Yeah, we got a couple more couple more Richard couple more coming here we go Fantastic Well, so good to see everyone this morning. So good to read that passage of scripture. When you look at verses 6 to 10 again of Acts chapter 16, it's amazing to look at because really it is a transitional passage, taking us from one place again in the book to another place in the book. And that's what it's meant to be. It really takes us to a new area, a new geography. Without the movement of God in this passage of scripture, that whole area would not be reached with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's amazing even as we've highlighted this morning to look at all the various different twists and turns that make up our lives. We realize again beyond a shadow of a doubt, that our great God is over all of these twists, over all these turns, over everything that happens beginning in our life. I think a lot of times, we just need to step back and look at where our lives are. I mean, you could not have planned your life where you would be sitting in this church again today. It's amazing to look at the providence, it's amazing to look at the absolute sovereignty of God, and it should amaze us. We should look at our lives every once in a while, just in wonder. I mean, I'm amazed that I'm even here this morning. I mean, it's absolutely amazing. When I look back at my life, when I look at my growing up in Nova Scotia, it was incredible. I really had no ambition. I hate to study, I hate to read. Then all of a sudden again, years later, here I am as a pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church. ministering to you, your people. And it's been quite the journey. It took me from Nova Scotia to Greenville, South Carolina, back to Nova Scotia, and then to here to Windsor. And it's not always been easy. There's been many upheavals. There's been many disappointments and heartbreaks that happened to begin in my life and Sheila's life. But there's also been many blessings. And here's my whole point. My whole point is all of this was done by our sovereign God. It's absolutely amazing because when you look at all the difficulties, all the trials, all of the blessings, all of the good things, all of the heartache, all of the things that you never thought would come into your life, there's no way that you could have planned that out. And the reason why you could not have planned that out is because there's somebody else who's writing your story. There's somebody else who's writing your life. There's somebody else who's at the helm of your life that has planned, again, all of these events. You know, and that's what we have to see in scripture. You know, where we are today with all the difficulties, with all the trials, and with all of the good blessings that happen to begin in our lives. I mean, it's absolutely amazing. As I look back at my life, it's incredible, again, how the big decisions of life, how I had so little to do with them, You know, it was all of this great God. I never decided to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I really didn't want anything to do with religion, but God moved in my heart. He opened up my heart and allowed me to see my sin and my absolute need of the Lord Jesus Christ. He worked so much on my heart that my wants, my desires became again for the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I never planned it and never even thought about me meeting Sheila. I didn't even know who she was. But God again ordained the path that all of a sudden I would meet her. And I've had the privilege of sharing the last 38 years of my life with the love of my life, Sheila. You know, it's amazing how my God again planned it out. I never planned to become a pastor. God put that passion that happened to begin in my life. He opened up various different avenues where I could get training, where I could have the counsel of those who happened to begin in my life to help me. And I never planned to come to Windsor. You know, the pulpit committee found me. I didn't find them. And more importantly, it wasn't a pulpit committee, but it was really God. You know, and here's my whole point. You know, he's put me in this place where I really love the church, called Emmanuel Baptist Church, and these living stones that make up the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. But when I look at these major decisions that really orchestrated my life in this direction, that direction, over here, over there, it's incredible how little I had to do with those decisions. And please don't get me wrong. It doesn't mean that God doesn't want us to plan. It doesn't mean that God doesn't want us to look at the future and make those plans. But all of those plans are under the sovereignty of God, isn't it? And we realize that he can make, he can move again us in this direction and that direction. It's just like, again, James chapter 4 says, 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 do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, we ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. Isn't it true? Who knows what tomorrow happens to bring and none of us know what tomorrow happens to bring except one, our great God that happens to be again above. We realize, I think when we look at all the good things that have come in our lives, all the good accomplishments that we've done in our lives, might be rearing children, it might be again a successful and a pleasing marriage, a satisfying marriage, might be again a huge amount of things. We love to take credit for them. You know, but if you look in your heart of hearts, if