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#24469 - Sometimes Good Friends Part Ways - Acts 15:36-41 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. The Bible study I've entitled
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Sometimes good friends part ways.
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Sometimes good friends part ways.
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You could also title this Sometimes good ministry partners
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part Ways. There are those seasons where
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something happens, a situation arises where it cannot be
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resolved, and there is the necessity to part ways.
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It's always a bummer. It's always like not God's ideal
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or best, But sometimes we do need to part ways, and that's
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the end here of chapter 15. The scene shifts here in the
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book of Acts, and it's sad, really, the way it ends.
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It's sad, especially from someone that has watched this
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happen before, many times throughout the Ministry here.
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It's sad to see such a great victory to be so closely
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followed by defeat and discouragement, sadness and even
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separation. You'll remember that the early
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church had to deal with the biggest issue that that ever
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needs to be dealt with. How is a person saved?
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There were people that came and said, Oh no, you have to be
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circumcised, you have to keep the law.
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And they called this council together, which we studied for
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the last many weeks. They came together, they hashed
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it out and they came to the conclusion that God gave them
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that we're saved by grace. They chose grace over works and
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they chose love over legalism. Notice in verse 30 it says when
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they were sent off they came to Antioch, and when they had
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gathered the multitude together they delivered the letter, and
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when they read it they rejoiced over its encouragement.
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Now Judas and Silas themselves, being prophets, also exhorted
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the brethren with many words and strengthened them.
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And after they had stayed there for a time, they were sent back
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with greetings from the brethren to the apostles.
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However, it seemed good to Silas to remain there.
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Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch, teaching and
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preaching the word of the Lord, with many others Also there is
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great victory, followed almost immediately by great defeat.
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Now there has some time has been has passed here since the first
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missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas that you could say
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probably weeks, maybe months, but at the very least many weeks
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have passed. Remember Paul and Barnabas, this
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dynamic duo and partnership in the ministry, they were chosen
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by God. This was no man made thing.
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They were gathered together. Remember as the church was
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ministering to Lord God interrupted, he spoke and how
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did he speak? He said separate to me, Paul and
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Barnabas for the ministry that I have for them.
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They went off on their ministry in mission work.
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They took the gospel throughout the Gentile region of Galatia,
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and now here in Acts 15, they were used to bring clarity to
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this church council. They shared their testimony.
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But the chapter ends with two men who were so fruitful
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together in the ministry arguing to the point of no longer
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wanting to serve with each other and separating.
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Let me just say so often, this is how it works in our lives as
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well. Oh, not the separation
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necessarily, but what happens in our lives is we gain a great
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victory. We see great progress, a great
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triumph, a great conquest, only to be met with a great
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resistance and trial and turmoil.
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We kind of expect the opposite. We kind of expect that it's
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going to be good. It's going to be good.
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It's going to be good. If I do, good good's always
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going to come. And certainly the benefits of
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obedience outweigh the consequences of disobedience
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every day of the week. But you must expect with great
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progress. Well, let me back up for a
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second. Let me let me say this with you
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should expect this. With any progress, you're going
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to expect resistance. But with great progress, I want
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you to expect great resistance. You're involved in spiritual
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warfare. These are no small things that
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we're involved in, with the souls of men in the word of God.
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Seeing lives changed, seeing your life change, that's no
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small thing. Watching your family turn right
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side up, seeing you, like, live in the newness of life, You
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know, fix things that need to be fixed.
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Address things that need to be addressed.
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That's no small thing. Steps of obedience, steps of
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faith. You have to remember that the
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devil, he is out for us. In many ways.
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He's come except to kill, steal and destroy.
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Now, don't misunderstand me. I don't believe we blame the
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devil for everything. And there's a devil behind every
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Bush. And you know, any problem is
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always the devil. I don't mean that I don't want
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to overstate the role of the devil, but let me listen.
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I don't want to understate it either.
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You and I are involved in spiritual warfare.
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This disagreement is a peak into spiritual warfare.
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You may not see this section as spiritual warfare, but it is the
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dynamic duo of Ministry is under attack.
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They they are in a place where they don't agree and because of
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that the enemy loves to sow seeds of division and we see it
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here. Now with that in mind, notice in
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verse 36. Then after some days, let me
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just pause there and mark that word then.
