Helped by a Hinderance | Acts 16:9

There's an exegelic invitation I want to extend to you. Pray that you accept. You've been invited to fellowship with me in the book of Acts. In the book of Acts, chapter number 16, See, I told y'all y'all would have been doing it. Y'all just happened to do that last one. I was, I was saying it slow just to, just to test it. Y'all haven't been standing up once I say the verse. Y'all just did them different times. Acts chapter number 16. See how quick y'all made it up last week? Try to act like I'm cuckoo. Acts chapter number 16. See, somebody got a hymnal kind of thing. Acts chapter, chapter number 16. Somebody fix the clock too. Acts chapter number 16, want to go down to verse number 9. Word of God reads, during the night Paul had a vision with a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, cross over to Macedonia and help us. You may be seated. We thank God for his word. For just a few moments this morning, I want to lift up the subject: Help by a Hindrance. Help by a Hindrance. Learned a little bit about the hatching process of chickens. And Tony, what I discovered is that when chickens are testing to see if they're prepared to come out of the shell, they pick on the shell, and if the shell does not crack The shell has a mechanism to hinder the chick because the chick is not ready anatomically. The chick is not strong enough to crack through the shell until it has the lung capacity and the ability to survive once it's hatched. Trying not to shout off that because that tells us that what looks like, Dr. Mason, it's blocking the chicklet, it's really protecting the chicklet. And letting it know that the reason that you can't come out is because you're not quite ready and strong enough. And if you come out too early, you will die when you come out. But by divine design, the chick is prevented from coming out Because if it comes out too soon, it's going to be for his demise. That's how God does us today, brothers and sisters. There are many mechanisms in life, parameters in life that are set to protect us, and many times it's frustrating because it looks like it is a hindrance to us. But I came this morning to let us know that sometimes God has designed certain things to hinder us, not to hurt us, but to help us.

And there are many nos that we are experiencing right now.

And many of us this morning are confused because God has not said yes to us. Many of us are perplexed because it seems like there are barriers in our life that are blocking us from being in the place in which we desire to be.

Many of us this morning going into this Thanksgiving season You left your Thanksgiving at home because God has not released you to the place and the opportunity that you desire in your life. And you don't want to admit it this morning, but I preach it anyway for you, because many of us are hot with God, mad with life, thinking that there is something that we are missing. Thinking that there is something wrong that we've done, thinking that there is something more that we need to achieve. But God's word to us this morning is that the reason that the hindrance is there is because the hindrance is helping you, and God is using the nose to help navigate you to the place that your life will thrive in. I will say that one more time because it felt good. God not only uses yes, but God can use no to help navigate you to the place where you need to be. And when you get to the place that God has called you to be, you will look back and say, God I thank you for my yeses, but I also thank you for the nos, because it was in the nos that drove me to purpose. And when I thought that life was working against me, I discovered that it was God working in my favor. And I want to ask Pilgrim Rest this morning Have you ever been able to look back over your life and those things that you just had to have, those opportunities that you just had to have, those jobs that you just had to have, and it did not work out then, but few years down the road you were able to discover that God thank you? Because if you would have allowed the yes right then, I would not be where I am now. I'm in a place of fulfillment. I'm in a place of purpose. I'm in a place of destiny. And perhaps you may be in a season of no now, but let me give you a prophetic declaration this morning that the no has a purpose that is going to change not only your life, but it's going to change the life of other people around you.

And here's what I came to preach this morning. Here's my thesis for this morning: God's grace blocks what you thought was binding you so that it can birth what will bless you.

That sounded real good, didn't it? God's grace blocks what could have bounded you in order to birth something that will bless you. In other words, God's no has a purpose, and the purpose is to bless you and those around you. So if you're in a season of yes, I will bless the Lord, but also even if you're in a season of no, I will bless the Lord because there is something better and greater that God has in store for my life.

