Listen and Obey

Leviticus 10-12; Acts 16 

“…having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia…During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’”

Acts 16:6, 9

There is a higher priority than preaching the Word. It is obeying the Lord. The Lord of the harvest has a strategy for each location and season.

Will we seek his counsel and direction and be open to significant shifts in strategy under his leading?

Troas, where Paul received his Macedonian call, was a peripheral outpost. Mission often includes a call to and from the margins, or seemingly insignificant areas.

Will we be willing to join the Spirit of God in reaching out to the margins of our world?

Will we listen to the Lord before we preach to people?

The Macedonian call led Paul straight into more persecution for the Gospel, a severe flogging, and a prison cell in Philippi.  Maybe Paul needed that significant level of confirmation in the Philippian jail to keep him worshiping through midnight. Paul knew he was in the center of God’s will because he had listened and obeyed.

“Lord Jesus, keep me focused on your mission and not my own, for your glory.”