The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts Chapter 16, verses 4 through 8.

Tony Clark: In a society like today, that is offended by the slightest infraction, we must be sensitive in this area because the ultimate goal is either to win them to Christ or to have a relationship with them all in the name of Christian love. So we don't want to do things that would offend them and keep them from hearing anything we may have to say about Jesus Christ.

Now this is huge here because I'm old school. We used to say back in the 80s when people try to say "I'm offended by that," we say, "So what? Get over yourself." But today, things are so different now. So there are people out there that we ultimately want to win to Christ. We want to win them to the Lord.

We don't want to knowingly do or say things that would offend them and keep them from hearing anything we have to say about Jesus Christ. This is living by the law of love. Now this is something I'm learning. I'm learning because I'm old school. I'm just like, "Get over yourself. So what if you're offended? I'm offended that you're offended. So now we're both offended."

But the goal is I will win the argument but lose the soul. And ultimately, I want to win the soul. So I don't want to purposely do or say something that will keep them from hearing anything I have to say about Jesus Christ. I have to learn this lesson. This is a lesson I'm learning because I want to win the soul.

I can win all kinds of arguments. I'm wired for debate. That's just how I was. I taught apologetics in our Bible college. When it comes to arguments, as you're talking, I've already got a rebuttal. I'm wired this way. But ultimately, the Lord is saying, "What's the goal?" I want to win them to the Lord.

I want to win them to You, God. Then you have to pump your brakes because you don't want to say or do something that will keep them from hearing anything you have to say coming out of your mouth. I said, "Okay Lord, You have to help me with this." And so I'm in the process of learning this myself.

See, this particular problem with the Jews and the Gentiles, this was huge. Because the Gentiles worshipped their false gods, and the Jews kept the law of Moses. Now these two groups are coming together under the same roof and it's called the church. And they have to know how to get along with each other.

So there was a problem in the church in the city of Corinth. In 1 Corinthians chapter 8 and verses 8 through 13, a dispute arose with the Jew and Gentile believers, and we know it would. The Gentiles were saying that they were at liberty to eat whatever meat they wanted to eat. It was good meat. Who cares if it was once used to sacrifice to idols?

But the Jews were saying that Satan attaches himself to idols. And how can you eat meat that was once used to worship Satan? So Paul writes to the Gentile believers in Corinth and told them to be sensitive to their Jewish brothers. Why? Because you don't want to wound their weak conscience and sin against Christ. 1 Corinthians 8:12.

So this is why everywhere Paul and Silas and Timothy went, they told these decrees to the Gentile believers because they knew that Jew and Gentile were coming together as one as the church. And they didn't want them fooling around and fighting each other because there's a reason behind that.

As a result, verse 5 says that after they gave the decrees that the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. That Greek word for strengthened is "estereoto" and it means to be made solid or firm. The church was made solid or firm because of the unity they had within it and the oneness they took with them outside of the church to reach their cities for Jesus Christ.

The result? They increased in number daily. I just wonder, could this be the reason why so many churches aren't growing today? Because of the disunity within the church. Notice how it wasn't until Paul came and gave them these decrees that they were strengthened or made firm and they increased in number daily.

We don't realize that the world is watching us. And they want to know our Jesus. But because we are too busy fighting each other, bickering and seeking to devour one another with things and issues that have nothing to do with eternity. Nothing. Whether women can wear makeup or not, or whether you sing from the hymns or chorus, or whether you have a choir or not.

These are things that have nothing to do with eternity. And we're going to fight and bicker and argue and talk about the church down the street and around the corner over issues that have nothing to do with eternity. The world is looking and saying, "You know what? No thank you. Because I have better unity with my boys at the bar, or with my girls at the club, or with my boys on the basketball court than I see with you churchgoers."

And this is a sad indictment on the church. This bothers me because I want God to increase our numbers daily. I do. And this means at least, if the Lord increases the numbers daily, last time I checked, there are seven days in the week. I'm expecting for at least seven people to give their life to the Lord every week. That's the minimum.

And we don't see a lot of this going on because of the mess that's going on within the church. This is why I've always said, and it's a good time to say it again. If you have beef with somebody that calls this church, you better grill it up and eat it. It's grill season. It's coming up. Grill it up and eat it.

Because we don't want anything to hinder the Lord adding to His church here daily on a daily basis. Because of mess, we are fighting each other within the church. I remember we had a sad indictment, a season at our church where there was just so much mess going on. And it had to get cleaned up before anything happened.

