acts 16:9 — go preach
"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" (Acts 16:9).
Preaching in the Plaza of La Rinconada, Peru (the world’s highest town)
This vision was a call from God, and that Macedonian Call was NOT to build churches, establish orphanages, dig wells, raise awareness about sex trafficking, facilitate illegal immigration, learn language and culture, virtue signal, or to promote tolerance. That call was "to preach the gospel unto them" (Acts 16:10). Let that sink down Laodicean Church:
"Come over and HELP us" (16:9) = "PREACH the Gospel unto them" (16:10). The Gospel is the help of all helps, and when it is preached, hearts will change. And when hearts change, NT churches are, by default, established (cf. Acts 16:5, 15) while folks are delivered (Acts 16:18).
If the preaching of the Gospel is not the means and the end, all the rest is vanity.
It's also interesting to note that when Paul and his companions were given the vision, "IMMEDIATELY we endeavored to go into Macedonia" (Acts 16:10). There was no "deputation" (I overheard someone ask a missionary once if he was on "deputation." He replied, "depu-WHAT?" LOL), fundraising, letters that read "We need to raise $7000/month before we can go to the field," or a pie graph of needs sent to local churches with big pieces for "retirement and health insurance," "head office," or "comfortable housing." They immediately went to where they were called, and the LORD met the needs through His people (Acts 16:5).
When God called Jamie and me to go on our first missionary journey back in 2003, we left the seminary in a rented moving van with no vehicle to our name, no income, and a certain uncertainty about where to even begin. Upon arrival at the destination where the small amount of stuff we possessed would be stored, we were escorted to the local Toyota dealership and told to pick out one of the brand new Tacomas. To this day, I don't know where the money came from. Once we "endeavored to go," then the pressing need was met. Some years later, I wrecked my truck and destroyed my bicycle while pulling out of the driveway on the way to begin another missionary journey for which there would likewise be no "deputation." I had already bade farewell to my wife and two small children who weren't at home at the time, so I called my mom. She drove out and looked at the damage, asking: "Is it drivable?" I affirmed so, and she responded, "I think you need not delay. Go, and the Lord will fix this" (How many can say they have mom's like this?) I hit the road and drove a thousand miles in the rain over the next 24 hours. I had to cover all the tracts and Bibles with thick plastic to keep the water out. Within a week, the truck was fixed (one thing I had forgotten on my to-do list before leaving town was cancel the collision on that truck, praise God), a mere $60 fixed the smashed trailer (which, to this day, does not leak a drop), and I had a brand new bicycle that didn't cost me a dime. That bicycle got me to the end of the Dalton Highway at the tip-top of Alaska before I gave it to a Chinese girl in Wasilla who needed something to go back and forth to school and work. And interestingly, when I pulled back into that same driveway eight months later with my pregnant wife and two small children, I looked at the checkbook and noticed that the balance was roughly the same as it had been the day I pulled out with a wrecked truck. I guess in these things we could have stopped to do some "deputizing," but boy, we would have missed big blessings that continue to make occasion for praising the One who calls. God never guides where He does not provide, so when called, immediately endeavor to go, and go to preach the Gospel!
But alas, how broken is the very structure of modern missions! How immoral is much of what the American Church believes to be pious! How blind are so many to the plain truth of the Scriptures!
"When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
