Navigating Divine Guidance: From Paul’s Perplexity to Personal Obedience

• Discerning God's Will [00:05:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the two main points of the sermon: discerning and doing God's will, using Acts 16 as the primary text.
• Divine Guidance through Activity [00:07:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that God guides those who are active and moving forward in faith, citing Paul's journey of nearly 1,000 miles while seeking direction.
• General vs. Specific Will [00:09:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between God's general will (sanctification, prayer, gratitude) and specific will, arguing that obedience to the general will precedes the revelation of specific direction.
• Inward Prompting and Outward Circumstances [00:10:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God guides through a combination of inner impressions (peace, prophecy) and outer circumstances (closed doors, illness, opposition).
• God's Sovereign Guidance and Closed Doors [00:13:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God orders both our steps and our stops, using closed doors to funnel believers toward His intended destination, as seen in Paul's journey.
• Progressive Revelation of God's Will [00:14:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that God usually guides one step at a time over a period of time to build faith and dependence, rather than revealing the entire plan at once.
• Discerning God's Will Through Scripture [00:21:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that God's will never contradicts His Word, encouraging believers to read the Bible for spiritual enrichment and direction.
• Discerning God's Will [00:23:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God speaks through His Word and involves the entire Trinity in guiding believers, encouraging them to read the Bible for spiritual enrichment.
• The Trinity's Role in Guidance [00:24:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > He highlights that the Father calls, the Son plans the route, and the Spirit guides step-by-step, citing Robert Morgan to illustrate their collaboration.
• Immediate Obedience [00:26:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > Focusing on Acts 10, he emphasizes that knowing God's will requires immediate action, using the 'we' section of Acts to show Luke's joining the mission team.
• Practical Application of Guidance [00:32:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > He offers encouragement that God desires to reveal His will more than we desire to know it, urging patience and trust when facing 'closed doors'.
• Discerning God's Will [00:33:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that obstacles ('stops' or 'closed doors') are significant in the process of seeking God's will, asserting that God reveals His plan to those who seek it.
• Obedience to Scripture [00:34:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor prays for the congregation to follow God's general will by reading the Bible and doing what it commands while avoiding what it forbids.
• Anxiety and Ministry Future [00:34:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses students and ministers facing anxiety about their future roles, praying that God's Word reassures them of His plan and provides strength to execute it.

• Sermon Illustration [00:02:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his wife Cheryl, whom he calls the best thing in his life besides his salvation, and jokes about her reaction to being recognized in the audience.
• Sermon Illustration [00:02:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recalls attending Dallas Seminary chapel services where 'ancient guys' used to speak, expressing relief that the policy has changed to include younger speakers.
• Sermon Illustration [00:03:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells a story about Daniel Boone, who claimed he was never lost but was 'bewildered once for three days,' using this to illustrate Paul's perplexity in Acts 16.
• Sermon Illustration [00:08:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a parked car, stating 'you can't steer a parked car,' to illustrate that God requires movement and action to provide guidance.
• Sermon Illustration [00:17:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his decision to leave his career as a lawyer to attend Dallas Seminary. He describes the process of praying, his wife's initial reluctance, the 'bait and switch' of marrying a lawyer who became a preacher, and the eventual confirmation when his wife's father was transferred to Dallas, aligning with his sense of God's will.
• Sermon Illustration [00:22:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > A humorous story about a golfer on a hazardous hole who receives conflicting instructions from heaven to use his new ball, then his old ball, illustrating the human desire for clear, immediate direction from God.
• Sermon Illustration [00:22:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > A joke about a golfer who is told by a voice from heaven to 'use the new ball' for the shot, but then 'use the old ball' for the practice swing, illustrating the human desire for specific divine direction.
• Sermon Illustration [00:25:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > An analogy of a harbor in Italy with three lights on poles; when the three lights line up perfectly, it signals safe passage through hazardous shoals, representing the alignment of God's Word, the Spirit's prompting, and circumstances.
• Sermon Illustration [00:28:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > A personal anecdote about Dr. John Walvoord, who intended to be a missionary but was redirected to teach at Dallas Seminary after a conversation with Dr. Chafer, which he viewed as a 'Macedonian call' and an immediate response to God's will.
• Sermon Illustration [00:31:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > A reference to Alexander Solzhenitsyn's novel 'The Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,' where the protagonist prays not to escape prison, but to do the will of God.

