39 "A New Outpost for the Lord’s Mission" Acts 16:6-15 | Sunday, February 1, 2026

I invite you to take your Bibles, turn

to the book of Acts, chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Acts, chapter number 16. We're in a

verse byvere series. Uh you can remain

standing. We'll just read our text

together uh as we stand and then we'll

have you be seated. We're in a verse by

verse series through the book of Acts

that's entitled the empowered church.

And it's about how the work of Christ

continues by his spirit through his

church from Jerusalem to Rome. And when

we come to Acts 16, Paul and his team

Silas and Timothy have embarked on

what's called the second missionary

journey. and they have gone to the

region of Galatia and Friia to

strengthen the churches there to deliver

the letters from the church at Jerusalem

about what's required of the Gentiles

once they place their faith in Christ.

And they've now completed that mission.

That's what we saw last week with uh

Timothy joining the group. And now as we

come to verse number six, they're going

to be entering into new territory with

the gospel. So let's begin reading our

text. Begin reading verse six. And we'll

go through verse 15 this morning. The

Bible says, "Now when they had gone

throughout Friia and the region of

Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy

Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after

they were come to Ma, they assayed or

attempted to go into Bethnia. But the

spirit suffered them not." And they

passing by Mya came down to Trrowaz. And

a vision appeared to Paul in the night.

There stood a man of Macedonia and

prayed him, saying, "Come over into

Macedonia and help us." And after we had

seen the vision, immediately we

endeavored to go into Macedonia,

assuredly gathering that the Lord had

called us for to preach the gospel unto

them. Therefore, loosing from Trrowaz,

we came with a straight course to

Samothia,

and the next day to Neopoulos,

and from thence to Philippi, which is

the chief city of that part of

Macedonia, and a colony. And we were in

that city abiding certain days. And on

the Sabbath we went out of the city by a

riverside, where prayer was want or

expected to be made. And we sat down,

and spake unto the women, which resorted

thither. And a certain woman named

Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of

Thotyra, which worshiped God, heard us,

whose heart the Lord opened, that she

attended unto the things which were

spoken of Paul. And when she was

baptized, and her household, she

besought us, saying, "If you have judged

me to be faithful to the Lord, come into

my house and abide there." And she

constrained us. The title of our message

this morning is a new outpost for the

Lord's mission. Let's pray and we'll ask

God to bless his word. Father, we ask

you one more time to speak to our hearts

today. I pray that you'd open our

understanding to the truth of the gospel

and the truth of this text. I pray that

the lost would be convinced of their

savior, Jesus Christ. And I pray that

believers would be encouraged as we seek

to fulfill the mission that you have

left to your church. We ask for your

spirit's understanding and illumination

that we may grasp and apply your word

today in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for

standing. You can be seated.

On February 19th, 1945,

coming up on 81 years ago, US military

forces landed on the black sands of

Ewima, 21,000 Japanese soldiers were

hunkered down in bunkers and trenches

and and uh and and bunkers. And they

were hiding out. They were preparing to

defend this island of Euima.

The the island itself, they had radars,

stations that significantly were

disrupting Allied air raids in the

Pacific theater. They had an airfield

there that was key to establishing

operations in the Pacific. And so 70,000

Marines were deployed with more than

6,800 giving their lives in this

particular conflict.

But on day five, as the famous picture

shows, six Marines summited to the top

of Mount Surabachi and they staked their

the American flag on the top of that

mountain. And the staking of that flag

declared that Ewima had been taken.

That island became the base of

operations for our B29 bombers, which

helped turn the tide of the war and

paved the way for Japan's surrender. And

so, victory hinged upon the success of

that mission. It was important to

establish in this new territory a base

of operations in that conflict. Well,

just as Euima became the launch pad for

Allied victory in Acts 16, Lydia's home

becomes the initial base of operations

for the Lord's mission's work in

Macedonia. As the gospel begins to

spread into Greece,

Paul and his team of missionaries were

sent on a mission to preach the gospel

and establish churches. They come to a

town called Trrowaz and they sail from

there to reach the shores of Macedonia

before arriving at Philippi, the chief

city of that region. And there in

Philippi, a woman is converted and in

her house is established the very first

church on Macedonian territory. And that

church became the base of Paul's

operations of missions work in that

area. If you read from Philippians

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, he says that nobody had

communicated with me financially such as

you had. They took care of his needs.

