Sermon - The Holy Spirit Leads Us Through Uncertainty - Acts 16:6-10

So He's, the Lord is shepherd and we are the sheep in His pasture, and it, it goes without saying, by the, by the nature of this relationship, He leads us and we are led by Him, not the other way around.

And when we follow Him, and when we're in His care, we're in the most, we're in the safest place and we're at the most secure place.

The only problem in this relationship dynamic, Him as a shepherd, us as a sheep, the only problem is that the sheep tend to go astray and turn to their own ways.

So for us, the sheep, um, it seem, it seems like an easy thing.

All we need to do is to just stay in His care, just follow His lead, and just pay close attention to His voice.

It's true, it's an easy thing, but the problem a- appears when, when we're following Him, not knowing exactly where He's leading us.

The confusions arise there.

For example, "Lord, I thought we were going to point A, but I think you're, we're going to point B.

Are you actually leading me here now? Are you sure you're not, you're not absent?" The questions about His lead, His care, and even, even the questions about His existence, His pre- His presence in our life begin to arise.

So scenario's may be like, "Lord, I thought you were leading me, so I get married in my 20s, and then build up a godly family with my spouse and with many children.

But now look at myself and my life.

It seems f- pretty far away from that.

Are you actually leading me here?" And another scenario may be, "God, I thought you were leading me to a frontline missions field when I'm most physically strong, but I'm just waiting here for your call for how many years? God, did you maybe forget about me?" And the scenarios, scenarios will be different for, um, each one of us, but I'm, but I'm sure a lot of us have experienced that kind of confusion, uh, since we decided to follow Jesus.

I know that.

I know that because I meet with, um, a lot of brothers and sisters who's going through the kind of questions.

And when you're in that situation, when you're going through that kind of confusion, the easiest thing to do, the easiest thing to do, is to just stop following the shepherd and just begin walking our own ways.

That's an easiest thing to do.

And saying things like, "You know what? I know, I know where I should be going, and the, the shepherd doesn't seem to know it.

Sometimes He even feels absent in my life.

So I'm just gonna stop following Him.

I'm just gonna stop following all the sheep around me.

I'm just gonna take a shortcut to where I should be going." It's an easiest thing to do, and that's exactly why the scripture describes us, the sheep, as the sheep that go astray and turn to their own ways.

In today's text, in today's text, Paul and his team are going through one of the scenarios.

They thought they were doing A But the Spirit is leading them to a completely different direction than their expectation.

And in that, they do not turn to their own ways, but keep on following the lead of the Holy Spirit, even through the uncertainties.