Episode Details

Led by the Spirit, Not by Strategy

I'm going to start in Acts 16:5. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily. Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. Do you see that? That's from the text of scripture. Somebody got a good idea: let's go to Asia. There are so many people who need the gospel there. No doubt it was a good idea. No doubt great good could be done. But there was a dependency on the Holy Spirit in these early believers in Christ — Paul and his associates and others, right from the day of Acts chapter 2. They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. Thank God. I thank God with all my heart that when I try to do something and it's not from God, he'll bring a stop to it. He'll slam the door, and you can push all you want — you can't open a door that God has closed. Thank God he doesn't let us go through the doors we're not supposed to go through, even though the door might seem like a good idea. What's wrong with going to Bithynia? Obviously there was a reason. There might have been some report of the need there. But folks, we're not supposed to be driven by need. We're supposed to be led by the Spirit as the church of Jesus Christ. Everything that is not born of the Spirit — I always ask God, please don't let me embark on anything that is not of you. I did that in the early years of my life in ministry. I got the t-shirt. I never want to go there again. I just want to do what God wants me to do. Nothing more, nothing less. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." Now after he had seen the vision, immediately they sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called them to preach the gospel to them. So — forbidden by the Spirit, stopped by the Spirit, and then suddenly Paul is praying and there's a vision. Someone in Macedonia is saying, "Please come and help us." Whatever God initiates, he empowers. What he doesn't initiate, he doesn't empower. All the plans of man — I often liken it to a dead horse in a parade. You have to carry it, you have to point it, you have to talk about how great and majestic and strong and noble it is. But the thing is dead — you have to carry it. Everything coming out of the minds of men trying to promote the kingdom of God is like a dead horse in a parade. It has no power. It can go nowhere. It is not empowered by the Spirit of God.

What God Initiates, God Empowers

You and I know the story: Paul and his companions go into the area of Macedonia. They see a church founded in the home of a woman called Lydia. They see a girl who had a spirit of divination delivered. And then Paul and Silas are thrust into prison on this particular journey that God sends them on. Remember — what God initiates, God empowers. Don't forget that. If I am being led by the Spirit, the power of God is going with me, because the Holy Spirit within me is guiding me to do something that he wants to do through my life. That's why the power of God goes with it. In Romans 8, Paul the Apostle said that the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, and he intercedes for us according to the will of God. According to God's will, the Holy Spirit within you right now is interceding for you — with groanings that cannot be uttered. It's not that the Holy Spirit can't utter these groanings. It's that we have a hard time bringing ourselves in line with what the Spirit of God within us wants to do. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, and he lives inside our physical bodies. He has a plan. It's not our plan. We're not called to promote the kingdom of G