Paul and glean all this understanding. And oh my word. That could be a reason why all of these doors were closed. Sometimes it's just to get not just us, but somebody else in position. Sometimes you're not supposed to go through the door with the team that you got. God had you try this door, that door, that door, and he's like, nope, nope, nope, nope. Because Luke's coming. With Luke, you can do what I want to do. I will build my church, and I want this team to go into Macedonia. Last principle, guys. Remember this. I'm gonna leave you with this. You're on your way to Troas. Don't despise the path or the process. Trust that Jesus has the wheel. Don't despise your Troas season or how you got there. Just trust there is a Troas. There's a reason why. If you don't get why you're in this wilderness now, there will be a time where we'll be clear. There'll be a time. I can't give you to you the when. I won't give you the how, he'll make it known. But there'll be a day you understand, maybe it's on the other side. Just trust him in the season. Trust that he's always working and always putting things together perfectly. And church, why? You know, remember when we are redirected, that doesn't mean we've been rejected. You know, just always remember it's the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus and God. They're directing and leading. It's an honor to even be on the journey. It doesn't matter where it takes us. Always do a heart check. Because you could love your role more than the outcome. Don't let others determine your path for their applause or to avoid their criticism. Criticism or not, just keep doing what the Lord wants you to do. And I want to close you with my, I want to close with my hypothesis. This is just Alex. I'm not saying it's I'm not saying this is what God hath said. I'm just telling you from me. Why would God allow them to go through all of that? Again, that he could have given Paul the vision of the Macedonian man a whole long, a long time ago when they were in Poseidon Antioch and saved all of the money. Because it wasn't cheap to make all these trips. It wasn't cheap. And it's taxing and it was time. Time was involved in all of this. You could feel like someone might say that was wasted time because every chance they had, all the doors were closed. Man thinks it was wasted. But I'll give you a hypothetical that that really kind of resonates with me is this. Once they get into Macedonia, they'll get into a city called Philippi. We'll talk about it in the next couple weeks. And there in Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten with rods, wrongfully, all for freeing a slave girl of a demonic spirit. But what did Paul and Silas do, what were they doing late in the midnight hour? They were praying, worshiping, singing hymns to God. I happen to think one of the reasons why they could celebrate like that is because they knew God had closed every other door. And Philippi was exactly where they needed to be. He led us here. You remember that, Silas? Remember how we kept trying to get to Bithynia? Remember that, Silas, man? We we were trying, the Holy Spirit did this to keep us from going over to Asia. Remember he did that, that, and that? Yeah, Paul, I remember. Aren't you glad we're in Philippi? This was the Lord's will, brother. Let us rejoice. Sometimes I need all doors closed and to be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt there were no other doors to have confidence through the door he does open. And church, maybe you're like me. And if that is the case, don't despise your path to Troas. He's faithful. Your path will never beat God's path. It's never better than his, regardless of how much longer you think it is, it's never better than his. Well, how can I know? I just feel so uncertain. Is your heart right? Do you just want to do the Lord's will? Whatever it is. You get that place of peace, you can trust because the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, God the Father, all members of the Godhead want you to be, want you to be successful. The Lord wants you to be successful more than you do. Therefore, trust Him with it. Thank you, Lord, so much for the encouragement that's in this story. Thank you, Lord, for freeing us for many of us, being freed of the bondage. Many of us, Lord, are afraid to even ask you for anything because we don't know if you'll do it or if we'll be sure that you've done it, or we've been disappointed. Lord, I pray that all of us will walk in liberty that we have, that you will lead and guide us. That your spirit is still speaking. That Lord, you will never fail us. When doors are closed, Lord, whether they just have a do not enter or we've tried and tried, help us to rejoice. Because that's one less option. And we have been led by your spirit. Thank you, Lord, for every door you closed. Thank you for the doors you have opened and will open. In the name of Jesus, saints, let us say amen.