We're finding our way to Acts chapter 16 this morning, Acts chapter 16. And I wanna begin reading in verse six, Acts chapter 16 in verse six. The word of God says, now, when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost, preach the word in Asia. After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to them to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neopolis. from Dents to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. We were in that city abiding certain days, and on the Sabbath day we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman, named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized in her household, she besought us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with the spirit of divination, met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this she did many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the Spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and he came out of her the same hour. I'd like to ask you to stand with me, please, as we pray and ask God's blessing on our message this morning. I'd like to speak this morning on the theme, Living in the Center of God's Will. I know we have a lot of campers here today, and I trust that some of you campers, as you're wrestling with what the Lord would have you to do, will listen attentively. and others who are here who are wrestling with what God would have them to do in their lives will listen attentively and even take notes that you might be able to counsel and be a blessing to others. There's nothing more important for us as believers to know than the will of God. I'd like to talk about that today. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, I pray that you would allow the message this day to be an encouragement and challenge. We pray that you would take your word and apply it to hearts. Lord, we know that the spirit of God must be our teacher for the truth of God's word to make application. And so we ask that the Spirit would be favored to speak to our lives today, and that some who are wrestling with your will in their lives would yield, surrender, and enjoy the blessings that come at being smack dab in the place that the Lord would have us to be. And so, Lord, use the message this morning. I pray that your word would be precious to us. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated. I received a letter some time ago. I carried it with me. It was wrapped up in a roll like this, and it was placed in a little bottle with a cork on top of it, and they mailed it through the United States mail system. Some of our church members were in Hawaii, and they sent me a letter in a bottle. And the letter said, Aloha, have become burdened for island ministry. Nucleus is now in place to start Trinity Baptist Church of the South Pacific. We have deacons, some of our deacons were over there. Church secretary, our church secretary was over there. They didn't invite me, but a bunch of them were over there. We have our nursery coordinator, discipleship leader, usher, greeter, and special music. Please send us a preacher and lots of money. Plus weekly support. Bring the offering plates and ship us the old blue van. Gotta go, we're late for the luau. Hawaiian survey committee. P.S. it says, we'll send for the kids and P.S.S. tell your wife that the beaches are very private. I don't think that these people were serious when they sent this letter. I don't think that they were praying about exactly what the Lord's will would be. But you know, young people, when you ask the Lord, what would you have me to do? You're asking a very important and a very biblical question. We all should be asking in our lives, What is your will for me? George W. Truett was a great Baptist preacher in Texas years ago, and Truett said, to know the will of God is life's greatest knowledge. To find the will of God is life's greatest discovery. And to do the will of God, now that's life's greatest achievement. I agree with that. To do the will of God is life's greatest achievement. True success, you see, in life is based on knowing and doing the will of God. Now, young people, I'm gonna ask you to take some notes this morning because I hope that you'll come back to this passage and wrestle through some of these concepts in the days ahead. I can't tell you how many times I've wrestled through these concepts to find the satisfaction of the Lord in knowing that I'm in the center of God's will. This is hard for me to believe, but nevertheless, it's true. I have read books by men who say one cannot know the center of God's will. All that one can know is that God's will in general for us as believers is to do the Ten Commandments. And then within that we're to make decisions personally and hopefully beneficially. Boy, I disagree with that counsel. I believe the counsel of God is that He knows me. He is my creator. And I believe that there is a general will of God and I believe that there's a specific will of God. And I believe that in living in the specific will of God, success can be enjoyed. My father-in-law is a master carpenter. For many years, he built cabinets and fine homes in Minnesota, and then his back got hurt. And when