Acts: The Church on Mission Pastor Ray Peoples Sunday August 23, 2026 Acts 16 The Spirit can guide by closing doors Paul had a good plan but God said no There comes a point where discernment becomes disobedience Try this prayer for 7 days: Holy Spirit, make me sensitive to the people you put in front of me today "If I had ten more minutes, I would have spent more time in Acts 15, because what happens there helps us understand why Acts 16 matters so much. Before Paul ever receives the Macedonian call, before Lydia’s heart is opened, before the Philippian jailer asks, “What must I do to be saved?” the early church has to settle a massive question: Who is the gospel really for? Acts 15 records what is called the Jerusalem Council. The church is growing. Gentiles are coming to faith. People who were not Jewish, who had not grown up with the law of Moses, who had not practiced the customs of Israel, were hearing the gospel and believing in Jesus. Good things were happening. And that created a major controversy. Acts 15:1 says: “Some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers: ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved.’” In other words, they were saying: “Jesus is good—but Jesus isn’t enough.” Believe in Jesus, and become Jewish. Trust Christ, and keep these customs. Receive grace, and add the law. That is the issue sitting in front of the church. And Peter stands up and reminds them of what God has already done among the Gentiles. Acts 15:8–9 says: “And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he also did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.” Then Peter makes one of the clearest gospel statements in the entire discussion: “On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.” — Acts 15:11 That is the gospel. Saved by grace. Not grace plus circumcision. Not grace plus Jewish customs. Not grace plus religious performance. Not grace plus cleaning yourself up. Grace through Jesus Christ. Paul will later write in Ephesians 2:8–9: “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.” That is what the Jerusalem Council protects. The gospel is not: Jesus plus something. The gospel is: Jesus. This Council Opens the Door Wide Here is the challenge. Don’t put barriers in front of the cross that Jesus never put there. The council affirms that Gentiles do not need to become Jews in order to become Christians. And that matters tremendously when you turn the page into Acts 16. Because immediately after this council settles that issue, Paul heads back out on mission. And where does the Spirit send him? Farther into Gentile territory. Macedonia. Philippi. Europe. Lydia. The slave girl. The jailer. Acts 15 establishes the theology. Acts 16 shows the theology moving down the road. The church says: “The gospel is for the Gentiles.” Then the Holy Spirit says: “Good. Now go get them.” That is the connection. The Jerusalem Council isn’t just an administrative meeting. It becomes a launching pad for mission. And here is why that matters for us. Most of us reading Acts today are Gentiles. We were not born into Israel. We did not grow up under the Mosaic covenant. We are part of the “nations” that the Old Testament prophets said God would one day draw to Himself. So when you read Acts 15, you are not reading somebody else’s story. You are reading about the gospel door being declared wide open for people like us. Paul says in Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.” Everyone who believes. That includes Lydia. That includes the jailer. That includes the nations. That includes us. Ephesians 2 says that Gentiles were once: “without Christ… excluded from the citizenship of Israel… without hope and without God in the world.” But then Paul gives us two of the greatest words in Scripture: “But now…” Ephesians 2:13: “But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” We were far away. Jesus brought us near. We were outsiders. Jesus brought us in. We were without hope. Jesus became our hope. Not because we deserved it. Not because we inherited it. Not because we followed enough religious rules. Because of the blood of Christ. And this is where the gospel gets even more beautiful. Jesus doesn’t merely save Jews over here and Gentiles over there. He creates one new people. Ephesians 2:14 says: “For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.” The cross tears down the wall. The gospel creates a family made up of people from every background. Every nation. Every tribe. Every people. Every language. That is where Acts is heading. Be reminded, Acts 1:8 begins with: Jerusalem. Then Judea. Then Samaria. Then: the ends of the earth. Acts 15 says there are no second-class Christians among the nations. Acts 16 begins pushing the gospel even farther out. And eventually, generation after generation, somebody carried that gospel to us. The gospel reached us because the church refused to keep it to itself. Acts 15 did not end with: “Great! Gentiles can be saved.” It led directly to: “Then let’s go tell them.” That’s why Acts 16 happens. The Spirit sends Paul farther. And the same gospel that reached us is now entrusted to us. Matthew 28:19 says: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…” We are not the finish line of the gospel. We are supposed to be part of the next leg of the race. We received it. Now we carry it. We were once far off. Christ brought us near. And now, filled with the same Holy Spirit who directed Paul, we ask: “Who still needs to hear?” That is why the Jerusalem Council matters. Because Acts 15 declares: The gospel is for the nations. And Acts 16 responds: Then let’s go to the nations. And thank God they did. Because eventually— the gospel came to us. Therefore, let us continue the mission as well. Let us take his word to each and every person that we can."
