If you have your Bibles with you, would you turn with me, please, to our text for this morning? It's found in the book of Acts as we continue to open God's word in this wonderful book. We turn to Acts chapter 16. Beginning at verse six and reading down through verse 15. Hear the word of God. And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. Having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And that's the province of Asia. And it's in the area of what we might call Asia Minor today. And when they had gone up to Mycenae, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So passing by Mycenae, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace and the following day to Neapolis. and from there to Philippi which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days and on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside where we supposed there was a place of prayer and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us. Let us pray. Father, open our ears this morning. Open our hearts as well, Lord. Not just to be hearers of this word, but to receive it, to understand it, to learn from it and to put it into practice. Lord, guide me that the things that I say this day might be the words that you would set before us, truths that you would open to us. These things I ask and pray in Jesus name. Amen. Most of you know or many of you I assume know that the palindrome, the very famous one, a man, a plan, a canal, Panama. And of course, it means if you read it either direction, it says the exact same thing. And you can start beginning or end. read it as we do in English or as you do in Hebrew and you get the same thing. So it doesn't the starting point doesn't matter. The same thing is going to be accomplished. The canal was kind of like that. It didn't matter if you started on the on the Pacific or the Atlantic. If you started you know you could cut it through one way or another. Well so often I think God's plans are like that. We have our starting point and this plan in mind. God might have a really a very different starting point in mind. But the fact is his will is going to be accomplished. He may have to move us around a bit to get us to finish and to fulfill his plan. But what our starting point is going to be by his grace ultimately be our ending point will be where he wants us to be. So I can ask a pretty foolish question. Have you ever had to change your plans? I see no hand, no head in this room going, nope, never had to do that. My plans have always been dead on perfect, exact every single time. You set your course and then doors seem to open or close to move us along one path or another. Now, our plans can change because we plan very poorly and so we run out of gas. Or we can't get the tickets because they're all sold out. You know, we missed one deadline or another. It can be because of our poor planning or our procrastination. But sometimes our plans change because you're all in the car and you're heading off and you get a flat tire. And plans have changed. Or you were going this way, now you get a phone call and it changes everything and you're going in another direction. Everything is ready and then the kids get sick. Or you get sick. The plans change all the time. Life is what happens while we're making other plans, right? And there's some real truth to that. The question that's before us is how do you view the changes that God brings? How do you handle the way he rearranges our plans, the way he rearranges our lives to fit his plan? Is the change suddenly a disaster or is it an opportunity? Now, I admit it can be both and many of you are probably sitting here saying, well, it depends on what the original plan was. as to whether or not it's a disaster or an opportunity. But the fact is, God changes our plans all the time in order to fulfill his plans, if we are his. Paul and Silas had a good plan. They intended to visit the churches. Actually, the root of that word is the same root that gives us episkopos or episkopos, its pastoral oversight. that they're really engaged in. This isn't just, oh, I wonder how they're doing. I know. What games are they playing this week? No, it's really to to encourage and to and to come as those who have responsibility. for them. And so they visit the churches. They're commended by the church in Antioch to that work. And so they set off. They visit the churches that Paul had seen planted in Syria and Cilicia. They head back then into Galatia, southern Galatia, to visit the churches that he and Barnabas had planted in Derbe, in Lystra, in Iconium. And they come to Antioch, Pisidian Antioch now, the center of this region. And now it's decision time. Where do we go next? They had a good plan, so they looked to the south, if you will. They can go back. They can move down the Via Sebaste. That would be a Roman constructed road. Much of it's still there today, still visible. It would take them down through Colossae and then down to the coast to Ephesus, which would be a place where you would want to plant a church. I mean, it's a center. It's an economic center. It's an intellectual center. It's a place where you'd really want to be in. If you can plant a church, they're great. And from there, they can just swing back through Pamphylia and visit Perga and churches on their way back, others that they had planted. But what does the word say? And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word there. So I don't know why the way was blocked. Maybe it was just the resistance to the word and they were having difficulties there. Maybe there was action taken against them. Maybe there was illness. Maybe Silas is prophesied. No, we're not going that way. We'll find out soon why they're stopped. But the