his back got hurt, he discovered that ceiling tiles like these that are over us are far lighter than heavy wood in construction. And so for over 20 years in malls throughout the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, he installed ceiling tiles, lightweight construction. Always in a room that was warm or a room that was air-conditioned, he had a pretty nice job. And he never lost a day of work. And every time we go anywhere with my father-in-law, no matter where it is, it seems, in the Twin Cities, he'll point out the window of the car and he'll say, I put the siding on that house. I put the roof on that house years ago. And then we go in malls and say, I put the ceiling in this mall. And he remembers every place that he's been and all the work that he has done. Why? Because he's a craftsman. Now, our God is a master craftsman. And in his master craft, he has chosen to make man in his image. And for someone to say that they're persuaded that God has no great concern, no specific concern for those that are made in His image, to me is an offense to what I know of my God. Now let me speak to you first under this heading. God has a general will for every man. And then we'll come to the specific will of God. We start first by understanding that God has a general will for every man. What is that general will? Well, we begin by understanding that God's general will is that we be saved, that you be saved. This is God's general will for all. Now, theologians wrestle with the concept. Does God predestine some to salvation and others to damnation? I don't believe that. I trust you don't either. God's general will is that all would be saved. 2 Peter says in chapter 3 and verse 9, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Young person, if you're not sure of your salvation, I know this about our God. It's not His desire that you perish, that you burn in everlasting fire. That's not His desire. The end of the book of Jonah, Jonah chapter 4. Remember how Jonah is preached and there's a great revival in Nineveh and Jonah's upset that Nineveh is being spared? God reveals his heart to Jonah when he says, Should not I spare Nineveh, this great city in which so many are there that cannot discern even their left hand from their right? Jonah, God says, my heart is that individuals would be saved, that they would know for sure that they're going to heaven. For many years before my in-laws were saved, my wife and I would claim the will of God. He is not willing that any should perish. but that all should come to repentance. And we prayed that they would be saved, believing that it was God's will. By God's grace, they were saved. After 17 years of prayer, they came to Christ as Savior. Let me point out, secondly, when it comes to the general will of God, God's general will is that you be sanctified. Now, that's a big word, but it's a good word. To be sanctified means to be set apart. to be placed in a position where God can use us because we have maintained a life of holiness. Listen to what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 3. This is the will of God for you, even your sanctification, that you would abstain from fornication. God's general will is not only that I be saved, but also that I be sanctified, that I be set apart for His use, that I be a clean vessel fit for the Master's use. I was talking to a young couple quite some time ago. They were in the conference room of our church during the five o'clock hour. They wanted to meet with me. They wanted to talk about their lives as believers and perhaps marriage. And so as we talked, I discovered that they were living together, unmarried, but living together. So I said to them, now, young man, tell me about your salvation. And he told me when he was saved. And I said, he had assurance that he was going to heaven. I said, okay, young lady. And she said, only recently she made a decision for Christ. And she wept as she talked of it. And I said, all right, well, let me just give you some instruction. The Bible says that God is against the relationship that you're existing in right now. That it's a sin for you to live together before marriage as if you were husband or wife. And you need to separate from one another. And then we can work toward a marriage that would glorify the Lord. The young man across the table from me looked at me and he said, oh no. I said, oh yes, let me show you some passages. We went from verse to verse about fornication and about marriage and God's design. He said, no, no, no. And finally I said, why do you keep saying no? He said, we've prayed about this relationship. And we're sure that it's God's will that we live together. Let me tell you something, it's not. For this is the will of God for you, even your sanctification. Young person, it's not God's will that you defile yourself in immorality. It's not God's will that you pollute your mind with pornography. It's not God's will that you allow your vessel to be anything other than a vessel fit for honor for the master's use. So, God's general will is that I be clean, that I be sanctified. When we come to God's general will, thirdly, we would say that it's God's general will that I be