They provided for him and the base of

his operations was right there in this

woman's home.

The reality is that we notice in this

text that the success of this mission

was not dependent on what Paul and his

team did.

We see very clearly that it was the Lord

who was doing the work. The Lord was

working to bring the missionaries to

Philippi and the Lord was working to

bring Lydia to conversion.

Why is it important for us to recognize

that the Lord was the one doing the

work? Well, it's because many of us feel

like we are wholly inadequate to fulfill

the Lord's mission to share the gospel

and to reach people for Christ.

We feel as though we're not good enough

or [snorts] gifted enough. We don't know

where to go, what to do, or what to say.

You ever been there before? I'd like to

share the gospel, but I have no idea

what I would say. And so, therefore,

you're a little bit intimidated. Isn't

Isn't that how it is for us? We struggle

knowing God's will and God's direction.

How do we reach bolder for Christ? How

do we plant churches in our surrounding

areas and send missionaries all over the

world? It seems like a work that's too

big, especially for a young church plant

like Boulder Valley Baptist Church.

We are limited in power, knowledge,

wisdom, and resources. And so, how can

we carry out so great a mission as the

rescuing of sinners and the

establishment of churches?

And the good news of this text is it

shows us that we are not the ones who

really do the work.

It's the Lord's work and he has

sufficient power, knowledge, wisdom, and

resources to get the job done.

>> [snorts]

>> Well, how exactly does the Lord work

through our lives to advance his

mission? Our text provides two answers

to that question. The first is found in

Paul's journey to Philippi and the

second is found in Lydia's conversion at

Philippi. Let's begin with Paul's

journey. I want you to see first of all

that the Lord's mission was advanced

because the spirit led the way. The

spirit led the way. We first find the

spirit closing some doors for Paul and

his team. They have finished the work

that they were sent to do in Galatia and

Friia, which would have been the the

southeastern region of what we know as

Turkey today or Asia Minor. And so, they

have already planted churches. They've

strengthened those churches. They've

ordained elders in those churches. But

what they realize is the Lord's not done

with us. Now, they have their eyes set

on expanding the kingdom of Christ.

And it tells us first of all that their

desire was to go from this southeastern

region southwest into an a region called

Asia. And this would have been where the

church of Ephesus and Sardis and Smyrna,

the seven churches of Revelation were as

well as Thotyra. That's the the region

they wanted to go. But what we notice in

verse number six is it says that they

were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to

preach the word in Asia. And so while

they tried to go to the southwest, the

spirit said no. He closed that door. And

so then from there they decided okay

well let's go to the northeast then to a

region that's called Bethnia. But we

notice in verse number seven that it

says and and after they were come to my

assay or attempted to go into Bethnia

but the spirit suffered them not. He did

not allow them to go southwest. He did

not allow them to go northeast. Well,

what gives here? I mean, they're just

trying to share the gospel. There's no

wrong person that you can share the

gospel with, right? Everybody needs to

hear. And so, what is the deal here? Why

is the spirit not letting them go to

Asia? Why is he not letting them go to

Bethnia? But I want you to notice that

they do not get discouraged.

It doesn't say that they turned back to

Antioch in Syria.

It doesn't say that they gave up.

Rather, what it tells us is that they

they passed by mya. So they'd already

come to my which was up here and they

try to go northeast and the spirit says

no. So then they go back through to the

one area that's really left to go here

and that is to the northwest. And it

says they come to a coastal town that's

called Trrowaz.

And it's at Trrowaz where the spirit

stops closing the doors and he starts

opening the doors. If you look at verse

9, it says, "And a vision appeared to

Paul in the night. There stood a man of

Macedonia

and prayed him or or begged him and

implored him, saying, "Come over into

Macedonia and help us."

This word help us. It's a word that

conveys a a cry for help. Like somebody

drowning in the ocean, crying out,

"Help." That's what's going on here.

Macedonia is located right across the

Asian Sea, a little bit to the north of

where Trrowaz is.

And and I want you to notice that it

says in verse 10, "And after he had seen

the vision, immediately we endeavored to

go into Macedonia." I want you to notice

first of all that it says we endeavored.

Who is the author of the book of Acts?