you look in your life, you realize that there is enough sin that you could have destroyed your life even in those areas. You know, and I think all of us, when we look at God's providence, when we look at God's sovereignty, when we look at God's ordaining various different things that happen to be in our life, we can all agree, he is in control, he is sovereign, and we can realize that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I think the problem we have is in those twists and turns that we never expected, and bring trials, bring difficulties that happen to begin in our life, bring closed doors that we never thought would be closed that happen to begin in our life. And I think a lot of times we like to blame people, we love to blame circumstances, we love to blame this, it's just dumb luck. Well, let me just say beyond a shadow of a doubt, and I think we know this, there's no such thing as luck. You know, all of these downturns that happen to begin in our life, all of these obstacles are part of what is called his massive redemption plan for your life and for mine. And the question is, do we believe that? Do we see that again beyond a shadow of a doubt? Because this is what we see in verses 6 to 10. We really see God's providential moving, God's movement in all of these events that happen at the beginning of life. And the reason why there's certain things happening in your life again today, there's reasons why you're here, right here and right now. And that is none other than the orchestration that happened to begin of God. But it really begs a lot of questions as we think about all of these things. And one is, again, do we recognize that God is sovereign over life, every aspect of our life? How are we responding to his sovereignty? Do we realize beyond a shadow of a doubt that this one who is orchestrating all of the events that happen to begin of our life is all good? And He couldn't love us more than He loves us right now. He loves us, again, in that perfect love that happens at the beginning of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we trust Him? Do we trust Him when things go wrong in our life? Or do we become bitter? Do we complain of those things in our life? Or do we see this? I really want us to look and look at this transitional passage. And I hope it will be a blessing as you look at your own life and you realize that there's somebody at the helm of your life. There's somebody orchestrating all of these events for your good and for His glory. And I hope it will be a blessing. This is one of these passages of scripture that we can use as a lens to look at our life and be brought to a place where we praise the one who is worthy of all praise in all his works that happen to begin in our life. I want us to see, again, a couple of things where we need to trust God. One of the things that we need to trust God is in all the upheavals, all of the disappointments of life. You can really see that in verses 6 and following of our passage. Let's just read those again. And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go. So passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. Now, let me just say this. We live in an age of instant gratification. you know, really of overindulgence. And what I mean by overindulgence is we want all of these good things. We want all of this joy that happened to begin in our life. And we want it instantaneous, over and over and over and over again. And when we look at anything that's trying, when we look at anything that would bring suffering that happened to begin in our life, or disappointment that happens to be in our life, we want to try and bypass it. And it's amazing because we're the first generation to happen to be like that. You know, you look at previous generations, and when they grew up in a town, when they grew up in a village, even when they grew up in a city, they realized that suffering was going to be part of their life. And they prepared their hearts, especially as believers, prepared their hearts for that. You know, we think that somehow something has gone wrong with God, something has gone wrong with life, something has gone wrong with everything, anytime. there happens to be again a downturn, anytime there happens to be an obstacle, anytime there happens to be a disappointment. and adversity that happen to begin in our lives. And I wonder, because here's the question, if you're living on planet Earth today, you're suffering in some way. You've had some disappointments, you've had some shattered dreams. And here's the question, how are you responding to that? You know, are you responding, seeing anything of the hand of God in all of those shattered dreams, in all of those disappointments that happen to be of life? Because we can make plans, but ultimately, again, there's a God who's in control, isn't it? And you certainly see this in this passage, because look at verse number six again, and it says, and nay, speaking of these missionaries, Paul, and Silas, and Timothy, and whoever else that happened to be accompanying them. And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. Now, you have to realize this, again, about all of these various different names that happen to be in this passage of scripture. These are not towns and cities. These are not villages. These are whole regions. So when it names Galatia, it's named a region, almost like we have Ontario. We wouldn't think of Ontario, again, as a specific place, right? Toronto's a specific place. Windsor, Leamington, right? Kingsville are specific places. But these are regions. And these are regions that