Today's message comes from our most popular series called Legacies of Light. Stephen has a new book. Legacies of Light Volume two We're sending that as a gift to those who make a special donation to our ministry during this series. We need your financial support to make this ministry possible, and this new book is our way of saying thank you. I've put a link in the show notes that gives you all the information you need.
Now, here's Steven. Dr. McCollum. responded Well, I suppose it's just as close to heaven in India as it is in America. That great answer.
So he He's going to take this step of faith.
So, when the church celebrated his retirement at age 72, instead of traveling to Florida, He sold his furniture and his automobile Packed everything he had left in a trunk. had just enough money to buy a one-way ticket. The pop-up. If you were to interview an elderly Apostle Paul. And you were to ask him What do you think God is going to do with you in the last lap?
The last chapter, so to speak. of your life.
Well, even though Paul was in his fifties, and the average lifespan In the Roman Empire was sixty. As you read his biographical statements in his letters, he was always making plans. He had plans. In fact, one of the most touching paragraphs in the Apostle Paul's letters. Is a paragraph that shows up in his letter to the Roman believers.
in chapter 15. And he writes with great transparency, and he just sort of bears his heart. with them and he says this But now since I no longer have any room for work in these regions. And I have longed for many years. to come to you.
Stop for a moment. He has a great desire, this longing. To visit the believers in Rome. And so far, so far in his journey, he's been hindered. He doesn't give us the details.
But he simply writes here in verse... 22, I have so often been hindered from coming to you. In other words, I've made plan. But something got in the way. You know, more than likely you could testify to something similar.
Perhaps in your own life. No matter how sincere your desire. No matter how clear the impression was from the word, you believe from the Spirit of God, no matter how carefully you planned everything out, no matter how right it was, no matter how good and godly it was. No matter how wonderful it would be if... It happened.
And it just wouldn't happen. It doesn't happen.
Something hinders it.
Something gets in the way. You know, we tend to think that whatever gets in the way has nothing to do with God. Because we would expect that he would, you know, take his royal insignia and stamp. his sovereign signature on our plans. But God doesn't allow often.
Things to occur. And for Paul, if you are older in the faith, you know it included hardship and. beatings and imprisonment and A couple of shipwrecks. I mean, those are hindrances, aren't they? But I don't want you to miss the language here.
He's languishing here in this appeal. He's not trying to be dramatic. He's simply unveiling his heart. He says in verse 23, I have longed for many years. to come to you.
Get that many. Years. Maybe you've longed for something. Six months, a year, maybe longer than that. It might feel like years.
Maybe that job promotion coming through or that addition of a child to your family, finding a cure, maybe some Some relief. Seeing that closed door finally open, and you're ready to celebrate, it just doesn't open. Maybe watching. Justice finally being handed down because you've been wronged. Maybe it's financial relief.
The truth is, we all have items on our list, don't we? We all have plans like that. Maybe you've waited for years. And it is yet to happen. Think about this.
The Apostle Paul has just told us that he has been longing for most of his Christian life. to visit Rome. Paul is You've studied his life. You know, he wasn't just a small town guy, he was really kind of a big cities guy. He loved to go to the major crossroads.
I love the fact that he says here earlier that You know, there's nothing left for me here in this region. I love that statement. I'm done. I've got to go somewhere new, somewhere fresh. And he's in this last lap now of his life.
He wants to go to Rome. And when he finally arrives, and he does get there. But when he arrives, it isn't like he planned. He doesn't arrive as a pioneer. He arrives as a prisoner.
In chains. The ministry he envisioned that he would one day have, if I could ever get to Rome. It's not going to take place. Like you planned. There's something else that's easy to miss.
Paul doesn't just want to go to Rome. He wants to stop over. in Rome. Maybe a long weekend or two. Then he wants to repack his bags.
and take off on the most important leg of his journey. I'll follow this. Paul writes in the latter part of verse 23: I have longed for many years. to come to you I hope to see you in passing. As I go to Spain, And to be helped on my journey there by you once I have enjoyed your company for a while.
He wants to go to Rome, and let me tell you, he really wants to go on. To Spain. Rome was a stopover. Rome was a pit stop. Rome was Buckeys.
On the way to Texas. Got a new illustration now.
