We are coming to the time of graduation, and especially when we begin hearing Madame O'Meara announcing graduation meetings. So you just know that for the fourth years, the time to get out of this university is drawing closer and closer every passing day. I don't know what you fourth years do in your class, but in our class we used to have days written over the board, and each and every day we would keep on reducing by one, keeping on excitedly looking forward to that day we would be leaving. But I want to assure you that the day you leave here at ABU is not going to be a time where it will be all rosy, everything will be fine because you have graduated here with academic accolades and now you are going into the world. The second stanza we have sung in this song will characterize part of your lives. There will be scenes of bloom, sometimes waters calm, but there will be troubled seas, and there will be difficult situations, and you will seek to know, what does God want me to do in this life? That's one of the questions, by the way, that you are always wondering before you leave here. You begin asking, what exactly am I going to do? There are some people who seem to have everything laid out for themselves. He knows he's going to leave here, he's going to do A, B, C, D, maybe he has a job already waiting for him, or maybe he has some things that he's planning to do, many of them, but sometimes some of the students might be wondering, saying, where am I going to start from? How am I going, where am I going to live? I've been living in the ABU, being taken care of. I didn't have to mind about breakfast, lunch, and supper. Now I'm going to be there on my own. How is life going to be? Where is God taking me? How am I going to proceed? With that in mind, I want to speak to you today about how to perceive and follow God's guidance. How to perceive and follow God's guidance. And I want us to look, specifically focus our attention on the on how Paul and Silas perceived and followed God's guidance as they went to Europe to establish the first church in Europe. Many of you know that Europe was a Christian continent and was, until maybe fairly recently, the main base for missionary outreach in the world. In Uganda, the missionary activity, the faith we have, we are credited from Europe. people, European missionaries coming to Uganda, to Africa to spread the gospel. But how did this first church in Europe start? It wasn't all rosy. It was hard. It was difficult. Here are men who just began like you, started going out into the world. They didn't know exactly where they were going to go, but they had some ideas. Let's begin by reading in the book of Acts chapter 16. I'm going to focus my attention on verses 6 to 10, but let me read verse 1 for the sake of getting the idea of what is going on here. The Bible says, note verse 1, let's read Acts 15, verse 36. We get an idea of what is going on here. The Bible says this is after the conclusion of the first missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas have had a brief rest in Antioch. Now they are going to begin the second missionary journey. And the Bible says here, as they were beginning with the second missionary journey, it began with an idea. An idea. And this is what happened, and this is what the Bible tells us. And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are doing. We'll skip over. There were some things that happened there. Now we are going to read verse 5. It says, And they went through the region of Phygia and Galatia. Now this is not Paul and Barnabas. They have separated. We can talk about that another time. But they are still going on the same mission. That was behind the first idea we have read in verse 36 of Acts 15. And so Paul here is going with Silas. In verse 66, Acts 16, that, and they went through the region of Phygia 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. So passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging them 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. Let us pray. Thank you, God, for how you lead us. Sometimes your leading is clear. Sometimes it is obscure. But in all that, help us to learn that it is your hand that leads us, and help us to rely solely on your grace and guidance. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. So after Paul and Silas visiting the churches, by the time they had been joined by Timothy, the passage we read there, by that time they had been joined by Timothy, and they had also been joined by Luke as well. Now somewhere along the line they decided to go to Asia, but the Holy Spirit had forbidden them from speaking, from going to Asia. How did it forbid them? The thing is that they want to go somewhere, they want to go to Asia, they want to preach the word, but the Holy Spirit forbid them. I don't know how it forbid them, but it seemed like every road was closed. Have you ever come to such a situation? You want to venture into something, you go to a government office, it doesn't work, you try to get a way broad through here, permission for licensing of anything, it is totally blocked. Everything you pursue, however much you try, there is a roadblock and you become so much persuaded that it is the Lord hindering. you." So every road seemed to be blocked, and there was an insistent no, no, no from the Lord. Now when they perceived to go elsewhere, they went to the north, there was a no. They said, maybe if we can't go to the north, let us go to the south. The Bible says in the next verse, and when they had come, they have become opposite means here. They attempted to go into Bethania. This was southward, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. They have gone north. No. Gone. Now south. The spirit of Jesus has forbidden them. So Paul was in effect kind of funneled in another direction. But before he was funneled in another