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THE ART OF COMING IN G17bPV08

Acts 8:26-40

One day a salesman stopped by a farm house. He knocked, and the lady of the house came to the door. “Is your husband home, Ma’am?” he asked. “He sure is, he is over at the cow barn.” She replied. “Well, I got something to show him, Ma’am. Will I have any difficulty finding him?” “You shouldn’t have any difficulties, he’s the one with the beard and mustache.”

In our series we are searching for evidence of divine “fingerprints” in our lives. As we search for God in the every day we should be able to find daily evidence of His hand on our lives. I trust you are recording your findings. There are 5 areas where we might search for His fingerprints:

· Any obvious answer to prayer.

· Any unusual linkage or timing.

· Any unexpected evidence of his care.

· Any timely insight into God’s Word that lifts or challenges.

· Any help to do his work in the world.

Today we focus on the second category: Any unusual linkage or timing.

When I was a student at Cincinnati Bible Seminary we attended chapel twice a week. I was in school five years and there were some great speakers who preached in Chapel. But I only remember one message. Phil Durham was not the greatest of speakers. He was not dynamic or particularly powerful. But I still remember the title of his message and its focus. It was entitled, “The Art of Coming In.” He told one of the truths of the ministry that often we find ourselves at a place and time that had to be orchestrated from above.

In 1970-72 I did a lot of traveling for the mission work in which we were engaged. I often flew into O’Hare in Chicago to switch planes. Several times in a row I bumped into someone I knew, a friend from Toronto, a college friend, a classmate from High School whom I had not seen in 20+ years. It got so that I began looking for them. As I recall, I had run across someone I knew 11 times in a row at O’Hare. I was flying to Kansas City for a mission’s conference at Manhattan Christian College. There was about an hour and a half layover. I looked at every face, but no one looked vaguely familiar. Finally, as I entered the plane, I thought, “the string is over.” There were about 140 seats in the plane. I was assigned one of the few empty seats on the isle. As I started to sit down, there in the window seat was an acquaintance, Charlie Faust from NYC, who was going to the same conference. We had a great trip!

I. THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES WITH GOD.

A. He is the one who opens and closes doors.

This is the message from the one who is holy and true. He is the one who has the key of David. He opens doors, and no one can shut them; he shuts doors, and no one can open them. Revelation 3:7 NLT

1. Paul recognized this truth.

I will be staying here at Ephesus until the Festival of Pentecost, for there is a wide-open door for a great work here, and many people are responding. But there are many who oppose me. I Corinthians 16:8,9 NLT

B. He provides the opportunities.

When I came to the city of Troas to preach the Good News of Christ, the Lord gave me tremendous opportunities. II Corinthians 2:12

1. In Acts 8 - Persecution had come on the church and the believers were scattered from Jerusalem. Wherever they went they told others about Jesus. Many were responding to Philip’s preaching, vs 12

2. In the midst of this great revival a seemingly strange thing occurred. An angel of God told Philip to go to a deserted area between Jerusalem and Gaza.

3. He obeyed and he encountered the treasurer of Ethiopia traveling in a carriage or chariot who was reading aloud from Isaiah 53.

4. The Holy Spirit told Philip to walk along side and Philip obeyed and he was invited up into the chariot where Philip told him the good news of Jesus, vs 35.

5. The man was convinced of his need for salvation and requested baptism and Philip immersed him. Vs 36,38.

6. Was this coincidence or the providential hand of the Lord?

The Don Burneys had served the Lord as missionaries in Japan for over 30 years. In their late 60’s and not in good health, when Russia opened up, they moved to central Siberia. They knew no Russian but they began to make friends. One lady heard the gospel and wanted to become a Christian, but she asked them to speak with her husband, Alexander. Their family lived in a village outside the city of Irkusk. When the Burneys began to speak with him he brought out a well-worn copy of the Bible, one of about 50,000 the Russian government had published in the 1950’s. He asked them many questions and they answered him. Then he said, “I have believed this for all my life but I have never met anyone else until now.” He and his household accepted the Lord, like they did in the book of Acts. He’d been waiting for the Burneys for all his adult life!

