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Read at beginning of service:
Proverbs 3:1-12 (NIV)
1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, 2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. 11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, 12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
INTRODUCTION
Recap messages so far:
Recruitment
The heavenly “coach” (Holy Spirit) has been watching, drafting, and training us
Gifting
There are unique gifts that are deposited into our lives by God that create a great potential for actions that make a difference for eternity in our lives. Your potential is activated by the Holy Spirit. Gifts are demonstrated by stepping up to the plate. Power is liberated by taking a swing.
Calling
The Coach has a position for you in God?s great plan! It?s important that we show up for the game ? develop His gifts, and play where the Coach places us, know your limitations (we need others), and give your best on screen and off!
Once and a while when you watch a team sports game on TV the camera will focus on a coach or players and they?ll appear to be doing some weird gestures, movements, or seem to be fidgeting. I don?t? know if you ever notice it but sometimes what interests me is not necessarily what?s going on in the game but what?s going on behind the scenes to influence what happens in the game. On TV you only catch glimpses but live you can see more of it. Take baseball for example ? there?s poking at various body parts, sometimes tugging earlobes ? or tapping nostrils, adjusting belt buckles and caps and generally scratching themselves in places you would have though their mothers had taught them not to.
If you?re like me, your natural sense of curiosity is aroused until you discover that this fidgeting is actually an elaborate means of signaling players strategic information for the game. This is how coaches communicate their plans during play.
In the “game of life” a lot of what happens in the game is influenced by what happens in the benches. The difference between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat is summed up in this: As the play develops, are we able to respond not only to what we see, but also to what the Coach sees as He surveys the whole field? Sometimes our narrow understanding of game strategy and our restricted vantage point limits our ability to make the right calls. That?s why we need a Coach. If we?re going to fulfill the key role that God has called us to in life?s game, we?ll need to be able to read the signals as they come from the Holy Spirit.
The Bible instructs us,
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Guidance from God is essential to making an eternal difference in the day-to-day challenges of life. It?s easy to forget in the chaos of our work-a-day world that we?re not simply here to do a job. You?re not just a mother, student, carpenter, plumber or teacher; you?re a disciple of Jesus Christ. We?re people on a mission. We have divine assignments to fulfill.
Mission means MOTION: Paul, a case study
The world is a busy place, and sometimes it feels like life has accelerated so much it?s hard to get a handle on what our role is and how to carry it out. It?s nice to know right from wrong, and to be4 able to quote Bible verses, but in the midst of the chaos we need God?s guidance on the run.
When the quarterback comes out of the huddle in football, he may size up the opposition and decide to change the play by calling out a series of colours and numbers before the ball is snapped. These are called audibles. Everybody hears them, but only the offense knows what they mean. Responding to the Holy Spirit?s guidance is similar. Have we developed the ability to decipher the Holy Spirit?s ?audibles? in the middle of the game? Are we sensitive to His mid-course corrections?
Our case study today is the life and ministry of the apostle Paul. He was a man in motion, crisscrossing the Greek world to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul was a man on a mission. He lived in a precarious world where one wrong move might earn him a beating, land him in prison, or end his life. In the midst of Paul?s turbulent world, getting guidance from God was crucial.
Romans 8:14 (NIV)
? those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
The mark of our adoption as children of God, Paul says, is that we receive guidance from His Spirit. His argument is simple. Every child God adopts into His family receives the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks to us only what the Father is speaking. If we?re children of God, then we?re led by God.
We may be asking the following questions: How do we experience the leading of the Holy Spirit? How do we read His signals? How do we understand His audibles? There are two kinds of guidance we need in life ? direction on the big picture (e.g., What does God want us to do with our lives anyway?) and direction on specifics (e.g., What should we do about this?).
Big picture guidance: the DIRECTION of my life
We?ve read about how Paul and Barnabas were spending time with leaders of the church in Antioch, fasting and praying. As they were worshiping God, the Spirit called Paul and Barnabas to preach the gospel where it hadn?t been preached before.
Acts 13:4 (NIV)
4 The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.
How did Paul and Barnabas know where to go? How were they ?sent on their way by the Holy Spirit?? It?s interesting to note that earlier the Spirit simply said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (v.2). They were sent by the Holy Spirit, but without clear direction and specific instructions about what to do or where to go.
We can have general ideas about what God wants us to do. We know we?re to “do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10). We also know we?re supposed to “bless those who curse [us], pray for those who mistreat [us]“ (Luke 6:28). We might have a general idea, but how do we know what God actually wants us to do from day to day? How do we know the specifics about what, where, when and how?
