COV LIFE BLOG

Acts 16:6-24 The Goodness and Perfection of God’s Plan

What if God completely withdrew His Holy Spirit from the earth for the entire week! Think about it—would you notice the difference? It is easy to fall into routine Christianity, where we function in the flesh instead of walk in vital dependence upon God’s Spirit. One of the main lessons of the Book of Acts is that the expansion of the early church was due to the working of the Holy Spirit. He was directing, moving, and empowering the apostles as they responded to His leading. If we want to see God working today in a similar fashion, we need to fight routine Christianity and rather, seek daily to submit to and follow the sovereign Spirit. The message of our text is, Since the Holy Spirit is sovereign over His work, we must seek to follow Him as we labor for the Lord.

The text assumes that we, with Paul and Silas, are already seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness (Matt. 6:33). If you are not living with that focus, you need to stop and confess it to the Lord, and yield yourself in obedience to His will for your life. Undergirding and woven through our text is the fact that the Holy Spirit is sovereign, and these men were obediently following His lead as they sought to do His work. There are four lessons:

1. The sovereign Spirit leads us to the right workers (16:1-2, 10).

2. The sovereign Spirit gives us wisdom in the right strategies for ministry (16:3).

3. The sovereign Spirit enables His workers to strengthen the churches (16:4-5).

4. The sovereign Spirit leads His workers to the right opportunities for ministry (16:6-10).

Let me leave you with the questions I asked at the beginning of this message: Are you seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness? If not, you need to do some serious thinking about your priorities. Would you notice if God withdrew His Holy Spirit from your life this week? If not, you need to get in tune with Him and seek to follow His leading for how He wants you to labor for His kingdom.

Steven Cole

---

Heart Preparation
Read Acts 16:6-24. Notice how God directs these missionaries away from certain fields of service to the one he has divinely appointed and think about the above questions: Are you seeking first God’s kingdom and righteousness? and would you notice if God withdrew his Holy Spirit from your life this week?