reality is the way is blocked. They had a good plan. Made sense. Let's go. They start moving. They get stopped. No we don't. Lord doesn't want us here. OK. Let's try another direction. So they start moving again. And this time. This time they head to the north which also was a very reasonable thing to do. Now understand. It may have been any one of those circumstances or a hundred others that prevented them, physically prevented them from going down that road and moving in that direction. But they didn't see it as, oh, well, it's the circumstances that have barred our way. We're just going to have to find a way to break through them, break around them. No, they understood that the spirit, it was the Holy Spirit who had stopped them. I tend to think immediately that it's my circumstances. You know, the planning was wrong that, oh, something is against me. When in reality, what's taking place in the life of the believer is that the Holy Spirit is revealing another plan. How? By closing this door. Now, I don't like them closed when I think it should be open for my plans, but they understood clearly it's not just circumstances. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. Change direction. Keep moving. And so they did. And they headed north. They wanted to go through Mycenae and up into the province of Bithynia. That would put them on the southern shore of the Black Sea. It would take them into some important cities, Nicaea, Nicomedia. I'm not exactly sure if it's Nicomedia or Nicomedia in terms of how you'd pronounce it. But that would make sense too. Go north into a new region. They can come then and head east along the Black Sea. and come back down to their to their home base in Antioch. So, again, once they can circle back and they can continue on. But the spirit of Jesus, it tells us in verse seven, wouldn't allow it. When they had come to Mycenae, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. Once again, the door closed. There was only one door open left to them, then, if they were going to continue ministering instead of just quitting and heading right back where they'd come from. And a door was open. They kept moving. They were serving. They weren't about to be idle. So now they moved toward the northwest. That will take them down to the coast. It will take them down to Troas. And so they passed by Mycenae. They were prevented from preaching the word there, so they didn't. It may have been that the road they took didn't even take them in to that particular region. But a door was open, and they moved, and they followed. Now, I took my daughter back to college yesterday in Grove City, Pennsylvania, which meant we were on the turnpike going out and coming back. And about every 600 yards, there's a sign on the turnpike that says, Road Work Ahead, Speed Limit 6. And they're huge signs, you know, and every other sign says fines doubled in work area. And so you poke your way along these giant signs telling you what's going on, slowing you down, obviously. But I think this passage at this point kind of needs a great big sign that says Holy Spirit at work. Because that's who really is at work here. It's not just, oh, we got stopped by the circumstances here. The word wasn't, you know, somebody was opposing us and so we had to go another way. And, oh, now we can't go that way either. Oh, and we're getting miserable and more angry as the time goes by. No, it was the Holy Spirit who was at work. Closing doors, closing doors, door opens, they start to move. And whether he is called the Holy Spirit, or he is called the Spirit of Jesus, or he is called the Spirit of God, it is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. To be marked, to be sealed with the Holy Spirit is to have Christ in you. The scriptures tell us in Colossians 1 verse 27, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And so God was at work here. One God. Now, in the person and work of the Holy Spirit, directing, changing, moving, accomplishing His plans. Maybe we ought to post that sign in our own hearts and in our own homes. You know, on the front door, when you go out the door, it says, Holy Spirit at work. Your plans are going to change according to His. And so the Holy Spirit closed doors. Paul and Silas didn't quit and go home because they couldn't follow their plan. They tried again. They were stopped again. And so they took the open path moving ahead. What is your response, your reaction when God shuts down your plans, when he takes you into a different direction? Do you find yourself discouraged or defeated because your plans were thwarted? Or do you say, Lord, where to now? How do I follow your plan? Or is it well, this is I thought what you wanted, so that's not it, I quit. And I must confess, there are times when I act just like that. But the Holy Spirit was at work, he was leading not with Not initially with positive direction. He was restraining them. He was keeping them from going in one direction or another in order to get them on to the right path. Like I was trying to do with the children. No, not there. Yeah, that's no stop. No. Now this way. How often does God have to work that way and that hard in our lives to keep us under his direction so that we'll follow his plan? Will we listen carefully, closely to him? The Holy Spirit was leading first restraining by closing doors, making some things very clear. And then by his definite leading. And the definite leading wasn't initially a voice, was it? It was just a path. It was a door that allowed them to continue. As they would press on. He sends them down to Troas down because, again, they're coming down off the plane, even though they're headed up, you know, I think of they're going up. geographically, but they're coming