direction, they seemed to be moving like in circles. You are going here, you realize the door is blocked, you are going down the other side, you realize the door is blocked. It's like as if you are an ignorant man or someone confused who doesn't know where to go. You seem like lost and you don't understand how to proceed from this point. Such kind of scenarios are common in our lives. Now, it was at this point that Paul beheld before him a man standing in a night vision from Macedonia. And this man was saying, come unto us, to Macedonia, come and help us. This was a vision that he received. God intended the vision, this team, these people, he intended this vision to serve as a direction at this point. Now sometimes you may wonder and say, why did God just bring the vision at this time? After going to the north, there is a failure. Going to the south, there is a failure. Why did he let them fail there, then fail there, then bring a vision after all this struggle? You could have said, God should have shown it to them from the very beginning. He opens the door and they know we are going to proceed from plan A, B, C. God doesn't want us to do this and doesn't want us to do this. But that was not the case. They proceeded First, there was a blocked door, blocked door, and now we are confused. I did not know where to go. They are moving in circles. And then finally, God led them somewhere. Now, sometimes God guides like that. Now, one of the things we see here is a good example of negative guidance. Negative guidance. The guidance we get in our lives is often like that sometimes. We speak of this as closed doors, as we saw here, the Bible tried to illustrate them. Generally, in our lives and in my life myself, I do not like closed doors. No one likes closed doors. There have been cases when you have ventured into something and you are only to be confronted by a closed door. We don't like closed doors, especially when you have ambitions that you are trying to pursue. But we find closed doors frustrating, even though we don't like them. God wants us to know that they are a form of guidance. It is negative guidance, but it is guidance nevertheless, still guidance from the Lord that God uses. So we need to understand that although they are a type of negative guidance, they are nevertheless true guidance from the Lord, true guidance. And if we can learn anything from the Apostle Paul, We learned that negative guidance merely keeps us from where we are not supposed to go, merely keeps us from expanding our efforts in places where we shouldn't be going, and God preserves us for some better purpose that he has for us in his plans. Now, in the first two instances, the missionaries receive a divine no from the Word of God. They go north, there is a divine no. They go south, there is a divine no. It is in the last gate that they receive a God's yes in the last case, in the third instance. Now, this double guidance of restraint and prompting typifies as an example of many missionaries. When you come to think about many of the famous missionaries, they have gone through this kind of problem. For example, Dr. David Livingstone, for instance, wanted to go to China, but he was sent to Africa instead. His intention was to go to China, but he was sent to Africa. William Carey wanted to go to Polynesia, but was sent to India. Adoniram Jadison, his first instance, his desire was to go to India, but he was instead sent to Burma by different circumstances. So your task is to faithfully carry out the work of the Lord that he gives you day by day and to be ready and willing to change directions wherever the Lord prompts you and wherever the Holy Spirit leads you. Now, sometimes, you know, we spend so much time planning maybe for the next 10 years. It's okay to plan. You can plan for the next 10 years. You can plan for the next 100 years. You can plan, I saw a car there having a vision to 2020-something, 300, I can't remember exactly, but that is also a plan. Those plans are good, okay? But you have to know that those are not, sometimes they may not be God's plans. You plan, but God at the end is the one who decides the real plan. What you had planned thinking were the real plans may turn out to be not the plans of God. And in that case, you must be willing to adjust your plans immediately according to God's will. Plan, yes, but don't even be so much concerned planning tenure, thinking that everything is going to go as you have planned. Be willing and ready to adjust, and don't wait to live your life. Stop worrying about the life plan and simply follow Jesus as he leads you. Have the life plan if you would like, and have it, yes, have your ideas, but follow the Lord above, first and above all, as he leads you. Now God may prevent us from doing certain things and maybe going to certain places in many different ways, but let us rejoice that God's restraints and promptings are all his directions. They are good and they are things we should embrace that keep us in the Lord and this is one of the ways through which God leads his children. Now secondly, I want you to see that God's guidance often comes gradually and unpredictably. God's guidance many times comes gradually and unpredictably, sometimes. These people, these missionaries did not set out their trip, did not have a neatly ordered formula when they were coming, beginning their trip. The Bible says when they were beginning their trip, they just began with an idea. And they said, in verse 36, and some days, Paul said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are doing. That's how it began. They didn't know how they were going to go, where they were going to sleep, where exactly they would go, but it began with such kind of an idea. They didn't have all the details. God had not revealed every detail of this journey, but they had to trust the Lord. They had to take the first