Title Acts 29 Vision
Contents Acts 16:4-10
Our lives go according to plans. But there are times when life doesn't go as planned. Sometimes we suffer because the road is blocked, and we endure for a long time because it does not match God's time schedule. At that time, you may experience difficulties and frustration. But we feel the hand of God's planning and provision in our lives. This fact can be seen from the background of the passage of the gospel from Asia to Europe.
The text of the text represents the first process of the Gospel from Asia moving to the Western world. It also explains the fact that the church must move forward according to the will and plan of God, which is constantly visible. Let's look at verses 4 and 5.
“As they went from one city to another, they gave them the ordinances they had set for the apostles and elders in Jerusalem to keep, so that the faith of the churches was strengthened and their numbers increased day by day.”
Verse 4 says, “The ordinances ordained by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem”. Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel to Jerusalem, Israel, and the Gentile regions on their first missionary journey. And when several churches were established, many saints gathered.
In Acts 15, many leaders in Jerusalem gather to discuss and discuss before Paul sets out on his second missionary journey. It was a story about a law traditionally followed by Jews who believed in Jesus. All Jewish male babies were circumcised eight days after birth. However, when Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel in the Gentiles, the Gentiles not only did not know the law, but also did not practice circumcision. Traditional Jews insisted that Gentiles and foreigners believe in Jesus and must practice circumcision and live according to the commandments of the law. This is what caused the problem.
So many people gathered in Jerusalem for a conference. And he decided, “You must abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication” (Acts 15:29). In other words, it was decided that foreigners who believed in Jesus would not be considered sinners because of circumcision or the law. This has really important implications. In the end, although the gospel remains the same, it was decided that the gospel should be preached without going against the culture or history of the region where it is witnessed.
After that decision, Paul and several others went on a missionary journey. Verse 5 says, “Then the churches were strengthened in their faith, and their number was increasing day by day.”
build a church
God is speaking to our church today through the text of the text.
First, the church must keep moving forward. Don't hesitate, stop, or look back. When the Apostle Peter preached, 3,000 or 5,000 people repented in a day. They gathered at the Jerusalem church, and the church stood firm. However, when the Jerusalem Church hesitated to move forward and settled in their own community, God scattered the Jerusalem Church throughout the world through the martyrdom of Stephen. If the church does not develop, God scatters it.
Acts 8:1 says, “Saul deserved his death. And on that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all but the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria and all the land.” As a result, churches were established in Samaria and Antioch.
Among them, the Antioch Church was revived. Many people believed in Jesus and flocked to the church. However, the Antioch church did not settle down, and the church leaders fasted and prayed, and set up Paul and Barnabas separately and sent them out as missionaries.
We must move forward through life, but there are many times when we are not. However, the ancestors of faith were called by God and kept moving forward. They did not hesitate to make the pilgrimage of faith and did not retreat. Hebrews 10:39 says, “We are not those who retreat back and fall into destruction, but those who have faith that saves souls.”
As we go through life, we may encounter the Red Sea or reach a dead end. But God tells us to overcome and move forward. We must part the Red Sea by faith, and at the dead end, we must find another way that God has prepared. The important thing is that we must move forward with faith.
God established Bel Air Church in Jesus Christ. Bel Air Church must keep moving forward. When you find satisfaction in your current state, you should use it as an opportunity to move forward. Otherwise, God will whip us and scatter us.
Second, the church must move forward according to the will of God. Let's look at verses 6 and 7.
“The Holy Spirit forbade them from preaching the word in Asia, so they went through Phrygia and Galatia, came to Mysia, and tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow it.”
The place Paul and his companions want to go to is ‘Asia’. “Asia” here refers to Asia Minor, that is, Turkey. Paul was going to Turkey to preach the gospel, but the Spirit of Jesus stopped him. There are several reasons why the Holy Spirit did not allow us to go to Asia to preach the gospel.
Some say that the people in Asia Minor were not ready (because of their stubbornness) to accept the gospel, so they did not allow it. In Matthew 13:58, there is a saying that Jesus performed miracles and miracles, but people did not believe and rejected him, so Jesus did not perform many miracles there. Others say that Paul could not testify of the gospel because he could not open his mouth because he was captured by the powerful power of the Holy Spirit.
However, in verses 6 and 7, we see that Paul wanted to preach the gospel in Asia, but God prevented him from doing so. God prevented Paul from preaching the gospel to Asia because it was God's will for the gospel to pass from Asia to Europe.