Some barbecues, some banana pudding, use those perfectly clean bathrooms. I'm on my way. Yeah.
Now if you fill in the blanks. Paul is heading to Jerusalem. He's got a special benevolence offering for the hard-pressed. famine-stricken believers there in that city. And then after that.
He's going to drop that off. At Rome.
So Paul explains here in verse 28: when therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, that special benevolent offering. I will leave for Spain. I will. Note that. I got plans.
I will Leave. For Spain. By way of you. He's going to spend some time with the believers in Rome, but what he's longing for is. for that ship to sail.
Now, why Spain? I've had a lot of time to question that and wonder. Why Spain? The only other person in the entire Bible who ever references wanting to go to Spain. Is Jonah?
That's because God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. and deliver a warning. You don't want to go to Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. It was a demon-worshiping, brutal.
Nation that would impale the severed heads of their enemies on stakes and parade them. They would impale people on stakes and light them on fire. Nero will We'll resurrect that. Horrible practice 800 years later in Paul's day, and do that to Christians. Nineveh was feared, it was hated by the Israelites.
I mean, the last revival Jonah ever wanted to be involved in was a revival in Nineveh.
So he runs, the text tells us, from the presence of God.
Now, Jonah doesn't think he's going to run away from an omnipresent God. I think the Jerusalem translation, New Jerusalem translation, clarifies it by telling us he's running from the service. Of the Lord. In other words, Jonah then and there says, I resign. You're asking too much of me.
Now he was already a famous prophet in Israel. He had predicted the word of God earlier recorded for us, and it had come true. He's not going to deliver the word of God now because he didn't want to do it to the Ninevites.
So he's effectively turning in his prophet's badge, he's quitting the ministry. Rather than fulfilling the ministry, the plans of God. are not his plans. And he's not going to go along. with God's plans.
So he heads. twenty miles south to Joppa to catch a boat. Any boat's going to do as far as We can imagine. And when you know it, there's a boat heading. for Tarshush.
That's a town on the western coast of what we know of as Spain. It is considered the edge of the known world. He's going to the edge of the world. That's the boat for me. I'm going to travel as far away from Nineveh as possible.
I'm going to go to the very edge of the world. He's done. This is where Paul wants to go. the edge of the world. And Jonah wants to go to Spain.
to get out of the ministry. Paul wants to go to Spain to start a new ministry. Jonah's running. From God. The apologist to run for God.
Jonah wants to go there out of the will of God. Paul wants to go there in the will of God for good and godly reasons. Neither man, of course. makes it to Spain. Yeah.
God had surprising plans. Jonah ends up. All right. Inside a whale. And Paul ends up inside a jail.
Makes me wonder in my life and in yours. Are you heading? to Spain. Today Like Jonah? Or like Paul.
Do you want to serve God? or avoid God. You know, it's possible to make plans to serve God, and it's possible to make plans to sin. Against God. For Jonah, Spain was personal rebellion.
For Paul Spain was a ministry vision. But why Spain? You haven't answered me yet. Why Spain? Well, I think Paul simply wanted to go to the ends of the earth.
Just as Jesus had commanded. You remember before Jesus ascended? He said, go and make disciples. Where are you going to go?
Well, don't sit around here on your hands. It's my translation. Get moving. Take it into Jerusalem and then Judea and then Samaria and go to the ends of the earth. Paul said, I want to do that.
I want to go to the ends of the earth. and make some new disciples there. But God wouldn't allow it. As I've compared these men in my study for both Jonah and Paul, One of them is running in sin, the other one is running to serve, and God says no to both of them. It's the grace of God in their lives and in your life and mine.
Because we sin against it. And we serve him. God Speaks through his prophet Jeremiah, a verse you're familiar with, more than likely, to a very disobedient nation. of Israel. It's applicable to you and me.
He reminds them, I have plans for you. In other words, these are my plans. Not yours. My plans are better.
Now we should never Assume that unmet expectations or plans that never work out.
Some disappointment in life means that God's grace has been canceled in our lives, or we didn't deserve His blessings anyway.
Well, that's the enemy speaking to you. That's a spirit. But he says that, doesn't he? But that's grace. We don't deserve anything.
