[0:00] Acts chapter 16. Last week we were talking about Acts chapter 16, the fact that Paul had been in Derbe in Lystra and he picked up Timothy.
[0:25] ! Timothy started going on missions trips with him and they told different places they went. And he tried to go into Asia a couple of different times and God says no. He tried to go in another time into Asia and God says no.
[0:40] And then he sees this vision of a man from Macedonia. Look at verse 9. He says, I had a call from a man from Macedonia this week.
[1:11] Literally. Yeah, Dana. Mute this for a second.
[1:41] Thank you. Thank you.
[2:12] He said there's about a five or six, seven hour difference. Yes. So he told me if I call, call in the morning. All right.
[2:24] So we were talking about the billions that have no name. We've been talking about people with no names. There's billions of people out there with no names that need to know about the Lord Jesus Christ.
[2:36] And we talked about the fact that God knows every one of us. He even knows the hairs on our head we talked about. So he knows every one of us. He knows everything that's going on in our life.
[2:46] And he came for every one of us. Those billions with no name, he died for them. John 3.16, it says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever.
[3:01] You know, that's the interesting thing. The gospel. The gospel. People like, oh, you Christians. You hate everybody. No. The gospel is the most inclusive religion there is.
[3:14] He died for whosoever. He wants all. Matter of fact, 2 Corinthians 5.15 we talked about. And he died for all. It says in there. 1 Timothy 2.4.
[3:27] Who will have all men to be saved? 2 Peter 3.9. Not willing that any should perish. Christianity is the most inclusive religion there is.
[3:39] God died for everybody. He gave himself for everybody. And we talked about the fact that even while we were sinners, Christ died for us.
[3:53] And we talked about the fact that, like this man from Macedonia, he said, come over and help us. Most people aren't going to do that. Most people aren't going to say, what are you going to do to be saved, like the rich man did?
[4:04] But we talked about the fact that so many people are out there that are doing drugs and alcohol and pornography and trying to gather all they can through greed and stuff.
[4:20] But they're telling us a message. I'm not satisfied with my life. I'm not happy with my life. I need something. I need some help. Can you show me?
[4:31] And we take the message of Christ to them. Problem is, as we talked about, Matthew 9.37, he said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
[4:43] The problem is, we as Christians aren't doing the job. And he says, we need to be out there trying to gather them in. So we talked about the fact that Paul got this message from this Macedonian person.
[4:55] He had a plea received. That was number one we were talking about, a plea received. And we talked about the fact that God gave us a great commission. Go ye into all the world. I thought it was interesting.
[5:05] I was thinking about it. In that one verse, you know, one section that we were looking at there in Acts chapter 16. I want to go to Macedonia. No.
[5:16] Not Macedonia. I want to go to Asia. No. I want to go to this part of Asia. No. Guy calls Macedonia and he says, go. No, no, and a go.
[5:29] We have to be listening to God for what he wants us to do, where he's sending us. We're to take the message to all people. But there's sometimes that God says, this person's ready for it.
[5:40] This person's ready to listen. Go talk to them. We talked about the need for missions. And we talked about, you know, the fact, all of those people on the back wall, the back there, they're answering a call from God.
[5:55] God called them to go to those different places that they're at. And the great thing, when Paul went to Macedonia, what did he take with him? And it says there in verse, not verse 10, the end of verse 10.
[6:12] He said, I shortly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. He said, come help us. What do they need? They need the gospel. And so we talked about the gospel.
[6:26] First Corinthians 15. Verse 1 says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you received and wherein ye stand.
[6:37] He says, I brought the gospel. Well, what's that? Verses 3 and 4. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.
[6:54] He says, here's the gospel. A lot of people you talk to, they'll talk about these verses being the gospel in a nutshell. Christ died for our sins. He was buried and he rose again the third day, showing that he had power over death and hell and sin.
[7:09] So he can forgive our sins. Romans 10, 13 says, call upon the name of the Lord not to be saved. But how do we do that? Because verse 14 says, how then shall they call upon him whom they have not believed?
[7:20] And how shall they believe on him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? We have to take the message to them. God has called us to do that, to take it. We use the illustration of a seed.
[7:32] And remember in Haggai 2.19, is the seed yet in the barn? Haggai 2.19, is the seed yet in the barn? We talked about, you know, it's in the word of God.
[7:44] That's great. But if we're not giving it out to anybody. It's here in church. I talk about it here in church almost every Sunday, what the gospel is. And give a gospel, you know, message to people who might not be saved.
[7:56] But if it stays here in the church, you know, a few people might hear it. But, well, I'm going to take it outside the church. So I've got it right here, right in my brain. Got it right there.