satisfied. That I be satisfied. You see, the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 18, in everything give thanks. for this is the will of God. I don't know what we're gonna have for lunch today. I hope it's good, don't you? But yeah, okay, Brother Comfort says it will be. And you know what? Even if it's not good to your taste buds, the Bible says I ought to be satisfied with what God has given to me. The Bible tells me in everything to give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. This is the will of God in everything, give thanks, be satisfied. Be a thankful individual. God's general will for me is that I'm satisfied with what He provides for me. And finally, God's general will is that I be serving Him. Somewhere, somehow, using the talents that God has given to me in service for Him. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 6 says, I'm to be doing the will of God from the heart. Doing the will of God from the heart. So if we summarize the general will of God for every man, it is marked by this. that I be saved, that I not only be saved, but that I be sanctified, that I be satisfied, and that I be serving. Now right there a lot of people will agree and say, oh yes, that's God's general will for every believer, but God doesn't have a specific will for the individual. Oh no, I believe God does. And as we come to Acts chapter 16, we can deal with the specific will of God as it's revealed in the life of the Apostle Paul and the life of the disciples who are following with him. Acts chapter 16, we find the Apostle Paul involved in his second missionary journey. We find that he's going back to some churches that he has already started. In fact, in verse 41 of Acts 15, he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. He came to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus. He picks up workers along the way. As he goes along the way, verse 5 says of chapter 16, so were the churches established in the faith, and they increased in number daily. As he goes from place to place, he's retracing the ground where he's already been. He had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia. And now we read in verse 6, he was forbidden to the Lord to preach the word of Asia. And after they came to Mysia, they assayed to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of God did not allow them. Paul is going back and revisiting all the churches that he's established. He's encouraging them. He's building them up in the faith. And he's saying, Lord, where do you want me to go next? Where would you want me to preach the gospel? What place of opportunity you have for me? What's your specific will for me? Back in 1979, 1979, I guess it was 79, I was on a mission team up to New England. We went to Rochester, New Hampshire, and a pastor there by the name of Cliff Stewart put five fellas, college guys, in a station wagon and drove us 45 minutes over to Concord, New Hampshire, I remember him driving us around the town where I now pastor, and Pastor Stewart said, somebody needs to come to this town and start a church. Town of 30, 35,000, no fundamental independent Bible lighthouse in that community. Someone needs to come here and start a church, he said. That was his plea to many people, and he'd given many tours of that town. One time, Pastor Stewart was sitting in McDonald's in Rochester, New Hampshire, And a man came through, a man by the name of Kurt Wetzel, and saw this fellow sitting there eating his breakfast and reading his Bible. And Kurt Wetzel said to Pastor Stewart, what are you doing? He said, I'm reading my Bible. He said, no, I mean, what are you doing here in town? And Cliff Stewart said, I'm starting a church here, a community Baptist church in Rochester, New Hampshire. And Kurt Wetzel said to him, that's interesting. How's a guy go about starting a church? He said, well, you just come to the town and begin to preach, and God will assemble the faithful, and you start a church. And they struck a conversation up, and Kurt said, can I get your card? And he picked up the card of Pastor Stewart, he put it in his pocket, and months went by. Pastor Stewart continued to reach out to friends and say to other pastors, someone needs to come to Concord, New Hampshire and start a church. Pastor Tim Valentine finally listened to the persuasion of Pastor Stewart, and he moved up to Concord, New Hampshire, thinking about starting a church. Actually, he was visiting in the area, looking at various places. He was in Pastor Stewart's house one Saturday morning. They had eaten breakfast, they were praying about what God's will would be for Pastor Tim Valentine, where he should start a church, and the phone rang. As the phone rang, Pastor Stewart picked it up, he said, hello, and on the other end of the line was a man who'd bumped into Pastor Stewart at a McDonald's months before. Kurt Wetzel said, this is Kurt Wetzel, you probably don't remember me, but I met you at McDonald's, you were reading your Bible, and I got one of your cards. He said, we've been meeting with several families in the Concord area and we're praying about starting a church. Would you happen to know anybody that'd be interested