• Pastoral Charge [00:02:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > Turn Bibles to Acts 16:6-10
• Pastoral Charge [00:05:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > Turn Bibles to Acts 16:1-5 and prepare slides
• Pastoral Charge [00:20:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > Keep moving forward in faith and follow God's promptings and circumstances incrementally.
• Pastoral Charge [00:23:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > Read the Bible for personal spiritual enjoyment and enrichment, not just for academic classes.
• Pastoral Charge [00:27:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > Immediately embark on following God's will when it is made known.
• Pastoral Charge [00:32:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > Actively seek to discern God's will in areas like marriage, jobs, or ministries.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Well, good morning, friends. Good morning, friends. It's so good to see you. It is my privilege to introduce our speaker today. As you've heard, Dr. Mark Hitchcock serves as Research Professor of Bible Exposition, as well as Senior Pastor of Faith Bible Church
[00:00:16] in Edmond, Oklahoma. Dr. Hitchcock is Senior Pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, in a position that he has held since 1991. He serves as research professor of Bible exposition at DTS, which means he has a little reduced load in his teaching so that he can focus on his
[00:00:39] extensive writing ministry. He has authored over 30 books, primarily in end-time prophecy, and speaks across the country and internationally at churches and conferences. It has been a privilege of mine to teach with Mark on many occasions, and it is always a joy to travel with
[00:00:58] he and his wife, Cheryl. And Cheryl is with us today. Cheryl, would you please wave that we may recognize you? I know she hates it when I do that, so I'll hear about it later. Mark and Cheryl have
[00:01:11] two grown sons and seven grandchildren. And aside from reading and studying God's Word, Mark enjoys walking, lifting weights, and playing golf So would you please join me today in welcoming our very own Dr. Mark Hitchcock

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:01:27] Amen It's great to be here with you all I want to thank Dr. Yarborough for that great introduction And for just allowing me to be here And for Joe Allen for inviting me and giving me the privilege to be here
[00:01:47] I love DTS, the church I grew up in Our pastors were from DTS So it's been a part of my life really since the day I was born And just again, I want to give thanks to my wife, Cheryl, for being here.
[00:02:00] The best thing in my life that the Lord's done for me other than save my soul is give me my wife, Cheryl, a tremendous blessing to me in my life.
[00:02:06] I can't thank her enough.
[00:02:08] When I was attending here at Dallas Seminary and over the years, I always noticed during the first week of chapel, it was always a lot of older guys that would kind of have come and speak in chapel, kind of a lot of these kind of ancient guys that were around.
[00:02:21] And I just wanted to tell Dr. Garber, I'm so glad you changed the policy on that.
[00:02:24] It's refreshing to have some of us younger guys be here to address the students this first week.
[00:02:30] So if you'll take your Bibles, turn with me to Acts chapter 16, verses 6 through 10 are the verses we'll look at.
[00:02:38] We'll look at a few of the verses around that as well, but that'll be our main text.
[00:02:42] Sir William Ramsey is a renowned scholar on the life and travels of the Apostle Paul.
[00:02:47] He said this, he said, this is in many respects the most remarkable paragraph in the book of Acts.
[00:02:54] And I think I agree with him.
[00:02:55] And so follow along as I read this remarkable paragraph here in the book of Acts for us, beginning in Acts chapter 16, verse 6.
[00:03:04] They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
[00:03:11] And after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.
[00:03:17] And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
[00:03:21] A vision appeared to Paul in the night.
[00:03:23] A man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us.
[00:03:29] When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
[00:03:39] May the Lord write his eternal word on our hearts.
[00:03:43] Daniel Boone was one of the heroes of the American frontier.
[00:03:46] And once when he was returning from the uncharted forest beyond the Kentucky River, a lady asked him if he'd ever been lost.
[00:03:54] And the famous frontiersman replied, I can't say I was ever lost, ma'am, but I was bewildered once for three days.
[00:04:02] And I think the Apostle Paul could say the same thing on his second missionary journey.
[00:04:07] In Acts chapter 16, Paul was clearly perplexed and bewildered for an extended stretch of time as he sought God's will and God's guidance.
[00:04:16] We encountered one closed door after another.
[00:04:21] And the same thing is often true in your life and in my life.
[00:04:25] We can find ourselves often perplexed and bewildered as we navigate the forest of decisions that we face every day.
[00:04:33] You may be facing a decision about marriage.
[00:04:36] Should you get married?
[00:04:37] Who should you marry?
[00:04:39] About having children and when you should have children and how many children you should have.
[00:04:43] Maybe it's a job opportunity or some ministry opportunity.