Paul and Barnabas went on in the first missionary journey. and planted various different churches. But we see that the missionaries, they have a longing not only to visit these churches that they have planted, but to go into areas where the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is not planted. So they want to go into this region of Asia, But here we see in this passage of scripture that they're not permitted. Even though they planned, even though they want to go, they are not permitted to go. Please don't misunderstand the text. It's not that these areas are so wicked that somehow God is judging them and not letting the gospel go in. No, later on in Paul's again missionary endeavor, he's going to be able to go into Asia. It includes such cities as Ephesus, such as Colossa, such as Laodicea, where there was vibrant churches that were planted for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. But right here, He's told not to go. They are told not to go. Now, how that came about, I really don't know. Was it circumstantial that all of a sudden, circumstantial again, obstacles came in their life that they couldn't go here? We're just not told in the text. Was it a still, small voice that came in the inside of them that said they couldn't go in this direction? We are not told. Was it some sort of audible vision, which we see a little later actually happens? Is that what's going on here? It could be. We realize that these are extraordinary times. The apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ were given to lay the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ, and therefore they were given specific revelation. We are given, again, specific revelation, but it's all written down. You know, and we realize when Peter, again, here he is in Simon Tanner's house and he's praying, and all of a sudden a vision comes over him. And the vision is from God, right? To go to Cornelius' house. And if he goes to Cornelius' house, he can't go to other places, can he? He can't go back to Jerusalem. He can't go back to this area or that area that happened to be there. He has to go there. So when you look at this passage of scripture, there's a definite no. You cannot go to Asia. Think of it because they probably made plans or wouldn't be hearing the text. They probably had a longing to go to these areas, make these visits to various different cities that happen to be again right there, but they're forbidden. We could see it this clearly, God said no to them. Think of it because they're good at desires, aren't they? And I think a lot of times God says no to us, and that's where we get frustrated. That's where we lose, again, some of our trust, some of our faith that happened to begin in God. Think about it. Again, many of you are young married couples. Some of you happen to begin older married couples. But anybody who gets married goes in with a vision, goes in with a plan of how life is going to work. And then all of a sudden you get married and you might think you can change your wife. You might, oh yeah, yeah, I've seen these things when we're dating. I've seen these things with my husband when I was dating. And all of a sudden when you get married, you think again, things are gonna change. You have this plan. And all of a sudden it becomes a greater struggle than you ever thought it would be in your life. All of a sudden, again, there's greater hurt and even animosity towards you that you never thought would be in your life. You know, even raising children are that way. You know, we have that little bundle of joy. We've read all the books on Christianity, how to bring them up in the nurture and the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? And we have such hope. And it seems, again, very early on, they want to learn the word, and they sing, again, these little Bible phrases in these little Bible courses, and it looks like everything is going on. And then what happens? They discover that they have a will, and you discover that they have a will. And all of a sudden, parenting becomes a lot more challenging. This is not what I dreamed of. This is not what I planned. Have you ever had that happen in your life? Or maybe you always wanted to do a particular ministry, but the door has never opened up for you, and you looked at all the good you could do in this ministry, and somehow it's been closed to you. And I think a lot of times we love to say, God, what are you doing? I had this plan. What are you doing? And I think a lot of times we say, well, Have you ever said this? Things can't get any worse. Have you ever said that? Oh, I've hit the bottom. God's not gonna say no any longer. He says no long enough. Can't go to this whole region of Asia. And then we read, look at what the next verse says in verse number seven. And when they had come to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, which is another region, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So here they come to Messiah, right? And they've come to this place and they say, okay, this is another area that hasn't been evangelized. This is another area where we can minister the gospel again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go into that area. Let's preach the gospel again there. And all of a sudden the word comes back, no, can't go there. And think of it because Paul many times is prevented from going to various different regions because of persecution and sometimes even incarceration, right? He's arrested, can't go here, can't go there. because, again, of this persecution happening to be in his life. That's not the case there. This