I'm where I want to be. Let me unpack a little bit of this text here and see if I can find my way to 167. This text teaches us this morning that God uses hindrances to help us by giving us what's called a regulated mobility. A regulated nobility. Here's the unpacking of the text. I put it in a different place. In the unpacking of this text, Paul, in chapter 16 of Acts, is trying to pursue what we call his second missionary journey. He's already completed the first one, so now it's time for the second missionary journey. Paul has a crew of men with him, and the text says— Luke tells us that Paul wanted to go preach in Asia, but the Spirit of God blocked. Paul didn't stop there.

Paul did want to go to Bithynia.

But the Spirit of Jesus blocked that.

Paul and his men then end up in a place called Troas. And in this port town called Troas, when Paul went to sleep, a vision came to Paul of a man in Macedonia saying, man, why don't you come over here and help us. And based upon those notes, and based upon the vision, the doors that God closed are what directed Paul and his men to Macedonia, where God really wanted him to be. And many times, brothers and sisters, the harsh reality is is that we love God because he opens doors that no man can close. We love a God who can open doors, and we love God who can make a way, and we love God who can elevate us whenever we're ready for it. But here is what we also need to thank God for: when I'm going to places Even though they're good places, God is such a sovereign God that he will say no to what's good because he wants to say yes to what's best. And I want to tell somebody today, be encouraged when God says no, because it's not a no saying that you are bad, but sometimes they know it's saying that God has something better for you.

Notice this, regulated mobility, right? Honorable. Here's what blessed me. Paul received a no because at least Paul was trying.

If Paul and company were not trying, there would have been no need for the note. But since Paul and company were at least trying, at least active doing something, God says, just because you active, I'm gonna give you divine direction. Here it is.

What are you trying to say, Gabby? Many of us are asking God, God, what do you have for me? And the reason you hadn't heard an answer, because you ain't start moving nowhere yet.

Perhaps God may be saying, if you at least start doing something I'll tell you if that's the wrong way or the right way, but where you at right now is not the right way, definitely. So the only way you'll kind of start exploring what God has is at least take one step. You ain't gonna know if you can get employed if you don't fill out an application. Go to the track or the gym at least one time if you want better health.

Why it got so quiet right there?

God blesses those who are mobile.

And what, what God does with the mobility. Here it is, here's what blesses me, because we're going to see the difference between us and Paul and company in this text. Notice this: Paul tried to go preach in Asia, God says no.

Paul then again Tries to go preach in Bithynia. God says no. Paul then again went to Troas, and that's where God spoke.

Notice this, God saw fit that where Paul did not get stuck By nose.

You preaching good, Gavin Robert Hanks. How many nos have made us stagnant? How many obstacles have made us stop? How many problems have made us stop moving? How many people now are stuck in nothingness because of the no? But God says, if you can keep moving even when you have a no, I will take you to a place where you are finally here, where exactly you're supposed to go.

Sometimes Rejection is the direction.

You curious about, should I do that? Try it and see. And if it don't work, go somewhere else. And if it don't work there, try something else. God's saying, don't stay stuck right there, but keep moving and watch how I let my—

your nose direct you.

Don't you let a no put you in a corner crying. Don't you let a no put you somewhere stuck in your depression. God says use that no, put it in your pocket and say, I'ma take this no and let it fuel me to where God wants me to be. I don't know who I'm talking to, but you almost tried to quit because you heard a no. You almost wanted to give up because you've been hearing nothing but no. But God sent me on assignment this morning to say that every obstacle that's in front of you, God said, if you got to go around it, go around it. If you got to go over it, go over it. If you got to go under it, go under it. But make sure you keep on moving because it's obvious that place is not the one right now.

And I want to shout this morning because nos have often stopped us.

Can I give us a history lesson? To God's African American people, they told us no, we can't do this. They told us no, we can't do that. But look at us now. Our forefathers heard those nos and said, you don't have to give it to us, but if God be for us, Who can be against us? They got on their knees and said, God, where you want us to move to next? And how dare us in 2025, because my child ain't starting on the football team, I don't want to pull them out of school. The devil is alive. See what God has for us now.

And too many people are saying no behind silly stuff. Say it again, Gavin.