It is Luke. Luke, this is the [snorts]

first time that he inserts himself into

the narrative and recognizes that he is

now traveling with Paul. And there will

be periodic times where he switches

between they and we. And that indicates

to us when Luke was with him and when

Luke was not with him. And so this is

the first time we see that Luke is with

him. And what this tells us is that

what's to follow here in this mission is

not hearsay.

It is an eyewitness account that Luke is

conveying. And I want you to notice that

it says that after he had seen the

vision, immediately we endeavored to go

into Macedonia. They did not delay once

the Lord revealed his direction, they

went right away. Why? It says,

"Assuredly gathering that the Lord had

called us for to preach the gospel unto

them."

And so this word assuredly gathering,

it's really the idea of putting the

pieces of the puzzle together. That what

they're recognizing is, oh, this is why

he didn't want us to go into Asia. This

is why he didn't want to go us go to

into Bethnia. This is why he gave us the

vision here in Trrowaz. It's because he

wants us over here in Macedonia. For

what cause? To preach the gospel of

Jesus Christ to them. And so as soon as

the spirit of God gave them direction,

as soon as he had closed doors and

opened another door, they immediately

went to Macedonia. And it leads to

conversions and to the establishment of

the Philippian church.

And so what we find is this truth that

to advance the Lord's mission, the

spirit must lead the way. The spirit

must lead the way.

See, the Lord has given to every

believer his indwelling Holy Spirit to

guide us into his will.

And he's still doing that today, just

like he did with Paul and his team.

People have often asked me, "Why did you

come to one of the most non-religious

atheistic cities in America to preach

the gospel and start a new church?" And

sometimes I'll start with, "Well, it's

12 miles from where I grew up. I grew up

in Longmont. Spent I've spent about 25

years of my life living in Longmont and

several years living in Naiwatt. And and

this is where I'm from. But I'm quick to

tell him, but that's not why we went to

Boulder. Because honestly, growing up in

Longmont, I knew what Boulder was like.

I had a strong aversion to the city of

Boulder because of its political

leanings and because of its its pagan

influences and and because if if you've

been here in Colorado for a long time,

you knew Boulder was just the weird city

of Colorado. And so for me, it wasn't a

place that I necessarily wanted uh to

go. I could probably count to you from

25 years of living in Longmont. I count

on two hands how many times I actually

came to Boulder in 25 years. Well, then

what is it that got you to come to this

place and to witness to people and share

the gospel and start a new church? The

very simple answer is the spirit of God

led us here. How did he do that? You

ever wondered that? Preachers will often

talk about just let the spirit of God

lead you. And you're like, what what

does that mean? What does that feel

like? And some will say that it's a

still small voice. And and some will say

that the the spirit just brings a

conviction to your heart. And I think

that that some of that is true. But what

we do know is that God leads his people

by his spirit through his word. And that

was really how it went for us. Whether

it was a a time in a a college dorm room

in my my private devotional life with

God that he spoke to me or if it was at

uh through a message at a church

planting conference or at a youth camp,

God began working in my heart about

coming to Boulder. I got to serve as a

youth pastor back in Longmont at my home

church for eight years bivocally. And

then the Lord led me to a job transfer

here in Boulder. And the way it went for

us was that throughout the last 15 years

of our lives, we could begin to put the

puzzle pieces together and assuredly

gather that this was where the Lord had

called us to come. I tell you that

because I want you to know that you can

still trust the spirit of God to lead in

your life today the same way he led in

Paul's life. That there are sometimes

he's going to close doors. He's to say,

"No, I don't want you to go there. I

don't want you to do that. I don't want

you to to to to do do that work." He's

going to close some doors in your life.

[snorts] But then there are times that

he's going to open the doors. And the

spirit of God is still capable of

leading us in the mission. He still

leads the way in calling men to the

gospel ministry. That's not a pastor's

job. That's not a church's job. The

spirit of God, just as he did with Paul

and Barnabas in Acts 13, the spirit of

God must say, "Separate me these people

for the work wherein I've called them."

He still leads in the same way. He still

leads the way in directing our steps of

of who we should send and where we

should send them. And if God wants to

call you, his spirit can make it clear

to you. You can trust his leadership.