[8:07] But if it stays right there, well, again, what good is it? We have to take and give the message of the gospel. It has to be proclaimed. And so there's a necessity of men.
[8:18] Necessity of men. We have the job of taking the gospel to those around us. If we don't, Luke 19.40 says, and he answered and said unto them, I tell you, if these should hold their peace, the stones would cry out, immediately cry out.
[8:36] And then I finished up last week with the fact that Ezekiel says, God says, I sought for a man among them.
[8:50] It should make up the hedge. And we talked about those Roman soldiers. Remember those interlocking shields? Had those shields and they'd interlock. Suppose one of those guys gets hurt. He falls out of line.
[9:02] He says, I'm looking for somebody to make up the gap. Who's going to do that? And he says, I found none. But if you go to Isaiah, Isaiah 6.8, he says, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us?
[9:20] Then said I, here am I, send me. Which brings us to the second thing. Starting fresh today. A prompt response.
[9:30] A prompt response. Did you notice what Isaiah said? God says, whom shall I send and who will go for us? I'll go. That was Isaiah's immediate response.
[9:43] I'll go. Are we listening for what God has for us? Are we listening to the call that he has for us? Likewise, did you notice what it said there in verse 10 again?
[9:56] It says, and when he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia. Immediately we got ready to go and do what God had called us to do.
[10:09] Why was Paul so willing to do that immediately? Well, first of all, he had surrendered his purpose to God's purpose.
[10:24] Whatever God wanted done, he was ready and willing to do. A surrendered purpose. He recognized it wasn't just the voice of a man in Macedonia calling to him.
[10:36] It was God's call to him. God was calling him to go and to minister to those people. He'd already shut the door twice. Now he's saying go.
[10:48] Paul's like, okay, I finally got a place to go. I finally know what God's will is. I finally know what he wants me to do. I'm going to do whatever God wants me to do. I'm going to follow. You know, God is, if we're walking with him, he's talking to us.
[11:06] He's telling us, you know, take the message. Go with the message. And sometimes it's a matter of you're talking to someone and he goes, hey, tell them the gospel.
[11:19] And a lot of times we kind of like, you know, kind of, tell them the gospel. Are we listening to what he has to say to us?
[11:30] You know, a lot of people talk about the fact that I want my life to count for something. I want to know that it matters.
[11:41] I want to know that something happened because of my being here. And the saying goes, if you want your life to count, live it for something to outlast it.
[11:53] Live it for something to outlast your life. What outlast our life? Two things. The word of God and the souls of people.
[12:06] So take the word of God and impact the souls of people. Take the word of God. Tell them the message of the gospel. You want your life to count for something? What would it be like to get to heaven and see this one and this one and this one and this one?
[12:25] Who were there because of your testimony and witness to them? Remember the song we sing? I saw Jesus in you. You're here?
[12:36] Yeah. Because I saw Jesus in you. You're here too. Yeah. Because you told me the gospel. Yeah. The song, thank you for giving to the Lord.
[12:46] I am a life that was changed. Yep. I forgot about that one. Yep. Thank you. I'm a life that was changed because of what you did. So the purpose for which we live so many times is often something that's short-lived.
[13:02] I'm sure Paul, you know, when he was in prison and when he was doing all this traveling and stuff, man, it would be nice to be home. Man, it would be nice to just sit back in my recliner for a while.
[13:17] Man, it would be nice to, you know. But he kept going. He kept serving God. Man, it would be nice to sleep in my own bed. I think of his missionaries, you know.
[13:31] They take off. And go places. And we think missionaries, oh, that's a hard life. That's a terrible life. That's, oh, they're away from our country and they're doing.
[13:43] And I told you about the boys before that got to ride elephants and go to Paris and London and all these other places. They're missionary kids. But because of being missionary kids, they got to do these things as part of their mission's work.
[13:57] And I look at these people and Jessica Curtis had a thing up. And she puts stuff up quite often about, especially what her kids are doing. It's part of the ministry and stuff.
[14:09] And they had gone to visit somebody to take the gospel to them. And the people's kids were doing some threshing on some wheat and stuff that was there.
[14:19] So the kids joined right in with them. They grabbed some sticks and they were beating the stuff too and helping with the thing. And it's like they were having fun doing it. They didn't think it was work. They didn't think, oh, I'm sacrificing to serve the Lord.
[14:32] They were like, this is fun. So sometimes we forget that. Serving the Lord doesn't have to be a, oh, I'm giving to the Lord today. I'm doing exactly what he wants me to do.
[14:45] I am such a good Christian. Kathy? We have a missionary called Eric Hall. And he was going to be a teacher. And he was going to be a teacher who was a teacher who was a teacher.