C. He prompts us through the Spirit.

Pat and I had gone to a one-day conference in Decatur. One of the presenters was Greg Asimakopolis. I knew of him through his writings. At lunch we sat down at the same table and struck up a friendship. I correspond with him over e-mail. 911 had occurred and I told him that Todd Beamer’s folks were in the same church as our daughter in Maryland. Greg made contact and has written about Todd’s faith in several different national magazines.

I. God’s Timing is perfect

Two ladies always talked through the morning song service, so the preacher tried an experiment. Before the two women arrived, he announced that everyone was to quit singing whenever he extended his arms. After a brief practice session, the service began. As the congregation sang, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way,” the pastor extended his arms. At that moment one golden voice announced, “I fry mine in Crisco.”

A. God is in charge of time.

1. He arranges the events of history to fulfill His will. When Abraham passed the test of sacrificing Isaac, immediately God showed him a ram caught in a thicket.

2. Joseph was thrown into a cistern by his jealous brothers. While they argued about his fate, at just the right time a caravan passed by and he was taken to Egypt as a slave. Two decades later when his brothers came for assistance, he was in charge of the food supply. “God sent me here for good.”

B. God is an on-time God.

But when the right time came, God sent His Son. Galatians 4:4 LNT

1. I sometimes say or do something that isn’t timely. It may not be wrong, but I may be told, “not now!”

2. God is never too early, He is never too late, He is always on time.

II. GOD STILL GUIDES HIS PEOPLE TODAY.

A. He guides through the Word.

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105 NLT

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do. II Timothy 3:16,17 NLT

B. He guides through His Spirit.

So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. Colossians 1:9 NLT

1. He guided Philip to the Treasurer in the desert. He guided Peter to the Roman Centurion, Cornelius. He guided the church at Antioch to send Paul and Barnabas as missionaries.

2. He wants us to “discern the will of God” (Rom 12:2 NEB). Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. They you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. Rom 12:2 LNT

3. He urges us to seek his wisdom – the course of action that will please Him. If you need wisdom – if you want to know what God wants you to do – ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer. Jas 1:5,6b NLT

C. He guides through prayer.

Terri Leathers handed this note to me. “My brother (who is in prison) had just written me a letter, wanting to know if here were any Bible studies he could do. I had been praying about it, not knowing where to even look. Then Sunday evening (9/14/03) Rod Farthing came and talked about ARM Prison Outreach and God gave me the answer. He alone is truly awesome, and answers our everyday prayers.”

III. BE OPEN TO GOD’S TIMING.

A. Recognize God’s providence.

Marcel Sternberger, a Hungarian immigrant, was a methodical man of nearly 50. He always took the 9:09 Long Island RR train from his suburban home to Woodside, NY, where he caught a subway into the city. The morning of Jan 10, 1948, Sternberger boarded the 9:09 as usual. En route, he suddenly decided to visit Laszlo Victor, an ill Hungarian friend in Brooklyn. He went to his friend’s house, and stayed until midafternoon. He then boarded a Manhattan-bound subway for his 5^th Ave. office. The car was crowded and no seats were available. But as he entered a man sitting by the door suddenly jumped up to leave and Marcel sat down. He said later, “I’ve been living in NY long enough not to start conversations with strangers. But, being a photographer, I have the peculiar habit of analyzing people’s faces, and I was struck by the features of the passenger on my left. He was probably in his late 30’s…his eyes seemed to have a hurt expression in them. He was reading a Hungarian-language newspaper. Something prompted me to say in Hungarian, “I hope you don’t mind if I glance at your paper.”

The next half-hour on the subway they talked. The man was Bela Paskin, a law student when WW II started. He’d been put into a German labor battalion and sent to the Ukraine. Later the Russians captured him and after the war he walked hundreds of miles to his home in Debrecen, Hungry. When he reached his home strangers were living there. His parents, siblings and wife were gone. As he was leaving a boy called to him and said, “Your whole family is dead. The Nazis took them and your wife to Auschwitz.” Paskin gave up all hope. He left Hungry and eventually immigrated to the U.S. in 1947.

The story seemed strangely familiar to Sternberger. He had recently met a young woman from Debrecen who had been in Auschwitz and was liberated by the Americans. Her family were all lost, she came alone to America in ’46. Her story had moved him so that he had written down her address and phone number, intending to introduce her to other Hungarians in NYC. He thought, “It seemed impossible there could be any connection…But I fumbled anxiously in my address book. I asked in what I hoped was a casual voice, ‘Was your wife’s name Myra?’” Bela Paskin turned pale, “Yes, how did you know?”