But he's at work on our lives with plans. And he often leaves unexpected plans. Unexplained, doesn't he?
So we had that running list. Perhaps you came in with one or two things that you expect God to do in your life, you'd like him to do. Maybe one or two things you don't expect that he would do in your life, and he's doing it. It might be something you expect in a career path or Maybe some financial investment. It might be something you're expecting in marriage or with children and grandchildren.
Maybe it's an expectation of where you'd be living at the age of 30. The age of fifty. At the age of eighty. We have plans that we write out and we use a big thick. Magic marker.
Big letters. And the Lord transfers what we have marked out into his ledger, and he transforms it into pencil, and then he reaches for a big eraser. Life is Is not what we have written down. Life is what God is rolling. Out.
Now, theologically speaking, Let's make sure we understand that God does not make plans. He doesn't respond with, oh, wait, Jonah's running away. I wasn't expecting that. Where's that fish? Or or Paul really wants to go to To Spain and ought to let him.
Okay, I'll change my plans. I like him, he's a nice guy. That's how we think God thinks. And somehow we'll earn it. We'll deserve.
The plans we have If he likes us enough. God's grace and love could not be exceeded in our lives. We have it to the utmost. He doesn't make plans, he's always had. Plans.
They stretch back. into eternity paths. The question is, what are we going to do when what we've planned Is different than what he planned. When we discover, and if you're old enough in the faith, you've learned that the Christian life didn't mean all your plans now come true, you discover it often that God is developing in you something deeper. And you didn't volunteer for it.
He is equipping you for something different. Maybe today you're resisting it. And therein lies the matter of surrender. And trust. We get up for a new day and we say, Lord, what do you have for me?
Next. Let me introduce you to a legacy of light in an older man's life. Who never expected God to roll things out the way He did. In fact, it was birthed out of Great disappointment. But he was willing to take the step of faith, even though he was in his 70s.
70 nearing 72.
Now, for many years during The 1900s, when he served as a pastor, he Pastored Faithfully, a church in Oyster Bay. New York. How many people here are from New York? Two people. Good.
That's our quota. I'm from Minnesota, so no offense.
Okay. While pastoring, he used his spare time to. Earned some doctoral degrees. He was single. His entire life.
One of his PhDs was from Dartmouth and one was from Columbia University. He faithfully served his congregation. Finally, as he approached the age of seventy-two. The bylaws of his denomination required that he retire from pastoring. Our bylaws do not require that here at this church.
I just want you to know. He was healthy, involved, invested. Frankly, he didn't want to stop preaching, pastoring. Serving.
So he planned on staying on their oyster. New York. until he passed away. But then his denomination wouldn't budge. He would have to retire in a few months after all.
He told his biographer, and I quote, I would lie on my bed at night thinking. My life is over. But I haven't really finished. I haven't done everything I want to do. For the Lord But evidently God was finished with me.
It was time to retire.
Well, shortly before his retirement, He invited an Indian pastor. from Bombay to preach for him one Sunday, and they struck up a friendship and the pastor from India invited doctor McCoy to return the favor and come preach in his church and his mission station associated with his church. There in Bombay.
Well, McCoy kind of laughed it off. He'd never traveled far from New York. In fact, he'd never been on an airplane before. wasn't about to fly to India. Besides, he said, plans had already been made to move to a retirement village in Florida for missionaries.
and former pastors and their families.
Well, the Indian pastor insisted that he changed his mind. He told him, with your head of white hair, you'll be immediately gaining respect. You ought to reconsider.
Well, over the next few months, as his 72nd birthday drew closer. He began praying. He couldn't get that invitation off his mind. It was the last thing in the world he'd ever planned to do. Do you Oh, finally he Sense the Spirit of God.
insisting that he take this invitation. And he made up his mind he'd travel to Bombay.
Now, his congregation in Oyster, New York, thought he'd lost. Is mine, the chairman of the deacon board pulled him aside and said, What happens if you die in India? What happens if you get sick over there and die? Dr. McCoy responded.
Well, I suppose it's just as close to heaven in India as it is in America. That great answer.
So he He's gonna take this step of faith.
So, when the church celebrated his retirement at age 72, instead of traveling to Florida, He sold his furniture and his automobile, had just enough money to buy a one-way ticket. To Bombay. Packed everything he had left in a trunk. He was not interested in retirement. He decided he was interested in a reassignment.