[00:04:46] maybe it's a financial decision, maybe it's where to live. I mean, on and on and on we can go, just all the matrix of decisions we all face in life. But I believe nothing is more important in
[00:05:00] life than discerning and doing the will of God. There's nothing more important in life than that.
[00:05:06] It's been well said that the will of God is the measure of things. The will of God is the measure of things. The will of God is central. It's at the core of the life of every believer. Someone
[00:05:19] years ago said it like this, inside the will of God, there is no failure. Outside the will of God, there is no success. And I've learned that over and over again in life. Inside the will of God,
[00:05:30] you can't fail. Outside the will of God, you can never succeed. So you and I must know the will of God for our lives. That's bottom line for our Christian lives. And I can't think of any other
[00:05:42] biblical passage that's better than this one to help us understand how to discern and how to do the will of God for our lives. So I've got two simple points this morning to gather our thoughts
[00:05:53] around, discerning the will of God and then doing the will of God. So discerning the will of God, we need to back up a little bit here to chapter 16 verses 1 to 5 to kind of get a running start
[00:06:05] here in the context. If you want to go ahead and put that first slide up there for us. Let me just read a couple of verses here. Paul also came to Derbe and to Lystra, and a disciple was there
[00:06:17] named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to take this man with
[00:06:27] him. So what we have here is Paul and Silas leaving Antioch. They go back and revisit the churches that Paul and Barnabas had established on that first missionary journey to kind of reconnect with these churches. So they take this overland route, if you will, into that area of
[00:06:46] Iconium and Derbe and Lystra, and they add Timothy to the team there in Lystra. He's a young man probably converted on Paul's first missionary journey. And you'll notice when you get down to verse 5 in the text, it says, so the churches were being strengthened in the faith and were
[00:07:03] increasing in number daily. Now, that'd be a great passage there, a verse to do a whole sermon on, because you'll notice the church growth was qualitative and quantitative. They were being strengthened in the faith. That's a qualitative growth, and they were increasing in number,
[00:07:19] this quantitative increase there in the church. But Paul and Silas, and now Timothy, they press on into the interior here of Asia Minor, what's modern-day Turkey. And as they traverse this territory, we can distill here from this text, I believe, several key insights for discerning the
[00:07:39] will of God for our lives. The first one is that I believe God guides us as we are active.
[00:07:46] While Paul isn't sure where God wants them to end up, you'll notice in the text they keep moving, they keep probing, they keep pursuing. They don't sit around paralyzed by indecision and inaction.
[00:07:58] They keep moving. We need to do the same thing in our lives as we pursue the will of God for our lives. There's an old saying I heard years ago, you can't steer a parked car.
[00:08:09] You got to get moving for God to guide you in your life. And God moves us as we move out in faith.
[00:08:16] God moves us as we go forward by faith in our lives. John MacArthur in his commentary on Acts says it like this. He says they knew God would eventually reveal where He wanted them to go
[00:08:29] if they kept moving. And I like that idea, to keep moving. They weren't sure of God's plan, but they were pursuing and probing. And think about this in this passage. They kept moving for a distance of almost 1,000 miles. Now, that's incredible. A thousand miles they traveled day
[00:08:46] after day while waiting for some specific direction from the Holy Spirit. And that's what you and I need to do in our lives when we're pursuing the will of God. Keep moving. Keep doing the things that you know God wants you to do, and keep moving and remain faithful. Keep moving in
[00:09:04] the will of God that you know from God's Word is clear. You know, when we read the Bible, there's so many things in the Bible we could just call the general will of God, just the things God wants all
[00:09:15] of us to be doing. Just a couple of examples of that in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 3, this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. We all know that's the
[00:09:28] will of God for our lives. 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 to 18, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. So there's many
[00:09:42] things in the Bible that we know are the will of God. It's just kind of His general will. We know that we're to be being sanctified and abstain from sexual sin. We're to be rejoicing. We're to
[00:09:53] be praying. We're to be grateful to God. And I believe it's as we do the general will of God, what we know to be true, that then God will show us His specific will. Because you think about this,
[00:10:05] if you're not doing the things that God's already made clear in the Bible that He wants you to be doing, why would He disclose His specific will to you? Because you're just as likely to disregard
[00:10:16] and to spurn that as well. So, trust it in time as you obey God and you follow Him and pursue Him that He'll make the way clear in His time. Now, a second insight, I think, is God guides by inward
[00:10:30] prompting and outward circumstances. You'll notice in verse 6, it says, they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
[00:10:43] So the door into Asia was slammed shut by the Holy Spirit.