in starting a church in Concord? Pastor Stewart said, just a second, let me hand the phone to somebody I have been praying with just now. And he handed the phone to Tim Valentine. Now, God does not always speak that specifically and that clearly. But Pastor Valentine listened to the plea of someone from Concord to come and start a church, and I now pastor that church. That's exciting. The Lord sometimes speaks that clearly and that obviously. But I can tell you this, in discerning God's will, as you study Acts chapter 16, you'll find certain principles that are available. I want you to review these with me. Let's look at Acts chapter 16 and see how it is that God is leading the Apostle Paul to the place of his choosing. Now, I'm not saying that this is all that God does in leading us to His specific will, but I am saying that often He uses these same steps, these same principles to lead me and He will lead you in the same fashion. Let's note number one. Step number one to finding God's specific will is found here. Step number one. In verses six through eight, we need to learn to be surrendered when God closes doors. Step number one, be surrendered when God closes doors. Did you note in the end of verse 6 that Paul was forbidden to preach in Asia? Wow, what a strange statement that is. God said, Paul, I'm not going to let you preach in the east. They would come to Mysia. They decided to go to Bithynia, again an eastern direction. And the Spirit did not allow them. God is saying, Paul, it's a great thing to desire to preach. But I'm not going to let you go to Bithynia. I'm not going to let you go to Asia. I don't want you to go east. God is taking hold of the steering wheel of Paul's life and heading in west. And Paul needs to be willing to be surrendered when God is closing doors. Did you know that when David Livingston went out as a missionary, his first desire was to go to China and God sent him to Africa? Did you know that when Adoniram Judson sailed from Salem, Massachusetts in 1812, his first desire was to go to India, and God sent him to Burma? God can redirect us and close doors. There may be some young man here today who says, I want to be a pastor. The Bible tells us if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good thing, and God may close that door for you. You need to be content. There may be someone here who wants to be a businessman, and God may close that door and put you in the ministry. You need to be content. When I was a kid, my sister took a dead run to find my other sister in the front yard. And the storm door was closed on the front of the house. And as she ran to push open the storm door, the latch, which never seemed to hold, held that day. And her arms went through the glass in the front of our house. She's got a scar on her arm today to prove that she tried to go through a door that was closed. There are a lot of Christians that have that kind of scars. God says, no, you don't have the ability in that area. No, I'm not going to let you go and be in that area. I want you in another area. Personal confession here. I thought when I was studying for the ministry that the Lord would be gracious to me and allow me to live in Tennessee or Virginia or Kentucky or West Virginia or one of those beautiful, mild climate states. I can't stand cold weather. I don't tell anybody in our church this. I never say that up there. I have to be content, remember. And I am, I'm sweet and I smile about it, but my hands are cold from October to May. My toes are always cold. But my heart's warm because I'm where God wants me to be. And I've had to be surrendered when he closes doors. That's something that some people need to learn in service for the Lord. We can't force open God's hand. They tell me that if you force open a cocoon, the butterfly will never fly. A young person, if you try to force your way into a ministry that God has not designed for you, you'll be an abysmal failure. The Apostle Paul was unwilling to force open the door to the East. Instead, he was sensitive. Here's step number two. He was sensitive to the concerns of others. You discover when you're looking for God's will that God leads by helping us to recognize the concerns of others. Be sensitive. Step number two, be sensitive to the concerns of others. They, passing by Mysia, came down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul of the night. There stood a man of Macedonia. I like this. There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. You know who a Macedonian was? Young people, a Macedonian was a Greek. And if you know anything about the ancient cultures, you'll understand that the Greeks were elite people. The Greeks had the great philosophers. They were the ones who had Plato and Aristotle. The Greeks had the great artists. They were the ones who had those who could form sculptures that were so three-dimensional and pristine that people still marvel. The Greeks were the ones who had the great scholars. Pythagoras and other scholars like him were part of the Grecian culture. Theirs was the language that everybody wanted to speak. It was the language of the marketplace. The Greeks were the elite people. They were a people who