H is for the Holy Spirit-Acts 16:6-40

Acts, New Testament, Sermons

Acts 16:6-40, 6-7, NLT

“… the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.” “… again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there.”

Theme: The Holy Spirit does prevent you from doing what you want and lead you where you may not want to go, as He did with the apostle Paul.

One of the “best” stories of my life is that in 1981 the Holy Spirit led me to marry a woman I did not really want to marry, because she looked rather tough and domineering to me. [if-not-for-ubf-i-would-not-be-married] I was hoping to marry a demure, petite, frail, fragile and foxy sort of woman. I was also expecting to marry a Chinese woman, since I am Chinese. But the Holy Spirit did not grant me my wish. Instead, the Holy Spirit compelled me to marry Christy by faith in God, trusting and believing that God knew me better than I knew myself. Last year, I shared about 12 things I learned after 32 happy years of marriage. Indeed the Holy Spirit hindered my hope to marry a foxy Chinese woman and led me to marry a tough American woman I was deathly afraid to marry. Yet, now looking back it was without a doubt one of the principle leadings of the Holy Spirit in my life.

This sermon will consider:

  1. Who the Holy Spirit is.
  2. What the Holy Spirit does.
  3. How to depend on the Holy Spirit.

I. Who The Holy Spirit Is

Who (not what) is the Holy Spirit? Many Christians believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Bible. The Holy Spirit does seem to many Christians as the most enigmatic Person of the Trinity. What does the Bible say about the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit:

  • …is God (Ac 5:3-4), just as the Father is God and the Son is God.
  • …is another Counselor (Jn 14:16), as Jesus is a Wonderful Counselor (Isa 9:6).
  • …the Spirit of truth (Jn 14:17; 16:13a).
  • …convicts the world about sin, righteousness and judgment (Jn 16:8).
  • …guides people to the truth (Jn 16:13b).
  • …helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us (Rom 8:26).
  • …gives different gifts to different people (1 Cor 12:1, 7-11; Eph 4:11).
  • …bears the fruit of love, joy, peace, etc (Gal 5:22-23).
  • …enables us to genuinely confess that Jesus is Lord (1 Cor 12:3).
  • …glorifies Jesus (Jn 16:14).
  • …gives freedom (2 Cor 3:17).

II. What The Holy Spirit Does (in Acts)

Does the Holy Spirit make any difference? A.W. Tozer said, “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”

The Holy Spirit in Acts. The book of Acts or the Acts of the Apostles, are in actuality the Acts of the Holy Spirit by explaining how the Holy Sprit worked in the birth of the church and through the witness of the church and of the apostles.

  • In Ac 1:4-5, the witnesses were told to wait for the Holy Spirit.
  • In Ac 2:1-3, there was the outporing of the Holy Spirit at Pentacost among the Jews in fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel (Ac 2:17-21; Joel 2:28-32).

Three further outpourings of the Holy Spirit follows in:

  • Ac 8:14-17, where Samaritans were filled with the Holy Spirit after they believe the gospel preached by Phillip.
  • Ac 10:1-48, 44-48; 11:15-17, when Cornelius and the Gentiles believe and are filled with the Spirit when Peter preached to them.
  • Ac 19:1-7, where Paul meets some followers of John the Baptist who never heard of the Holy Spirit and didn’t even know all that Jesus did and taught. But when Paul preached to them, the Holy Spirit came on them (Ac 19:5-7).

Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. From the above progression, Luke records how the Spirit’s ministry is expansisve, just as Jesus’ ministry was. The gospel-centered focus of Acts can be pictured by the ever expanding scope of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit in four concentric circles according to Ac 1:8: Jerusalem (Jews), Judea and Samaria (Samaritans), and to the ends of the earth (Gentiles).

The Holy Spirit led Paul toward European evangelism. Ac 16:6-40 is a record of how the Holy Spirit changed the course of world history by preventing Paul from going toward Asia and Bithynia, and leading him instead to Macedonia and eventually to Rome. Briefly, this is what the Holy Spirit did:

  • Blocking the way (Ac 16:6-7).
  • Guiding in another way (Ac 16:8-10).
  • Opening the heart (Ac 16:11-15): Lydia, the first European convert.
  • Driving out a demon (Ac 16:16-18).
  • Singing in prison (Ac 16:19-25).
  • Bringing an earthquake (Ac 16:26-28).
  • Converting a household (Ac 16:29-34).
  • Starting a church (Ac 16:35-40): Philippi, the first European church.

III. How To Depend On The Holy Spirit

Similar to “How to depend on the Holy Spirit” would be:

  1. How to trust God (Prov 3:5; Ps 31:14).
  2. How to live by faith (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38; Hab 2:4)?
  3. How to live by the Spirit (Gal 5:16, 25)?

So how do you depend on the Holy Spirit? Learn or consider the following:

  1. Accept “No” from God.
  2. Lean not on your own understanding (Prov 3:5).
  3. Don’t insist on your own way. “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov 14:12; 16:25).
  4. Don’t kick against the goads (Ac 26:14).
  5. Don’t allow your heart to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:13).
  6. Don’t cheat your conscience and allow it to be seared as with a hot iron (1 Tim 4:2).
  7. God’s thoughts and God’s ways are different from yours. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8-9).
  8. Wait on God; hope in the Lord (Isa 40:31). Expect waiting. Enjoy waiting.
  9. To God a thousand years are like a day and vice versa (Ps 90:4; 2 Pet 3:8). To God nothing is too slow or too fast.
  10. Patience.
  11. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes” (Ps 37:7, NIV).
  12. “Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city” (Prov 16:32, NLT).
  13. “Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone” (Prov 25:15, NIV).
  14. Also Lam 3:27; 1 Cor 13:4; Jas 5:7-8; 2 Pet 1:6; Gal 5:22; 6:9; Rom 8:25; 12:12.
  15. God wants you to want Him more than anything/everything else (Lk 11:13).
  16. God wants you to love Him by loving others (Mt 22:37-39; Mk 12:29-31).

Questions:

  1. How sensitive do you think you are to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your life?
  2. Generally, do you intentionally seek the Holy Spirit’s leading before making decisions and taking action?
  3. Discuss this quote by A.W. Tozer: “If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” Do you agree? Why? Why not?
  4. Who (not what) is the Holy Spirit and what does He do (Ac 5:3-4; Jn 14:16-17; 16:8, 13-14; Rom 8:26; 1 Cor 12:3, 1, 7-11; Gal 5:22-23; 2 Cor 3:17)?
  5. Describe how the Holy Spirit guided Paul’s team on his second missionary journey (Ac 16:6-8)? Have you been aware of how the Holy Spirit has stopped you from doing what you want?
  6. What is the meaning of Paul’s vision at Troas (Ac 16:9)? What did Paul do as a result (Ac 16:10)? [Notice the first person pronoun “we.”] What do you learn about the Holy Spirit through this vision?
  7. Following his vision, what did Paul do practically (Ac 16:11-13)? How did Lydia come to believe (Ac 16:14)? What did she and her household do (Ac 16:15)? What is the Holy Spirit’s work when the gospel is preached (1 Cor 2:12-14)?
  8. How did Paul help a slave girl (Ac 16:16-18)? What did her owners do and why (Ac 16:19-24; 2 Tim 3:12)?
  9. How did Paul and Silas respond to flogging and imprisonment (Ac 16:25)? What happened (Ac 16:26)? How did the jailer and his family come to faith (Ac 16:27-34)? How did Paul use his citizenship to protect the new church at Philippi (Ac 16:35-40)?
  10. Bonus question: What is one prayer that Jesus says God will always answer (Lk 11:13)?
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