We mad with churches, we mad with government, we mad with schools behind stuff that don't amount to a hill of beans. But God says, how about you just keep moving and trying something and watch how I bless you?

Here's the— what's unique about how there is— here it is— actually theology in geography.

They're in Asia Minor.

I wish I had a map. They're in Asia Minor, which is in the far west corner of the continent of Asia. It's modern-day Turkey. And, and, and in that area, that's where Paul had already had success. He'd already preached in the area of Galatia.

He had already preached in an area— it seems like a prime place. Paul says it worked before, so let me go back again and see if they invite me again next year to preach revival. They let me run 5 nights last year, I shouted them crazy, they had the mourners bench full, so let me go next year and see if I can preach it again. But God said, I don't want you to go where you've already been, I want you to keep on exploring. Because just because it worked then doesn't mean it will work now.

I mean, so if you—

if I had a map, I can show it to you. Paul went, tried to preach Asia Minor, tried to go that way. Then he tried to go to Bithynia, and then he ended up in Troas.

Let me give you the secret. By Paul ending up in Troas. Paul was surrounded by places in which he had already been rejected by God.

Have you ever been in a place where you not just at a no, but you're surrounded by rejection? And Troas, here it is, was the only option left before he hit the coast.

So in other words, surrounded north, east, and south, there was nothing but places in which God had already rejected him. And then in a dream, in Troas— preach, Gavin—

That's when God spoke.

At that point, I've wrestled with this text because, God, why did you wait until Paul was in Troas, where he was surrounded by the other places, where he can't pick another direction because you done already shut him down in the surrounding area?

So God, why you didn't just speak to him early? We could have saved a lot of time.

Sea travel.

And if it was 2025, we could have saved a lot of gas if you'd have been showed me this vision. I wrestled with that, and here's what God revealed to me.

Perhaps, Gavin, I may have already been talking.

It's not written in the text, I'm just supposing. Perhaps God had already been talking. But since Paul saw options with his eyes, Paul said, since I can see options, then I'm gonna try the options that I can see.

Woo! How many of us today—

God has allowed us— I'm preaching good today. God has allowed you to exhaust all of your options. Y'all remember that woman, issue of blood?

She tried all them doctors, tried all her money, and then she went to Jesus. I want to ask us today, while you are exhausting your options, when is the last time that you tried to exalt the Savior?

Paul's in Troas, and it's something about being in a place and being mobile to a place where you have no other options that you sure can hear from God then.

But here's what blesses me. Here's what blesses me.

Even when I have no more options that are visible, I still have a vision and a voice that can give me the victory. It's at that place where Paul had no other place to go that a voice from God said, Paul, you think you out of options. But I want to take you over the sea. And I know that it looks like that there is nothing over the sea, and that looks like the difficult route. But if you hear my voice, if you still trust in me, if you listen to me even when you're out of options, you will discover that what looks like it's impossible to cross, I've already given you the power. And child of God, when God says that you are out of options God says, let me be your option, and as long as I'm your option, I can do the impossible when you don't have no options.

Y'all know when I'm preaching, I always have these strange conversations with people. People and inanimate objects always want to talk to me when I'm preaching.

Y'all know who want to talk to me now?

Baby Gavin.

Yeah, me.

Baby Gavin wants to talk to me right now. The baby Gavin wants to talk to the grown man Gavin right now.

Can I let you in our conversation?

Baby Gavin says, preacher, let me help you with this.

You've grown to be a handsome man, by the way. That's what Baby Gavin told me. You're gonna be a handsome and smart, intelligent man, by the way, and your folk gonna appreciate your preaching one of these days.

I said, thank you, Baby Gavin.

But it says, let me go back to January the 4th, 1988.

That's the day that you were born. I say, how are you going to show me this message in the day you were born?

He says, on that day, this is what I did.

I was inside of your mother, and I had no knowledge about entering through into the world.