seemed to have it all in their day. They were the cream of the crop. They had a problem, didn't they? You study the book of Acts, you discover that the Greeks worshiped idols. The Greeks didn't know the Savior. No one had ever come to tell them. And so rather than an angel speaking to Paul, an angel speaks to Peter earlier in the book of Acts. And rather than the Lord speaking to him in a still, small voice in the night, I find it's interesting here, as Paul is wrestling with, Lord, where will you have me to go? The Lord sends a man from Macedonia. And the plea of that man's heart, though he looks on the outward side to be so very elite and so very together, the plea of that man's heart is, somebody has to come over here and help us. You know what I've discovered when I'm wrestling with God's will? God's will is never found selfishly. It's always found in surrender, especially a surrender to allow my life to be a benefit to the lives of others, to allow my life to impact other lives. I have met some people who, because of a job, in fact, I remember a family that picked up and left a good church and a good situation in Minnesota because the father of the family was offered a good job at Utah. And I remember talking to him and saying, have you found a good church out there in Utah? And he said, oh, we haven't worried about that yet. I'm sure there are good churches out there. Well, there are a lot of churches in Utah. We want to use the word church to describe them, but there aren't a lot of good churches in Utah. I remember that family moving away and I grieved when they left because he still couldn't say to me, the father of this family, that they'd found a good church in Utah. And about three years later, that family came moving back. The children were not the way they were when they'd left. And the couple in their marriage were not what they were when they left, but praise God they were moving back. And this is what the man said, we got out there to Utah and there wasn't any churches. You know, that man had made a decision to make some money, but he'd not made a decision to be a good leader for his family. If you're gonna make a decision as to where God would have you to be, you better be sensitive to the concerns of others. And note with me further, verses nine and 10, step number three, if you'd know where God would have you to be, you need to be a student of God's command. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man in Macedonia praying and saying, come over and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go, assuredly gathering that the Lord, the Lord had called us. God had spoken to the apostle Paul and Paul was willing to listen. Now God doesn't come and speak to us in night visions any longer. But God speaks to us through his word. And it's been often said, but never too often, young person, in the next five to 10 years of your life, you're going to make the most important decisions you will ever make. You'll decide where you'll go to college. You'll decide if the Lord is calling you to preach and where he's calling you to serve. You'll decide your college major. You'll decide who you'll marry. You'll decide where you'll live, what your career will be. All these decisions are yours to make in the next five to 10 years. You better be in God's word. The Lord said, "'Sanctify them by thy truth.'" John 17, verse 17, "'Thy word is truth.'" The Apostle Paul wasn't stumbling blindly and saying, I don't know where I'm going to go. No, he was before the Lord, wrestling with the Lord. And as God would visit him in that generation through a night vision, God will visit you in this generation. The entrance to his word gives light. As you get into the book, you'll discover the will of God for you. Be a student of the commands of God. We have a fellow in our church that surrendered to the Lord to preach about four years ago. He had played football for the University of New Hampshire and got about a year and a half of school under his belt. And he thought, well, why should I do this anymore? I can make a lot more money with my hands working. He went to work in the family business. He's a steel fabricator and works with iron down in Boston. Weighs about 260 pounds, and he's a strong guy. Making about $120,000 a year building high-rise buildings with steel down in Boston. And God called him to preach. Three young people in his family, three children, all of them in elementary school, and God called him to preach. And I remember saying to Tim, Tim, you better get alone with the Lord and get alone with the Bible. You better find some that are speaking directly to your soul. When you leave that $120,000 career and go off to school and you're making peanuts, you're going to be having a hard time with it. He came back to me and he said, Pastor Phelps, I was reading in the book of Psalms and Psalm 116 verse 12, the Bible asks the question, what shall I render unto the Lord for all of his benefits unto me? Tim said, all I can do is give to the Lord my life. I'm going. A few months later, I got a letter from him from college, and he said, you can't believe what we're living on down here. And then he signed at the close of