Folks in church? Around town. started praying for him. They thought he was troubled.
Well, when he arrived in Bombay, he discovered his trunk had not come along with him. You've traveled enough, right? He never saw it again. All he had was the suit of clothes he was wearing. And the address of this pastor's mission station, which he had torn off a missionary newsletter.
Now, I've landed in Bombay. I've traveled there. I can imagine leaving that airport with a little piece of paper and an address, hoping I'd make it. He did. I love the sky.
Well, he made it to the mission station. only to find out that the pastor was out of the country. And he had never told these missionaries about them.
So they weren't quite sure what to do. with his 72-year-old man.
Well, they settled them in a little guest room. Kind of worried about him. They described him as a gentle giant. Six feet plus. 250 pounds.
dignified bearing, with a full head of white hair. They asked him about his plans. He said he didn't have any. After a few days though, he announced that I'm going to go meet the mayor of Bombay. And they laughed and they said, we've been trying to get in there for years.
He won't let you in. He's way too busy. You'll never get in. He said, quote, God brought me here for something, I don't know what. But I'm going to the mayor's office unannounced.
So with that he took off. When he presented his business card to the receptionist, she saw all those PhDs. and assumed he was an important dignitary from America. She asked him to wait. She hurried off to tell the mayor.
He assumed the same thing. And decided to delay meeting him until he could plan a reception for this guest of honor. Who cut the seal? Later that afternoon, he was invited back to the reception. When Dr.
McCoy returned, He found that many of the political VIPs. and military leaders had been assembled by the mayor. He was given the floor. And he simply shared his testimony. and presented the gospel.
Now, among the guests was the commanding officer of the National Defense Academy. That's our version of West Point. He was so moved when he heard what Dr. McCoy had to say, he invited him to come and preach at the academy the following week. And that just kind of started it all.
From that reception, Invitations began arriving from all over India. From churches. political leaders, military officers. business CEOs, missions agencies, universities. And for the next, 16 years.
He traveled. Throughout India, preaching. He was even invited to other countries. Today, there are churches in Hong Kong. Egypt.
And North Africa. because of his preaching. One biographer said this: I found this intriguing. Charles never had enough money other than to get him to the next place where he was invited. to preach.
It was one step of faith. after another. Finally, at the age of 88, He was in Calcutta. resting in his room for a worship service he was to preach that evening. And while he was asleep, He discovered the truth.
And heaven was just as close to India. as it was in America. Do you think he came to the end of his life thinking, I wish I'd gone to Florida? I wish I wasn't forced. into retirement.
I wish my plans in Oyster, New York. had come true. Do you think the Apostle Paul came to the end of his life and would say to close friends, you know, I. I never did have that ministry in Rome I wanted. I never did get to sail to Spain.
I want it too. I longed for it. for years. In his final letter to young Timothy, he writes, I have finished my course. It was different.
Then what do you plan? I've run the race, oh as God unfolded it, it was different. And along the way, I've kept the faith. There's one step of faith. After another.
Sounds like someone surrendering to God to equip him for something different. To allow God to develop in him.
Something Deeper. I was reading the other day from an author who's been gone now for many years. I'll close with this. Quoted a Dr. Watkinson, who had faithfully served the Lord for decades.
Dr. Watkinson was walking along the beach with his grandson one evening. And they met an old minister. Who was also taking a walk, and that older minister recognized Dr. Watkinson and stopped to talk to him.
And while he's talking, he begins complaining to him about his church and about the people and about the world. And he was disgruntled with everything. And then he also complained that while he was walking on the beach that day, that he was now suffering. from sudden stroke.
Well, the little boy had been listening all along, and when they finally parted, he looked up at his grandfather and he said, Grandpa, I hope you never suffer. from a sunset. We're not heading. toward a sunset, are we? We're heading toward a new dawn.
And what matters along the journey, really, in our own hearts and minds, is how we view Spain. And that ship. that doesn't sell. Those plans that never come. To pass.
Discovering along the way By the grace of God, That it isn't so much about sailing into Spain. It's about sailing. with the Savior. Our captain. A kid.
So let's Sail with him. Today.
