Bill Acton :: Acts 15:22 - 16:10 - The Will of God

Sermon Outline for Acts 15:22-16:10

The Will of God

1. The Principle of Unanimous Agreement – Act 15:22-29
   1. The Word of God
   2. The teaching through gifted men
   3. The Word of God and the mind of the Spirit are in unanimous agreement
2. Learning and Understanding the Word of God – Act 15:30-35
   1. Attention to the basics
   2. The waiting on God
   3. When the guidance is not clear
3. The Principle of Responsible Concern – Act 15:36
   1. They remembered the people
   2. They wanted to “see how they are”
   3. Concern for their growth
   4. They took the initiative
   5. They moved out in response to opportunity
4. The Principle of Separation – Act 15:37-41
   1. Agreeing to disagree
   2. Paul and Barnabas disagreed
   3. It was not good to remain in contention
   4. It was better to separate
5. The Principle of Flexibility – Act 16:1-5
   1. Titus - all Greek
   2. Timothy
      1. Father - Greek
      2. Mother – Jew
   3. Timothy is circumcised – Titus was not
   4. The governing principle – 1Co 9:22
6. The Inner Witness of the Spirit – Act 16:6-8
   1. Paul used common sense and went to the logical places
   2. The Holy Spirit did not allow them to go into Bithynia – Act 16:7
   3. The inner sense of confirming peace
   4. The inner sense of denial
7. The Sovereign Direction Through the Bible
   1. A dream
   2. A vision
   3. The immediate obedience
   4. The action of faith
8. Some More Principles
   1. The priority of God’s will involves relationship, not program
   2. The priority of God’s will involves being, not doing
   3. The will of God concerning character is universal – Rom 8:28-31; Gal 5:22-23
   4. The will of God concerning service is individual
   5. Discovering the will of God is primarily a matter of acceptance and not guidance
   6. God does not usually unfold the details of our future, but does lead day by day
   7. We should act on what we already know to be right
   8. We must live with expectancy toward God
   9. We should be willing to obey whatever
   10. We should not see conditions
   11. We must not avoid the responsibility of making decisions
   12. We have great freedom
   13. We must use our common sense
   14. We should not keep looking for subjective confirmation
   15. Don’t be overly suspicious about your desires
   16. Don’t think that right decisions bring exemption from problems
   17. Trust God’s over-all sovereignty to overlook all our wrongs