[00:10:47] And then notice verse seven.
[00:10:49] And after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.
[00:10:57] Now that title there, Spirit of Jesus, is probably just another title for the Holy Spirit.
[00:11:02] There are about 39 different titles for the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.
[00:11:06] It's called another helper, the Holy Spirit, of the Spirit of life, the Spirit. So this is just another title, I believe, for the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. But we see here that the way was blocked to the southwest,
[00:11:21] so they turned to the northeast and God stopped them again. Again, we can see on this slide here, they're trying to go to Asia down here to the south and to the west, and they get prevented
[00:11:32] from going there. They go up to Mysia, then they try to go to Bithynia, and the Spirit of God won't let them go that direction either. So God's stopping them time and time again. God's saying
[00:11:43] no to these different places that Paul and Silas and Timothy are trying to go. So like Daniel Boone, Paul must have been perplexed and bewildered. I mean, all the doors are closing. Now, there's no
[00:11:59] indication here in the text of how they were prevented or forbidden. The text doesn't tell us.
[00:12:04] but it could have been by an inner prompting or impression of the Spirit of God in Paul's heart.
[00:12:11] Some check in Paul's spirit, some lack of peace, some Spirit-given impression, some inner impulse.
[00:12:19] It could have been a Spirit-inspired prophecy from Silas. If you go back up to chapter 15 and verse 32, we find out that Silas, Paul's traveling partner, was a prophet. So it may have been some
[00:12:32] Spirit-inspired message that God gave Silas. It also could have been outward circumstances that were being orchestrated and ordered by God. Maybe some physical illness, maybe Jewish opposition, maybe some legal ban. We really don't know. We don't know the exact means the Spirit used
[00:12:50] to prevent them from going to Asia and Bithynia, but it must have been some inner prompting of the Spirit or some outward circumstance ordered by God, or maybe it was a combination of the two.
[00:13:03] But there's an important lesson here for us as we seek God's will for our lives, and that is God orders our steps, but God also orders our stops. God doesn't just order our steps, He orders our stops. And we see that here. God was ordering their stops. He was closing doors.
[00:13:23] And before God can turn us, sometimes God has to stop us.
[00:13:28] And someone years ago put it like this, a great quote, I love this, God's no's are better than anybody else's yes.
[00:13:36] But you can see here that God is funneling them.
[00:13:39] Again, if we put that last slide back up here again, we'll just see this again, the geography.
[00:13:43] God is funneling them over to Troas.
[00:13:47] God's just pushing them there.
[00:13:49] And when they get to Troas, they run out of land.
[00:13:51] So he's just kind of funneling them there, and we can see here that God never closes a door without a plan to open another door. So God throws open the door wide open for them to go to Troas.
[00:14:05] G. Campbell Morgan, in his commentary on Acts, he says, better to go to Troas with God than anywhere else without him. And so God leads them where he wants them to be. So to discern God's specific
[00:14:17] will, we need to keep moving and keep following the general will of God, what we know God wants us to be doing. And we need to pay close attention to inner promptings and impressions and outward
[00:14:28] circumstances. The third thought here is God usually guides us progressively. He usually guides progressively. God usually leads one step at a time by a combination of forces over a period of time. Usually we don't just receive the big picture all at once. Now that can happen, and God
[00:14:48] can do that when He chooses to, but it's usually a process. God works inside us, and He works around us over time to reveal His specific will. And again, we see that clearly here in verses six
[00:15:02] through eight. Robert Morgan, Robert J. Morgan, has a great quote about this passage that we'll put up here. You can read along with me. He says, as Paul, Silas, and Timothy pressed east to west
[00:15:16] across the great expanse of Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, every door was closed to them, every option forbidden, every opportunity denied. God had sent them on a mission, then closed the doors. This was perplexing for Paul. There he was, prepared, eager, and on a mission to preach among people who needed
[00:15:34] the gospel, but the Holy Spirit said, don't do it. Paul and his companions were trying to follow God's will, but they found one door closed after another for a thousand miles. Think about that.
[00:15:47] And then he says, we have to bypass all the closed doors by faith until we come to the one that God is preparing to open for us. We cannot let closed doors discourage us, for God is in the details.
[00:16:01] So God lets them go on for a thousand miles, shutting one door after another, but God was leading them all the time. And so God maneuvered Paul and Silas and Timothy exactly where He wanted
[00:16:14] them to be at exactly the right time. Now, this is something to think about here. God knew where He wanted them to go all the time, right? But He could have just said, look, go straight to Troas
[00:16:24] and you'll get a vision to tell you exactly what to do. I mean, why didn't God do that? Why doesn't God do that often in our lives? Well, I can't state why God does it in every circumstance,
[00:16:34] but certainly we can know from Scripture, He does it to build our faith, to increase our dependence.