But I also want you to know this isn't

just true when it comes to church

planting and missions. This is true in

your life personally. You have the Holy

Spirit of God dwelling in your life. And

he is able to lead you every step of the

way. Whether it's in financial decisions

or if it's in where you're supposed to

live or where you're supposed to work or

or what home you're supposed to buy or

if it comes down to who you share the

gospel with, how you share the gospel

with them, when and where the spirit of

God is able to lead the way in in in how

we evangelize and how we live. I want

you to have that confidence so that when

you seek his presence and you seek his

direction, you can trust that he will

direct your steps. I want to encourage

you believers that the next time you try

to share the gospel, start here. Ask the

Holy Spirit to lead you to the right

person in the right place at the right

time with the right words and you can

trust he'll lead the way. Why? Because

that's always how Christ's kingdom

advances. That's how his mission is

always accomplished.

The Lord's mission wasn't advanced here

in Philippi because of what they did,

but because the spirit was leading the

way. But I want you to notice that that

wasn't the only way that the Lord worked

in this account.

He also worked in Lydia's conversion.

And so we find number two that the

Lord's mission was accomplished because

the Lord opened Lydia's heart. He opened

her heart. Let's see it. Verse 13.

It says, "And on the Sabbath, we went

out of the city by a riverside where

prayer was want to be made." Now,

Philippi was a Roman colony, which means

that it was an autonomous version of

Little Rome. That was the kind of power

that they had been given. And so, there

were a lot of politicians there. There

were a lot of military men there. There

were a lot of wealthy and affluent

people there. And so that's the kind of

city uh that Philippi was. And they had

all of the pagan religions of Greek

mythology as well. Temples galore,

shrines everywhere. It was a very pagan

city, which means it had a very small

Jewish influence and population. It only

required 10 Jewish men to warrant the

construction of a synagogue. But

evidently, there was no synagogue here.

And whenever that was the case, the they

would typically gather on the Sabbath

day outside the city by a riverside. It

goes back to what they did in in the

Babylonian exile. That when they were in

Babylon, they didn't have a temple. They

didn't have a tabernacle to worship God.

That the Jews would go outside the walls

of the pagan city of Babylon and they

would pray on the Sabbath by the

waterside. And that's exactly what

they're doing here in Philippi. And so

Paul expects that that must be where the

Jewish people are, which was where he

always started in his ministry. And it

says, "And we sat down and spake unto

the women which resorted thither." So

they come to a women's prayer meeting.

And it says in verse 14 that a certain

woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of

the city of Thotyra, which worshiped

God, heard us. Now, there's a lot being

communicated there. First of all, she's

a woman. [snorts] Notice ironically that

the Macedonian call came from a man of

Macedonia.

And yet, what we find is the person that

they come to in the first conversion

that is experienced here is a woman from

Asia. It says she's from the city of

Thotyra.

I want you to know that God loves women.

God cares for women. God desires to save

every woman on the face of the earth.

And God has a great plan for every woman

that he saves.

And he has big plans for Lydia.

She's a seller of purple. Purple was a

color worn by royalty,

by the wealthy and the affluent. It says

that she was from Thotyra.

And Thotyra was known for its purple

dyes. And so evidently she was a a

tradeswoman, a wealthy businesswoman, a

prominent influential woman because she

was constantly working with the wealthy

and influential. She was constantly

working with the the royal politicians

there and and the military men and women

there that that she was fitting them and

clothing them and and and selling these

these elaborate blankets and towels and

goods and all of those things. And yet

it tells us she worshiped God.

[snorts] This is a woman from Asia

who came to know and love and respect

and worship the God of the Bible.

[snorts]

And so she, it says, heard us.

She heard Paul and Silas and Timothy and

Luke declaring the message of the gospel

of Jesus Christ. And notice what

happens. Whose heart the Lord opened.

The Lord opens Lydia's heart to give

heed to the gospel message.

this this phrase here, the opening of

the heart. It's another way that they

would speak of opening the understanding

that that the the Lord literally worked

in her life in a way that caused her to

understand the gospel message and that

apart from the Lord opening her

understanding of the scripture, she had

no hope of understanding the scripture.

It says so explicitly when it says that

she attended to the things which were

spoken of Paul. Attended means not just

to not just to uh pay attention to, not

just to listen to, but the idea is

really to to give heed to. There's

intent in the heart here to believe. And

it says the reason that she gave heed to

their word is because the Lord had

opened her heart.

