On Sunday, John preached on Acts 16:6-10, looking specifically at Paul and Silas' journey through Asia Minor.
In this story, Paul and Silas are traveling through Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), visiting some churches Paul had planted a few years earlier. After encouraging the Christians there, they decide to share the gospel in new areas. But strangely, the Holy Spirit sets up roadblocks in a couple of areas and won't allow them to preach in those places. After running into a couple of dead ends, Paul has a vision of a man from Macedonia (in Europe - modern day Greece) calling him to come across the Aegean Sea and help them. Paul and Silas immediately set sail for Macedonia and for the first time, the gospel is planted on European soil.
The sermon centered around what this passage has to say about the times when we encounter roadblocks. First, we discussed that God is in control, even when things seem to be bleak. Secondly, he is good, even in the roadblocks. He can use these tough times to make us more like Jesus, as well as to point us in a new direction.
With that in mind, we should make plans, but write them in pencil. We always should be open to the Holy Spirit "re-routing" us and changing our plans. In order to hear him speaking, though, we need to be consciously listening for his guidance.
We also discussed one specific area where the staff feels like God is leading VRBC - the area of evangelism. We'll be talking about this much more in the weeks to come...
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