is direct revelation that is given by God that he cannot go into this region and preach. And think of what he wants to do. He wants to do something good. He wants to preach the gospel. He wants to establish New Testament churches that will stand and preach and make known Jesus Christ for the glory of Jesus Christ. I mean, he wants something good. Doesn't he? And have you ever looked at life? Because I think, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the things that we struggle with are not bad things. I think many times the things we struggle with most are the good things we want to accomplish in our life and we can't accomplish them. Isn't it true? And we can't figure it out because we realize God's good. We realize he's holy. We realize he's merciful. And we just can't figure it out. And maybe you've always wanted to go in full-time ministry. Maybe again, all of us, you've given such a heart to make known the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you even plan for it, but it just seemed like obstacle after obstacle after obstacle, and closed door after closed door after closed door. And you realize you have a heart to make known Jesus Christ, but it never came about in your life. Think about it again. I've heard this story over and over. You know, I'd love to have financial freedom. And the reason why I want to have financial freedom is not that I can spend it on myself, but I can have more time to invest in the church, more time to invest in others, more time, again, to disciple, more time where I can give my life for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they even made a plan of how this is going to come about. But something always happens. You know, there's always a car repair, the hot water tank all of a sudden has a leak, or whatever it happens to be. And all of your plans come to nothing. In fact, you happen to be further in debt. And you check your heart to see if your heart is right. You see if you want to truly glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. And you do. And you wonder because it can be so discouraging. No, no, no. And you wonder beyond a shadow of a doubt what's happening. And this is where we have to go and we have to say, what do we know about God? What do we know about his plan? What do we know about who he is? What do we know about, again, even his orchestration of the heaven beginning in our life through the word of God? And through this passage of scripture, you can see something here. And that is, again, the one who is in control of all of this is the great lover of our soul. I love the way the Holy Spirit is described here. The Holy Spirit who makes this known to Paul and the other missionaries is called the Spirit of Christ. Don't you love that? The whole idea behind the Spirit of Christ is between all three members of the Trinity, there's one will. Remember Jesus Christ's great plan. His great plan is to build the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in which he is going to be glorified. So through all of these notes, guess what? He's active. This is not a failure. This is not God's plan being broken, but this is God's plan. This is what he has decided to do. This is what he is doing for his absolute glory, and that's one of the things that we have to rectify. You know, when God says no to us, this is part and parcel of His plan. But there's something else again that I think we get lost. You know, so often we get so determined to do this, to do that, to have this, to have this, that happen to begin over there, that many times we just do not stop and we just do not say this. What avenues are still open to me to make much of a Lord Jesus Christ? What doors has God remained open that I can walk through and I can make much of the Lord Jesus? Right here, you can't go to Asia, can't go to Bithynia. But look at what it says in verse number eight. It says, so passing by Messiah, they went down to Troas. So here's the thing that I realize, and I hope we realize this, I hope this is just a review. You know, if God closes one door, Let me say this, there's a massive amount of doors still open, right? God closes one door, there's another. No, no, there's massive amounts of doors that haven't begun to open in your life to make much of the Lord Jesus Christ, right? The whole world is here. There's many other places to go and make known the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think, again, a lot of times we get lost because we happen to be, again, so myopic and we just focus on one thing, one thing that we want to accomplish, one thing that we want to have in our life. And remember, it's many times a good thing. You know, I read a story. A number of years ago, and it was about a man who really called, really felt called to go into the ministry, really had him part of the ministry when he ministered among the people of God. People could see his heart, people could see his talent, people could see the gifts that God had given him. And he really wanted to go into ministry. And very early in his life, he married a godly woman who seemed, again, to have the same compulsion, the same desire, that they both, again, would be a ministry team. They would both, again, undertake, and he would pastor a church. But as they got married, you know what happens. The old sin nature starts to come out. And there was really a lot of animosity and a lot of anger that happened to be for them. And it was evident that he would not become a pastor because, again, of their relationship with one another. And the longer this went on, and this went on for years and years and