In his sermon, Peter Allison explores the theme of 'Being Led by the Spirit' through a study of Acts chapter 16 and the story of Samuel Morris. The sermon emphasizes the importance of the Holy Spirit's guidance in the lives of believers, using the examples of Paul and Samuel Morris to illustrate how divine direction can lead to significant outcomes. Allison explains that the guidance of the Holy Spirit is not extra-biblical revelation, does not replace the Scriptures, and will never contradict them. The sermon highlights the necessity of being actively engaged in work to receive guidance, the sovereignty of God in directing the spread of the Gospel, and the importance of planning while remaining open to divine direction. It also underscores the role of faith and the requirement for immediate obedience when guidance is received. Through these teachings, Allison encourages believers to understand and embrace the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their lives, stressing that such guidance is given for God's purposes rather than our own.

Well, our scripture reading is Acts chapter 16, beginning at verse 6. Here God's Word. 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. After they had come to Messia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Messia, 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 we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel to them. May rivers of water run down from our eyes when men do not keep His law. Heavenly Father, please speak to us this morning through Your Word. Enable us to understand that which the natural mind cannot.

Transform our thinking, Lord, and lead us to greater and more fruitful obedience as we hear your word this morning. And please sanctify my sinful lips that they may proclaim the Gospel of Your grace in Christ. Amen. In 1877, about nearly 150 years ago, a 14 year old Liberian boy was captured and held for ransom by the warriors of a neighboring village. This young boy named Kabu was the son of the village chief.

And so during his captivity, he was regularly tortured as an incentive for his father to pay the monthly ransom of food and other necessities. See, there was a drought and food was scarce. During one of these sessions, these beatings, a blindingly bright light suddenly appeared. His shackles fell off and he heard a voice saying, Run, Caboo, Run! He didn't know who the voice belonged to, but after a moment's hesitation, he ran, escaping his captors, his adult captors.

Traveling at night and hiding in the day in hollow trees, he blindly traversed the jungle of Liberia. Eventually arriving in Monrovia, the capital city that is on the seacoast, the western coast of Liberia. And in Monrovia, he met a boy who invited him to come to church where he heard the Apostles Paul's conversion story from a missionary trained at Taylor University in the United States. And Kaboos on hearing that conversion story of Paul, immediately recognized the similarities with his experience, and he realized at that moment that it was Jesus' voice that he had heard telling him to run. And He jumps up in the middle of their meeting and says it was Jesus' voice that I heard.

They of course didn't understand until he explained to them and showed them the marks upon His body. Upon profession of faith in Christ, Cabo was baptized under the name Samuel Morris, who was Miss Knowles' benefactor. And he spent the next couple of years in the midst of that church, working as a painter and a handyman to support himself, and learning the Bible to be able to go back to his people with the Gospel. And desiring to learn more about the Holy Spirit, and being told by the people there that that was all they had to teach him. But he learned about that they referred him to a missionary in New York City who could teach him more.

And so immediately on hearing this, he set off on foot for New York City, sleeping on the beach at Robertsport until he found a ship that was willing to take him to New York. Now, if you're like me, you're not sure where Robertsport is, I'd look it up on a map. It's about 70 miles north of Monrovia, so he's walked some 70 miles up the coast. As a rule in that day, sailing vessels were not kind places, especially for Africans, and this vessel was no exception to the rule. But though he suffered and was much abused, by the end of the voyage he had stopped the murder and led the captain and much of the crew to Christ.

In New York City, not knowing how to read or write, the Lord immediately led him to the very missionary that he was seeking, Stephen Merritt. And Stephen Merritt arranged for him to study at Taylor University in Fort Wayne, Indiana. When he got there, they asked him what room he wanted to live in, and he replied, well, if there's a room that nobody wants, give that one to me. And like everywhere else that he ever went, Samuel Morris had a profound impact on the university and on the entire Fort Wayne community. He brought everyone who was anywhere in proximity of his loud praying voice, he brought them into his close relationship with his Heavenly Father.

And so he was often invited to speak at churches and tell his story. And on one such occasion, on a cold January night In 1893, he contracted pneumonia, eventually dying in May 12, 1893, at 20 years of age. The funeral was the most widely attended event probably in the history of that city. Nobody had ever seen a crowd that big gather for his funeral. The president of Taylor University said that Samuel Morris was a divinely sent messenger of God to Taylor University.