from high elevation down to low elevation. And he takes them to Troas. Interestingly, right at the head of the Dardanelles. If you're familiar with the Dardanelles, it's where Alexander the Great linked up his boats and brought his army across the Dardanelles to bring them from Europe into Asia as he was off to conquer the East. And he would overthrow the Persian Empire, he would His army would be carried all the way into India. He would lay the foundation for this Hellenistic culture and society and this world of territorial regions that allows the gospel now, some 400 years later, to move freely. And so Paul and Silas and their company aren't going to go, they're not going to link boats together and go back across the Dardanelles. But now they're going from the east to the west. Now they will follow God's plan to see the West now conquered once again, only this time by the gospel of grace. They could have gone down to Ephesus and they could have sailed from there. That's true. But God had other plans. It was a much bigger plan than Paul, Silas and their company had. It was a better plan. The gospel would go to Europe. One short trip for Paul and his companions. They take about two days to sail the hundred and fifty miles. So the Lord was with them. But it was one great step for the gospel. Did Paul and Silas know that they were now coming to Europe? That they were bringing the gospel into this land that would for centuries, almost 1900 years, be the spearhead for the spread of missions around the world to Africa, to Asia, to North America, to South America, Latin America, reaching to the ends of the earth? I don't think so. But the Holy Spirit knew that. This would prove to be a major step in the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth. And remember, that's what the book of Acts is about. So now the Spirit gives a very open door. Closed doors, opens doors, affirms the plan and the direction that they take. Now, Paul receives the vision. Verse 9, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. Now, how did he know he was a Macedonian? How do you know anything in your dreams? But you know them, don't you? My wife's dreams always have us married, but living in the home that she grew up in. But it's our home. You know, she knows that we all have in those kinds of things. So come to Macedonia. That might have been a clue. But at any rate, it was very clear what God was doing. And so. Come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision immediately, we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding. That God had called us to preach. the gospel to them. The word used therefore concluded is a word that can be translated to bring together or to unite. We might say they came to one mind. And so Paul didn't just run off by himself on his own. Oh, I had this vision. Here we go. No, it was affirmed. It was confirmed as he came back to the brothers and shared what God had called. They had seen God push them in a particular direction. They hear now the this the vision that God has given a very positive call. And they talked and they shared and they prayed and they concluded this is the will of God. Let's get on the boats and get going. And so they do. But do you see the steps that have been taken to get you there? Men who are actively serving the Lord are stopped from going one direction, stopped from another direction, pushed in a particular direction. Now that direction becomes confirmed both by the moving and working in the heart of Paul, and the affirmation of God's people around him. You think maybe there's a pattern there that we could learn from? I think there is. God's leading can be made very clear. He wants them in Macedonia. It's new territory to them. But He carefully guides, directs, leads, calls and confirms and affirms that. That's how we walk joyfully and delightedly in God's plans according to his will and his direction. There's been a subtle shift that takes place now in that we have now moved in Luke's writings from they and him to we and us. Did you notice that? Luke has joined the company. And when Paul had seen the vision immediately, we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. God draws them together and God guides. Paul admittedly was at times led very directly by God. Commensurate with God's calling upon him as an apostle. You remember his conversion in Acts chapter 9 verse 4. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And the Lord Jesus, the risen savior, appears to him in a vision that blinds him and he has to be led by his hand into Damascus. The Lord Jesus appeared very directly to him in Acts chapter 13, verse two, when he and Barnabas set off on their first what we call their first missionary journey. It was the Holy Spirit that set them apart very directly. Acts 21, you'll see the in verse 11, the prophet Agabus, who talks through the whole by the Holy Spirit, says, As he takes Paul's belt and ties up his hands and his feet and says, so will the one who owns this belt be led in Jerusalem. Did it turn Paul away? No, it did not. Now, actually, if you go back earlier in chapter 20, he already knew that that's exactly what would happen. And yet the Lord had called him and set him on path. And if the Lord wanted to change that plan, that was fine. But he would follow the plan that he believed God had set before him. God led him very directly. We, you and I, are not led in a similar fashion because we have the revelation, the glorious revelation of God in Jesus Christ. We have it in his word as it has been set before us through the apostles and prophets whom God used to set it before us. We have that world, that word in our hands, as well as that word made open, revealed in our hearts. We have