[14:58] They went to Papua New Guinea. And they took seven children in the home of God. But the boys, because they were the older ones, were, sometimes their fathers would say to them when they would come to the church, I have something I want to share with you, but I'm going to do something here.
[15:24] And the boys would actually carry through what they had been doing and everything. And told about all the different things that they learned from the natives, all the different ways that they were able to share God with them, and how the important it was for them to, when they got up in the morning, not only half the states in the south, because they were in a very high area.
[15:54] I mean, there was a lot of violence and stuff. But to protect the children that were in that village, where they were. And we were all very grateful for the fact that Eric didn't say, well, you know, I'm the father, and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do that.
[16:10] He had the boys doing everything. And I think he was doing it by the ministry. And they do a lot of wonderful children. And they've got families now and everything.
[16:22] And they're doing the same thing with their children. And it's just wonderful how they learn to be so open to everything that's going on.
[16:35] And what they learn is that they can do their life. And they actually have to learn how to make a house out of nothing. And they did it.
[16:46] It was amazing. It was in the boys that constructed over the years. Yeah. Jessica, most of the time when she's putting stuff up, she's putting up what the kids are doing in the ministry and how they're involved.
[17:01] You know, she hardly ever mentions what Eric's doing. Eric's, you know, the missionary dad. And, you know, and he's trying to grow a church. And he's trying to, you know, get people to come. And he's trying to prepare and teach and everything.
[17:12] But the kids are just, they're in there every day with other kids and with other people. And then you can do the areas with the family and stuff. Yeah. Eric probably couldn't. Yeah.
[17:23] When Lyman Buckland was attending here, he shared a book with me about an aviation missionary. And that man wrote this book. And one of the things I remember him saying is, when you go into these villages and you get to know the men in the village and sit in the chutzpah down.
[17:43] And those men said to him, you're a hero. You are an absolute hero. And he goes, no, I'm not. He said, you are. You can build a fire with dicks.
[17:54] I can't do that. And he said, you can live in this jungle. I got. You know, it was like the perspective here of appreciating what they could do, what he could learn from them.
[18:07] And yet they saw him as a hero. And he said, I can take out a notch and I light a fire. I can't do it as quickly as you can. Yeah. I think appreciating what others can do and like children learning all this.
[18:21] It's so great. But as adults for us to be home to the village. Look, you can do that. I can't do that. Yep. So, giving your purpose.
[18:34] What is your purpose in life? Paul told us his purpose in Romans 10.1. Romans 10.1, it says this. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
[18:49] That was his purpose. That Israel might be saved. What's your purpose in life? What is it you're trying to accomplish? Are we just trying to make a bigger paycheck?
[19:03] Remember what Jesus' purpose in life was? Not my will, but thine be done. Father, I don't really want to do this, but not my will, but thine be done.
[19:16] And again, 2 Peter 3.9 again. The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's why Jesus came. It's so that we might have salvation.
[19:27] So, are we structuring our life? Are we living our life according to his will? Well, second thing, if we're going to live this surrendered life and do what God wants us to do, do we have a plan?
[19:42] A strategic plan of how we're going to do that. Notice again in verse 10 there of Acts 16, he says, After he'd seen the vision, immediately we endeavored.
[19:55] We endeavored. They were putting a plan in place to go, and they were putting a plan in place what they were going to do when they got there. You know, Paul knew God was speaking to him.
[20:08] He knew that God had a plan for him. He knew that he was supposed to take the gospel. And now I need to figure out how I'm going to give the gospel to these people when I get there. How am I going to show them who Jesus is?
[20:22] You know, everything I'm talking about last week and this week, you have heard it over and over and over again, haven't you? Nothing new coming out. But how many times have we heard it over and over and over, and we believe what it says, and we believe that we're supposed to do it, but we failed to do it because we didn't make a plan on how to do it?
[20:46] We said, oh, yes, I need to do that. I need to take care of that. I need to. But we never plan to do it. We're just like, that's really good.
[20:59] Oh, yeah. But, you know, I found this interesting. How do you live your life? Now, what do I mean by that?
[21:10] The average person, God says three score and ten, right? Seventy years. How do we live our life those 70 years? Well, somebody has sat down and kind of figured it out.
[21:25] Interesting. What do you think is the number one thing on the top of the list of the way we live our lives? Number two.
[21:37] Number one. Surviving. That's pretty much everything. Yeah, that includes all of these probably, but number one, sleeping.
[21:48] You think 33% is a third of your life, right? 32.9%.
[21:59] That's pretty close to 33%. Because, you know, they're assuming you're getting the eight hours of sleep you're supposed to get, which would be a third. Yeah. When you were younger, you got more than that.
