Acts 16, How to Advance the Gospel

Today’s title is intentionally deceptive.  We love to go to seminars and workshops and to hear highly “successful” pastors and Christian leaders to tell us “how to” do something God wants us to do.  We love to copy the methodology of the experts.  But it’s a sham.  Look at the things in Acts 16 that advanced the gospel.

·        16:1-7: Paul picked up Timothy.  There’s some good administrative methodology. Paul had him circumcised because Paul knew they were in areas with lots of Jews (Phrygia, Galatia) and figured to be heading to other areas with lots of Jews (Asia Minor, Bithynia).  Paul was following the normal plan, preaching the gospel where there was always a synagogue where he could gain initial converts.  Each of the areas mentioned so far had representatives in Jerusalem on Pentecost (Ac. 2:9-11).

·        16:8-10: Just like Peter who had a vision to go to the house of a Gentile in Caesarea, so Paul had a vision to go somewhere that wasn’t anywhere on his top-ten list of highly evangelizeable regions.  God was leading him to a place where, at least in Philippi, there was no synagogue (v13).  There weren’t enough Jews.  Further they disliked those Jews (v20).  It was very Roman/Greek.  And no one from Macedonia was said to have shown up at Pentecost.

·        6:14-15: The hospitality of Lydia was a significant help in the advance of the gospel.  And Paul was apparently reluctant to stay with her; she had to beg!

·        6:16-18: The demon-possession of a young girl who antagonized Paul and Silas was important for the advance of the gospel.  Paul, in a fit of frustration (it says he was greatly annoyed), cast out the demon.  Without this there would have been no imprisonment and thus no salvation for the jailer’s family.

·        6:19-24: Unjust punishment advanced the gospel.  Paul did not, as many good Americans would have done, declare his rights as a Roman citizen in order to escape being beaten many times with rods.  I wonder sometimes what Silas thought as to why Paul didn’t put a stop to the beatings.  Interesting.

·        6:25-28: In the same manner, Paul and Silas’ refusal to escape to freedom when their chains fell off advanced the gospel.  Not only did Peter and Paul both have visions that expanded their minds about how God wanted to work; they both had prison experiences with midnight deliverances.  Peter left the prison, at the command of the angel, and the guards were executed the next morning (Ac. 12:5-19).  Paul stayed and a family believed in God (v34)!

So, how was the gospel advanced?  The answer is it was advanced by Spirit-led men of God.  They were not copying someone else’s methods or working from the latest manual for successful evangelism and discipleship.  Spirit-led men!  That’s the way Jesus did it.  That’s the way we can do it.  Your daily time with God is the key to successful ministry.  As is your obedience to the promptings of His Spirit.