He thought he was coming here to prepare himself for his mission to his people, but his coming was to prepare Taylor University for her mission to the world. All who met him were impressed with his sublime, yet simple faith in God. And many biographers have noted that as a result of his short life and his short time at Taylor University, many, many, many scores of people went to Africa as missionaries. His life, his very short life, is an example, a remarkable example of someone who received divine guidance. Guidance that is very much like the guidance that Paul was given in this passage.

Guidance from the Holy Spirit that was given for the same purpose as the guidance given to Paul in this passage. That is, the direction and protection of those evangelizing unreached peoples. Now, while this guidance is remarkable and more unusual, the idea that the Holy Spirit guides us should not be at all unusual or a surprise to us. The Scriptures frequently speak to us about the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8-14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

As many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God. So if you're a child of the God, you are being led by the Spirit. John 10, 27, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. Psalm 25, 9, The humble, he guides in justice. The humble, he teaches his ways.

Proverbs 3, right? Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Psalm 32, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with My eye." Psalm 48, For this is our God, for this is God, our God, forever and ever.

He will be our guide even to death. Isaiah 30-21, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, this is the way, walk in it, whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left. Isaiah 58-11, the Lord will guide you continually and Satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones." Isaiah 48, Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way You should go. You see, if we are in Christ, if we are children of God, then we are to be led by the Holy Spirit. Now, not all guidance from the Holy Spirit is as remarkable as Samuel Morris's or as Paul's guidance in this passage.

But all those who are in Christ are led by His Spirit. So what can we learn about guidance in this passage? And before we start, I should say three things what this is not. The guidance of the Holy Spirit is not extra-biblical revelation. Being led by the Spirit is not special revelation.

Revelation is restricted to the written Scriptures and any guidance that is given does not go beyond them. Secondly, the guidance of the Holy Spirit is not a replacement for the Scriptures. The Scriptures are sufficient so that we can be thoroughly furnished to every good work. And any guidance that is given is never a substitute for them. Rather, it is through them.

And thirdly, the guidance of the Holy Spirit will never contradict the Scriptures. Guidance that comes outside of the Scriptures must always be evaluated by the Scriptures. And we have to test the Spirit, John says, because not every spirit is from God. Okay, so with that brief caveat, what do we observe in this passage about God's guidance to us? His guidance of Paul in this case.

And the first thing we see is that guidance comes to those who are working. Guidance comes to those who are already engaged in work. It was after they had gone through Phrygia and Galatia that they received guidance from the Holy Spirit, forbidding them to preach the word in Asia. The Holy Spirit leads by closing doors, by opening doors, by causing us to remember things, or think of things that we had not thought of before, and sometimes even though more rarely through dreams, or premonitions, or checks in our spirit, and so forth. But this guidance comes to those who as we are already working, as we are already moving forward.

When this first guidance came to Paul, Paul and his team had already mapped out a plan of action, and they were busy executing it. They had already gone back through the churches that had been planted and visited again on the first missionary journey. And so they're busy executing this plan in this Phrygia-Galatia region. You see, Because guidance is like the rudder of a ship or the steering wheel of a car. It's only useful if the vehicle is moving.

A rudder doesn't do anything to a stationary ship. Turning the steering wheel doesn't do anything to a stationary car. You see, God didn't give this guidance to Paul before he started the trip. He didn't say, now this is where I want you to go. He let Paul plan and get going because Paul had enough to know what to do.

And he gave it to him after it had already started. See, because we have the Scriptures and they are sufficient for all that we ever need to know. And we can never justify inactivity by saying that we're not acting yet because God hasn't given us any guidance. He's given us the Scriptures. And they're sufficient to direct our steps.

David prayed in Psalm 119, Direct my steps according to Your Word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me. Direct my steps according to Your Word." So we need to be in the Word and moving, or we will never receive any guidance. Secondly, we see that God is sovereign in dispensing grace and in the proclamation of the Gospel. God is sovereign. God had called Paul to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, And at his conversion, Jesus told him that, He said, I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness, both of the things that you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.

I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you. And I will open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God." So God gave him this call. He said, I am sending you to the Gentiles. And now God is saying, I don't want you to preach to these particular Gentiles here in Asia. And also, I don't want you to preach in Messia or Bithynia.

And it's not because these people in these places don't need the Gospel, or because they somehow have a better chance of making it on their own. It's because God is sovereign and mercy is optional. God would be perfectly just in never sending His messengers with the gospel or the wonderful news of the grace of God in Christ. He would be perfectly just to never send anyone. God told Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.

