THE DOMINO EFFECT
Eltham Baptist Church 26h August 2012
No. 386
The theme for Self Denial this year is 'Reach, Redeem and Restore' and we are encouraged to read Acts chapter 16 to give us some examples on these three subjects. As far as 'reaching people' is concerned, I was taken by the process that led Paul and Silas to Philippi and the woman Lydia from Thyatira of which I would now like to elaborate.
"Paul and his companions travelled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, Come over to Macedonia and help us. After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. From there we travelled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days." Acts 16:6-12
Paul was originally wanting to go and encourage the Churches and maybe head into unchartered territory towards the East, but the Holy Spirit kept heading him towards the West - why? Wouldn't the Holy Spirit have wanted the gospel to eventually find its way to the lost in India or even as far away as China? It shows us from these verses some ways in which God guides us. It's obvious that not everything we do requires God's seal of approval with visions in the night and Angelic visitations. It says that it was Paul's desire to go to the eastern provinces at first that got them started and then the Holy Spirit prevented them at first by tweaking their movements as they went. God uses our ordinary desires to get His will done, and even secular things to get us where He wants us to go and then puts His fingerprints on it all bringing glory to His name.
To give you an example. It was my desire to smoke some good South African 'pot' when I was a wayward young man that led me to Johannesburg in 1972. I was after 'grass' but God had some greener grass for me to lie in. It was there in Johannesburg that I was saved. He used something that was meant for evil by Satan and worked it out for my good and also the good of His kingdom.
God has lost souls that He wants to reach in all sorts of places and is always shifting His people around, sometimes with amazing signs but most of the time it's by using our own desires and the tweaking of the Holy Spirit to get us there. The more of a heart we have for God though, the more chance we will have of hearing Him speak and guiding us into His will.
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you." Psalm 23:8-9
It doesn't say how Paul heard God say to him, "Don't go to those places in the East," "Go West young man," but it was most likely a sense of him doing the wrong thing as he headed in that direction. Do you ever get the feeling that you aren't meant to be in a certain place or that what you are doing is wrong? Maybe it's as you eat that extra helping of pudding or buying something that you really can't afford on credit.
"Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." Psalm 37:5
We need to commit our ways unto God each and every day. Does your saying grace over a meal last for the whole week? No you have to do it every time you eat. Some days it will seem like God is so real and close and other days that He's seems to be so far away, but our committal is so important. Before every game of squash I get Bernice to pray for me. All in all I have very few injuries, but one day a month or so ago I didn't get her to pray and I didn't pray myself. I was playing a really hard person and ended up spearing my leg with my racquet and having to go on antibiotics because of an infection that set in. Was it just a coincidence that this happened? Do you realise that the Devil doesn't like you? He goes about as a roaring lion seeking your destruction. Before each trip in my car I always pray and commit my way unto God.
"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8
In those ancient times God knew that the Western World was ripening for the introduction of the gospel and sent Christians to the west with the message which finally ended up on the shores of England and also the heart of Germany and from there Revival spread around the world. It
appears that if it had gone to India and China way back then it would have fallen on shallow ground and been trodden under foot. God had a better time for it to come to these shores. Today there are 24 million Christians in India and about 60 million Christians in China (which is equivalent to the whole population of the United Kingdom.) There could even be a whole lot more Christians there now if it wasn't for a tragedy that took place in the 13th century.
The gospel finally came to China in the 1200s with Marco Polo's father and uncle meeting the Kublai Khan. The Kublai Khan was so intrigued by the claims of Christ that he said, "You send me a hundred men skilled in your religion and I shall be baptized and all my subjects will study Christianity too. There will then be more Christians in the East than there is in the West." The two men eventually returned to Venice in 1269, carrying the request from the Kublai Khan to pope Gregory X for missionaries to be sent to instruct his people in Christianity and European habits. After quite a long time only two friars returned with Marco Polo to China but eventually they turned back because of fear. What an opportunity that was lost. Just this week my Uncle Don went into Southern Cross Hospital for a hip replacement and found that one of his nephews was there too with a serious health problem. This man had been quite resistant to the gospel in the past but my Uncle spoke to him with the small window of opportunity that opened up and led him to Jesus. The Holy Spirit didn't say that he must go up to the hospital and there he would find a relative and led Him to Jesus. Uncle Don's misfortune in having a hip replacement worked out for good though, with the saving of a soul. The timing was perfect.
Paul eventually had a vision of a man calling out to him to come to Macedonia, so he and Silas went over and there led a woman to Christ called Lydia who then went on to establish a Church in Thyatira her home town. Paul never saw Lydia in the vision, only a man calling for them to come over there which was all symbolic. One never knows what will come out of us obeying God like Paul or even my Uncle Don did.
"On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Pauls message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. If you consider me a believer in the Lord, she said, come and stay at my house. And she persuaded us." Acts 16:13-15
The saving of Lydia led to the establishment of the Church in Thyatira which then blessed the whole region. A great example of how one thing leads to another is the story of a man named Kimble who took a Sunday School class in which a few boys attended. Dwight Moody used to go there but wasn't really that interested and definitely wasn't saved. Dwight also worked in a shoe store and one day Mr Kimble thought he'd drop by and speak to Dwight about his soul. It was the right time for Dwight, for on that day he was saved. Dwight .L Moody then went on to preach to millions and in one of his meetings a minister called Meyer was impressed and decided to become and evangelist. In one of his altar calls a man called Chapman was saved. He later became a preacher and through his ministry a man called Billy Sunday was inspired to preach. Billy Sunday became a famous evangelist in the United States and it was because of him preaching in Charlotte that a group asked Mordecai Hamm to come to their town and hold a crusade. Mordecai preached the gospel there and in one of his meetings Billy Graham attended and he too was saved. One never knows the effect of just one soul coming to Christ and the 'domino effect' thereafter. Paul and Silas eventually found Lydia and led her to Christ with great effect.
When I was in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia I worked at an Art Studio in Bulawayo where I witnessed to a young girl called Bev Cammins who became a Christian. She was the daughter of a man who ran a pub in town that also provided accommodation. A young journalist came across from the UK to report on the war. He used to argue with Bev after work about the gospel as he was quite an intellectual. One day she invited him to come to our home group and it was there that he finally gave his heart to the Lord and was gloriously saved. He went on to Bible College and later returned to England to pastor a church and overseer a denomination there and led many souls to Christ. I would have never have guessed that Bev would have been part of the domino effect that took place. We must never despise the day of small things.
"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin," Zech 4:10 "Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase." Job 8:7