years and years, and the longer it went on, the more frustrated he became with his wife. He looked at her as the great problem that happened to begin in his life, the great obstacle that had to be overcome. So much so that he started to get discouraged even with following God. He thought about adultery, he thought about ending the relationship, and all of a sudden, Two of his friends in church came alongside him and really rebuked him, rebuked him in a loving way and counseled him. And they counseled him in such a way to look at this great God, look at who he is, look at what he's done for you, look at what Jesus Christ came, Jesus Christ came to give his life that you might have life. How could he ever mess anything up in your life? Look at him! And all of a sudden, here it is, his heart started changing. All of a sudden he saw the calling of God that happened to begin in his life, regardless of how his wife acted, regardless again of what happens to be in her heart. He is called to love her as Jesus Christ loved the church. And it was amazing because the more he did it, the more their marriage started to be healed. And here's the thing about it, it still was a struggle. You know, and a few years after he got his heart right, and again the marriage was growing, the marriage was growing, his wife contracted a debilitating disease that would take her life about five years later. And she became an invalid in the house. And all of a sudden he could see again how God had orchestrated all of these events. that he would be at home with her, that he would love her, that he would take care of her needs, that he would take care of her needs when she could not take care of his. It was all about giving. And people who looked at this saw a growing love in between husband and wife, but they also saw such a reflection of how Jesus truly loved the church. Again, the wonderful grace. And here's the thing, God had it all mapped out. God had that whole thing that he would minister to his wife in that way, planned all those obstacles, all of those closed doors, that there might be this open door that he might reflect Jesus Christ as he loved his wife in such a Christ-like way. And here's my point. So often we're looking at the closed doors and so often we're not looking at the opportunities that God has given us to make much of this great God that happens to be again above. And let me ask you, are you looking at those? Are you looking at those opportunities that God has given us that we might magnify, glorify Him. There's so many that happens beginning in each one of our lives. And that's really the second thing that I want us to see in this passage of Scripture. I want us to see the need of trusting God through these open doors that He's given us. Look at verses 9 to 10 again of our passage right here. It says, 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 on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. You know, I often say this, one of the things that amazes me, and if you ever notice that term that I say all the time, it's because I'm amazed at my great God. I'm amazed, again, how he works in our lives and in our congregation. And I don't know if you've ever seen this in your life, I think it should amaze us. The amount of people in our Christian life that have ministered to us in one way or another. Isn't it true? They might have preached the word of God. They might have taught us again various different lessons and various different Bible principles and attributes of God or whatever it happened to be. But they've entered our lives and they've shown us the breathtaking beauty of Jesus Christ. Others have befriended us. Others have come in and counseled us and mentored us as far as the glory of this great Christ. Others again have come alongside of us when we're going through struggles. And they've had that encouraging word and it just seemed like they knew the right thing to say at the right time to make our hearts focus on Jesus Christ again. Some people do it through email, some people do it through text. But when you look at your life, it's amazing. Think about this, of all of the individuals, all of the various different Christians that have entered our lives in one way or another. And think of it, because there's an intentionality, right? They see an open door to come into your life. They see an open door, again, to minister to you. They see an open door to love you, and it's a reflection, isn't it? There is a want to do this in your life. And if there's a want to do this in your life, well, they're saying no to other things. Other things that they could invest in, other things that they could do. Isn't it true? Let me give you an example. We have what's called Vacation Bible School every year. And it's a week that we invest, as a church, in ministering to the kids the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the families that happen to be, again, in our neighborhood, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we ask the whole church to get involved. You know, some can't, and they pray, and I realize that beyond a shadow of a doubt, but it's incredible to see how many people come out. Some are in the kitchen, some are cleaning, some are teaching, some are doing puppets, some are doing games that happen to begin out back. And one of the things I've always known about Vacation Bible School, at the end of Friday, you have, again, all of these kids saying this, can we do this next week? And as you look at the drawn faces that happen to begin right there, it's sort of a little chuckle and say, No, right? But here's my whole