You know what? I just thought about this. When it all got cleaned up, including me, when it all got cleaned up, the next year the Lord added a thousand people to our church in one year. A thousand people in one year. That's once the mess got cleaned up.

God put everybody over His knee. I couldn't sit down for weeks. He got all of us. We had to get this mess together. Mess and junk and mess. We had to clean all that mess up and God did. He cleaned it all up and cleaned many out. And the Lord said, "Okay, are y'all done? Okay, now let's get back to the business of church."

Look at what it says there in verses 6 and 7. "Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them." So as they were leaving the cities of Derbe and Lystra in the area of Galatia, they traveled west to Asia.

Now this area would become a very important area where many of the churches will be established in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Colossae, Sardis, Pergamum, Thyatira, those churches that are listed in chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation. However, for now, verse 6 says that they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.

Now this is not Asia the continent, this is the Roman province of Asia or modern-day Turkey. Now we are not told how the Spirit forbade Paul from going west to Asia Minor in verse 6 and how He forbade them from going north into Bithynia in verse 7. What we do know is that Paul didn't take no easily.

For example, in Acts 14 and verse 20, he was stoned and left for dead in the city of Lystra, but he got up and went back into the city the next day still trying to preach to them. In Acts 21 and verse 10, the prophet Agabus took Paul's belt and tied him up and said, "So shall they do to the man who owns this belt." Paul says, "So what? I'm going anyway." And he went.

Once Paul decided to do something, he went full on and nothing would deter him. So the question is: How did the Spirit stop someone as determined as Paul from going into Turkey? Some Bible scholars believe that Paul was struck with a sickness, an Asian fever that was so severe that it affected his eyesight permanently.

He refers to this in Galatians 4 in verses 13 through 15. I believe that this is what happened because we will see in verse 10 the pronouns "they" and "them" are replaced with "we" and "us" as Dr. Luke, the author of Acts, joined them to possibly attend to Paul's medical needs.

Sometimes those of us who are stubborn or bullheaded like Paul - and I'm in that category - the Lord has to guide us through infirmities. Now I'm not saying that every illness is a word from the Lord. For example, if you sneeze, don't say "Lord, what are You trying to tell me?" No, don't be fooling around.

There are times, though, like David said in Psalm 23 and verse 2, where God has to make us lie down in green pastures. And the way that He accomplishes this is through infirmities. Oh, if you don't believe this, Paul confirms it to us in 2 Corinthians 12 in verses 7 through 10 where he tells us how God allowed - he called it a messenger of Satan - to buffet him.

Why? Because of all of the things God was showing him and God didn't want Paul to all of a sudden be puffed up with pride and God have to put him on the shelf. So Paul said, "I prayed three times that God would remove this messenger of Satan" and God said, "Nah, I'm not going to do that. My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness."

Paul said, "Okay, if that is the case, then I will boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Paul was saying that when I am weak or sick, that is when I'm really strong. Why? Because that is the time that the power of Christ is resting upon me. And this is why we believe that it was through sickness that God forbade him from going to Asia Minor and Bithynia.

What does this mean to us? That the Holy Spirit guides us just as much - don't miss this - just as much by closing a door as by opening a door. Revelation 3:7 says God opens doors no man could close and closes doors no man could open. So often we just look at God guiding us through the open doors, but just like we see here, God guides us through closed doors as well.

Now this may not be a permanent closed door because we know that Paul established churches in all of the major cities in Asia Minor. So this is a lesson in God's timing. This means: No, not right now. Please keep in mind God can guide us just as much through saying no as by saying yes. And no could mean: No, not right now.

This is why we need to be sensitive to God's voice speaking to us through the word of God and prayer. It's in God's word that His will is revealed to us. So as we become a person of prayer and a person of the word, we become familiar with the will and the ways of God. So when God is moving, you'll know and say, "Oh, He worked like that in the Bible. Yeah, I remember that story."

And you'll be familiar with His ways. But here's the thing: God answers all of our prayers. All of them. It's either yes, no, or wait. Let me bring it a little bit closer to home. It's yes, no, and the wait means: No, not right now. Do you know the difference between no and no, not right now?

Oh, see, many of you don't. Because you may take a no as a permanent no when it's a no, not right now. The only way that you're going to be able to discern what is going on, you must be a person of the word and a person of prayer.

We speak to God through prayer, He speaks to us through His word. And so when things are happening in your life you will have a sensitivity to God speaking through His word and you'll say, "Oh, this is a no," or "This is a no, not right now." You have to know the difference.