It's not up to us. And One of the most common objections that unbelievers raise about the Bible is that God doesn't give to everyone the same opportunity to believe. That some people never hear the Gospel. I remember hearing that within weeks of getting to college. That's why people didn't believe the Bible.

They just couldn't accept a God that wouldn't give equal chance to everybody. To them it seemed patently unfair. Because they were evaluating God as if He were us and He's not far from it. We are to show mercy to others because we have been shown mercy. That's why.

We have been shown mercy. We have received something that we did not deserve, and therefore we don't have a right to keep it to ourselves. We would be highly ungrateful to withhold from others what we were given that we had no right to or didn't deserve. But that's not true of God. No one has ever given God anything that He did not deserve.

It sounds blasphemous to even almost say it. It's an utter impossibility. We can't give anything to God except what He's first given to us. Or we can't give anything to Him except what's already owed to Him. You see, if there was any obligation for God to show mercy by definition, that would not be mercy, because it would be a work, it would be a debt.

And so for those to whom God has graciously brought His Gospel, This fact should be a continual source of wonder, a continual source of gratitude to the Lord that He has brought the Gospel to us, that He has redeemed us. It should result in never-ending adoration and thanks. And when we are grateful to the Lord, that leads to obedience. If we love the Lord, Jesus said, then we'll obey Him. So this fact that we've been given something that we don't deserve, that God was gracious to us when He didn't have to be, should be a continual motivation to love Him, to thank Him, and to obey Him.

Now the next thing we see about this guidance, as he's directing Paul in his Gospel ministry, is that guidance does not preclude planning and working to those plans. Notice verse 6-7, they had gone, they had come, they tried. They're working. They're doing things. You see, guidance doesn't replace or preclude planning and working those plans.

Guidance is rarely, if ever, complete. The guidance that God gave Paul here is not complete guidance. The guidance that he gave to Kabu was not complete guidance. He just told him to run. He didn't tell him where to run.

He didn't tell him how long to run, how far to run. He just said run. And that's what Kabu did. He ran. Guidance is not complete.

We have to apply the Scriptures to our situation and make or modify plans in the light of that guidance, all of which requires making decisions about myriads of details and facts and aspects that are not covered explicitly in guidance. So we should never stop doing then what we know to be doing in order to wait for guidance. You see, when Paul is forbidden from going to Asia. He didn't stop and say, oh, okay, well Lord, then where do you want me to go? I'll wait here until you tell me.

No, that would be kind of like having a pity party. No, he just altered his plans and he kept going. He didn't become frustrated or discouraged that God was telling him no, that God was changing his plans. Sometimes when God stops our plans, we just want to sit down and pout a little bit. Or say somewhat self-righteously, well then I'll just wait here until you do tell me where to go.

So I don't waste all this time planning and going somewhere only to find that's not where I was supposed to go. Only to be told, no. Isn't that being a better steward of our time? No. No.

Now, if you have two job offers, You should of course pray about which one you should take. But having prayed and discussed the matter with all those that can provide insight, having researched the offers, having verified that there are good churches in each location, there's good access to food, There's acceptable legal climate for all the things that you want to do, like homeschooling or defending your family. And all the other important details that go into making a wise decision. If at the end of all that, there is no clear or obvious basis for choosing one over the other, then you still have to make a decision. We can use our preference, we can use our desire.

You can draw straws, you can flip a coin. But those aren't binding actions. If after flipping a coin, you think of something that favors one choice over another choice, then ignore the coin toss. But make a decision and move forward. It would be wrong to think that you need to wait for some sort of guidance, some voice, some spirit, before you make a decision.

The Scriptures are sufficient guide. And where two actions are equally appropriate, then it's our choice. Proverbs 16-9 summarizes telling us a man plans his way, but God directs his steps. And that's an important but. We're to plan, but God directs our steps.

And as his children, we receive that correction. We receive that redirection of our steps from Him graciously. Now we also see that God gives guidance through other people. Paul saw a vision of a Macedonian man saying come over and help us. There's a man, and he was from Macedonia, appealing to Paul to come over to them.

And so God used this appeal to a Christian's heart for the lost and for Paul's call as a minister of the Gospel. God used both of those things. Paul's heart for the lost and his call as a minister in sending a man to say, come over and help us by bringing the Gospel. Come serve us. And that's why minister is a very fitting word.

It's the word diakonos. And that's about people that serve physical food. That's what a waiter is. That's what diakonos is. Somebody who serves food.