the letter, Psalm 116, verse 12. What can I render in the Lord for all his benefits unto me? He probably would have quit, but God's word wouldn't quit on him. Young person, if you want to know where you want to be in life, you better be in God's word. You better be a student of God's command. But note fourth here, the fourth step that's evident in the Apostle Paul's life, Paul was willing to seek the counsel of others. Did you notice in verse 10, the personal pronouns and how they're swapping back and forth? The Bible says in verse 10, after he had seen the vision, immediately we, this is Luke, the author of the book of Acts speaking, immediately we endeavored to go to Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us. Now Paul got the vision and somehow you can almost envision it, Paul and Timothy and Luke, Those who are traveling with him, gathering around the fireside, perhaps one evening, and the Apostle Paul comes, or maybe in the morning, his breakfast is being served, and Paul comes in and he says, you know what? I know that God said no to Asia, and he said no to Bithynia, but last night, the Lord gave me a vision of a Macedonian saying, come over and help us. And as they talked it through, Luke said, you know, these Greek people, they have a lot on the outside, but their hearts are empty. And Timothy, who was there, said, yes, I could see how the Lord could use our going there through their language and their culture to allow the gospel to spread. And as they communed together and wrestled together with what God's will would be, the Spirit of God led them as a team in missionary endeavor to do what God would have them to do. You're not going to make a decision about God's will, I hope, in a vacuum. You're not going to make a decision all on your own and come out and announce to the world that you're going to be this or do that. And people go, You said you're gonna be in music ministry? You can't carry a tune in a bucket. I'm gonna be a great, I remember a couple years back, one of our young people went off to camp and he came back and he said, you know, some of the people who were writing Christian music and recording it are getting older. And he said, the Lord's just working in my heart that I need to take their place. And I thought as he said that, that'd be good, but, if he's gonna take their place, we're in horrid condition. You know what I mean? Now the kid could play his nose, he could pick it and blow it with the best of them, but other than that, there wasn't much going on musically, you know what I mean? I'm thinking, you know, somebody needs to sit down and counsel with him a little bit about the gifts that God has given him. God's given him some great gifts, but you know, music may not be one of them. Somebody needs to talk to this fellow. The apostle Paul didn't make a decision alone. Who do you talk to? I hope you keep a door open to your parents. You want to talk to them about where the Lord's leading you you're interested in for your future and how the Lord's calling you. I hope you talk to your pastor. If you have a youth pastor, I hope you're willing to go and seek his counsel. And then I hope you'll listen. There are a lot of people that go seeking counsel until they find somebody that agrees with them. I have 42 people that disagree and the one person that agrees, and suddenly that's it, man. The Lord spoke through that counsel. That's crazy. Did you ever hear about the golf teacher who was out on the golf course, and he was teaching a rich guy how to play golf? And he'd say, no, no, change your swing like this. No, no, no, address the ball like this. And the rich guy would say, well, I've tried that, but it feels better to me doing it this way. And somebody was standing off watching. And after a little while, the guy that was standing off watching came over to the golf teacher, and he said, you know, I noticed when you first started giving counsel or teaching that rich guy, You were telling him things to do, and he disagreed. At the end, you didn't tell him much at all. You know what the golf pro said, the teacher said? He said, I learned a long time ago it's kind of silly to try to sell answers to people that are looking for echoes. There are a lot of people that come into my office, and they don't want an answer, they want an echo. They want us to confirm something that they have desired, but perhaps it's far afield from what the Spirit of God would tell me to counsel them. The Bible tells us very clearly where no counsel is, the people fall. The Bible says that the fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkens to counsel is wise. Who have you set up to be your counselors? Hey, young person. Are you willing when you're wrestling with what school to attend, what major to take? Are you willing when wrestling with who you ought to set your interest and affections upon, where you ought to go in service? Are you willing to go in? Who do you set up on your Rolodex? You know, who do you call? Well, there are people I call. There are certain people when I have certain situations that I just know I'm going to call him, I'm going to call that person, I'm going to get counsel from someone. I'm