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It's an important word. We might read over it really
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quickly here, but the word then speaks of progress.
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Things are moving forward in this case, after many days in
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the Church of Antioch, Paul speaks up.
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But what it reminds us of is God has progress for you and for me.
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There is a then for you, a moving forward from the past a a
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step in the right direction, not the wrong direction.
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You know, sometimes I'll, I'll hear brothers, I'll hear sisters
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sharing their testimony and they'll they'll talk about,
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well, you know, God did this great thing 30 years ago. 30
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years ago. Well, bro, that's great.
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It's awesome. 30 years ago. God's worked in your life.
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What has he done lately? I want to hear something that
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happened yesterday. What did God do this morning
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when you woke up 30 years ago was wonderful and great.
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I'm glad you have that testimony.
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But what has he done every, every other day since then?
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Because there's always a then To me that's an encouraging thing,
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because sometimes we need to move forward because of past
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pain or past hurt or past difficulty.
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And take note of this after the problem was solved, after the
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church is being strengthened, after there seems to be of calm
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of some sorts. It's time to move forward.
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And I wonder who's listening to me right now, that that is the
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word of God to you. You've got to move forward.
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God has more for you. Maybe you're afraid that if you
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move forward, it's going to be some difficulty.
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It might be, but it's time to move forward.
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It's much better than staying stuck, and especially stuck in
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your past. So after some days, verse 36,
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Paul tells Barnabas, let's go back and visit our brethren in
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every city where we have preached the word of the Lord
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and let's see how they're doing. I love that Paul.
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He's thinking about all the people that responded to the
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gospel, all the people that he preached to on that first
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missionary journey, all the people that when he shared his
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testimony before the council, that was one thing.
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But what he really wanted is to see them and talk to them
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because so quickly false teachings have been spread
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throughout all those churches, and he had them on their heart.
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On their heart. That's a phrase that we use in
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the church a lot. It's Christian language, if you
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will. People make fun of the church
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and Christians for having Christian language.
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Don't you be ashamed that you have phrases that are
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significant to you that describe the work of God in your life.
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This is one of them. You may have this response where
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you think of someone and you reach out to me.
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You go, you know God put you on my heart or you have been heavy
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on my heart. When we use that phrase in the
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church, what we're trying to describe is the work of God in
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our hearts and our minds, reminding us of you.
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We weren't thinking of you 5 minutes ago, but then God
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reminded us of you. You were heavy on my heart.
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God will place people on your mind and heart.
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God will place. He'll put places.
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He'll put churches you visited. He'll put people that sat with
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you. Maybe one weekend you were here
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and you met somebody. You haven't seen them since.
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He will place them on your heart.
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This is not unusual. It's not unusual.
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It's normal for the believer. And the right response when God
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puts someone on your heart is to act on it.
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I don't see you guys taking notes on that.
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Take out a pen and a piece of paper.
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Is this is the church when God places people.
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OK, let's. OK, let's step back for a
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second, just by way of hands. How many you have ever
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experienced God putting someone on your heart or mind?
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Let me see. OK, look around.
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Stay up. Stay look around.
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OK. That's a lot of people.
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A lot of people. Thank you.
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A lot of people. I see you guys on the radio and
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online too. A lot of people.
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So I want to I want you to consider something.
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If God puts something. Someone on your heart every day
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this week. Just one person every day this
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week, and you reached out to them seven times this week.
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Multiplied by how many hands you can see the church alive and
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active. You can see like how many people
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will be connected by the church, and you go well ahead.
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It's only 7, but 7 multiplied. It applied by almost 1000 people
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or more than 1000 people. That's a lot.
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That's a lot. You're missing out on an
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opportunity when God plays because you know what happens?
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You go, you know, I'm thinking of someone.
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Nah, it's really nothing. It's like it was my pizza I ate
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last night. You know, it's like it's really
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not her. No, no, it probably was your
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pizza. And God, put them on your heart.
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Reach out to them. Send them a text.
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Send them an e-mail. Call them.
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You know, here's what happens. Here's what happens.