point in this. In order to be involved in vacation Bible school, you have to say no to a whole bunch of things that happen to be in your life. You have to say no to rest after work. You have to say no to going to the golf course. You have to say no to spending time with the family at the beach. You have to say no to all of these things that you can say, here it is, there's a desire in your, you know it's going to be difficult, you know it's going to be hard, but there's a desire in your heart. And it's the same thing again if you preach a sermon, teach a Sunday school, or anything else like that. Even the preparation that has to go into that, you have to say no to all these other offense. You don't have to say yes to Christ. And here's the thing, you hear so many people say this, you know, if there's a door open for me to do something, I'm willing to do it. Let me tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, there's massive doors. If you're waiting for a voice from heaven, if you're waiting for some sort of vision like the Apostle Paul, let me tell you, you'll never do anything for Christ. You know, God is calling us and I wonder if we have such a heart, if we have such a want in our souls to make much of Christ and be a blessing among the people of God and even be a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we have such a want in our heart, such a desire in our heart that's flowing through, that we are going through those open doors that God again has opened. I wonder if we are. Because here's the amazing thing, God says, no, no, no. And then we read in verse number nine. 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. So after saying no to the regents of Asia and Bithynia, Paul and the others are called to Macedonia. Now Macedonia is modern day Greece. And the greatness again of this call, it really opens up the whole continent of what we call Europe. Now that phrase, Europe, wouldn't have been open to them, but here it is. They're called to go to this place, and a man appears again in his vision to the Apostle Paul, and all of a sudden says, come on over and help us. And think of it, because the... The key there is help us. And so we ask the question, how does this man from Macedonia in this vision want the Apostle Paul, want the other missionaries to help them? And let me say, because it's so clear in the passage of Scripture, because they wanted to go here and make known the word. They want to go here and make known the word. Here it is, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Making known these truths of Jesus Christ, Him crucified, yea, risen from the grave for sinners. It's why we live, isn't it? It's why we function, to make it known among believers and unbelievers these great truths of Jesus Christ. Let me just say this, it's the greatest need. You know, I'm not trying to be simplistic in all of this, but the great need is not more hospitals. I wish we had more hospitals. I wish we had a greater health system. But this is the only one we have. But that's not the greatest need of an individual. The greatest need of the individual is not just education. If we can get education, everybody will rise up. Not the greatest need. Every single person will spend an eternity somewhere. And it's before our great Jesus, praising him for all of eternity, or it's under his just judgment in a lake of fire. Those are the two options. And every person has a great need. And here in this vision, we have, again, the summons to come over. And let me tell you, God directs us, not in visions today, not again in still, small voices where there's this audible, again, says, go here, go there. But God many times directs us through people, through circumstances, through situations that are gonna begin in our life. You know, somebody might come over to you and say, can you help us with this? Would you like to teach this lesson? Would you like to bake a cake for Men's Bake Off? Would you like to work in the nursery? Would you like to be involved in junior church? And what are these? These are open doors. This is how God calls us. He many times calls us through different people. We might see somebody struggling, somebody in need of mentorship, someone in need of a friend. And we say, okay, I can see that need. I can see that God providentially has brought that need. Now, how can I meet that need? And there's many ways. And we realize this man of Macedonia again appears before Paul. Now, there is so much written about who this man is. And I want to make this as clear as possible. There's no way to know who the man of Macedonia is except that he's from Macedonia. There's no way to know. You know, one of the most popular notions of who this man is, is a lot of people think he's the author of this book of Acts. A lot of people think it's Luke. And the reason why they say that is because of what you see in verse number 7. Let me just read the first part of verse number 7. It says, And look at the pronoun there, they. The they is speaking again of Paul, Silas, and Luke, and whoever else happens to be before him had come to Mysia. Now, that's verse number seven, but now look at our verse in verse number 10. It says, and when Paul had seen the vision, immediately, what's the word there? We. Do you see how it's a personal pronoun? You know, all of a sudden, Luke's there. All of a sudden, he's making this decision as far as where they should go. We sought to go on to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So Luke joins him at this stage. And a lot of people, again, think it's Luke. Well, let me say beyond a shadow of a