So what happened When I had no options, I tried to go right and I couldn't go right. I tried to go back and I couldn't go back. I tried to go left and I couldn't go left. But let me tell you what happened. There is something called the canal, which was really the only way to go., and I didn't have no clue of where to go. So the only place I could go was the only place left to go. And when I went to the only place left to go, I ended up right where I needed to be. Child of God, let me tell you that I'm not the only one who has that testimony. Many of us tried to go this way, it didn't work. We tried to go that way, it didn't work. We tried to go backwards, it didn't work. But God said, I am the only way to go, and if you just go the only place you can go, you will find that's the only place that I designed for you to go. How many of you today have tried alcohol and you tried drugs and you tried this and you tried that doctor, you tried that job, and you found out that the only thing you needed was a man named Jesus?

Tried to go all over the place.

Paul tried to go all these places, but when he got to Troas, the only place he could go was the place that God wanted him to go.

And I thank God today that when God leaves you with no more options, that's the option you needed. I feel the time getting away from me. You have not only regulated mobility, but lastly, Tex gives us what's called a resurgent mentality. A mentality that resurges. Here it is. All these notes, all these notes. Paul and company kept moving. The miracle is not just that Paul kept moving, but the other group with him. Because God has blessed me at a young age to always be in positions of leadership, and the moment people have an inkling that something ain't going right, everybody all of a sudden got something to say. I'll save that for a different day. But these people kept on moving even though they were getting rebuked. I told you that in these other areas, they were places in which Paul had either one, already preached and had success. So in that, God is saying, I don't want you to go where you've already been I want to give you a new territory.

And Bithynia—

it's believed that God did not call Paul to preach in Bithynia. He was saving that later on for Peter. So sometimes the rejection is not because you're not qualified, but God has that prepared for something else. And there's another area which Paul wanted to go to, honorable Here's the thing, Paul couldn't get mad then because through that delay, God called Paul back to that area and said, even though I want you to preach that now, let me take you somewhere else, and if you stay faithful, I'll let you return to that and you can have it later on. Oh Lord, y'all missed it.

One place Paul had already been successful. Another place it wasn't Paul's, it was Peter's. Another place it wasn't just no, it was not yet. So you just keep moving and you'll discover you've already had success. God gonna use somebody else, and if you just wait, I'll bring you back to it.

But let me land right here. Give me 5 more minutes. Let me land right here. I told you that Paul was now at the seaport in Troas. I'm sorry, I'm boring y'all with all this history. At the seaport Troas, they were at what's called the Aegean Sea, and the Aegean Sea separated Asia from Europe. Dr. Mason, up until this point, the gospel was just in the area of Asia Minor, but people hadn't been crossing the sea before, and surely not for the preaching of the gospel.

So God is telling Paul Paul, I don't want you to do the familiar. I'm calling you to do the fantastic.

Preach yourself happy, Gavin. Sometimes— I wish I had a haircut—

sometimes the no is not trying to block you. The no is trying to expand you because your mind is too limited and stuck on what you can see. But if you can realize that you can serve a God who can do exceeding abundantly above all you can ask or think, then you will learn to trust God better.

God, I can see God watching Paul. Look at me, I don't want you over there, Paul.

Back this way, Paul. Back this way, Paul.

Finally, now cross that sea.

Go to where no man has gone before. Because just because no one's been there before don't mean that they're not worthy of my gospel. Y'all want to know what you need to thank God for? Here it is, Tony. Since you said tell, I'm gonna tell you. God is in the season of somebody—

listen to me well, listen to me, fix my glasses so you can see— God in this season perhaps may be telling you no. Or maybe hindering things. Hear me, to prevent you from the sin of self-disrespect. Right, right. Paul, why Limit yourself to go places that you've already conquered. Why limit yourself to places that are not your assignment?

Because if you go to where you're not assigned, you would be disrespected. Paul, you think that I am limited? To what you've already been able to accomplish?

Paul, you don't think that I can do something new in you?

Pilgrims, you think that your best days are behind you? You think success only looks like what you've already accomplished. You're scared to make a move because it's unfamiliar to you.

Don't you disrespect yourself like that, child of God.

