Title: God's New Plan
Contents
God's New Plan
Acts 16:11-18
Today's text tells us that God is leading us to preach the gospel with a new plan for Philippi. Paul wants to go to Asia Minor as a human being to meet the person whom he has evangelized.
Paul, who came to Macedonia under the direction of the Holy Spirit, while preaching the gospel in Philippi, met a woman named Lydia, baptized and experienced the work of salvation.
Paul chooses to go to Troas, a port city he does not want.
And Samothrace is an island between Troas and Philippi and between Troas and Neabpolis. This area is a milestone area for sailing ships with mountains as high as 1,500 meters. Neabpoli is 16 km southeast of Philippi
.Paul checked the areas he preached one by one. And evangelism continued.
But, amazingly, God continued to guide them in new ways.
It led Paul in a way he did not foresee. The Holy Spirit always stopped him from going. So Paul chooses the port city of Troas.
see verse 11
Paul, who began his second missionary journey, wanted to continue preaching the gospel in Asia Minor.
But sometimes the gospel prevents us from doing what we want. Look at Acts 16:6-7
You can see that the Holy Spirit has stopped us from preaching the Gospel in Asia.
Dear saints,
We are also sometimes subjected to a test like this saying, “The Spirit of Esu does not allow it, as in verse 7,” he said. In such a case, it is difficult to understand with our knowledge or common sense, but we must persevere and move forward.
You must not give up. God stopped evangelism in Asia Minor because God's plan was not limited to Asia. God's plan was for the gospel to go beyond Asia and into Europe.
Most of us value only self-centeredness, self work, and self-devotion. He considers it important only to the church he attends and the missionary organizations that are related to him. God even told Paul to get rid of this kind of thinking.
You have blocked the evangelism in Go Asia. You need to get out of that trap.
In fact, there is much work to be done in Asia Minor. However, what prevented Paul from evangelism was so that he could embrace the world and evangelize. It's about broadening your horizons and changing your prayer topics actively, not passively.
God tells us to change direction like Paul did. I'm not saying everything you're doing right now is bad,
It is not because the current one is unnecessary, but because God's will and plan are better. We still believe in Jesus without changing our old clothes.
It's about claiming that the way you believe and the way you've lived is correct.
And the word “direct” in verse 11 means that there is no jamming or obstruction like sailing in the wind.
From Troa, Neabpoli is 250 km by sea. According to Acts 20:6, it took 5 days.
In general, it takes that much distance, but the time is shortened where the Holy Spirit works and it is God's will.
However, in verse 11, it is written as two days, and we can see that the supernatural work of God is intervening. It shows that God moves very quickly when you are in a hurry.