Sternberger suggested they get off the train. They went to a phone booth and dialed the number. It rang and Sternberger asked Myra to describe her husband. She gave a description and he asked where she had lived in Debrecan. She gave him the address. Asking her to hold the line he turned to Paskin and said, “Did your wife live on such-and-such street?” “Yes”, Bela exclaimed, white as a sheet and trembling. “Try to be calm,” Sternberger said, “Something miraculous is about to happen. Take this phone and talk to your wife.” The poor fellow was so excited he couldn’t talk coherently so Sternberger told Myra who also sounded hysterical to stay there and they would be over in a few minutes. He put Paskin in a taxi, directed the driver to the address, paid the fare, and said goodbye.

Later Myra recalled, “I remember only that when I left the phone. I walked to the mirror like in a dream to see if maybe my hair had turned gray. The next thing I knew…my husband is at the door coming toward me.” Her husband said, “Providence has brought us together. It was meant to be.”

Skeptics will say, “coincidence.” But was it chance that Marcel Sternberger chanced to meet Myra and write down her phone # and address? Was it chance that Marcel suddenly decided to visit his sick friend and take a subway line he had never ridden before? Was it chance that caused the man sitting by the door to rush out just as he came in? Was it chance that caused Bela Paskin to be sitting beside Sternberger, reading a Hungarian news paper? Or did God rid the Brooklyn subway that afternoon? (From story by Paul Deutschman in “Great Stories Remembered” published by Focus on the Family.)

B. Be aware of unusual linkage or timing.

1. When someone’s name comes to mind, is God prompting me to make contact?

2. Remember: The Spirit always leads us within the boundaries set by God’s Word.

3. He will sometimes lead us into trouble.

And now I am going to Jerusalem, drawn there irresistibly by the Holy Spirit, not knowing what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit has told me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. Acts 20:22,23 NLT

4. He will not forsake us in the midst of the trouble.

I will never fail you. I will never forsake you. That is why we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Hebrews 13:5,6 NLT

CONCLUSION: Learn the art of coming in and recognize God’s fingerprints when there is unusual linkage or timing. Be sensitive to the promptings of God and step through open doors.

December 21, 1996, well-known TV personality and scientist, Carl Sagen, who had opened viewers up to the wonder of the cosmos, at age 62, learned a new truth. He came to believe in the existence of our Creator God and recognized Jesus as Lord. Unfortunately, for him, it was too late. The Psalmist (ch 8) wrote about how when he looked at the heavens he recognized God’s hand. But Mr. Sagen missed it. So God, in His grace had allowed him to contact a fatal bone disease two years before. He sought to get Mr. Sagen’s attention. But as far as we know, he never accepted the salvation God offered. By the time he realized the truth about God and His salvation he had died and it was too late.

We are fortunate! It isn’t too late for us. We have the opportunity not only to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior but to discover God at work in our daily lives. Don’t be like Mr. Sagen and miss all the opportunities until it is too late. Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near…turn to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 53:6,7b NLT

The following material is provided to assist you in application of the sermon. You may go over this individually, share it with a small group or your family.

OPEN - Share your “story” with some others.

Tell about an unexpected trip you made. Who arranged it? What discoveries did you make?

What experiences have you had in regards to “bad timing” or “good timing”?

DIG – Look into the Bible’s “story” to discover insights that will help your understanding.

Read Acts 8:26-40 to answer the first three questions.

1. Why does the treasurer visit Jerusalem? (see Acts 2:1-11)

2. The man was reading Isaiah 53. How does Jesus fit the picture of the one described there?

3. What timely things occur in the story that indicate God’s hand?

4. What does God have to do with the opportunities we have to witness for Him? (see Revelation 3:7; II Corinthians 2:12)

5. What does Galatians 4:4 say about the providence of God and His ability to arrange the events of history?

6. In what ways does God guide His people? (note Psalm 119:105; II Timothy 3:6,17; Colossians 1:9; Romans 12:2; James 1:5,6)

REFLECT – Here you apply the “story” of the scriptures to your own life; to take personal inventory and share with others what you will do about it.