[00:16:39] So we'll learn to lean on God and not ourselves. I mean, I'm sure that Paul and Silas and Timothy learned all kinds of invaluable lessons over that nearly 1,000-mile trek. And God does the same thing with us in our lives. You know, I was thinking about God's will,
[00:17:02] and one of the greatest times that I was able to discern God's will in my life and when Cheryl and I and our marriage was coming down here to Dallas Seminary. Came down here in the fall of 1988.
[00:17:12] Thinking about it this week, this is the centennial of Dallas Seminary, and Cheryl and I have had the privilege to really be a part of Dallas Seminary for 36 years. I was thinking that's over one-third
[00:17:22] of the time that the seminary has existed, and what a blessing it is. But Cheryl and I got married back in 1986. And when Cheryl married me, I was a lawyer. Later on, I became a preacher. I did the
[00:17:36] old bait and switch on her, got her to marry me, and then, you know, married the lawyer and ended up with a preacher. So we were living in Oklahoma City at the time, and I began to have a sense that
[00:17:47] God was calling me to leave what I was doing as an attorney and to go to seminary. And I remember the first time I talked to her about it, you know, I'll just say, she'll be honest over here today,
[00:17:59] she was less than enthused, you know, about that. I mean, it was a massive change. Her mind wasn't there at all. I'd been thinking about it for a while. And obviously, I didn't want to drag her
[00:18:07] to seminary if she didn't want to go. I felt like that would be part of God's guidance, is she would want to go as well. And we talked about it over time. And she said, you know,
[00:18:15] if that's what God wants you to do, that's what we'll do. Well, her parents at the time lived in the Chicago area. And so I said, well, you know, I thought in my mind, well, maybe we could go to
[00:18:25] Trinity Seminary because, you know, it's up there near that area. She'd be near her parents. And, you know, her parents didn't really know me that well because we hadn't lived around each other.
[00:18:34] And so I thought maybe that'll soften it a little bit and they won't think I'm such a bad guy dragging their daughter off the seminary. So I prayed about it over long periods of time and
[00:18:43] she and her mom got very excited about that and began to kind of think about things up in the Chicago area for us. And I prayed about it and prayed about it and really just kind of wore
[00:18:51] myself out trying to figure out what to do. And I'll never forget one day I sat down, I said, God, I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll go to seminary. I'll go to whichever seminary you
[00:19:01] want me to go to. I'll stay here. You just show me what you want me to do and I'll do it. We'll do it. And it was about three days later at night and I'd been praying before I went to bed. I woke
[00:19:14] up in the morning, and I don't know what happened during the night, but it's the strangest thing. I got up in the morning, and all of a sudden had this settled sense. God wanted us to go to seminary
[00:19:24] beginning that fall, and He wanted us to go to DTS. And so I told Cheryl that morning, I said, I can't explain it to you, but I know exactly what God wants us to do. He wants us to go to seminary,
[00:19:35] and He wants us to go to DTS. Well, then she had to call her mom and tell her, hey, we're not coming to Chicago. You know, we're going to go down to Dallas. You know, the guys like J. Vernon McGee
[00:19:44] and H.A. Ironside, all these guys I'd loved had gone here. I knew this was where God wanted us to go. Well, anyway, I'll cut the story down here a bit, but a sequel to the story. So we begin to
[00:19:53] make all of our plans to come down here. And about a month before we moved down here to Dallas, she gets a call from her mom on the phone. Her mom's just hysterical. And she thinks, you know,
[00:20:03] somebody's died. I mean, you know, just hysterical on the phone crying. And she tells Cheryl, you're never going to believe what happened. Your dad just got transferred to Dallas.
[00:20:11] and they moved out here to out in the Frisco area back when nothing was out there back then all those years ago and you just you know that was a massive confirmation and it really got me
[00:20:22] off the hook to have dragging their daughter to Dallas when they were in Chicago so there's never been a man more relieved in all of his life to have these things fit together this way but but
[00:20:31] you know in my life what I what I've experienced is there's nothing more exciting and empowering and encouraging than knowing the will of God for your life for a key decision. Nothing better than that. You can go, you can set your mind on it, and you know, this is what God wants me to do.