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You got all kinds of excuses. It's a If you're a person that's
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prone to excuses, you need to come with us on our midweek
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Bible study through the book of Exodus.
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We're studying Moses, who was a man with plenty of excuses to
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God himself. But you want to know what
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happened with Moses? He had all these excuses and he
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obeyed God anyway. So you're either going to come
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the easy way or the hard way, but you're going to do what God
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wants you to do. Just be assured of it.
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God will not let you wander off and not complete his will for
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your life. It's not going to happen.
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You can go the hard way or the easy way with all your excuses.
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You go, you know, I I have someone on my heart and the
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pastor, you just said to text and I could already hear
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somebody go, well, I don't text. All right, bro, call them.
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I don't have a phone. All right, man.
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Like show up at their house. I don't know where they, like
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you can come up with over and over and over again.
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How about this? Pray for them and pray for an
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open door. You don't have all those things,
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and most of us aren't going to answer that way.
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We know how to text, We know how to call, We know how to write a
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letter. We know how where they live,
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just be obedient. It's the body of Christ.
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That's where Paul is here with his life and everything that
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he's going on. The people are heavy on his
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heart. You'll remember later on, Paul
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described it this way in Second Corinthians, when he was looking
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back on his life and all the things, all the prices that he
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paid for ministry. Remember, he gave us a whole
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list. You know, they tried to kill me
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and I was on shipwrecks and I was stoned and I was beaten with
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rods. On and on the list goes.
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When he comes to the summary, and I'm paraphrasing here, when
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he comes to the summary of everything he suffered for the
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gospel, he says something like this.
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And besides all this, my caring concern for the churches, my
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care and concern for the churches, heavy on his heart.
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I hope your church is heavy on your heart.
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I hope you pray for this church. I hope you pray for your pastors
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and their wives and families. I hope you pray for the lay
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leaders and the elders and the men and women that serve here
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your church. That your church would be heavy.
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That your church would be heavy on your heart.
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That you might intercede on behalf of those that have great
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need here, and that we would make a difference in our
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community. You know what Paul's
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representing here? He's representing a pastor's
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heart, a pastor's heart church. I'm asking you to pray for a
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pastor's heart. A pastor's like, no, don't
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dismiss it. Because I know as you start
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processing that phrase and that request, listen to what I said.
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I chose my words. I try to choose my words very
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carefully. And this is what I just said.
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I said pray for a pastor's heart.
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I did not say to pray that you might be a pastor because you
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might write yourself, oh, not everybody.
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Very, very, very small group of people are called to pastor
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churches. It's a very small most of us are
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called to serve in a many different ways.
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But I believe all of us are called to have a pastor's heart
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or the heart of a shepherd. You know, if you come on our
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team here, if you are considered to come on our team, what we
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might call staff, Your last interview is going to be in my
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office. And I have a list of questions
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that you and I are going to discuss over a variety of
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different topics. Because this list has been
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developed so that you might succeed here if God has you
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here. We want you to succeed here.
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We want you to thrive here. We want you to go far beyond
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what you've ever experienced. And one of the questions, one of
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the questions that I ask is describe for me what a pastor's
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heart is. Just tell me what it is.
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And there's a lot of different answers, a lot of great answers.
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Pastor Cares visits, teaches the Bible a lot of things, and
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they're all fine and good. But what I'm listening for is
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this. A pastor's heart all surrounds
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someone caring. A pastor's heart is caring.
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So pray that God would give you the care and concern for your
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culture and for your family and for your neighborhood and for
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your workplace that Jesus has, like, pastor's heart.
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Care about God. Care about your relationship
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with God. Care about people in your life.
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Think of others more highly than yourself.
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A pastor's heart. This isn't the role or title or
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position of a pastor. You're missing it.
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You want to pray that God would cultivate your heart and your
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mind so that you and I might serve well with his heart.
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That's what the world needs when Paul looks at this and he
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considers this. And after some days he says
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Barnabas, let's go back, man. He he doesn't even consider all
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the dangers that he on the first missionary journey.
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It was wild already, the antagonism against the gospel
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against Paul and Barnabas. They even tried to worship the
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guy. He doesn't care.