Well, a diakonos of the Gospel is somebody who serves the Bread of Heaven. And so God used a man to bring guidance to Paul. God used a man to bring guidance to us once when we were in a very difficult situation, deciding which direction to go in our battle with the CPS. And this gentleman, this saint, reminded me of a verse from Scripture. And the Holy Spirit immediately confirmed to me that that was the right application of that verse.

It was a well-known verse, but He brought it to mind. And the Holy Spirit used His words to confirm to me the right direction to go. Now guidance also requires the use of our minds and the application of what we know. Guidance requires the use of our minds. We see in verse 10 that Paul then sees this vision and then he concludes something.

That's saying there was a thought process there and they reached a conclusion based on everything that they had received to that point. From the vision of the man pleading for Paul to come over to Macedonia and help them, Paul then concludes that the Lord is calling them to Macedonia. He made that conclusion in the light of the Scriptures, in the light of his overall calling as an apostle to the Gentiles, and the other guidance that they had received the date saying, don't go here and don't go here. When Paul put that all together, he then concluded. Now that might seem obvious, but there was still a rational thought process involved that isn't necessarily trivial.

And I'm going to give you an example of why this may seem obvious in this case. Of course, that's what God is telling him to do. But I would say it's not trivial. We still need to use our minds and apply what we know in understanding guidance. So later on in Acts, Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, and many different people are telling him through the Spirit not to go to Jerusalem.

And In that case, Paul reaches a different conclusion than that he should not go to Jerusalem. So here you have a man saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And Paul concludes that's where he's called. In this example in Acts 21, and you can turn to Acts 21 verse 3. I'm going to read through it.

In Acts 21, well, let's just read it. Well, in Acts 21, you have many people in the Spirit, by the Spirit telling Paul, don't go to Jerusalem, or there's going to be trouble in Jerusalem. You're going to be bound. So Acts 21, 3. When we sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left and sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre for there the ship was to unload a cargo.

And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days. These disciples, they told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. And when we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way, and they all accompanied us with wives and children until we were out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed. And you can see this is probably like the Ephesian elders at Miletus as they are weeping on the shore as Paul is leaving them.

These saints by the Spirit have been told that what's happened to Paul in Jerusalem. So they accompany him down and they're praying on the shore. And when we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship and they returned home. And when we finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, greeted the brethren, and stayed with them one day. And then they went into the house of Philip, the evangelist, who was one of those seven, and he had these virgin daughters that were prophets.

In verse 10, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And when he had come down, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." And now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him, we as his traveling party, those from that place would be the people at Caesarea there, they pleaded with him not to go to Jerusalem. And what was Paul's answer? What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

And so when He would not be persuaded, we ceased saying, The will of the Lord be done." Now there was guidance informing Paul that chains and imprisonment awaited him in Jerusalem. But Paul did not conclude from that that the Lord was calling him to carry on his missionary work in some other place. In fact, he mildly chides these people as to why they're breaking his heart. Now, what's the difference? Well, the answer is back in Acts 20.

In Acts 20, verse 22, He told the Ephesian elders as they were assembled on the shore at Miletus, He said, this is prior, same trip, but it's prior earlier in it. He said, I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. He was compelled by prior guidance from the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem not knowing what would happen to him there. What would happen to him wasn't included in his guidance. What would happen to him was included in later guidance that the other people were giving him.

He says, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that change and tribulations await me. But Paul says, but none of these things move me. Nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God.'" See, the guidance that was being given to the other prophets about what would happen to him in Jerusalem had not been given to Paul. And so while it confirmed that he would become a prisoner, he concluded that it didn't mean that he should not go to Jerusalem. So it's not, I would say, a foregone conclusion that just because a man pops up and says, come over and help us in a vision, that he should therefore go over.

There has to be a thought process, a comparison of that message against the Scriptures. We have to test the spirits, and we need to evaluate that action. Anything that we see, anything that we hear or sense must be evaluated in the light of the Scriptures. Now also we also see then in verse 10 that this guidance to one person is not necessarily guidance to another person. Luke writes, we concluded that we should go to Macedonia.

That doesn't apply to others. Now, that may seem very obvious. Maybe why mention it even? But how many times do we look at what others are doing and feel that we need to do something similar, especially when we see somebody doing a work that is considered a work for the Lord or some type of work? How many times do we look at what others are doing and feel that we need to do something similar, especially when we see somebody doing a work that is considered a work for the Lord or some type of work?