doubt, that's a far jump. Just to say that a change of pronouns, and all of a sudden, this vision that Paul has that this was Luke. There's nothing, again, that would ever indicate it was this man. Now, I think this verse is so important because a lot of times we're trying to discern, we're trying to understand the will of God that happened to begin in our life, and I think a lot of times, instead of banking on God's sure word, God's good word, the counsel of others that happened to begin around us, we're looking for some miraculous sign, right? And there's many people, again, who do that, who look for some miraculous message that happened to begin of God. And I don't know if I've said this before, I probably have, But I have been questioned a number of times. People have come into my office or they've met me on the street and learned that then I'm a pastor, and they've said something like this to me. Well, it's interesting that I meet you because I happen to be a prophet of God. And God has put it on my heart that I need to preach to Emmanuel Baptist Church. And there's a message that I need to give to Emmanuel Baptist Church, a direct message from God the next Sunday. I need to be in your pulpit. You know, and I wish it just happened once. I just wish it just happened twice, but it happened again a number of times. You know, and it's incredible to see because you really love these individuals. You really, again, have a heart for these individuals. And one of the questions, because I really want them to look at it biblically, one of the questions I really ask them is, how do you know it's from God? You know, we're gonna see again in this right here that Paul just didn't take it for certain that this was from God. He consulted with the others that happen to be again right there. But how do you know it's from God? You know, Satan himself appears as an angel of light. How do you know it wasn't from Satan? And usually it's silent. Nobody gives an answer except I just know it's from God. Right? And then you have to inform them somewhere along this conversation, there is no chance, there's absolutely no chance that you will stand in the pulpit. the next sunday you know and i can remember one gentleman said to me well can you at least be open-minded about it and i said no i can't be open-minded about it when scripture has already informed me that his revelation is absolutely complete and absolutely sufficient for life and godliness we need no other word my mind is closed on this and there's no possibility that you will come into the pulpit and preach whatever you think god is telling you You know, and with that, I can say 100% of the time, somebody has issued an anathema on me, a damnation, saying that the wrath of God again will appear on me either this Sunday or in the coming time. you know and with that I've never seen him I've always encouraged him to come out to church I've always encouraged him maybe sometime future when you learn the word of God when you're discipled among mature believers maybe God will give you an opportunity to preach of Immanuel Baptist Church uh... but they never take me up on that offer and I pray for them I hope again somehow they'll see the truth of Jesus Christ and him crucified You know, but here's the question I have for you, because I think, again, most of us that happen to begin right here, we've heard sermon after sermon after sermon about the sufficiency of the word of God and praise God, that it is not only inspired of God, written by God, but it is absolutely sufficient for life and godliness. And I think, again, we all realize that. But here's the question. How do we know? How did the missionaries know that this was of God, right? He said, no, no, and all of a sudden there's a yes. How do they know? How do they know Paul just didn't eat some unkoshered meat the day before and all of a sudden had a bad reaction to it and thought he saw a vision? How did he know? Again, beyond a shadow of a doubt. And I think the answer's right in our text. And look at what it says, and when Paul had seen the vision, immediately, we sought to go into Macedonia. So the first thing is, when they were absolutely assured that Paul had seen this vision, they wanted to obey immediately. But look at what happened just previous to that, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Do you see that word concluding? And you see that word us? So this is not just a Paul decision. This is what God has told me, now everybody get in line. You know, this is a decision, all of them, and they probably ask questions like, does this align with the character of God? Does this align, again, with his mission for us, again, as those who would lay the foundation of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is this in line with the mission that he has given us? And they probably asked all of these questions, all of these questions, and when they came back with the affirmative, they obeyed God immediately. Isn't that amazing? And here's my whole point. If you look at the direction of God in your life, you are on dangerous grounds if you distrust yourself. Really. God has given us, that's one of the reasons why God has given us brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. And why? He's given us brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ to help us discern God's will in our lives. Isn't it true? Now, let me just make one caution about that. You know, you can always say, you know, I wanna do this, or I wanna do that, and then you can go and find people who agree with you. We know those type of yes people. You know, every