After the disagreement over whether to take Mark or not arose, Barnabas took Mark and went to Cyprus and Paul took Silas and left for Cilicia to Derbe.　This was the beginning of Paul’s second missionary trip.  From here on Paul is the central figure in the book Acts.  From Derbe Paul went to Lystra, then Inconium, and then Antioch.  From there he planned to go to Asia and preach the Gospel there, but the Holy Spirit would not allow them to.  Paul had gone to Phrygia and Galatia and when they came to the border of Mysia and were going to enter Bithynia, the Holy Spirit would not allow them to enter Bithynia.  “So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.” (8)  There he has a vision.  In the vision a Macedonian begged Paul, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (9)  Therefore Paul went to Macedonia. As a result the Gospel went from Asia across the sea to Europe.  When we consider that in the present day Europe is the center of Christianity, this was a huge historical event.  This all took place by the amazing leading of the Lord. Today let’s look at 3 aspects of this amazing leading.

I.                God has a plan for our lives. (vs.6-9)

Paul took Silias and went to Derbe, then Lystra.  From there on he took Timothy and went to Inconium.  Then he probably went to Antioch.  From there “as they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.” (4) These towns are the towns that they had evangelized in on their first missionary trip.  They went there to see how they were doing and to encourage them. These were the towns in Galatia which were under the Roman rule.  If they would have continued west they would have come to the province of Asia. In the province of Asia besides the towns of Colossia and Laodea, there was the capital city, Ephesus, which was quite large.  Ephesus was a lot like Antioch in that there were a lot of Jews living there, and it was a large Grecian style city.  Therefore, Paul probably wanted to go there and evangelize.  However, the Holy Spirit did not allow him to go there.  Therefore, “Paul and is companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia.” Then they came to the border of Mysia. This means from Antioch they had traveled north to Mysia.  They planned to travel even further North to Bithynia, “but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.”  (7)  In verse 6 Luke says that the “Holy Spirit” would not allow them to go west to Asia and in verse 7 he says that the “Spirit of Jesus” would not allow them to go north to Bithynia. The “Holy Spirit” is the “Spirit of Jesus”. We can see this in I Cor. 15:45

Luke may have changed and said the “Spirit of Jesus” because Jesus’ Spirit spoke face to face with Paul.  However, in this passage there is no record of that happening and there are no direct words of Jesus’ recorded.  It doesn’t say that the Holy Spirit told him not to go.  It says “kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.” (6) and “the Sprit of Jesus would not allow them to” (7) Therefore, it seems more likely that rather than the Holy Spirit saying face to face not to go, that the Holy Spirit closed the doors to their going. The Holy Spirit showed them that going there was not the Lord’s will. 

We don’t know what the circumstances were that the Holy Spirit used to show them that going to Asia or Bithynia were not the Lord’s will.  A clue maybe found in verse 10 where the subject becomes “we”.  In other words, from this point on Luke, a doctor, joins the team.  Possibly Paul or someone was sick.  In Galatians 4:13-14 Paul tells the Galatians, “It was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you.” (13)  We don’t know whether Paul is writing about his first missionary trip or this missionary trip.  However, it is a possibility that because of Paul’s health he was not able to go on to the places that he wanted to go to and instead went to Europe.  However, when Paul thought about it he realized that because the Lord closed the door  to the places that he wanted to go to through his sickness, the result was the Gospel was spread to Europe.  He realized that the Holy Spirit really led them down a wonderful new road. 

This same thing happens in our own lives often.  The door that we wanted to go through shuts. We wonder why this happened to us.  The Bible’s answer is we were “kept by the Holy Spirit from”… (6) or “the Spirit of Jesus would not allow“…(7)  This happens because God has a plan for our lives.  Therefore, we shouldn’t worry about why these things happened to us but leave everything in the hands of the Lord and walk down the road that He is leading us on.