How many times do we look and think, well, we should be doing that? Well, maybe. Maybe not. What God gives, guidance He gives to one, and direction He gives to one person, doesn't necessarily apply to others. You remember that time at the end of John when Jesus is talking to Peter, and he says that...

He said he talked about what would happen when Peter got old, and Peter turned around and saw John there, and he says, well, what about this guy? And Jesus said, that's not for you. That's another person. That's not for you. If he lives until I come again, what's that to you?

So guidance that God gives to one person is not necessarily guidance to another person to do the same thing. Now sometimes it is a good thing to follow a good example. We are to stimulate one another to love and to good deeds, and sometimes that stimulation is by a good example. But still, specific guidance that's given to one person doesn't always apply to other people. And then we also see that we need to follow guidance immediately.

As soon as Paul sees this vision and concludes that God was calling him to go to Macedonia, they immediately start working toward getting there. Obedience should always be immediate. As soon as they had reached that conclusion that that was what God was calling them to do, they immediately began to make preparations. Because delayed Obedience is not obedience. True obedience is always immediate.

And this is a very important lesson that we need to teach our children. We need to learn it too. But the reason we as parents teach our children to obey us immediately, is not so that the dishes get washed immediately or the trash gets taken out immediately, or that we get whatever we need immediately. That's not the reason at all. The reason we need to teach our children to obey immediately is so that they will learn to obey the Lord immediately.

That's what's important. Home is that training ground to teach them how to serve the Lord, how to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. And obedience, as we see in this passage and other places, is to be immediate. And so when we're training our children, that's why we have our children, to train them how to know and serve the Lord. So our training them in obedience is to train them how to obey the Lord.

And that's why what we train them to obey should be from the Lord. And not just our own made up rules all the time. Now, we also see that following guidance does not mean an escape from trials and tribulations. Following This guidance that Paul got, he went to Philippi where he's beaten and thrown in prison. See, trials are not a sign that we are somehow outside the will of God.

And smooth sailing, on the other hand, does not mean that we are in the center of the will of God, as some like to say. See, the road is not necessarily easier just because we have received and followed guidance. It simply means that we've been obedient to the call of the Holy Spirit and faithful in discharging our trust. Now guidance also comes in steps, and it requires walking by faith. First they're forbidden, then they're not permitted, then they get a vision all at different times.

God did not give this guidance that ultimately brought Paul to Macedonia. He didn't give it to him up front. He gave it to him in pieces, and he let Paul bump into walls along the way until he finally guided him to Macedonia. And that is so often the way it is. There are many things I've started, some that are very vivid to me because they're big things.

Not knowing and being able to see beyond that first step. But I took that first step in faith, believing that this was the right thing to do, and that as I took that step, then the Lord would reveal later on what the next step was and where it was to go. And He does. But not without bumping into the wall and making some wrong turns and realizing that's not the right way. This is the way He guides us.

Because God gives guidance according to His purposes and not ours. God guided Samuel Morris to the U.S. To prepare him to be a missionary to his people in Libya. That's what Samuel Morris thought. But God took him then before he'd even finished his studies, let alone returned to Africa.

But history reveals that God's purpose in sending them to America was to be the seed from which God would cause many, many, many more people than just one to come back to Africa with the Gospel. And sometimes He reveals that purpose to us, and sometimes we die never knowing what that purpose was. But our calling is to be faithful stewards, to follow the guidance that He does give us, and to follow His Word, and be faithful with the trust that He's given to us. To discharge that. To do what we know to do.

To study His Scriptures. And to ever be diligent to apply them and leave God's purposes and what He has chosen not to reveal to us until heaven, if He chooses to reveal it there. God gives guidance according to His purpose and not ours. And his purpose in this case was that these churches in Asia should not at that point hear the Gospel. He wanted it to go into the Roman world of Macedonia and Greece.

And so may the Lord guide us by His Word and by His Spirit. And may we be those who are ready to receive His guidance and ready to obey it immediately as Samuel was. Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears. Let us pray. Father, may we always thank You for what You have done and praise your name in the assembly of saints where your people are met together.

May our mouths be continuously filled with your praise and your glory as we see your as we see your purposes being worked out through us, as you call us into various fields, into various tasks, in the various callings and occupations, as you send trials in the way for our own growth and grace and for your own glory that you might be glorified in our lives. Lord, may we be those who do bring glory to your name by our words and by our lives. In Jesus' name we ask, Amen.