Christ in us, the Holy Spirit having sealed us in order to guide us and lead us. We have the Holy Spirit to direct us in knowing and following the living God. So you and I today need to We need to fear more than seek after those private revelations by which we will get all of our direction. And yet we want them, don't we? We just want to be told, this is where you should go. This is what you should do. This is how this needs to be settled. This is the job you should take. But the truth is, God has given us a much richer, a much fuller, And in His plan, a much more perfect way to lead us. Can He break into His world? Yes, He can. Has He broken into the world in His Son, Jesus Christ? Yes, He has. And has put Him in our hearts. God has given us the grace to be able to exercise great freedom in Him. To choose wisely and well in a fallen world. And if we're seeking to follow him, we choose and we move. And there will be times when the door closes and we say, OK, it's not that way. I think I'll head this way. And the door may close again until he gets us on the right path. But he will lead in many of the same ways that he's led his servants and saints in the past. You want to know his will? Then seek to know God. Seek to know him deeply, intimately, to walk in obedience. That is foremost in knowing his will, because it's through that relationship and through the knowledge of him through his word that he does lead. There's where he gives us great counsel. That's where we learn what God's plans and priorities and desires really are in his word. And there we learn what our priorities ought to be. And where they are not in conformity with His plans, His desires, His will for our good. That's the beauty of following God, of Christ. Is that His plans are always for our good, even when they seem to compete with our own. In all these things, We learn the way of wisdom and of justice of righteousness and of peace. That's where we follow him in all these things. He gives guidance to the decisions that we make concerning nearly every aspect of life. What I mean is that the principles for making those decisions, for deciding what I need to do, where I need to go, how I need to use this, what I need to do with my time, how I build up this brother or sister in Christ, how I'm used in this area, comes through the knowledge of him through his word. And it means, then, that we're moving. We're acting. It always interests me when somebody says, well, I really want to be used of the Lord. I really want to serve him. What are you doing? Nothing. I am the stationary object. I am fixed in place. Lord, use me. How? He can't say, no, don't go there. Why? Because you're not going anywhere. He can't make things known by closing, by opening, by leaving, because we're just in fixed, we're just rooted. That's not how we need to be moving. If I know I need to serve the Lord, then I say, Lord, open the doors. Here's what I think I can do. I'm going to move in that direction. And it may be, I've got something different for you. But we don't just, oh, OK, I can't do anything. Become rooted and fixed in place. Doors close. Doors open. We move in an area where we think it's profitable. We think God's really leading us here. And so we seek counsel. We go to godly brothers and sisters and ask them to pray for us, to give counsel and wisdom, to come together to affirm that. We saw with Brian. We've seen him, we've lived with him, we've worked with him. We know that the Lord, we're ready to affirm the call that he's had in his own heart, that this is where God is leading me. But without your affirmation, he doesn't go there. God uses these things to lead and direct his people. And we can talk about all kinds of specifics. I don't know what job to take. OK, let's sit down. We'll compare them. Is one a sinful desire and one a godly desire? OK, now we've got some leading there. Are both reasonable? I can serve the Lord in either one of these places. They will function well in terms of meeting my needs. OK, now we've got a decision to make. And you ask the Lord to lead well. I started college at one school. I hated it. It wasn't a sinful decision to go there. As a matter of fact, the Lord used it even to bring me to himself, but he ultimately took me someplace else. The decision to go there wasn't based on it was the biggest party school on the East Coast. I grew up in the town that had that school, you know, and I had friends who wanted to go there because that's what it was. Well, that's not a godly desire. But I made a choice and I got there and the Lord said, well, it's good for this, but it's not good for the rest. So I'm taking you somewhere else. If the door is open, Then we can we can keep moving. We can go through it. We can seek wise counsel, seek the Lord's favor in prayer and in his word. And then we take action in faith, in trust and in peace. And if the Lord chooses to change the plan, we can still move in faith, in trust and in peace. Because the desire is to be in conformity with his plans, not just mine. We have to remember that God is sovereign. He will lead. William Carey, you know, was originally set for Polynesia. That was his plan. God sent him to India. Adoniram Judson went to India, thought that's where he was supposed to be. And he was driven into what was then called Burma because God had other plans. Dr. Livingston, I presume, thought he was going to China. God put him in Africa. How many places have you thought you would be? And God placed you somewhere else. He is the sovereign one. He will fulfill his plans. We need to learn to trust God for his guidance. We need that big sign. Holy Spirit at work. Moving and directing. We need to trust him for his guidance and delight in the restraints that