Pastor Jann Braaksma
As we practiced for last Friday night’s singing, verse two of the hymn “Send the Light” keep coming back to my mind. It goes; “We have heard the Macedonian call today.” But I wanted to know for sure what that call was, so I did a Google search and found a couple interesting sites.
From a site by Don Fortner on Acts 16:6-13;
After establishing the churches in Lystra and Derbe in the faith of the gospel, Paul and Silas went throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia preaching the grace of God in Christ. Paul wanted to carry the good news of redeeming, saving grace into Asia, but the Holy Spirit gave him no liberty to do so (v.6).
So he traveled on to Mysia and tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of God closed the door again (v.7). Following the direction of God’s providence and the leadership of the Holy Spirit, Paul and his companions “came down to Troas” (v.8).
In the evening, as Paul was seeking God’s direction for his ministry, a vision was given to him. By the special, supernatural revelation of God the Holy Spirit he saw a man from Macedonia standing before him, who said, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us” (v.9).
Paul took this to be a call from God (v.10). He had earnestly sought the will of God, and now he knew it. God had called him to preach the gospel to the perishing men and women of Macedonia.
Immediately, he went to Philippi, the first city he could get to in Macedonia (v.11-12).
There he went to the place in that city where he was most likely to get a hearing and preached the gospel to a gathering of a few women (v. 13).
Paul did not stop to do deputation work or to raise money. He did not seek the approval or permission of a mission board. He knew that God had called him and trusted God both to provide for him and to make his labor effectual. It was his responsibility to preach the gospel to the perishing sinners of Macedonia. That was the one thing he knew he must do. He had to be obedient to the call of God.
Here is the Macedonian call – “Come over and help us.” It is a call that has application to the church of God today. There is much for us to learn from this call and Paul’s response to it.
This is a good base building and understanding of “the call”. Then I found a blog by the author David Hobbs.
I just returned from a road trip to some of the rural areas of Calif., handing out copies of my book Out of the Fire to fire stations, trying to get it placed in bookstores, and as is my custom, praying over churches in the towns I visit.
There is usually nobody at the churches, but I pray and try to sense the leading of the Holy Spirit. At this one particular church, I really wanted to make contact with the pastor and I felt like tarrying on the premises until God sent someone.
After praying and singing in worship for about 45 minutes, sure enough a nice lady drove up – a member of the church. I told her about my book, why I was there, and my burden for the rural churches to experience revival and the moving of the Spirit like many churches in the cities were.
She informed me that the pastor I was seeking was no longer there, and that the church had no pastor at present. She went on to tell me that many of the churches in town had no permanent pastor. Furthermore, the attendance at all the churches was way down.
I felt such a burden for the dying churches in the town. I told her this was not God’s will; that He wanted to revive the churches and reach the lost through them. I felt like volunteering to take over a pastorless church and tell the people, “Com on, let’s pray-in revival!”
This morning I was back home pondering the situation and praying, “Lord how can I help these people?”
The Holy Spirit was telling me, “Where’s the Macedonian call for help from this town? Yes, the situation is critical, but who is burdened about it enough to cry out to Me for assistance? I can’t send you or anybody else until someone prays My burden back to Me for aid.”
I remembered the story of Moses being sent to deliver Egypt. It didn’t work until the people “groaned in their slavery and cried out.” Then “their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.” After that, “God heard their groaning and He remembered His covenant with Abraham…and was concerned about them.” [Exodus 2:23-24]
The very next passage is God appearing to Moses in the burning bush and commissioning him to return to Egypt to deliver Israel.
God has all the resources we could possibly need. But in many cases He is waiting for us to partner with Him and pray them in.
Are we willing to humble ourselves and pray?
Are we willing to seek God until the burden of the Holy Spirit falls on us and we can pray it back to God?
If we truly seek the will of God and wait upon the Lord that we may know how to serve Him, He will show us His will.
By the direction of His Word, the impulses of His Spirit, and the indications of His providence, God will make His will known to all who seek it.
When God reveals His will to us, we will know it. And when we know we are doing the will of God, we can do it with boldness and without fear of failure.
If God is in the initiation of a thing, He will be in the execution of it, and He will see it through to its appointed end. Whether God shuts a door or opens a door, we must readily follow His direction.
When Paul went to Macedonia he was thrown in jail, but God honored his labor in the saving of two precious souls, Lydia and the Philippian Jailor. His ministry there was a great success! He did exactly what God sent him there to do.
I close today with Isaiah. 55:11 – Be faithful to the work God has trusted to your hands, whatever it is. You will not fail. God is with you. His Word, which He sends out through you, will not return unto Him void.
Let us pray.
Resources: freegrace.net/dfbooks/dfactsbk/acts45.htm; outofthefirebook.blogspot.com;