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The dangers and difficulties don't matter because the
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pastor's heart of Paul wanted to go back because he cared for
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those people and he knew that God was going to use him.
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So there's the invitation. Notice the answer verse 37.
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Now Barnabas was determined to take with them.
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John called Mark, but Paul insisted that they should not
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take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphilia
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and had not gone with them to the work so quickly.
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There's a disagreement. Yeah, we want to go.
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They did agree. It started with agreement.
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You want to go back to the other churches?
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Yes, Yes, I've been waiting for you.
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Yes, let's go back. But Barnabas says if we go back,
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we must take John Mark with us. And then Paul says there's no
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way in the world I'm going back with John Mark.
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Now to some of you that might be new to the Book of Acts or new
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to our church, you're asking, who is John, Mark, Glad you
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asked. Go back to chapter 13.
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He was a young man that was with them and served with them on
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their first. And at this point there's only
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one missionary journey. But on their first missionary
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journey, notice chapter 13, verse 13.
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It says Now when Paul and his party set sail from paphos, they
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came to Purga in Pamphilia and John, departing from them,
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returned to Jerusalem. This man, this young man John
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Mark, was a faithful member of the missionary team.
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In the middle of the missionary journey trip work of God with
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Paul and Barnabas, John Mark leaves them and goes back home
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to Jerusalem. And the big question always is
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why? Why did John Mark go back?
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Let me give you the Bible question in case you've been
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wondering Why did he go back? We have no idea.
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The Bible doesn't say. There's some Greek words I'm
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going to show you in a moment that might lead us to some
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understanding, but the Bible doesn't say.
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Can we think of a few things that might be possibilities?
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Of course. Was he sick?
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Maybe. Was he afraid?
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Possibly. Was he unreliable?
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Perhaps. Was he tired?
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Was he skittish? You know, we can go through a
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lot of things that we've seen that would be human, but the
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Bible doesn't tell us exactly why.
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Matter of fact, back in Acts chapter 13, as we read through,
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as Luke is writing this, in verse 13, the word that he uses
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to describe him going home there, in verse 13, the word
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departing, it's just the normal word.
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He went home. There's no real connotation of
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he just went home. But when we come to Acts 15,
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there's an interesting thing that that although it's
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translated the same in the English, it's actually a
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different Greek word. In verse 38, Paul looked at the
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way Paul viewed John Mark going home was when he says departed.
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That Greek word actually is the word that would describe
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desertion or going AWOL, really the word that's described in the
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New Testament that means to fall away or apostasize.
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It's strong. We realize Paul had strong
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opinions about John Mark. We realize it.
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Something significant happened, even though we don't know
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exactly what happened. What we do know is they were on
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the missionary journey and John left.
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They were a team and he completely pulled away and went
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home. Whatever it was, it required
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strong language between Paul and Barnabas to describe their
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feelings about John. Notice with me how Barnabas it
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says in verse 37 Barnabas was mark this word you can circle
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it. Mark that word determined,
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determined. When you look this word up in
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the original language, the New Testament was written in the
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modern day Greek, which is known as Koine Greek.
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Old Testament written mostly in Hebrew, a few places in the
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ancient language of Aramaic. But here the Greek language,
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that's what your English Bible represents.
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That word determine has the idea of resolved.
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Or decided. So from that word, we can, we
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can understand a little bit where Paul, where Barnabas is.
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He already made-up his mind. He's not asking for Paul's
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opinion. He's already made-up his mind.
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We're taking John, Mark. We're going to, we're going to
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continue on this mission together.
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John, Mark's coming with us now. If you've ever had somebody make
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up their mind before they talk to you, you can understand some
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of the resistance that's going to happen.
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It's like what you made-up your mind without talking to me.
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And that even adds more friction to the situation itself.
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Barnabas had already made-up his mind.
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He resolved it was a done deal in his heart, not open for
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discussion. Barnabas, when he was back at
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the council in Jerusalem, no doubt connected with John Mark
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probably staying in his mom's house, who happened to be
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Barnabas's own sister. I'm sure if they didn't.
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If that did happen, there was tearful, repentant moments with
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Mark where he expresses regret and apology, maybe even ask, can
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I go again? Can I go again?
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I want to go again. I think I'm ready again.