not making this decision alone. Paul didn't make his decisions alone. He sought the counsel of others. Step number five in this passage. Step number five, look at verse 11. Therefore, loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis. A straight course to Samothracia. Paul's gonna make this same journey again in Acts chapter 20. The Bible tells us here in Acts chapter 16, in this time when Paul is wrestling with where the Lord would have him to be, the Lord puts a prevailing wind behind the ship. And as they're sailing along with the wind in their sails, those who are traveling with Paul must say, look at how, now listen, here's step number five. Look at how God has sovereignly been addressing the circumstances of our life. Be sure the circumstances, step number five, be sure the circumstances are sovereignly arranged. You're gonna see God doing things when you're in the center of God's will that are not explained other than by the Lord. You're going to see the hand of God when you're in the center of God's will in ways that you otherwise could not imagine. When I went to Concord, New Hampshire, I was a youth pastor for almost 10 years. I thought I'd live and die a youth pastor. I was good with that. I was happy about that. I liked being a youth pastor. I really didn't want to be a senior pastor. And so when the church called and asked me if I'd come and candidate, I said, thank you for the call. But no, I'm happy here in Denver. I don't want to be a senior pastor. I'm a youth pastor. Hung up on the guy. The next day, I was talking to Pastor Strobane, with whom I'd worked in Minnesota. I said, I got this strange call from out in New England. The guy wants me to come and be a candidate for a pastor of a church. And Pastor Strobane said, yes, I'm the one that put your name in out there. I said, you did what? He said, I think you ought to go look at it. I think the Lord might be able to use you out there. Well, being one who had listened to Pastor Strobane's counsel, I said, well, Pastor, if you think I ought to do that, I'll do it. So I said to my wife, let's go ahead out there in New Hampshire and see if the Lord can use us. We got on the plane and I turned to her and I said, this is kind of crazy. We're never going to move to New England. We love Colorado. We love youth work. Thursday evening service. They changed the service to Thursday night so I could preach there. I opened the Bible, not really knowing throughout the day where I should preach. I was wrestling with preaching a message on the life of Noah being stable during difficult times or preaching a message on Psalm 91 of comfort. They lost their founding pastor. This church was grieving and I wanted to give them something that was a blessing, but I didn't know which message to bring. And the last song before I preached, The song leader led the song under his wings. Thank you, Lord, I gotta preach Psalm 91. That's where that song comes from. So I stood up and I said, turn in your Bibles to Psalm 91. Now I know I'm not a very good reader, but I looked up after I'd read the 91st Psalm and people all over our church were crying. They were weeping from the reading of the word. I've never had that happen before or after. And I thought as I looked out there, wow, Lord's doing something here. And throughout the weekend, the Lord continued to do such things to show to us, this is my will for you. I couldn't explain it other than God did it. Now, when you're in the center of God's will, God's going to do some things that are inexplicable, but they're blessings. I remember after our youth pastor had come 10 years ago, I'd been in the ministry about two years there in Concord. He'd been there for four or five weeks. A young lady came into my office. She said, I have terrible news that I need some help with. She said, I'm with child. She's a high school student. We found out that the father of her child was also in our church. We had to share that news with his parents and with her parents. They didn't know. It was a terrible, terrible, terrible thing to go through. I said to Pastor Brenneman the following week, hey, Bob, there's an evangelist preaching up north. Why don't we go up and hear him? I've never heard him before, but I've heard of him. Maybe he'd be an encouragement to us. So we said to our families, we're just going to take a night out. Bob and I are going to travel up to hear this preacher. We got in the car and got on the highway. And as we traveled north, just before the exit that we were going to get off on, my radiator hose blew. Oh, that's terrible. We were going to go out to eat and go to the service, but now we've got no radiator. So we walked down to the end of the exit. As we got to the end of the exit, we hadn't walked. It's six miles to town this way and about four miles to town this way. And so we're going to go the four-mile route. We got to the end of the exit. And as we started walking, a big Vermont transit bus pulls up, opens the door. You guys want to ride to town? Those buses don't stop very often. We said, yeah, that's great. Gave us a ride. He said, I think the gas station will be open. So we're riding along. I said to Bob, we're about an