God has a plan for us, and every step we take has a purpose. “A man's steps come from the LORD; how can a man know his way?” (Proverbs 20:24). “A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).
However, God's will and our will may be different, and God's time may be different from ours. What is important is the fact that it is not my will and time, but God's will and time.
Psalm 37:23 says, “The steps of the Lord are ordained, and His ways are His delight.” When God guides us, He may guide us on a smooth path or block our path altogether. But we must know that God's decisions are always in our best interests. God's will is more perfect than my will, and God's time is more accurate than my time.
In Job 23:10, Job confesses, “But he knows the way I go; and after he has tried me I will come forth like gold.” Even if we are staying in front of the Red Sea or a dead end road, God Himself will lead us. You must not use tricks or other means to get out of your own will. We must confess that God's conclusion is the best and look to Him again.
Third, the church must expand its boundaries. These are verses 8 and 9.
“We passed through Mysia and went down to Troas, and by night a vision appeared to Paul, and a man from Macedonia stood up and begged him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
Paul wanted to go to Asia Minor, but it was not God's will. So Paul could not go to Asia Minor, but God extended his boundaries to a wider place called Europe.
In the book of Acts, Paul goes on three missionary journeys. The first evangelism trip visits a small area. The 2nd missionary trip goes to Europe. The 3rd missionary tour goes to Rome and Spain, called 'Savannah' God tells us to go and preach to the ends of the earth where there is no gospel. The church should not settle for reality, but expand its boundaries into the world.
God's will was for Paul not to stay in his hometown or Asia, but to preach the gospel to Europe, Rome, and to the ends of the earth. So, by Paul, the gospel crossed over to Europe and then to America. Now, we need to expand our faith as well. As God changed Paul's way, the scope of the gospel could be expanded.
We must be able to see with the eyes of faith that God's conclusions are better than ours. God's will and plan are more perfect than ours. The church can broaden its horizons by going the other way because our way is blocked. So, the gospel was able to enjoy the grace of expanding its borders from Asia to Europe. Just as Paul went to Europe at the invitation of a Macedonian whom he saw in a vision without knowing anything, we should also be able to see the grace of the Lord who opens a new way and broadens our horizons.
A church that follows the vision
Lastly, the church must move forward with a vision and expand its boundaries. This is verse 10.
“After Paul had this vision, we immediately set out to leave for Macedonia, acknowledging that God had called us to preach the gospel to those people.”
Time is very important in our dedication to the Lord. Verse 10 tells us that Paul and his companions immediately made every effort to leave for Philippi in Macedonia. When we receive a certain mission, we often reply that we will go after we retire and earn more money. But Paul immediately obeyed and went on.
Time and speed are important when giving obedience and devotion to the Lord, but it must be in the right direction. That is, we must obey and dedicate ourselves according to the vision of the Lord. After seeing a vision of God, Paul followed the vision. The church must follow God's vision. When God told Abraham to leave his father's house and go to the land he had directed, Abraham obeyed and left immediately. The mainland relative's father's house is a place to stay, a place to settle down, and a place to just live without a sense of mission. However, when Abraham left there, God accomplished many works through him.
We cannot step back. It's not even time to look back. We should not be hesitant in realizing the ‘vision of Acts 29 that God gave to Sharon Garden Church’. We must keep moving forward according to the vision God has given us.
So is our life. Don't step back just because the environment is difficult and difficult. You shouldn't settle for this because it's good enough, and you shouldn't stay around saying that this is enough. Even if you are rich enough to not have a place to worship, you should not be satisfied. We must keep moving forward to fulfill our missionary vision until the day when the Lord comes again.
God gave Bel Air Church a vision for the ministry of the Word. And he gave us a vision for the work of the Holy Spirit. After that, the prayer ministry gave us the vision of Acts 29 to establish the church. That is the vision to write Acts 29. I am not saying this is good, but we must move forward to achieve the vision God has given us.
Just as Paul and his companions immediately went after seeing the Macedonian vision, Bel Air Church must achieve its vision of establishing a church from LA to San Francisco, New York, Washington DC, and even China and Japan to the ends of the earth. We need to see the vision of God who has given us the same and move forward and broaden our horizons. I wish you the best of luck in fulfilling the vision God has given to Bel Air Church.
let's pray
Holy Father God!
Let Bel Air Church keep moving forward.
Have a vision according to God's will
Let me broaden my horizons.
Do you want to write Acts 29?
Fragrant Church, Love-Sharing Church,
Let us fulfill our mission as a church that realizes our vision.
I pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.