[00:20:49] And so I would encourage you, keep moving, keep following the inner promptings and the outward circumstances that God's giving in your life. Go one step at a time. And God has things for us to
[00:21:01] learn on that journey. Well, a fourth thought here is God guides through His Word. God guides through his word. This is a fourth feature. You can't separate God's will from God's word. We see it in verse 10. Paul receives a vision of a man from Macedonia. God speaks to him and says, come
[00:21:19] over to Macedonia and help us. So God's word comes to Paul here in the form of a vision. God speaks to Paul in a vision at night. So we see now for the first time, denial is replaced by direction.
[00:21:35] At Troas, negative leading of the Spirit is now replaced by positive leading.
[00:21:41] And of course, Macedonia is over in northern Greece.
[00:21:43] They're there in Troas on the coast of Turkey, and they're going to go across the Aegean to northern Greece.
[00:21:49] But it's the same thing today.
[00:21:51] God leads us by His Word.
[00:21:54] Isaiah 30, verse 21 says, whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it.
[00:22:02] psalm 119 105 your word is a lamp to my feet it's a light unto my path second timothy 3 16 and 17 all scripture is inspired by god it's given for for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of god may be mature
[00:22:23] perfect thoroughly furnished for every good work like what warren weirsby says about that verse he He says, the Bible tells us what's right, what's not right, how to get right, and how to stay right.
[00:22:33] That's what the Bible does.
[00:22:35] So God speaks to us through what he has spoken.
[00:22:38] And God's will never, ever contradicts God's word.
[00:22:43] We want to hear from God.
[00:22:45] Some of you here may be golfers.
[00:22:46] I like the story about the golfer who approached the first tee.
[00:22:49] It was a real hazardous hole.
[00:22:51] The green was surrounded by water.
[00:22:52] And he debated if he should use his brand new ball.
[00:22:56] So deciding the hole was too treacherous, he pulled out an old ball and placed it on the tee.
[00:23:01] Then just as he was ready to hit the ball, a voice from heaven said, use the new ball.
[00:23:06] Well, frightened, he replaced the old ball with the new one and approached the tee.
[00:23:10] And the voice from above said, take a practice swing.
[00:23:13] And with this, he stepped back and took a practice swing.
[00:23:16] And feeling more confident, he approached the tee and the voice rang out from heaven again, use the old ball.
[00:23:21] you'll get that if you play golf but there are times in all of our lives we want to hear to hear God speak to us right I mean use the old ball use the new ball we want we want to hear
[00:23:35] from God what he wants us to do we want God's direction we want to make sure the path we're taking is God's will for our life and God speaks to us through what he's spoken in his word one of
[00:23:46] the things I want to encourage you to do while you're here in seminary is read the Bible and Don't just read it for classes and, you know, things you have to do, but just read the Bible
[00:23:54] for your own enjoyment and your own enrichment spiritually. It's one of the greatest things you can do in life is just to study and read God's Word for your own devotion, your own spiritual enrichment and nourishment. It's a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.
[00:24:10] One final thing I don't want us to miss here about discerning God's will. Did you notice the entire Trinity is involved in guiding our lives. In verse 6, you have the Holy Spirit mentioned.
[00:24:20] Down in verse 7, the Spirit of Jesus. And then down in verse 10, when he'd seen the vision, we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them,
[00:24:33] a reference here to God the Father. So the entire Trinity is involved in guiding our lives.
[00:24:40] Again, another quote here by Robert Morgan that I have.
[00:24:43] He says this, Though Paul was confused, the entire Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was collaborating to synchronize everything in the future.
[00:24:53] God the Father called them to preach the gospel in Macedonia.
[00:24:57] God the Son planned the route.
[00:24:59] God the Holy Spirit guided them down the unknown path one step at a time.
[00:25:04] So to discern the will of the triune God, we need to keep moving.
[00:25:09] Don't get paralyzed by inaction.
[00:25:11] Keep following God's will that you know.
[00:25:14] Remember that God guides through inner promptings of the Spirit, inner impulses and impressions, and also through outward circumstances.
[00:25:24] Also remember and realize God usually guides us progressively.
[00:25:28] It's one step at a time.
[00:25:30] And also remember that God's will can never be separated from God's Word.
[00:25:36] There's a story I read years ago about a harbor in Italy that can be reached only by sailing up a narrow channel.
[00:25:43] And there are dangerous rocks and shoals on each side.
[00:25:47] And over the years, many ships have wrecked there, and navigation is hazardous.
[00:25:51] So to guide the ship safely into the port, three lights were mounted on three huge poles in that harbor.