time we talk to them, they'll say, yeah, that's the will of God, yeah, that's the will of God, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right to go in that direction. What I'm talking about, again, people who love us enough that they're willing to say, not only yes, but they're willing to say no to us. They ought not to go in that direction. And have you ever had people that happen to be like that in your life? I've had. You know, have you ever thought, and you got in a relationship, and it's a really tough relationship, and all of a sudden you feel the anger boiling up inside of you. And because you know this person so well, again, who happens to be your counselor, you're telling them what they've done, and telling them again, next time I see them, I'm going to give them a piece of your mind. And all of a sudden, again, the person, your friend, your fellow member in the Lord Jesus Christ says, you can't do that. And the reason why you cannot correct them is not that they don't need correction, but here it is, your heart is not in the right place. It's more about you. It's more about your hurt. It's more about your anger. It's more about your frustration. It's more about your self-sovereignty and what you want to accomplish in your life and less about the glory of God and the needs again of this other person, you need to slow down. You need to check your heart. You need to really repent again of the sin that you're about to do. And you need to take caution. Have you ever had somebody come into your life and do that? Let me tell you, I've had people come into my life and have done that and saved me from so much of destruction that I would have done to the kingdom of Christ. And I'm so thankful for that. I'm so thankful for their direction. And God used that to steer my life, to steer my heart in a different direction than when I wanted to go. And think about it, because I think we all know this, don't we? We all know 1 Timothy chapter three is given again, and we have these various different qualifications for those who are called to the pastoral ministry. And we realize that in many times a young man They feel an urge, they feel a compulsion, they feel a love, they feel a desire to make known Christ, to get into the pastoral ministry. But all of those qualifications are there, not particularly just for them. They're given to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, here it is, that they might validate that calling in their life. They're not self-called. If they're self-called, if it's just about what they feel, let me tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, they're going to do great, grievous harm for the cause of Christ rather than go forth and truly make known Jesus Christ. And here's my whole point. God has given us one another. God has given us, again, so many mature couples. in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ to help us, again, when we struggle with marriage. God has given us, again, so many mature singles, even older singles. And why? To help us in our singleness. God has given us, again, one another, again, going through this, going through the trails, going through the trials, going through the no's, going through the yes's that happen to begin in our life, that we might glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me ask you this morning, do you see God's hand in your life? Do you see God's hand in your life, not only in the yeses, the things that you've been able to accomplish in your life for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, but even in the noes? Do you see, again, God's hand in bringing all these believers, all of these counselors, all of these instructors in your life for His glory and for your good to help you discern His will that happened to begin in our lives? Let me say, folks, there's so many open doors. There's so many avenues of making much of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to bank on it, and we need to walk through those doors for the glory of our great King. Let's bow our hearts in a moment of prayer. Father, it's amazing to look at this text. What a glorious text. Lord, these transition texts. We're so eager to see Paul's ministry in Macedonia and into Europe that so often we skip by them and we don't see, Lord, your governing hand. We don't see your sovereign love. We don't see you directing our lives with purpose, just like you did, Lord, with the apostles. Just like you did with Paul and Silas and Timothy and also Luke. And God, as we look at these passages of scripture, Lord, that we would use it as a template to recognize that over every avenue, Over, Lord, every obstacle, over every struggle, over every disappointment, over every heartache, over every shattered dream in our life, over every plan that has not come to naught. Lord, you're the sovereign God who knows what's best, who understands what's most necessary, Lord, to truly change us. into the image of Christ. Oh, Lord, give us eyes to understand. Give us a heart, Lord, that seeks you in all of these things. And God, let us look with eyes of faith at all the opportunities you've given us, even here at Emmanuel. Lord, to make much of Christ, to serve Christ, to love Christ, to cherish Christ, and be a blessing, Lord, to the faithful members of Emmanuel Baptist Church, and be a blessing and a witness to those that happen to be outside of Christ. We realize every single relationship, every single situation has been put in our life by divine purpose. May we trust you in all of this. We thank you so much. Just be with us now as we continue. In Jesus' name.