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However, it came about, which again, we aren't told Barnabas
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was ready to give this guy a second chance and let's do it.
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Mark Paul, On the other hand, verse 38, you can mark this word
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insisted. Again, circle it.
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If you have it determined. In verse 37 and 38 insisted,
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circle them both and just write a line between both of them.
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Because this is the essence of almost every disagreement among
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us. This is the essence of almost
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every separation among us. And that is, you dig your heels
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in and you're unmovable. Sometimes it's necessary.
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We can't speak to every situation, but most of the time,
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it's just pride. It's just pride.
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One or two people refuse to humble themselves, meet in the
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middle, and say, oh, OK, well, let's figure this out.
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Before we separate, let's sit down and talk this through.
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Let's see if God can't work. But they have it here.
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There's determine that word in verse 38 insisted that Greek
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word has the idea of determining like another determination.
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Like no way. There's no way.
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I'm not budging on this. It has the idea behind Paul's
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heart that he determined John Mark unworthy and undeserving to
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go. Paul evidently had a high
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standard for those serving alongside of him, and after that
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one chance John Mark didn't meet it.
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And I'm certain in this case that we've seen it in Paul's
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life, that it wasn't that he was against second chances, but he
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had his reasons why Maybe he didn't trust him, maybe all the
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issues, that he was there because he wasn't there for him.
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He didn't want to take somebody that was going to possibly
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desert them again whatever happened.
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I think we conclude conclude this without any hesitation.
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John Mark failed Paul and Barnabas when he left.
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We don't know why, we don't know all the details.
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But he failed by abandoning them or leaving them in the middle of
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the mission when he committed to stay with them and it greatly
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hurt Paul for sure and he failed because of that.
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I believe it's important that we pause here for a moment, and I
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share with you a very important point as it relates to failure
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in the church. Hey, it goes two different ways
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here that this is going to apply.
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First of all, for all of you leading in this church or in
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your church, wherever you go, you're in a position of
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leadership. You're in a position of
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oversight. You're a Deacon.
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You're an elder. You're a pastor.
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You're a women's ministry teacher.
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You're a Sunday school. Doesn't matter if you oversee
23:59
anybody in the church and you can extend it outside of the
24:02
church, but we get to test it and learn in the church.
24:05
If you oversee anybody at any time, they will fail you.
24:10
Let me put it this way, anyone you ever saw it, everyone will
24:16
fail you at one time or another. Don't be surprised by it.
24:21
Everyone will fail you, whether it's something like this or or
24:24
even just the small part of they don't meet an expectation.
24:27
For example, you say to be there at 1:00 and they're there at
24:31
1:10. You had an expectation they
24:34
didn't make it. You're going to have to deal
24:36
with it and learn how to navigate around it.
24:39
Everyone will fail you. That's point.
24:42
That's status or category number one.
24:44
Category number two, well, guess what, We're everyone.
24:49
So we're going to fail. We will be the ones that fail,
24:54
and the more time you spend with each other, the more time you
24:57
spend in a church, the more you serve together, the more failure
25:00
you will experience. It is the facts.
25:06
It is a part of the package. We need to learn how to deal not
25:11
only with our own failures, but with the failures of others.
25:15
With that in mind, let me say this.
25:18
It is not good and it is not spiritual.
25:23
It is not biblical, nor is it graceful to label others for
25:29
their failures, to place a label on them.
25:33
For example, this is a place where I've heard pastors handle
25:36
this text. Pastors that are friends of
25:38
mine, they handle this text and they label John Mark.
25:41
They'll say something like this literally.
25:43
Literally. They would say, well, you know,
25:45
John Mark, he was such a flake. He's such a quitter.
25:48
What a crybaby. He probably went home to his
25:50
mom. I yeah, it's not in the Bible,
25:59
bro. I think you got that from the
26:02
Bible book of first opinions or something.
26:04
Because it's not there and it just tells me that perhaps this
26:10
brother, perhaps he has a a problem with labeling people.
26:16
We don't know exactly what John Mark was dealing with and in
26:21
many ways in our future ministry with him, it doesn't matter.
26:28
What we need to do is minister to the person that's in front of
26:31
us. That's not to say sometimes that
26:34
your past sin doesn't have consequences.