step, keep going, and then God would continue leading them. Do you remember that story of Jericho, where the priests had to step their feet in the water, and then after the waters, the Jordan separated? God wants us to go like that. His direction sometimes is like the direction you get when you are moving with a torch. Your torch is not going to flash if you are going to town, from here to town, so that you can be able to see from here to Kampala everything that is on the road. No way. It is actually going to just give you light enough for that small area. And as you continue on, then you keep on realizing more things along the road. Maybe you realize there was a snake there. then you realize there was a stone there, maybe you realize there is a thief hiding somewhere there, and you realize all kinds of problems along the road, but you will get those ones step by step as you go along. And sometimes God's children who are living by faith receive that kind of guidance. You live one day at a time. God gives you light as you continue on. You take one step, but you don't know where next, what is the next step to take, maybe next year or maybe in a few days. You decide one venture, you don't know how the Lord would like to lead you from that step onwards. You have to keep on waiting the Lord. So in this case, this is one of the ways in which God leads his children. Now, Sometimes God's ways of leading his children are not that easy to discern. You know, we are dividing here God's ways into two categories, negative and positive guidance. But sometimes there is a place where they can become a whole lot complex and confusing. That in the end, you who began following God's guidance ends up confused. by the circumstances that have transpired after what you believed was God's guidance. And in the end, you end up with a problem and die with a problem that will never even solve in your life. That even if you bring all the theologians in your life to try to interpret your circumstances, they will never be able to do that. Sometimes God's ways are mysterious. Actually, I'm reminded here of a young man called Chuck Fry. This Chuck Fry is spoken about The story of Chuck Fry is narrated by Dr. James Dobson, who was a host for many years of the popular program known as Focus on Africa, Focus on the Family. He told a true story of a young man named Chuck Fry. This young man who was 17 years old at the time when James Dobson first met him, he met him back in the 1960s. Chuck was an academically gifted and highly motivated young man, just like many of you here. Gifted and highly motivated, having great ambitions and plans and dreams for the future. And these dreams were not just dreams for his own self-enrichment. He wanted to serve God and give God the glory in all his life. So after graduating as one of the best students in high school class, Chuck went to college where he continued to excel in his studies. And upon completing a Bachelor's of Sciences degree, Chuck applied for admission in several medical schools. Now, the competition to join those medical schools at that time was so high that out of 6,000 applicants, only around 100 would succeed, would be picked and taken. 6,000 and they take only 100. Now, in spite of this fierce competition, Chuck was accepted at the university. Of course, the church members prayed. Chuck himself prayed and said, Lord, if it is your will, let me be accepted to go into this medical school, because his desire was to become a medical missionary in Africa. And that was his desire to serve. That was his desire. So Chuck was accepted at the University of Arizona School of Medicine, and he began his formal training in September. Now, during the first months of medical school, Chuck was thinking and praying about the call of God in his life. He was hoping to become a medical doctor who would work with missionaries in a foreign mission field. And this was his passion for the future. This was his passion. Now, towards the end of his first year of training, however, Chuck began feeling sickly. He was not feeling well. He began experiencing strange and persistent fatigue in his life. And he wondered what was going on. He made an appointment for an examination and was soon diagnosed with acute leukemia. Three months later, Chuck was dead. Now, in the view of Chuck's situation, Here are some perplexing questions regarding God's guidance that you might ask yourself. And I want to assure you, you will never get answers for these questions. Even if you seek the best theologians in the world, they will not provide you with answers to these questions. But in view of Chuck's situations, you may ask, why, after much prayer, did God allow Chuck to be granted admission into medical school when he knew all along that he would not live to complete the training? Of course, God knew he would not live to complete the training. Why then did he allow him to be admitted in the medical school? I don't know. You, no one knows. Only God knows. You might even ask and say, where did those mission calls to which he responded come from? He was responding to a mission call. Where did they come from? His desire was feeling a call. Where did those calls come from? Why was so much talent invested in a young man who would not be able to use it? He was a very brilliant young man, very greatly talented. But then he died without even using his talent. And why, you might ask, was life abbreviated as such a God-loving and promising, a life of such a God-loving and promising student? Why was it abbreviated? Whereas many godless people, drug addicts, evildoers, surviving to an old age, even ending up becoming a great burden to the society. Why was this good man's young man's life with all these ambitions? Why was his life cut short and yet others live even longer? And you might say, if permitted to live, Chuck, as a qualified