[00:25:59] And when those three lights perfectly line up and are seen as one, then the boat knows that it can safely proceed up that narrow channel.
[00:26:07] If you see two lights or three lights, you're in trouble.
[00:26:11] When all three of those lights line up, you can know that it's safe passage into that harbor.
[00:26:16] And God, in the same way, has three beacons that line up to guide us safely into the harbor of His will.
[00:26:24] The Word of God, the inner working and prompting of the Spirit in our lives, and the outward circumstances as God in His providence orders and orchestrates the events of our lives.
[00:26:36] And when these three beacons light up and line up, we can be confident and assured that we are discerning the will of God for our lives.
[00:26:47] Now that brings us to doing the will of God.
[00:26:49] It's one thing to know God's will and discern it, but we have to do it.
[00:26:52] Notice verse 10.
[00:26:54] When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia.
[00:27:00] So again, it's one thing to know the will of God, it's another thing to do it.
[00:27:04] By the way, here in verse 10, we have the first of the we sections in Acts.
[00:27:08] Notice that word we.
[00:27:10] Whenever we is used in Acts, that means Luke has joined the group.
[00:27:13] So Luke now joins Paul, Silas, and Timothy there in Troas.
[00:27:18] And then later on, when it shifts from we to they or then, then we know that Luke has dropped them out.
[00:27:23] So Dr. Luke joins the missionary team.
[00:27:25] They picked up Timothy and Lystra.
[00:27:27] Now they pick up Luke and Troas.
[00:27:30] But I want to focus on that word immediately.
[00:27:32] immediately, when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia.
[00:27:38] They didn't have to sit around, you know, talking it over. I didn't have to ask for a further sign.
[00:27:43] Didn't have to ask for a little bit more time to think it over. No, they immediately sought to go into Macedonia. And that's the only acceptable response to the will of God in your life and in
[00:27:54] my life, when God makes His will known to us to immediately embark on following the will of God.
[00:28:03] When I was here at Dallas Seminary, actually it was primarily when I was doing my PhD work, I got to know Dr. Walvoord, and that was one of the great blessings of my life. I love Bible
[00:28:15] prophecy, and Dr. Walvoord was such a scholar in that area, and so I would get together with him as often as I could. And most of the time we would drive down Gaston Avenue, down east to a place
[00:28:26] called the Coach House. It's not here anymore. And we'd go down there and we'd have lunch together.
[00:28:30] And all the way down there, all during lunch, all the way back, I would just pepper him with questions. And he was kind and patient to listen to me. And it's interesting, Dr. Walvoord never
[00:28:41] talked about himself. Just listen to my questions and answer them. And it was funny because sometimes he would be making a point and I'd say, well now, Dr. Walvoord, some people see it like this or that
[00:28:51] and he'd say, well, they're wrong. And then he'd just give his view. I mean, you know, one thing about Dr. Walbert, he knew what he believed and why he believed it. But it was one of the tremendous
[00:29:00] experiences of my life. But sometimes I'd ask him questions about himself. He didn't like to talk about himself, but I'd ask him a couple of questions. And I asked him, I said, how did you
[00:29:09] get interested in prophecy and end up, you know, being a professor at DTS, end up being the president? I mean, how did God guide you in your life? He said, well, Mark, he said, when I was
[00:29:18] getting ready to finish seminary, he said, my plan was to go be a missionary. I wanted to go to a faraway place, really somewhere fairly remote. And he said, but I've been praying about God's
[00:29:29] will and exactly what God wanted me to do. Been praying about it, seeking God's will for some period of time. He said, one day I was walking across campus and Dr. Chafer, who was the president
[00:29:40] at the time, saw him and walked up to him and said, hey, John, how are things going? They kind of got into a little conversation, and he said, John, let me ask you, what are you planning on
[00:29:49] doing when you graduate from here at DTS? And he told Dr. Chafer, he said, well, I've been praying about it, and I've been thinking that God's leading me towards missions, but I'm not settled yet. And he said, Dr. Chafer looked at me and said, John, we need somebody here at DTS to focus
[00:30:04] in the area of eschatology and also in pneumatology and the study of the Holy Spirit. And he said, would you be willing to stay here and to do that and to become an expert in those areas and teach
[00:30:16] here? And Dr. Walvoord said something down inside of him just was a prompting that just gave total assurance that that was it. And he says, yes, Dr. Chafer, I'll do that. And he said, Mark,
[00:30:28] in that moment of time, my life was changed forever. The whole trajectory of my life changed.
[00:30:33] And he told me, he said, you know, people make knowing the will of God too complicated.