There are some clues to discerning God?s direction in this story about the apostle Paul that will help us read the signals. The first one is simple; we need to discern God?s will in communion (or relationship with Him).
? Discern God?s will in COMMUNION (Acts 13:2-3, 9:11)
Spirituality 101: God wants a relationship with us. Is that a news flash? God wants to live in intimacy with us so that we can know His heart and mind. He wants to direct our paths and guide us where He wants us to go. Intimacy and guidance are a life project. The Bible says that long before Paul ever met Barnabas, or thought about Antioch, God was already giving him a sense of direction.
After Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, “he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank” (Acts 9:9). Paul was fasting and during that time, God sent Ananias to help him. A similar thing happens in Antioch. While the church leaders were praying and fasting, help came from the Holy Spirit. It was a result of their intimate communion with God.
When we get to know somebody well, we know what he/she likes and dislikes. It?s the same way in marriage. We come to know our spouses intimately. We know what he/she is thinking, and what pleases him/her. As we get close to God, we get to know what He wants, too. It?s an inescapable result of intimacy. As we learn to decipher the audibles in communion, it?s also important to learn to determine God?s will in community.
? Determine God?s will in COMMUNITY (Acts 13:1)
Often people think they?ve discerned what God wants, but it?s amazing how easily we can be deceived. Left alone, we can make mistakes.
“Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.”
That was one producer?s comments on a screen test by Fred Astaire.
“Forget it. No civil war picture ever made a nickel.”
That?s what Irving Thalberg told Louis B. Mayer about Margaret Mitchell?s Gone with the Wind.
“Guitar groups are on their way out.”
This is what Decca Records A&R chief Dick Rowe told a group of young fellows known as The Beatles.
If we can make mistakes about temporal things, how much more potential is there to make mistakes about spiritual matters? We need to learn to respect the Christian community where God has placed us, and to believe that guidance isn?t just a personal matter.
Acts 13:1-2 (NIV)
1 In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers? While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said?
Acts 13 tells us that all the leaders were praying together. They were seeking God as a corporate body, and then received the will of God through the Holy Spirit. They did it in community.
Learn to be thankful for the community that surrounds you. We?re all different. In leadership, we need visionary people, people with ideas. However, it?s imperative to also have partners in ministry who ask the right questions, discern which ideas (or visions) are from God, and then formulate and implement a plan to fulfill the God-given vision. We determine God?s will best in community. Reading the signals doesn?t happen in isolation. Since guidance is a life process, we also need to discover the will of God for our lives in continuity.
? Discover the will of God in CONTINUITY (Acts 9:6, 15-16)
Paul didn?t become a teacher, missionary or apostle ?out of the clear blue.? From his very first encounter with the risen Jesus, He was working out the details of Paul?s life, and giving him signals about the eventual goal of his calling. When Jesus met Paul on the road to Damascus, He said,
Acts 9:6 (NIV)
6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
The Lord then sent Ananias to Paul, saying,
Acts 9:15-16 (NIV)
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
More than 12 years later, the church leaders in Antioch were praying, and it?s here that Paul may have begun to piece together everything God had been saying. If we chart how God works in our lives over the long run, we?ll also discover the perfect plan of God in action like pieces of a puzzle coming together.
As the leaders in Antioch were praying, they heard from the Holy Spirit, and began to have a sense of the plans (and ministries) God had given to Paul and Barnabas. It wasn?t a surprise to Paul because he recognized the pattern God had been working in him over a lifetime. We also need to realize that God is alive in our lives, and working out a master plan for us. Watch for the continuity of God?s work in your life.
? Don?t be surprised by OBSTACLES.
Acts 13:6 (NIV)
6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,
When Paul and Barnabas came to the town at Paphos on the far end of the island, Paul faced demonic opposition to the gospel in the form of a sorcerer named Elymas (or Bar-Jesus). Paul overcame the demonic with a supernatural demonstration of power, but the whole Cyprus experience had John Mark reevaluating. When they got on a ship for the coast of Turkey, Mark was having doubts.
Acts 13:13 (NIV)
13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.
Perhaps, John Mark anticipated that life should be a lot easier than this, if we?re following the Coach. God doesn?t, however, promise us hassle-free success. We can face problems, deal with obstacles and still be in the will of God. In fact, if we study the life and ministry of Jesus and the apostles, we?ll discover they faced opposition, persecution, rejection and even death for the sake of the gospel. Jesus said,
John 15:18-20 (NIV)
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
When we face difficult situations and circumstances, we need specific guidance from God; the ability to read the Coach?s signals right in the midst of play. This question might arise, as it must have for John Mark: When we?re doing what we believe is the will of God, and then we begin to face confusing circumstances, how do we determine what?s next, where to go, what to do, and how to do it?