And many of you, because you're not people of prayer and you're not people of the word, you're clueless as to what God is doing in your life. God wants to guide you. He wants to direct you. He wants to lead you. He wants to do this. And He is doing things in your life and you're clueless to what's happening because you're not a person of this book and you're not a person that spends a considerable amount of time in prayer.

God is speaking; we're not always listening. Because we have so many devices and things in our ears and we just - you know what this generation is struggling with? This generation is struggling with silence. And what I mean by that is we have so many devices and so many things going on.

We have so many things on social media, we have so much music in our ears. We have devices that give us thousands upon thousands of songs and endless music because we don't want to be left with just our thoughts. Because it's scary. That's why many of you don't even go to sleep without something in your ears.

Because it's on that pillow that God may speak to you and bring you face to face with you. And we don't want to see us. So we'll drown it out. And God is trying to speak and we're wondering, what is He saying? God wants to speak, He wants to lead us. He wants to guide us. And this is how He guides us if you'd just be a person of the word of God and of prayer.

He'd guide your life. He'd guide you beside greener pastures and still waters. But you have so much going on in your life and then you go to sleep to music, you wake up to music, you wake up to the TV or you wake up to stuff and you get in the car and it's the same stuff all over again.

Because now the Bluetooth connects and now it's blaring through the speakers as soon as you get in. It's blaring and you talking, it's blaring and we got stuff and we just - the Bible says "Be still and know that I am God." Do you know what that's like? To be still and know that He's God? Because God wants to direct - He hears your prayers.

"God lead me, what am I to do, where am I to go?" He hears you. And He's answering you but you are not tuned in. You're not tuned in. He wants you to be so He can lead your life, guide you in the direction of your children and grandchildren and jobs and stuff.

Many of you make decisions, I mean decisions that affect your entire family, and without offering one prayer to God, without seeking one verse, and you just willy-nilly make these decisions and wonder why your life is a mess. God is speaking. He still speaks today. He still leads us today.

But there's a way that He leads us. We speak to Him through prayer, He speaks to us through the word. That's having a dialogue. Not just a monologue where you go to God and read off your Santa Claus list. That's not the purpose of prayer. The purpose of prayer is not to get our will done on earth, it's to get God's will done on earth.

It's to get God's will done on earth. That's the purpose of prayer. Not to get our will done in heaven, it's to get God's will done on earth. That's the purpose of prayer. I will say it again: Not to get our will done in heaven, it's to get God's will done on earth. Oh, God is speaking.

Look at what it says there in verse 8. It says, "So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas." So after they were forbidden to go west to Asia Minor nor go north to Bithynia, they headed south to Troas which was a city on the Aegean Sea. They knew that God will reveal to them where to go next. The question is: Did He?

Of course He did, but you have to wait until next week, next time to find out. Let me conclude with this. Many of us pray, "Lord lead us," and sometimes He leads us in ways that we're not familiar with or we are not aware of. We saw how God led Paul and his companions through closing the door.

We saw that it could have been through a physical illness. So if they break off the engagement with you, or the job terminated you for no reason, or you are qualified for a specific job and they hire someone less qualified, God could be in it. He could be guiding you someplace else or God could be saying, "No, not right now" because they may call you back for a better position or a better company calls you.

All of these things could be the leading of the Lord. But do you know which one He's doing? Do you have a sensitivity to God to know whether it's to go with a different company, to stay where you are because it's no, not right now, or whether to move on?

So often you don't know what He's doing. So when they pass over you for a position or something like that, you're at the job now all in your feelings. All attitude because they gave it to somebody else and then you're seeking to leave.

And all of a sudden God was really saying, "No, not right now," but you seek to leave and you go somewhere else and missed out on what God was going to do with you here. He was just preparing you for the better position. You weren't ready for it yet. But because you don't know, you're just willy-nilly all in your feelings and "I'm going to take my toys and go home" like a kid.

"I'm going to go somewhere else." And all of a sudden God was just like, "Man, it was just no, not right now." So we have to be people of the book. We have to be people of prayer so we can know what God is doing in our lives.

Father, thank You so much for Your word. We pray Your Holy Spirit would teach us, lead us and guide us into all truth. Dear God, I pray Lord that You would come upon us. Lord help us. Lord, we're not people of Your word, we're not people of prayer, but Lord help us. We want to be led by You.

We want You to guide us and direct us. Oh Lord, come. Come Lord Jesus, come and lead us. Give us a heart for Your word, give us a heart to spend a considerable amount of time in prayer. Lord help us to turn off the devices. Help us to turn off these things so we can hear You speak to us clearly.

Oh Lord, I pray if there's anyone here who's never prayed to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, may today be the day of salvation for them. Draw them to You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.

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