And so clearly what this communicates

is that no one can understand the

scripture apart from the Lord's help.

And that is seen in another place in

Luke's writing in Luke 24 as we saw that

after Christ's resurrection the Lord

opened the understanding of his apostles

who were already believers but he opened

their understanding to the Old Testament

scriptures to see that Christ must first

suffer and rise again and that the

gospel should be preached from Jerusalem

to the ends of the earth. And so Christ

had to open the understanding of his

apostles. He had to open the

understanding of the lost because the

real reality is that spiritual things

cannot be discerned by carnal flesh. We

need the divine grace of Jesus Christ to

open our hearts to understand the word.

And so clearly this is saying that the

Lord opened Lydia's heart and was the

divine cause of her understanding of the

gospel. But I also want to point this

out. All it took for the Lord to open

her heart was for someone else to speak

the word.

The preaching of the gospel was the

mechanism by which Jesus opened her

heart to understand the scripture. It

was as Paul spoke the word of the gospel

to Lydia that the Lord opened her heart

to understand and then she believed. In

verse 15 says that she was baptized and

her household. We're not just talking

about the conversion of one woman. We're

talking about the conversion of a whole

family. Why? Because Paul preached the

word and the Lord opened the heart.

This [snorts] is why friends Paul said

in Romans chapter 1, I am not ashamed of

Romans 1 · chapter mention

the gospel of Christ for it is the power

of God unto salvation.

Do you understand that there is a unique

power contained in the proclamation of

the gospel by which the Lord opens the

understanding and the heart of a

hellbound sinner to understand their

need of Christ and to believe on him.

Paul experienced this firsthand

throughout his ministry that if he would

simply preach the gospel, the Lord would

go to work. He would open hearts. the

spirit would bring conviction and the

lost would be converted.

And so when they hear that they are

sinners who stand condemned before God

and face his judgment, but then they

hear that Jesus the son of God died on

the cross for their sin and that he rose

again the third day and that he promises

forgiveness and salvation and eternal

life to anyone who will cast their faith

on him. They can be forgiven. They can

be saved. That message, that simple

message contains a unique divine power

to convert the lost to Jesus Christ. The

power is in the word. The power comes

from the Lord. But then listen, you must

believe. You must believe. Scripture is

clear. The Lord must open the heart and

the lost must believe.

See, the Lord can open your

understanding and he can bring

conviction to your heart, but you still

must choose to believe and follow

Christ. Because if you resist and you

reject Jesus Christ, there's nothing

left to save you. You must believe on

him. [snorts]

See, you might be asking this morning if

the Lord what if the Lord has opened my

understanding,

what if the Lord is bringing conviction

to my heart? I that I know the gospel is

true and I know I'm a sinner, but I'm

convinced Jesus died for my sin and rose

again. I'm convinced that God will

forgive me, that God will save me if I

place my faith in him. What must I do?

Well, it's rather quite simple. Here's

what we see in the scripture. Repent of

your sin. That means stop going the way

that you were going and turn toward

Jesus Christ.

Repent of your sin. Believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ. And then the Bible says

this, "Confess your faith in Christ and

be baptized and follow him." Understand

baptism does not have a saving effect in

your life. Baptism is the outward

declaration that I believe in Jesus

Christ, that I am one with him in his

death, his burial, and his resurrection.

and I am committing my life to following

him forever. That's what we call

conversion.

Listen, church, when it comes to sharing

the gospel with people, we're not just

after prayers. We're not just trying to

lead people quickly through the

scripture and through some kind of

sinner's prayer. What God is after is a

whole conversion. Not for somebody to

just pray a prayer and then go live

however they want. It's to acknowledge

that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior

and then to follow him. He's told his

his apostles to make disciples

of all nations, not nominal Christians.

Can I ask you today, what describes your

Christian life?

Is it simply a prayer and then going on

to live however you want? or have you

experienced a full regeneration and

conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ? The

Bible says, "If any man be in Christ, he

is a new creature. Old things are passed

away and behold, all things are become

new." Does that describe your life?

I'm just asking.

What we notice is after Lydia's

conversion,

her home becomes the base of Paul's

operations. It says in verse 15, "And

when she was baptized in her household,

she besought us, saying, "If you have

judged me to be faithful to the Lord,

come into my house and abide there." And

she constrained us. As a wealthy woman,

it's not like she just had a big house.