26:37
It does. Believe me, as a pastor,
26:40
sometimes I wish I could alleviate the consequences of
26:42
your sin, but I can't. We just got to deal with what's
26:45
presented to us. But I do know this as a church.
26:49
We're not going to label you that way.
26:52
We're not going to hold it over your head.
26:53
You know when I've been travelling recently with the
26:56
newest book that I just wrote called Free From Your Past.
26:59
It's a great resource to help people get past some of the
27:02
hurts and bitterness and things. I have a Bible study that I
27:05
specifically take with it, and it's something like 3 Biblical
27:08
Ways to Deal With Your Past. I taught it here not too long
27:10
ago. And at the end, in my closing,
27:13
to make a point, I remind everybody of how easy it is to
27:17
label someone and hold their past against them.
27:19
And I use Rahab that way. I open up to James where James
27:24
refers to Rahab. And you know what her middle
27:26
name is, right? Her middle name is the.
27:28
And what's her last name? Rahab the Harlot.
27:31
That's how a lot of people look at her.
27:34
But you know, she's not Rahab the Harlot.
27:36
She was Rahab the Harlot. She was.
27:42
Now, of course, in the Bible, we are given that description to a
27:45
specific Rahab. And I get that the Bible,
27:47
certainly God is not labeling her, just defining her, but the
27:51
way that the church has taken and the way the church lives out
27:54
their lives sometimes this is the way it is.
27:56
Everybody just, you know, oh that's so and so and that's so
27:59
and so and that's so and so holding people to a in a box, if
28:03
you will, putting them in the failure box, never looking past
28:06
into their potential. I mean, think about this, John
28:10
Mark, like he made a mistake. And with humility and
28:14
repentance, let's move on and let's learn from it.
28:18
And you know, I I, when I make that point with Rahab the
28:20
harlot, you know, here's how it, here's how it works.
28:22
And if you do this, I want you to stop.
28:24
I'm asking, I'm begging with you, stop this language change
28:28
the way you think. Because in families maybe it's
28:31
you, you know, there's always Uncle, Uncle Charlie, right?
28:34
Uncle Charlie is the what? Black sheep of the family.
28:38
Why do you say that? Like that gives Charlie no hope
28:41
for anything. He's just the guy out there.
28:44
He's just so and so. He's always going to be that
28:46
way. Not in Christ, he won't in Jesus
28:49
Christ. He has the potential to be a new
28:50
creation. And old things that passed away,
28:53
behold, all things become new. But kind of these things are
28:56
handed down to us and they're taught to us.
28:58
And there's just like man John Mark, if he was held for this
29:02
failure, he would never get back into serving the Lord.
29:08
Sometimes it's not other people that hold your failure against
29:10
you. You do that and you look at your
29:13
life and you hold yourself back. And it happens in churches all
29:18
the time. Because, especially with
29:19
longevity, the longer you're in the church, the more you serve
29:22
with people, the more you get to know them, the more you think
29:25
you know them. Then you see something about
29:27
them. And then now the relationship's
29:29
all about failure, All about failure.
29:31
What did I say earlier? We will all fail.
29:34
We will all make mistakes. Those that we serve will make
29:38
mistakes. And it's important that we abide
29:40
in Christ so that we can relate to each other in grace.
29:46
Well, Paul and Barnabas back in the text, they see things
29:49
differently about John Mark for sure.
29:53
And it's at times like this where you look at Paul and
29:55
Barnabas where it says in verse 39, then the contention became
30:00
so sharp that they parted from one another.
30:03
And when you approach the text, there's always the question,
30:08
well, which one was right? Who was right in this
30:11
contention? Who's the one that needed to
30:13
humble themselves? And if you're more like Paul in
30:17
your personality, you pick Paul, it's like, well, 'cause he looks
30:20
just like me. And that's all I am.
30:22
And I'm going to pick Paul. But we don't know.
30:24
We don't know the mannerisms. We don't know the conversation.
30:26
We weren't there. So we don't know if Paul was the
30:29
soft spoken one and Barnabas was, because if you're more like
30:31
Barnabas, more encouraging and going with the flow, you pick
30:34
Barnabas. But what I see here is not a
30:38
question of who was right or wrong.
