The Spirit's guidance leads to planting of new churches
| The Lord calls Paul to the province of Macedonia Paul and his friends wanted to go to the province of Asia, but the Holy Spirit stopped them. Therefore, they went to the province of Phrygia and Galatia, and they preached there. 7 When they came into the province of Mysia, they tried to go to the province of Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus stopped them again. 8 Then they went through Mysia and then they came to the town of Troas. 9 That night the Lord gave Paul a vision. It was like a dream. He saw a man from the province of Macedonia. He was standing there, and he begged Paul and asked him: 'Please come over the sea to Macedonia and help us.' 10 After Paul had seen this vision, we immediately got ready to sail to Macedonia because we believed that God had called us to preach the Good News to those people. (English Bible for the Deaf.) (Acts16:6-10) |
We have heard/read yesterday what the roles are we should play to plant good seed and new congregations. The focus is today on the role of the Holy Spirit's guidance to plant new churches. Let us reflect of two perspectives.
The first is the role of the called man/woman of God. They wanted to go to Asia, but the Holy Spirit stopped them -- we do not know how/why He did it. They tried to go to Bithynia, but they could not go there -- two closed doors for Paul, Silas, and Timothy. We do not know how they reacted, but we know that they were not idle. They shared the Gospel in the provinces of Phrygia and Galatia. We may conclude that they started a congregation in Troas before they left for Europe (Acts 20:6-7).
It is important that, when we wait upon the guidance of the Lord, we should continue with what God called us to do. We should reach out to where we are now and make use of opportunities to be effective in our service to God.
The second important focus is on how God speaks even today. The Lord spoke to Paul is a vision (also in 18:4). A vision is a religious experience of a supernatural appearance, much more than an imagination. Paul saw a man and the man begged him to Macedonia in Greece. This happened at night, where it was quiet without any interruptions. There were of specific directions; the Holy Spirit would guide them on their way.
Bill Hybels authored a book about the power of a whisper. He shared in the book how often God spoke when there was silence -- Elijah at Mount Horeb heard God in a whisper. It is in our noise-polluted world often in the middle of the night when there is silence. It might be the time when we can hear God the best without the interruptions of even calls or messages.
God does not call everybody to plant a new church; He calls everybody to go and share the Gospel -- and that might lead to the planting of a new church! The Bible defines church as a group of believers
"God's call does not come by any stereotyped method," wrote J. Oswald Sanders. "It will vary with the individual."
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Rev Hein Barnard has been seconded to the Bible Society of South Africa since 2014 and is married to Elna with three daughters, one son-in-law and two granddaughters. He lives his passion!