This the idea would have been properties

where she had servants and she had

people working with the clothes and all

of that. And so, it was a it was a wide

open place that was a great place to

establish a new church. And that's

exactly what takes place here.

And so what we find

in this text is this simple truth that

the Lord's mission was advanced in

Macedonia

because the spirit led the way. And then

number two, the Lord opened the heart.

[snorts] And what that tells us is to

accomplish the Lord's mission today,

we must not only follow the spirit's

lead, but but the Lord must open the

heart. [snorts] Boulder is hard, folks.

Paganism is swept through our city.

We have Hindu and Buddhist temples,

mosques, witchcraft,

new age religious systems. It's all It's

all here. Our public school system

educates our youth out of faith in God.

Our university at times is turning our

brightest young minds away from the Lord

and against his followers.

To say that Christians are the

hindrances to forward progress,

[snorts] that Jesus wasn't real, that

the Bible wasn't trustworthy.

And so we have a and not just in our

city, but we really have a world today

that is being educated and indoctrinated

out of faith in Jesus Christ. You know

what the result's going to be? Hardened

hearts.

Hardened [snorts] hearts. Closed hearts,

we might say. But the reality is you may

have people in your life whose hearts

are closed off. You've tried to share

the gospel with them and they just shut

you down. Don't talk to me about Jesus

anymore. I don't want to hear that

anymore. Leave me alone.

You've tried to share the gospel many

times with many people and it feels like

you're getting nowhere.

Listen, it it can be hard because trying

to share the gospel and plant a church

in this city can at times feel like

hitting your head against the wall over

and over again. Like nothing's getting

through. like like as as a church that

that they'll they'll never get saved,

that we'll never grow, we'll never have

property, that we'll we'll never plant

other churches. But can I remind you,

church, that we carry in our hands the

message that is uniquely able to open

every closed heart by the power of Jesus

Christ. And that it's not up to our

prowess. It's not up to our apologetics.

It's not up to our wisdom and our might

and our power. It's up to the power of

the Lord Jesus Christ contained in the

gospel of Jesus Christ, which Paul calls

the power of God unto salvation.

There is there is nothing that cannot be

opened by the proclamation of the

gospel.

There's no heart over which Jesus is not

the sovereign Lord and Master. He works

in man's heart.

The gospel message is so powerful.

Listen, the gospel message is so

powerful that even if you struggle to

explain it

that God can use those frail or perhaps

what you feel are foolish words

to open the heart of the hardest sinner.

He can cause them to understand what

you're saying even if you don't know

what you're saying.

And so that means that the the power to

reach this city for Christ doesn't rest

in our ability to speak. All we must do

is proclaim the simple gospel of Jesus

Christ. They just need to understand

that they are are lost. That they have

sinned against God. And when we preach

that Jesus died to save them and rose

again and can forgive their sin and

change them and transform them to a

whole new creature in Christ, there's a

power in that message to break through

the hardest of hearts and bring a total

conversion of the life from sin, evil,

and darkness to light and righteousness

and godliness. That's the power of Jesus

Christ.

The Lord can still do in Boulder today

what he's already done in Philippi back

then.

This mission belongs to the Lord. It is

the Lord who does the work. The spirit

leads the way. The Lord opens the heart.

So the question then is

where do we enter this picture?

What is our God-given role and

responsibility if the Lord is the one

who does all the work? Two simple

points. Number one, to advance the

Lord's mission,

you must simply follow the Lord's

spirit.

You must follow the Lord's spirit. What

we find in this text is that the spirit

was clearly leading Paul, even if it was

through closed doors. But then when he

opened the door, Paul simply remained

sensitive to the spirit's leading. And

when the spirit gave direction, they

immediately followed him. And that's all

that we are called to do. To go where

the spirit says to go, to do what the

spirit says to do, to say what the

spirit says to say. It's simply

following and taking orders from the

Holy Spirit. So I want to encourage you

in your evangelistic efforts or as

you're trying to live a godly life, I

encourage you to just be sensitive to

the spirit's leading. Let him speak to

your heart in times of prayer, times of

devotion, times of his word, times in a

preaching service like this, or times in

a Bible study. Keep your heart open to

what the Lord wants to do in your life.

And when he leads you, follow him.