30:40
I think both of their personalities are needed in the
30:42
body of Christ. And if you have both
30:45
personalities in one person, man, that's a bonus.
30:49
Because from Paul's perspective, these two imperfect men with
30:52
different philosophies of ministry, when you have them
30:55
together, it's powerful. For example, one commentator put
30:58
it this way, when Paul looked at a person, he would think, what
31:02
can the person do to further the gospel?
31:04
That's a great perspective. Well, what do you have that you
31:07
can further the Kingdom. What do you have that you can
31:10
jump on board and let's reach this world for the gospel.
31:13
Yes, when Barnabas looked at someone, he would think, what
31:17
can the ministry do for the person?
31:20
One person would look, Paul would look, what can the person
31:22
do for the ministry? Barnabas said, What can the
31:25
ministry do for the person? Both of them are so important in
31:28
the body of Christ. Both of them are very important.
31:33
Their viewpoints in a well balanced leader that combined
31:37
together will make you very effective in anything that you
31:41
oversee these two types of personalities.
31:45
Remember, God put these guys together and he did it on
31:48
purpose because these two personalities in partnership,
31:53
very, very powerful, very powerful.
31:56
Isn't it interesting how many people that are opposite of you
31:58
that God brings into your life? He does that for a reason.
32:02
You need the opposite side. Can you imagine being surrounded
32:06
by people like you the rest of your life?
32:09
Sometimes you don't even like you.
32:10
Like can you do another hundred of them like No, no.
32:13
We need the body of Christ. We need see, what the power of
32:17
unity is. Is unity and diversity and
32:21
diversity and unity, not uniformity.
32:24
We don't all want to be the same, and we'll never will be.
32:27
That's just foolishness. We want to have unity and
32:30
diversity, Diversity and unity. The contention.
32:33
How do we, how, how do we know this is a big argument by this
32:35
word in verse 39, contention. When you have someone that's
32:39
determined, matched up with someone who's insisting you're
32:43
going to get, if you're doing the math, the biblical math,
32:46
verse 36 plus verse 37, or excuse me, verse 37 plus verse
32:51
38 equals verse 39 every day of the week.
32:55
The contention became so sharp that they parted from one
33:00
another. Sometimes that's necessary.
33:05
Sometimes it's necessary to save.
33:09
If you can't get over your insistence and you can't get
33:12
over your determination, it could very well be a necessity
33:16
for you to move on. It was interesting this morning.
33:18
I woke up, I had this service on my mind already.
33:20
Some of the songs that we were singing and God put on my heart
33:23
and it just struck me because I shared this story, first
33:25
service. And I'm like, no, what happens?
33:27
God put somebody on my heart. So I reached out to them because
33:29
I know they're on the East Coast and they're going to be going to
33:31
church. And I just reached out to them,
33:34
hey, I know you're going to church today.
33:35
Be blessed, Be encouraged because I know their story.
33:38
And their story is they just experienced a really difficult
33:41
situation in their previous church.
33:43
And I felt like the Lord wanted me to point them forward.
33:45
It was time for them to move on. They weren't unable to resolve
33:49
it. There was resistance on both
33:51
parts. Like it was just time.
33:53
And I wanted them to know that God is with them.
33:55
It's OK to move forward, but don't become bitter.
34:00
You just got to move on. Let the Lord sort it out.
34:04
Even if it was a really bad situation.
34:06
And the pastor XYZ, the elder XY.
34:08
Even if it was really bad, you just understand this.
34:11
God will take care of them. God will take care of it.
34:15
But you take care of you and make sure you guard your heart
34:19
and they don't become bitter yourself.
34:22
And here they separate. And although we don't like the
34:25
separation, sometimes it happens, sometimes it happens.
34:31
Certainly I've seen it here in the life of my ministry, where
34:34
I've served at a high capacity with wonderful men and women of
34:37
God, and there became an insistence and a determination
34:41
where we just couldn't go forward anymore.
34:43
Very rare considering all the people I've had the privilege of
34:46
serving with over the years. Very rare, but sometimes for
34:50
your own spiritual health. When there's no known sin here,
34:53
like you see, look at this, there's no known sin.