missionary doctor would have treated thousands of poor and needy people who would otherwise suffer and die in utter helplessness. And you might say, why? Would God, in his divine providence, deny this young man this God-honoring, dedicated service? It was a good service. Well, these troubling questions are much easier to pose than to answer. They are not just an issue of negative or positive guidance. They are more complicated than that. And sometimes God's ways are like that. There are instances where they would be so complex. Great theologians may spend their time, lifetime, contemplating and seeking to understand the dilemma posed by Chuck Fry's death, but they are not likely to produce satisfying explanations. God's purpose in his young man's demise is a mystery. We can't tell. But there are some of God's workings that we can understand, although these are mysterious ways, but there are some ways that we can understand. Where God reveals his plan for our lives, and he tells us exactly what he wants us to do, and we should be willing to follow his guidance wherever he leads us. I would like to draw your attention to this man, a prophet called Balaam. Maybe we can talk about him a little bit in more detail next time. But he is a man who knew God's will. But then because of the love of money, he refused to do God's will. He even, after God told him not to go with the messengers of Balak in the book of Numbers 22, the man went on to continue praying to God to let him go. And I'm telling you, some of you are going to behave like this man. God tells you something you should not do, but because you are so obsessed with it, and particularly he was persuaded, he was so much enticed by monetary gain. The money that Balak had promised, and the horn and the prestige. and he led him to do things that he wouldn't have otherwise done. Be careful not to be led by money, not to be motivated to do what you do because of money. You must be willing to let money go. When God says you should not go, whatever promises, whatever, if you're going to live without money, stay like that, it's much better and God honoring and your life will be far better off. But if you don't, you might face his end. Of course, we know God doesn't punish us the way our sins deserve, but I want to assure you that sometimes you will live with regrets and frustrations in your life. Money has been a great problem, and I hope it will not be an issue that will lead many of you into making wrong decisions in life. Someone has said that three things that lead to the fall of men of God. There are three. Every person of men of God who has fallen in life, in his ministry, is because of one of the three things. One is pride, second is money, and third is women. Money is an issue that I'm talking about here. I remember a story the other day. My wife was telling me about this story. I don't know how true the story is. But she was saying that there was this Museveni, our president, who went to a church. She said she saw this on TV. She's more on TV than me. I'm rarely on those TV things. But she's there much more times, watching news and so on. But she was telling me she saw on TV Museveni went to a certain church in Entebbe. when he went there to pray. And the pastor preached so tardily and so zealously. Then after that, he called people for salvation. He called people and invited them to be saved. And no one came. No one came. Then our president rose up and said, hey pastor, would you allow me also to have an opportunity to make an invitation for these people to come to be saved? And then he was given the invitation and he made the invitation and said, please come to Jesus, you people, get saved. He made the invitation very eloquently. And only one person came forward. When he came forward, the museum pulled out an envelope, I think it was containing one million, and he gave it to the guy. Now, after giving him one million, he went ahead and continued calling the people, said, you people, please get saved. Now the whole church came. including the pasture. You see what money can lead us to do? We know God's will. You know, you are not coming to get saved, but you do these things because you are led by money and you are motivated. You even do what you absolutely know you are not supposed to do. Yes, we have poverty too. We are struggling. We struggle a lot in our life, but you are not the first one to struggle, my friend. I remember our parents, well, they were not poor, rich people, but they never stole. They were not even godly people. Even in the midst of their suffering, they continued to look to God. They never stole. They were not thieves. But today you find people who are rich and people who claim to trust God are the most people who are not even trusting the Lord. May God help us. We are all sinners. We are all idolaters. All of us have broken God's law. And there is no hope for any of us. Because you know, God says you shall not have any other gods but me. But you see, If you are a sinner, then that means you have rejected the lawgiver, and you have established yourself as a lawgiver. And in that case, you have broken the first commandment. And the gateway, someone has said the reason why the first commandment is given there, because it is the gateway of all sins. You begin by establishing yourself as the lawgiver. So we are all idolaters. There is no hope for us. Maybe like Balaam, God should be standing with a sword ready to slay us. But where is our hope? It's because that sword was driven in the heart of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're a Christian, through him you can find hope. And that's the only hope that we have, looking to him, trusting him, and walking, living our life, following his guidance day by day, even amidst of perplexity, but living by his grace. May God help us to live in that manner, by his grace.