Follow the Lord's spirit. Number two, to

advance the Lord's mission, you must

speak the Lord's word. Speak the Lord's

word.

It doesn't even tell us what Paul's

sermon was.

There are other times where we're given

his speeches. We'll see that when he

goes to Athens,

but nothing here. Why is that? Luke's

being intentional.

He wants us to understand it doesn't

matter what you say. It doesn't matter

exactly how you evangelize.

If you simply proclaim the simple gospel

message of Jesus Christ, the power rests

in the Lord to convert not only Lydia

but also her entire household and to

establish a new base of operations for

the Lord's mission right there in

Philippi. I want you to know the Lord

does the same thing today.

You may not always know what to say.

It [snorts] can help to be aware of our

city and our culture and how people

think. And it's perfectly fine to use

apologetics, but it's more important for

us to understand that there is a unique

power in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That when you simply preach that you are

a sinner, you face judgment, Jesus died

for your sin, Jesus rose again, God will

accept you now if you trust in him. That

simple message has the power of the Lord

to open the heart and of the spirit to

bring conviction to bring conversion to

a lost sinner.

The mission is the Lord's.

He does the work. And here's what we'll

find. As the spirit leads the way and

the Lord opens the heart, souls get

saved and churches get planted. That's

how the mission is done. So follow the

Lord's lead and speak the Lord's word.

Can I ask you this morning, is the Lord

opening your understanding?

You may have heard the gospel a dozen or

more times in your life,

but something was different about this

morning

that that that it's like the blinders

fell off.

You you know what the gospel is.

You you believe the gospel. [snorts] You

understand the gospel. You're ready to

cast your faith on Jesus. You might just

ask, "What do I do?" Let me just give

you scripture. Romans chapter 10:9 says

that if thou shalt confess with thy

mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe

in thine heart that God hath raised him

from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Is

that simple?

Confess that Jesus is Lord and believe

in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Yes. How is that possible? Romans 10:10

Romans 10:10

goes on to say, "For with the heart man

believeth unto righteousness."

This is a timeless principle of

scripture from Abraham to the New

Testament that when you cast your faith

on God, God casts his righteousness on

you. He credits you with righteousness

in exchange for your faith. With the

heart man believeth unto righteousness.

And then it says this, "And with the

mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Whosoever

believeth in him shall not be ashamed,

and whosoever shall call upon the name

of the Lord shall be saved. It's really

that simple.

And so, if the Lord has opened your

understanding, and this morning you

believe the gospel, you trust in Jesus

alone to save your soul and for the

forgiveness of sins and for eternal

life, I encourage you to simply do this.

Confess your faith in Jesus Christ.

Sometimes it helps and and we don't

necessarily have a clear sinner's prayer

in scripture, but sometimes it helps you

understand when you realize that

salvation is a call for help, just like

it was this man of Macedonia in Paul's

vision. Like a drowning man at sea. Help

me, Lord. Save me. Forgive me. What? I I

don't know what to say, but I know

you're what I need.

The Lord will save your soul. And so,

confess your faith in Christ as the

scripture says, and then just as we see

in this text, follow him in baptism.

Follow him in baptism.

Commit your life to being a follower of

Jesus Christ.

If that's you, would you come and speak

to me after the service or during our

time of response in a moment? and I'd be

glad to pray with you and to help guide

you through those next steps. We want

everyone in Boulder to know the gospel

of Jesus, to know that there is hope

beyond this life. [snorts]

That there is a world to come where

there is no violence, there is no sin,

there's no pain, there is no suffering

and death. But the only way to enter

that kingdom is through faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ. Would you trust him

today? Let's pray. Heavenly Father,

we're thankful that you're a saving God,

that you gave your only son

to live a perfect life

to fulfill the law and the prophets

and to die on a cross to atone for our

sins to accomplish redemption for all

mankind.

thankful that he rose again and lives

forever more. I'm thankful that you call

us to simple faith in him.

Lord, as believers,

we can feel inadequate

for the mission you've given us to do.

Help us to remember the work is yours.

help us to follow the spirit's le lead

and then to trust the Lord to open

hearts to just speak his word. I pray

for those here who may have never

trusted Christ as their savior

that you would open their hearts that

they would understand, believe the

gospel and be saved. It's in Jesus name

I pray. Amen.