[00:30:38] He said, just pray and seek God and move along through your life.
[00:30:42] And he said, one conversation, think about that in your life, one conversation can change the trajectory of your life forever.
[00:30:49] As I thought about that this week, I thought, you know, that was really in some ways Dr. Walvoord's Macedonian call.
[00:30:55] It was God's calling upon his life and he blessed the world, blessed Dallas Seminary, blessed my life and so many people by following the will of God.
[00:31:04] But it was that quick in his life, it was an immediate response Dr. Chafer, if that's what you want me to do, I believe that's God's calling.
[00:31:11] And he took that as God's calling on his life, and he never, ever looked back.
[00:31:16] But that's the point I want us to see here in verse 10, is that this missionary group immediately, unhesitatingly, eagerly obeyed the will of God.
[00:31:27] There's a book written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
[00:31:30] It's called The Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
[00:31:33] And if you've read it, I mean, Ivan endures all the horrors of a Soviet prison camp.
[00:31:38] And one day he's praying with his eyes closed when a fellow prisoner notices him and says with ridicule, he says, prayers won't help you get out of here any faster. And opening his eyes, Ivan answered, I do not pray to get out of prison, but to do the will of God. And that's what needs
[00:31:57] to be your prayer and my prayer. Whatever's going on in our lives, there's nothing more important in your life and my life than to know the will of God. Is there something in your life that you're
[00:32:09] seeking God's will about? Again, getting married, having children, a job, a ministry, a financial decision, whatever it might be. Seek to discern the will of God. And let me give you this word of encouragement. This little thought has blessed me in my life tremendously in seeking God's will.
[00:32:27] I don't know if I read this or heard it from someone years ago, but God wants you to know His will more than you want to know it. And God wants you to do His will more than you want to do
[00:32:37] it. We have this idea that I want to do the will of God more than God wants me to do it, or I want to know it more than He wants to know it. We're trying to pull it out of Him somehow. Look, God
[00:32:47] wants you to know His will a million times more than you want to know it, and God wants you to do it a million times more than you want to do it. There's no reluctance on God's part. When we're
[00:32:57] ready, when we're in the place God wants us to be, God wants us to know His will, and He wants us to do it much more than we do. And maybe you're facing closed door, one closed door after another
[00:33:10] in your life as you're trying to find out in some area of your life what God wants you to do.
[00:33:16] But I would encourage you to be patient. It may take some time. Be faithful. Be trusting.
[00:33:22] be excited be excited to anticipate God I can't wait until you reveal to me and show me what you want me to do and remember as you're seeking God's will that the stops are just important as the steps
[00:33:37] there may be a lot of stops maybe a lot of closed doors but if you're seeking the will of God God will show it to you and so my prayer for all of you for myself
[00:33:47] really for this seminary for Dallas Seminary that we'll discern the will of God and that we will do it. Let's pray together.
[00:34:02] Well, Father, we thank you that you're a God who loves us and who saves us, who sent your Son to die for us and rise from the dead, that we can have eternal life. But Father, you don't leave
[00:34:15] us on our own in this life, but you have a great interest and a desire to guide us and to lead us each day in our lives. Father, I pray for myself and each person here today that we'll follow your
[00:34:28] general will. We'll read the Bible and the things there that it tells us to do that we'll do and the things it tells us not to do that we won't do, so that we can know that this specific will
[00:34:41] in these different areas of our lives, Father, as you lead us and you guide us. Father, I pray for every person here that will realize there's nothing more exciting, there's nothing more encouraging in life than knowing what You want us to do and doing it. Father, I pray for those
[00:34:59] who are involved in different kinds of ministries, maybe graduating here soon, looking ahead to the future, what You want them to do. They may be filled with anxiety and fear about that.
[00:35:09] Pray You'll use Your Word, Father, today to reassure us that You have a plan for our life.
[00:35:14] You'll show it to us. Father, give us the strength and the power that we need to do it.
[00:35:22] Father, we commit ourselves to you now and to your grace.
[00:35:25] Father, I just pray as we launch into this new semester, that your hand of blessing will be upon each one of these students, Father, upon the staff, the faculty here at Dallas Seminary, that your good hand of blessing will rest upon DTS, Father, in the days to come.
[00:35:39] Thank you for those who've come before us, who discerned and did the will of God.
[00:35:44] That's why this school's here.
[00:35:46] It's because of your will and because of your faithfulness to us.
[00:35:49] Father we commit ourselves to you now and to your grace in Jesus name we pray Amen