he gives. No, not here. And in the constraints, I'm moving you in this direction. and rejoice in them. God's plans are always bigger. Paul and Silas and company would have gone right to Ephesus. The beauty is God wanted them in Ephesus. He didn't deny the plan. He delayed it. For his purposes. God's plan was much bigger than Paul's. They were sent to the West to Europe to plant the church in this Macedonian region and in Philippi in Thessalonica in Berea in Corinth. And then we'll discover in a few chapters God sent them to where Ephesus and planted them for years. For years, Paul ministered in Ephesus to this now established ring of churches all the way around it in Macedonia, in Achaia, in Galatia. And from that center, he was able to minister to all the churches in the region, even as God was building up and establishing his church there. God knew what he was doing because his plan was the best plan, and he had the best in mind, the best in store. As we read on, as they come into Philippi, on a Sabbath day, they find the Jews and the God-fearers gathered by the river. There's no synagogue here. Understand, it only takes ten men, ten Jewish men, to establish a synagogue. There's no synagogue here. This is true Gentile territory you're in now. They came and spoke to the women. and that best plan begins to unfold. Now, Paul and Silas and the brothers understand why they were sent to Macedonia. As a woman named Lydia, a merchant, a seller of purple goods from Thyatira, an area that was famous for its dye, until the end of the 19th century, when chemical dyes finally came into greater use. The word was shared. And in verse 14, the Lord opened her heart. The Lord had led the apostle to this place to preach the good news. The Lord opened and opens the hearts of those who will hear that word. She believed and was baptized. She and her whole household. And we'll pick that one up in the not too distant future. And there was immediate evidence of the change in this woman's life. The family, the household is baptized. And the fruit of hospitality is born in her. She prevailed upon them. You come you stay with me to her benefit and to theirs. This passage we're going to pick up that whole portion from 11 on and see how it ties together with the full ministry of Paul and Silas and the brothers in in Philippi. But understand now, just to see the much bigger, greater, and more glorious picture that God had in mind, changing their direction. No, you're not going there. No, you're not going there. That's open. Why don't you try that way? We're going. Here's the affirmation. Here's the confirmation. It's affirmed by the brothers. Keep moving, because I've got bigger plans for you. And the gospel goes forth. And in the verses ahead, we'll see the glorious, wondrous fruit of that gospel as God builds a church that really goes beyond the bounds of what we've seen up to this point. The way God, he will bridge the socioeconomic barriers, he will bridge the religious barriers, he'll bridge the the nationalities and all of these things in order to build his church, to make his one glorious church. Can you rest in his plan today? Yes, we keep busy, we make our plans according to his word and to his ways, we seek to walk in obedience to him, but he's going to change those plans to bring them into perfect conformity with his plan, with his will, with his glorious goals to build us up. I am urging you today to trust God as He leads you. To believe that He has greater ends in mind than we do. Or that we almost... than usually we do. I mean, sometimes we desire some grand things. Let God bring them into conformity with His grand designs. Are you willing to be engaged in his service so that he can lead you? If you're wondering, how can I be used? Where can I go? What can I do? Get moving. Look at his word. Go to him in prayer. Look at your own heart and the things that you might like. You know, maybe I can really serve here. And he may open the door and he may close it. But let him do that. Don't just shut down and say, well, I don't have anything to give or offer. It's not true. If you're not involved in ministry or in fellowship or in sharing together, you're going to be very hard to steer. Let God give you, guide you on his course. Brothers and sisters, and particularly those of you who I don't know yet as brothers and sisters, I can't leave this passage without encouraging you, urging. Have you heard the good news? That God gives eternal life to those who repent of their sins, who look to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and eternal life. This is the message that was carried from church to church to church. It was taken from Asia and into Europe. It is the message that has spread across this world for centuries, bringing life, bringing peace. Have you heard that message? Have you, like this woman Lydia, believed and so found rest and life in the Lord Jesus Christ? Look to Him. He never leaves His children simply to tend for themselves. Oh, what a joy to find a Savior who will guide our every step. May the Lord give you that conviction this day. Let's pray. Father, you faithfully lead your servants into work, into plans that are, Lord, far beyond our conception. How we praise you, Lord, that you use those who would faithfully follow you. Open us, Lord, open our hearts to your word, to its truth, that there we might find wisdom, strength, and grace. Help us, Lord, when our plans are changed, to see that sign before us that the Holy Spirit is at work to accomplish your greater purposes and ends. And so, Lord, cause us to live in that great joy and peace that comes in walking in your paths. Oh, so lead us, Lord, And give us that rest and peace that you promise in Jesus name. Amen.