Sent by God
What God is Up To
Being sent by God . . . sounds intriguing doesn't it? How do you know where God is sending you? How do you know that God is sending you. How does all of that work? The story in Acts 16 that we look at today is an interesting story about the way that God leads. Take a few moments to read through the passage and reflect on what you notice about the way God seems to be leading.
Daily conversations, people we encounter, the ways we interact with people every day . . . perhaps those are the places that God is sending us. Perhaps, where God is leading us is not just to a geographical location with a specific task to perform, but into the midst of our daily lives wherever that may take us, and with whomever we come in contact with. Perhaps God is constantly in the process of sending us, not away, but into the places we already are!
This is what Pastor Jon invites us to consider this morning as we take sometime to reflect on the passage in Acts, and the story that we live out every day. If you would like to listen to the sermon again, or perhaps for he first time, you can access our sermon library here. If you would like to watch the livestream version of the service, you can find that here.
Acts 16
NIV
Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalemfor the people to obey. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district[a] of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.