[22:09] You get to be our age now. You don't get anywhere near that. So, but 23 years of those 70 years, we're asleep. Don't accomplish a lot while you're sleeping.
[22:21] We need sleep, though. Rest is a good thing. Getting rest is good. Number two is working. 16 years of your life of working. You say, no, wait a minute.
[22:33] I worked like 40 years at my job or more. Yes, but you only worked part of the day doing that job. And from the ages of zero to, you know, after high school or after college, you did not work that much.
[22:50] After, you know, you started your job, then you started working more. Unless your name is Ian. Yes, Ian's a worker. So, 16 years. Here's an interesting one.
[23:03] Number three on the list? No. That's number four. Number three on the list? Three. Eight years of watching TV.
[23:16] Eight years of watching TV. And, you know, I'm guessing that if they did this thing now, it would be higher. Because of computer screens and telephone screens. Getting your face in front of a screen is going to be a lot higher, I think, than eight years.
[23:33] Eating was number four. We spent six years eating. No wonder we look like that. But I question the next one.
[23:45] The next one is six years travel. I have not traveled anywhere near as much as I have eaten. But he says six years travel.
[23:56] Leisure. Just relaxing, kicking back. Sitting by the pool. I don't know. Going on a hike. Whatever. Four and a half years. Now, here's a depressing one.
[24:10] Four years of being sick. Out of your 70 years, you're going to spend four years being sick. Being ill. Two years, dressing.
[24:25] Changing your clothes. Two years of your 70 years, you spend changing clothes. But here's the sad part. He just termed it as religion.
[24:37] Religion, point five. Out of 70 years, you might spend half a year being concerned about your relationship with the Savior.
[24:52] Think about that. So what is the priorities in our life? What is it that we believe God wants us to do? What is the reason we are here? Why does he have us here?
[25:04] Paul says, because I want to see the people of Israel come to be saved. That's my purpose in life. What is our purpose for being here?
[25:15] We need to make sure we're not wasting it on ourselves. Again. Okay. Okay. Never done?
[25:31] Yeah. Man's work. Yeah. Yeah. From Sunday. Yeah. I don't know what they did with that. Apparently, women are picking up the slack and it still only came up to 16 years.
[25:44] I don't know. So, it's, you know, it isn't always easy to do God's plan. Again, I'm talking about the missionaries back there.
[25:55] You know, they have some good things that are happening on that mission field and stuff. But there is some trials and some tribulations and things that they face. We know stories about missionaries being killed on the field and things like that.
[26:08] So, there are problems. But he says, look, following me is not a big burden to you. 1 John 5, verse 3.
[26:22] For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5, 3. His commandments are not grievous.
[26:35] Like I said, these missionaries we have, they go out, they do sacrifice, they do, you know, leave their families and home behind and all that. But as I mentioned, you know, the courtesies and the different ones, there's a whole lot of good out there, too.
[26:51] And God says, I'm not trying to ask you to do too much. I'm with you all the way. Matter of fact, we've been talking about, we talked about it again this morning.
[27:02] We're supposed to walk in the spirit. He's with us everywhere we go, anywhere we go. So, we have his help constantly with us. Faithful is he that calleth you who will also do it.
[27:16] Yeah, God says, you be the vessel. I'll do the work. You know, one of the great things, God has called me to do this at the moment. I was a teacher for 27 years.
[27:27] Now I'm doing pastoring. He doesn't expect me to accomplish a whole lot.
[27:39] While I'm doing this. And you say, he doesn't? No. Because he is doing the work. I'm just the vessel through which he does it.
[27:51] It's God's job to save people. It's God's job to draw them in. My job is to let him use me to do that. So, he says, look, my commands aren't grievous.
[28:06] He says, in Romans 12, 2, verse, you know, And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
[28:20] God's will is perfect. If I'm following God's will, if I'm doing what he's asked me to do, like Paul here. He says, we got a call from Macedonia. We were ready to go to Macedonia. We endeavored to go to Macedonia.
[28:31] Why would we do that? Because I'm doing God's perfect will. It's what God called me to do. And so, I have no problem getting up and immediately going. Because God called me to do that.
[28:44] You know, God will give us opportunities to be a testimony, to be a voice to the billions that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, how do you plan your day?
[28:58] How do you plan your week? How do you plan the things that are going on in your life? Are you open? And you're watching. So, when God gives you opportunity, you're taking the opportunity to do what he has called you to do.
[29:13] And taking the gospel. I got a third point that we needed to cover, but I'm going to wait until next week because it's already 13 after.
[29:25] So, I'll wait for next week to do that. Can I ask what the church is going to do this morning without the book? Oh, without the book? Where have we been the last...