Title Bypass (Acts 16:6-10)
Contents Every city has a way around it without going through the city center.
This is called a detour.
Of course, going straight is the shortest route through the city center.
However, when passing through the city, although the distance is short, the road is blocked and many difficulties follow due to traffic lights.
At this time, it is a bit far without going through the city, but the road that was made to go back quickly is a detour road.
Although it is a return road, in the end it is a way to get to the destination quickly.
There are detours like this in our life.
This morning I would like to tell you about this detour.
In the text, the apostle Paul decides to go to Rome to preach the gospel to the Roman emperor.
However, on the way to Rome on a boat, he encountered a storm and suffered at sea for 14 days, and eventually the ship was wrecked.
He landed on the island of Miledus in his four days of life, and Paul caused many sick people living there to be healed and many others to be saved.
For the Apostle Paul, it was completely unexpected that he would go to that island and preach the gospel.
That was the 'way of detour'.
It is provided by God.
God had provided Paul to go there and preach the gospel.
God was glorified through Paul's gospel ministry.
According to the text in Acts 16, Paul and his companions were preaching the gospel in Galatia.
After the Apostle Paul preached the gospel there, he wanted to go to a new place to preach the gospel.
Perhaps he wanted to go to Asia.
But the Holy Spirit did not allow it.
So the Apostle Paul wanted to go to Bithynia in the northeast to preach the gospel.
But the Holy Spirit forbade them to go there and preach.
Paul didn't know what to do.
So, I prayed earnestly before God.
“Oh God! Even if I try to go here, you block me, and even if I try to go there, you block me.
That night the Holy Spirit gave Paul a revelation.
The vision he showed him was that of people living in Macedonia waving their hands, saying, “Come over here and help us.”
So Paul thought, “I am going to Europe to preach the gospel.”
Obviously, I know what God said at that time.
“Paul, I will turn you around and preach the gospel elsewhere.”
Paul obeyed that will.
The first area he crossed was the border of Philippi.
It was there that the gospel could be preached for the first time in Europe.
After that, new churches were established wherever Paul went, including Thessalonica, Phrygia, Corinth, and Athens.
And Paul finally returned to the Antioch church, the mother church.
I came back to my mother church to report how amazing God had done through Paul in Europe.
It was an amazing 'way of bypass'.
A few years ago, I went to Seoul to preach at the opening service of a doctor I knew well.
Not knowing the road, I asked a passerby and they said it was right across the street.
So I was going to cross the road across the street with a happy heart, but the road was blocked due to construction work.
So I was forced to go back.
After wandering around for a long time to find a place that could be seen clearly, it was ridiculous.
In the end, I went back to a place I could find quickly, and it took 30 minutes to get to where I was going in 5 minutes.
We don't want to go round and round.
Moreover, we Koreans are a nation that likes to be quick and quick, so we are not used to being patient.
But there are times in our lives when God provides a detour to go round and round.
There are times when God calls us Christians to engage in a special ministry.
However, not all people are called revivalists or pastors.
But our God sent us to this earth because we have work to do on this earth.
It is saying that God has entrusted to all people a work to do on this earth.
However, there are times when we wander a lot until we discover the mission that God has given us.
It's about turning it around.
There are times when God allows us to detour like this.
This morning I want to talk to you about two young men from the Old Testament.
These two people are the same people who were called by God when they were 17 years old.
And both of them have become great leaders.
But they did not become great leaders just when they were called.
They took a lot of “detours” before they became good leaders.
After wandering like this, they finally became effective leaders when they were 30.
do you know who
Joseph and David.
Let me tell you about Joseph first.
This Joseph is a man who was called by God through a dream.
Through two dreams, God showed that he said, “You will become ruler over all people.”
So this Joseph told his brothers about his dream, which was a big mistake.
After hearing about the dream, the older brothers began to hate him, saying, “Hey, you are only 17 years old, are you saying that you are ruling us, and are you also ruling our father and mother?”
And his father, Jacob, only gave Joseph a special colored robe, which was a symbol that his parents loved him more than the other sons.
He was a dreamer.
So whenever Joseph came, the brothers hated saying, “A dreamer is coming, a ruler is coming.”
So, in the end, he even tried to kill Joseph.
The brothers eventually sold this Joseph to Egyptian caravans.
The caravans sold Joseph back to Potiphar's house in Egypt as a slave.
So Joseph had no choice but to go to the house of the chief of the Egyptian army and serve as a servant.
But God was with him.
I went to that house and worked hard as a servant, so I gradually moved up to that position.
After a few years, he finally became the general secretary over all the servants in the house.
But one day Potiphar's wife had an evil heart and seduced Joseph.
However, when Joseph refused, “How can I have sexually assaulted my master’s wife, how can I sin before God?” Finally, he put the guilt on Joseph and was put into prison.
Joseph wanted to fear God and live a chaste life, but at what cost?
It was going to jail.
Everyone, let's go back to 3,000 years ago this morning and imagine what kind of situation Joseph would have been in at that time.
God respected Joseph by all