Signals in play: Guidance on the DETAILS
? Guidance usually comes between HERE and THERE.
What does this mean? Sometimes in our Christian walk, we can face an impasse. We find ourselves uncertain of what to do next. But somewhere between ?here? and ?there,? as we make our way through that tunnel of darkness, we can expect God to intervene and help us through to a place where things seem clear again.
Let?s follow Paul on his second missionary trip where he was preaching about Jesus in southern Turkey.
Acts 16:6-7 (NIV)
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
Paul was kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the gospel in Asia. Again, when he tried to enter Bithynia, the ?Spirit of Jesus? wouldn?t allow him to. They were preaching the Word of God, and having good success. We don?t know exactly what happened, but somehow they ran into a roadblock. Could it have been some threat of persecution? Was it a strong premonition or weak constitution? Whatever it was, Paul clearly saw it as the work of the Holy Spirit.
One of the great classics of holiness literature in the last century was Hannah Whitall Smith?s The Christian?s Secret of a Happy Life. In it Smith says, “If a leading is from the Holy Spirit, the way will always open for it.” Do you ever find yourself hammering the door down because you?re so sure what you think is right? Smith says it?s never a sign of divine leading when a Christian insists on opening his own way and riding roughshod over all opposing things.
Paul and his companions tried to go south, but God stopped them. Then they tried to turn north, and they couldn?t get anywhere. So what did they do? Look at Acts 16.
Acts 16:8-9 (NIV)
8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
When our global positioning system (GPS) has completely crashed, here?s the amazing thing: God can speak to us along the way.
? God can speak ALONG THE WAY.
There are a variety of ways God speaks to us. Let?s consider a few. First God speaks by precept. That?s why it pays to read the Bible. It?s so much easier to find our way in life, when we?ve got the map in our hearts. The Bible is God?s map for life.
Another way God speaks is by principle. If precepts map out the roads, then principles direct us where there are no roads. Principles are general guidelines from God?s Word that require personal application.
God also speaks through promptings. If “we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:17). At other times, God guides through providence. Sometimes we?re at the right place at the right moment with the right person, and we can see we?re in a situation that is divinely set up.
? Precepts
? Principles
? Promptings
? Providence
? Power Encounter
Occasionally God speaks through a power-encounter. That?s what happened to Paul. He was confused by circumstances, and wondering what to do next. Then God sent him a night vision. There was no way he could have produced that himself. It was God giving him a signal in the middle of the game.
Acts 16:10 (NIV)
10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Paul and his companions concluded God was calling them to Macedonia. They decided together to respond to the vision, leaving at once, ready with the gospel.
? Guidance must be INTERPRETED.
On many different occasions, Paul had to interpret the leading of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 20, Paul explains his predicament,
Acts 20:22-23 (NIV)
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.
When Paul left for Jerusalem, he was warned about what was about to happen, and his fellow believers pleaded with him not to go. But Paul was adamant, saying, “I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).
At the end of the day, we all have to answer to God for ourselves. It?s great to have a community surround us, and wonderful to have confirmation from others that we?re moving in the right direction, but no one else can know what God is saying to us personally.
? No one else can know what God is SAYING TO YOU.
Are we open to the Coach?s signals? Are we positioning ourselves to hear the Quarterback?s audibles in the game of life? Just imagine what could happen if we?re open to God?s leadings? What would we do? How much more successful would we be?
Bob Hudson was discharged from the army in 1956. He became a Christian, was married, bought part of the family farm, and began pursuing his dream of building Indiana’s greatest hog operation.
“Since I had an accounting degree,” Bob says, “I took a job with a local industry and was soon made assistant controller. Meanwhile the hog project was thriving, but the Lord’s conviction was on me to submit my vocation to him.
“Like Gideon, I told God, ?You’ll need to give me a sign. I have these 80 sows. If none of them has babies, I’ll believe you have other work for me.?”
In a few weeks, the veterinarian confirmed the obvious: all Bob?s boars were sterile. That?s when Bob heard about a job opening for an accountant with a missionary group. He applied for the position, and worked there for 25 years. “A couple of years before I retired as treasurer, a Honduras missionary asked if I’d help them start a hog operation,” Bob said. “My first reaction? ?Lord, you must be kidding!? But we moved to Honduras in 1999. And today we have the operation of our dreams with four beautiful buildings and a great vocational training program for 25 young men.”
God?s will for us is better than our plans for ourselves. If we?re willing to seek guidance from God, if we?re willing to risk a little on reading His signals and hearing His audibles, we?ll discover that God has great plans for us.