Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you’ve been traveling, have you found yourself determined to reach a particular destination by a certain time, and you pressed on to meet yourself imposed deadline, perhaps traveling through the night or staying much longer on the road than you had anticipated?
Let’s join the apostle Paul and his traveling team, now four men in all. They are packed up and moving, with a newfound sense of excitement and determination to arrive! Where are they going? Well, let’s join the travel log found in Acts 16 in the Bible, and find out!
Dr. Luke, the latest addition to this traveling team, is the keeper of the log and he writes: “From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis.” (Acts 16:11) I doubt any of us can imagine the excitement, almost boundless excitement, of the apostle Paul. From Syrian Antioch they had traveled well over 600 miles, perhaps as many as nearly 800 miles, depending on exactly where their journey had taken them before they reached Troas.
Can you imagine the conversations Paul, Silas, Timothy and now Dr. Luke have been having as they discussed this vision Paul had received of “a man of Macedonia standing and begging Paul, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (Acts 16:9) No further details were given, but clearly God had finally opened the door to a whole region of the world none of them had ever seen.
The most direct way from Troas to Macedonia was by ship, straight across the Aegean Sea. Depending on the winds, a trip of probably several days. Their travel days which would be spent in prayer and discussion, making their plans. None of them knew anyone in this part of the world. How would the Holy Spirit lead them?
Favorable winds took them directly toward the island of Samothrace, about midway across the Aegean Sea. The second tallest mountain in that region of the world was on the island, and thus visible I’m sure, from a great distance away as their ship approached Samothrace. The favorable winds continued, therefore the very next morning, after cargo and passengers were loaded, they set off for mainland Macedonia, arriving at their port destination Neopolis.
It appears Paul and his team had a plan. Philippi was their objective, the largest and most prominent city in Macedonia. Luke describes it this way: “From Neoplolis we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.” (Acts 16:12) Do you hear the sense of adventure and excitement? This was not a Caribbean cruise, nor was it a Spring Break trip to the beaches.
This was a very strategic, God given mission. I’m sure Paul replayed his vision over and over in his mind, praying earnestly that the Holy Spirit would help Paul and the team understand exactly what the vision meant and who the key Macedonian people would be with whom they should connect to fulfill the vision.
Let’s pause here for just a moment. I have an important question. Does God still work in this way today around the world? Do God’s people receive invitations from God to join with HIM in what He is doing, as God seeks to accomplish His eternal purposes in our world? What do you think? Has it ever happened to you?
YES!! Absolutely YES God still does exactly this in our day! It has happened to me and my wife several times, and over our lifetime we’ve lived in 3 different countries and several different States in America, always confident we were following God’s invitation. It’s an extremely exciting way to live, but it has several requirements. Can you imagine what those requirements are?
* First, an authentic relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, whereby you can discern when God is speaking to you, what God is telling you, and how you should respond! That’s the role of the Holy Spirit alive in an authentic Christian!
* Second, an unwavering commitment to respond to God with YES! No arguing with God, no negotiations, no demands. God is Sovereign, and God requires that those whom He involves in His purposes have given the Lord Jesus full authority to call them into any assignment the Father has for them at anytime, anywhere. Millions of courageous Christians have done this since the days Jesus was here on earth. Have you? Have you told God YES, no questions asked?!
* Third, living untethered and available. You and I both know what this means. If God were to invite you into a God adventure which would require you moving across your country or to another country… how long of a process would it take for you to ‘untether’ yourself and be available to move? And what would the condition of your heart be as you moved... excited, anticipating, frustrated, looking back with regret?
Clearly Paul had been living all three of these requirements to the fullest! Now Silas and Timothy and most recently Dr. Luke were being exposed to this type of adventure with God living! I’m sure Paul was watching closely. Once before he had a team member who bailed out… John Mark. (Acts 13:13)
After their arrival in Philippi, where they knew no one, they faced an unanticipated problem of strategy! In every previous town when Paul first arrived his strategic plan had been to find the local Synagogue, introduce himself to the local Rabbi, explain his credentials as being one of the most aggressive, accomplished Pharisees in Jerusalem, even possibly a member of the Sanhedrin, and therefore his desire was to speak in that Synagogue, especially addressing the Jewish men of that city, at the next possible occasion.
Naturally the Rabbi would feel incredibly honored that such a decorated, educated, highly influential Pharisee had come to his town and wanted to speak in his Synagogue and plans would be made for Paul to have that privilege the very next Sabbath day. In addition, word would spread through the town, among all the Jewish men, that a highly revered Pharisee from Jerusalem was going to speak the following Sabbath, and Paul normally had a ‘full house’ Synagogue that Sabbath.
In each Synagogue, Paul’s strategy then, was to address the crowded Synagogue by recounting their treasured Hebrew history as the people of God, and I’m sure Paul impressed his audience with specific insight or quotes from the Talmud or other Jewish writings, which would give the people a wonderful sense that they were listening to a great Jewish scholar, especially if Paul happened to ‘name drop’ by mentioning that the great Gamaliel (Acts 5:34-40) had been one of his teachers! (Acts 22:2-5)
But then Paul would carefully introduce Jesus into his teaching and powerfully prove that Jesus is in fact the long-awaited Jewish Messiah, and more, that this Jesus is the Messiah of Isaiah 53 and therefore the Savior of the world! It was a genius, Holy Spirit led strategy! Sometimes, as in Pisidian Antioch, Paul’s teaching was so intriguing he was invited back to continue teaching the next Sabbath. (Acts 13:42-44)
Sometimes the Jews rejected Paul’s teaching and ran him out of town, like Iconium! (Acts 14:1-7) Sometimes the reaction against Paul’s Gospel of Jesus aroused such a violent reaction, and on one occasion Paul was stoned nearly to death! (Lystra, Acts 14:8-20)
But here in Philippi Paul encountered something he had not yet experienced! Listen to Acts 16:13 “On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer.” Do you see it my friends? There was NO Synagogue in Philippi, or at least Paul had not yet found it if there was one, even though Paul had been in Philippi already several days! What, no Synagogue? What did that mean?
Let’s pause right here and on Monday we’ll see what it means and what miraculous thing God did at that river outside the city of Philippi! For today, are you on an adventure with God? Are you positioned and ready if God invites you, as He did Paul, to join God in an adventure? Let’s talk with God about that as we listen to this great worship song, and I’ll see you on Monday…
Today’s Scripture is Acts 16:11-13.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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