1. God leads us in various ways but His Spirit does so within the boundaries set by God’s Word. So how are we to respond when we are surrounded by difficulties of one kind or another? (see Acts 20:22,23; Hebrews 13:5,6)

2. Would you know the Bible well enough to address the treasure’s questions? How can you grow in faith so you will be prepared for similar opportunities?

3. What guidelines would you have for sensing whether or not God was prompting you to do something?

4. What of the following has happened to you? Did you consider it a coincidence or the hand of God? What difference would it make in how you looked at it?

Someone’s name came to mind and you decide to call or contact them and the result was you were about to encourage or help them in some way.
You were far away from home and just “happen” to bump into someone you knew.
You were scheduled to be somewhere but were unable to go and as a result you were spared some hurt or disappointment.
You prayed for something and your prayer was answered in a positive way.

5. If we believe we are being led by the Lord and discover ourselves in a difficult situation, what would be the best way to respond?

6. If we respond to a difficult situation in an inappropriate way does God change? Does His love for us change? How would you look for His fingerprints in such a circumstance?

Special Assignment: If someone’s name comes to mind this week, consider the possibility that God is prompting you to get in touch with them. Determine to be a “carrier” of God’s love to them.

Additional Insight: There are no coincidences with God.

Catherine Marshall wrote a book on the life of her late husband, Peter Marshall. She wanted to know more about Peter's stepfather, Peter Findley, but did not know how to obtain it. One night while dining with a couple of new friends, she told them of her desire to learn more about his stepfather. One of the friends replied, “Certainly you couldn't be speaking of Peter Findlay?" "Yes, why?” she answered. “I worked beside him for years in the same office at Stewarts and Lloyds in Glasgow. I knew him well. What do you want to know?” the man said. Of the hundreds of thousands in the Washington, D.C., area, the one man who knew Peter Findlay invited Catherine to join them for dinner.--Glenn Pease, Coincidence or Providence?--faithmania.com

In Acts 12:1-17 we read a dramatic story about God’s timing. Sometimes the church goes through hard times. James, had been put to death. King Herod had Peter put in prison, and guarded him with 4 squads of 4 soldiers. 16 beefy guards were making sure this apostle stayed put. While all this was going on, the church was praying for Peter.

The night before his trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. An angel of the Lord came, “Peter, wake up.” Peter got up. The chains fell off. “Peter, get dressed. Put on your shoes. Follow me.” Peter thought he was dreaming. He got up and passed the guards and came to the gate. It opened by itself. Peter walked down one street and suddenly he realized, God has delivered me.

He headed back to the house where there was a prayer meeting going on. Peter knocked and Rhoda, a servant girl, answered. She recognized Peter and was so overjoyed with excitement that she left Peter at the door and told the others that Peter was back. While they had been praying for Peter, he was at the door knocking. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Not with God.

Peter kept knocking and finally made it in. He quieted the believers and told them what happened.

God is never surprised. When you think you’re experiencing a coincidence, you’re probably really seeing God’s fingerprints on your life.

Learn these important lessons to you as you keep “dusting for fingerprints.”

1. No matter what, keep praying. Even when it seems hopeless, don’t give up, keep praying. Sometimes we wonder if we’re ever going to reach the oasis of answered prayer. But if we quit too soon, we’ll miss out on the beautiful scene God has for us just over the next hill.

So remember, no matter what, keep praying.

2. Don’t be surprised to hear a knock on the door now and then. Those early believers thought Rhoda must be mistaken. Sometimes we’re surprised that God answers our prayers. Remember, don’t be surprised to hear a knock on the door now and then.

3. Make sure you’re not just going through the motions. If we don’t expect God to answer we need to ask ourselves, “Why are we praying?” Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7, NIV).

4. Share the good news when you find it. Peter made sure that the leaders of the church were informed about his release from prison. Don’t keep God’s blessings to yourself.

“In every situation there are two factors: there is what happens, and there is how we take what happens. How we take what happens goes back to what kind of person we are, and what kind of belief we have about life as a whole. If the whole scheme of life is not a scheme at all but a chaos, if there is no thread of purpose running through it all but only confusion, then our misfortunes are just part of the general mess. But if God IS, and if life is His creation, with meaning in the middle of it, then we may hope to discover a pattern which will both give coherence to it all and help to interpret any one event in the unfoldment.” – Sam Shoemaker, quoted in I Stand By the Door.