hour from home. I said, the only couple I know up here, Don and Renee Strong, we could maybe call them up. The bus driver says, I think the gas station may still be open. It's almost 5 o'clock. Let's see. And as he pulled up, we went into the gas station. The owner said, oh, I can't tow you. My tow truck driver just left. And then from the back room, the guy says, no, boss, I'm still here. I'll go get the car. That was a relief. He goes up to get the car, and as we come out the door, here's Don Strong standing in front of the gas pump, filling up his car with gas. I said, Don, what are you doing here? He said, Pastor, what are you doing here? I said, well, my car broke down. He said, isn't that interesting? He said, we're going out to eat. You want to join us? I said, well, yeah. He said, I will pay for it. I said, that'd be fine. We're planning to go out to eat anyway. He said, listen, I've got another car. We can loan it to you if they can't get your car fixed. So that's what they did. They couldn't get the car fixed that night. We drove down to go to the church. And as we drove by the restaurant that we intended to eat at, it was closed on Mondays. I put all those things together and I began to realize as we drove home, the Lord had provided a ride for us on the Vermont Transit bus. He provided dinner for us for free. He'd taken us to a restaurant that was open, got us to church on time, gave us a car, had Don Strong standing out front. He did all that just to say, hey, Bob, Chuck, I'm still watching out for you. Now there are some who say, God doesn't work that way. Just follow the Ten Commandments. I want to tell you something. I don't want to live like that. I want to be smack dab in the center of God's will, seeing Him, arranging the circumstances sovereignly so that I can glorify His name. Let's notice further here, step number six. We ought to be seeing the confirming work of the Spirit. Not only there were the prevailing winds behind them, But the Bible says they went to Philippi, and I hope you know what happened. Verse 14, a certain woman named Lydia, silver and purple in the city of Thyatira, worshiped God, and she heard us, and the Lord opened her heart. The Lord opened her heart. You can't open hearts. But you can preach in the place that God wants you to be, young man, and God can open hearts. You can go to a cold place called New England, where they say it's the graveyard of fundamentalism, and you can see a church blossoming in the desert. God can open hearts. Apostle Paul went and preached there in Philippi. He might have been discouraged. I wonder if he was discouraged the first day there. After all, all he got to preach to was the ladies meeting. In other words, the ladies there by the river where prayer was wont to be made. I wonder if he thought, huh, it's kind of sad, none of the men are here, just the women. But the Lord would have this woman's heart to be opened and someone was saved. You know when you're in the middle of God's will, you see souls saved, you see fruit in your life, you see prayers answered, you see the confirming work of the Spirit. And finally here, and this is finally in this passage, you need to be strong when conflict arises. It came to pass as we went to prayer a certain damsel was possessed with the spirit of divination and met us. She was a demon-possessed girl, which brought her master's great gain by Susanne. And the same followed Paul and cried, these men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. This demon-possessed girl comes alongside. Now this is a conflict. I believe that when you're in the center of God's will, you're going to be in conflict. But it's conflict with Satan, not conflict with God. It's conflict that can be discerned as conflict against the forces of evil, not conflicts with God's goodness. Had they been out of the center of God's will, they'd have been in conflict with God. He would have wrestled with them and he would have chastened them. But when you're in the center of God's will, you'll have conflict, but it was conflict with Satan. So young people, when we're in the center of God's will, Listen to it. We're surrendering when he closes doors. We're sensitive to the concerns of others. We're students of God's commands. We're seeking counsel from others. We're sure of the circumstances that they're sovereignly arranged. We're seeing the confirming work of the spirit of God. Souls are being saved and prayers are being answered and inexplicable happenings around about us that only God can do and conflicts arise. And we don't run when the conflict arises. because we know God would have us to be right there. What was it that Truett said? Truett said to find God's will is life's greatest discovery. To know God's will is life's greatest knowledge. And to do God's will, that's life's greatest achievement. May God help you young people to look back at these steps in discovering God's specific will and say, I'll only go, I'll only be what God would have me to be living in His specific will. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, I pray that you'd use what we've considered this morning to challenge some heart perhaps to the mission field.