Later on in Acts, when Paul is in Philippi, Paul throws out an evil spirit from a woman fortuneteller.  When her master realized that he could no longer make money from her fortunetelling, he became furious and had Paul put in prison.  For Paul who helped the woman by throwing out the demon and who had been preaching salvation, he probably couldn’t understand why this was happening to him. When Paul was in the prison singing and praying, a huge earthquake occurred.  The doors to all the prison cells opened.   The guard thought that all the prisoners had escaped so he was going to commit suicide.  However, Paul called out to the guard telling him that they were all there and not to commit suicide.  As a result the guard wanted to know how to be saved and Paul preached to him and his family.  They all believed and were baptized. For Paul, being imprisoned probably made him question, “Why?”, but as a result a Roman guard, who was very closed to the Gospel, became a Christian.  The Lord performed a mighty work.  This was the plan of God.

There are a lot of things that happen in our life that we wonder, “Why?”  However, for those who love God and follow His plan those things are not disasters. God works all things for the good of those who believe in him.  God has a plan for each of our lives. Let’s live by that plan.

II.              We will understand later (vs. 9,10)

Paul wanted to go to Asia, but was stopped and then he thought that he would go to Bithynia, but that plan was stopped too. Therefore, he went to Troas probably more out lack of other options rather than from really wanting to go there.  He was probably discouraged.  When he was in Troas, he had a vision. In the vision a Macedonian begged Paul, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (9)  Through this vision Paul understood why all other doors had been shut. We can see this in verse 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.” 

The word “concluding” means “to tie everything together”. In other words, they “tied all the evidence together” and realized the Lord’s leading.  The reason they weren’t able to go to Asia, the reason they weren’t able to go to Bithynia, the vision of the Macedonian calling Paul to Macedonia, these things all tied together into one leading that God had called them to preach the gospel in Macedonia.  Therefore, they “got ready at once to leave for Macedonia”. (10)  As a result the Gospel was spread to Europe.  The reason doors were closed was for this purpose.  Paul understood this clearly.

The things that happen in our lives are part of God’s plan for the all of God’s kingdom. Each little event has a big meaning.  Each event is one little piece in a huge puzzle. At first we don’t know what the picture is, but as we put the pieces together all at once we know.

Esther was the same.  She was chosen to be the queen of a foreign King.  She didn’t know why she had to do that.  However, when the Jews were about to be killed she realized that she was in that position so she would be able to save the Jews from being killed.  Therefore, she was able to take action.

Ruth was the same.  She faced famine, became a widow, and followed her mother-in-law to Jerusalem which was for her a foreign place.  They had no money so she worked in the fields collecting the grain that the workers had dropped.  However, she meets Boaz and marries and has a child that later becomes an ancestor of Jesus.  Ruth’s name is recorded in the ancestry of Jesus in Matt. 1. When she married Boaz she probably realized that everything that happened up until then led up to her marriage to Boaz.  However, it probably wasn’t until she went to heaven that she really realized the greatness of her life.

God doesn’t see things up close like we do.  He sees the total picture.  He sees the entire kingdom of God.  We don’t understand what is happening to us right not, but some day we will understand.  Therefore, we need to believe that God will lead us in the best way and move forward down the road that God is leading us on.

III.            Being led by the Holy Spirit (vs. 10)

Last let’s look at how we should respond to being led by the Holy Spirit.  When Paul realized what the Lord’s will was, he got ready at once and left for Macedonia. Paul did the Lord’s will.  Not only when he felt the call to Macedonia did Paul follow the Lord, but also when he wanted to go to Asia or Bithynia and when he realized that wasn’t the Lord’s will he didn’t go. If he would have insisted on going where he wanted to go, then the Gospel would not have spread to Europe.  Even if it did, it would have been by a different way.  However, it was the Lord’s will that Paul take the Gospel to Europe.  Paul didn’t respond to the Holy Spirit’s leading by his own thinking or emotions. Instead he listened to the Holy Spirit and followed Him.  As a result the Gospel spread to the entire world.

Jeremiah29:11

God has a plan for our lives and that plan is not to harm us, but for our prosperity, to give us hope and a future. We need to believe that and following the leading of the Holy Spirit, walk forward one step at a time down the road God shows us.