Don't you disrespect yourself by believing that God has already shown you the best it could be. But God is saying in this season that if you trust me, I can take you to a new territory.

Let me show you one more thing. I, I, that's a lot to unpack. I need to do a revival on this text alone. Here it is. Over in Europe was Greece and more advanced civilization. And more political power. Y'all missed everything.

And just because they looked too advanced, they were starving for the gospel. And God says, Paul, you're looking at what they have on the outside, but I put something in you that can influence those who have a lot on the inside. And so if you allow me to expand your territory, I will put you in the presence of those who have wealth and knowledge, that you will not only help them, but they would be able to help you. Please ask me, what's up? What was over there in Macedonia? There was this area in this church that was founded by Paul called Philippi. And if you go read the book of Philippians, Paul ended up thanking them. Because you know why Paul had to thank them? Because when God— when Paul submitted to God, the church at Philippi was so benevolent and loving to Paul that they just kept on giving to Paul. That when Paul wrote to the epistles, he said, I just called to tell y'all thank you because y'all kept on giving to me. And all I'm trying to say, that if you trust God even when you can't trace God, God can lead you right into provision. I'm arguing this text and y'all ain't saying nothing.

You open the mind, open them up, and perhaps God— every— no, I want somebody right now to reflect on things that are hindering you. You think they hindering you, you think they putting you back, you tried this and tried it and you got a no here and no say thank you. Thank you, Holy Spirit, because you're bending me to a place of provision.

The mighty Miss— I close—

the mighty Mississippi River, which we all know runs down the middle of this country from Minnesota down to the Gulf of Mexico. I know what I said when I said the Gulf of Mexico too. Goes from Minnesota down to the Gulf of Mexico. The mighty Mississippi. You know what blesses me about the Mississippi River is that it does not just run, but it provides. The Mississippi, if it was just running off the side it wouldn't bend through a lot of geographical regions that it can bless. And the reason, if you look at this economically, that a lot of area land by the Mississippi is flourishing and people have jobs is because a river bends to a place where it's needed. Good night.

The mighty Mississippi teaches us a lesson that sometimes life may bend me, but if I let life bend me, life is going to bend me to where I'm beneficial. And when life bends me to where I'm beneficial, I can be a blessing for God's people and everybody around me. And that's my word for you on my way up 167. If life is bending you Trust God through the bending because God is putting you exactly where you're needed for his kingdom glory.

That's all I got to tell you today. But there's a blessing when you get redirected. I know it's frustrating, I know it's tiresome. You're ready to tell— you ready right now to go on Facebook and tell folks about how I knew what nobody— you think your family and friend got your back, you know, it's the holiday. See, we get real bad about this now.

You know, uh, that's why I don't deal with my family now, because when I was trying to come up, my family told me no, I don't need none of that.

God said yes you do, because the hindrance is helping you. Hit delete and go tell them I love you. People who reject you, tell them I love you too, and say, God, show me what you want from me. Because if you— if I trust you, it's not about my pleasure, it's about me pleasing you. And when I please you, you give unto me that in which you want me to have. Give God glory if he spoke into your life today. Jesus is all for this morning. He's the one— I wish I had time because so much in this text you have to have homiletical discipline. You can't— as a preacher, you can't just grab everything you see in the text. A lot of times you have to put something in the refrigerator. And if you notice, Luke does something. He says the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, locked in one verse. Then he said something unique. Spirit of Jesus locked in the next one. Jesus, I thought you were dead. He said, no, I got up and caught him with my hands.

And so Luke says the Spirit of Jesus let us know that he's still alive.

I'll preach that again one day.

I'm gonna preach that again one day.

Luke, Luke, if you go read the Greek, it says the Spirit of Jesus, the, the Holy Spirit, in verse 1. In one of the verses, very next verse, Spirit of Jesus. It was something different. Some believe that Jesus— that Paul actually saw the Christ again. He was— let us know he lives. He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. The reason you can survive the bending, because he lives. He's talking right now. He's available right now, and he's directing this way. Let's give God praise.