34:57
If there's sin involved, then we have to deal with that.
34:59
But this is just a personality thing and an opinion and a
35:04
philosophy of ministry where one guy's like, no, he can't help
35:07
and the other guys no, he can help and maybe some family
35:10
familial issues. It's OK to move on for your own
35:15
spiritual health that you might grow in grace.
35:19
It's not preferred. It's preferred that you work it
35:21
out. It's preferred that you humble
35:23
yourself. It's preferred that you don't
35:26
give up. But sometimes it's needed and
35:31
it's necessary. So let's understand a couple of
35:33
things. If you're taking notes, I'm just
35:35
going to give you a couple of lists before we leave so you can
35:38
have the context of all this. You can apply it in your lives.
35:41
Number one, we learn in this text that believers can and do
35:47
disagree. Be expected for it.
35:50
Believers do have different opinions.
35:51
Wish we didn't wish we always got along, but we don't.
35:56
Believers can and do disagree #2.
36:00
We don't always have to disagree in separation.
36:04
It doesn't always have to end that way.
36:06
What we need to learn how to do is learn how to disagree
36:10
agreeably. Again, we're talking about non
36:13
essential things we already learn in Acts 15 on the
36:15
essential things we've got to hold fast.
36:18
We have to agree. But all these other opinions and
36:20
philosophies and stuff, hey, we we just we we just need to learn
36:24
how not to destroy one another. Paul would tell the Galatian
36:27
churches don't bite and devour each other.
36:30
Yeah, stop it. The church gives a black eye.
36:33
Believers in the church give the church a black eye when they
36:36
fight and bicker and destroy and gossip.
36:39
It's just horrific. We should learn how to disagree
36:44
without separation. You know what gives a testimony
36:48
to a watching world when we get along?
36:51
Because there's no really reason why we all should get along.
36:54
We really do differ a lot. Our upbringing, our our how we
36:59
were raised, our even sometimes our opinions on the Bible, like
37:03
man, it gives a great testimony to the world when we do agree.
37:09
And then this one's important. You might want to get this
37:12
perspective in your life. It might help you a lot.
37:14
I know it helped me when I discovered it so many years ago.
37:17
But I want you to pay attention to the significant disagreements
37:19
in your life, the issues with other people, and I want you to
37:23
consider this number 3. Many disagreements as believers
37:26
occur not so much between the two people, but so much because
37:31
of a third party. Right?
37:33
You were doing just fine until a third party got involved, for
37:38
example. A third party.
37:39
What do you mean, Ed? Well, example, somebody comes
37:41
and starts to gossip to you about us somebody, and now you
37:44
have two opinions about that third party.
37:47
You are just fine until that situation came.
37:50
And now why? I like them, I don't like them.
37:52
I don't know. And it's like, oh, what
37:54
happened? You got to have your eyes wide
37:55
open. That is a spiritual attack.
37:58
You you were just fine on that A to B relationship until
38:02
something C came up and you don't agree with it.
38:05
Maybe it's not on third person. Maybe.
38:07
Maybe it's a third thing. Maybe it's a third thing where
38:10
you're as believers, you're getting along.
38:12
No problem. And then there's that third
38:14
thing. What's the world popular one
38:15
right now? Politics.
38:18
Politics. Very divisive.
38:20
I got this opinion. I got that opinion.
38:22
Yeah, but weren't we brothers? Like, aren't we brothers in the
38:25
Lord? Aren't we here to save the seek
38:27
and to save the lost, like Jesus?
38:29
Yeah, but you don't believe the way I believe.
38:31
I know. Which makes unity all the more
38:35
powerful. Why don't we set that aside?
38:38
Why don't we let our opinions be secondary and tertiary and way
38:41
down on the list of things? And why don't we maximize on the
38:44
things that we do agree on? That's what progresses the
38:47
gospel. The gospel progresses through
38:50
people that don't maximize our disagreements, even though they
38:55
may exist so many times. It's not you and me that have
39:00
the disagreement, but it's our disagreement over something or
39:04
someone else, and we would do wise to have our eyes wide open
39:09
to it and set it aside for the gospel.
39:13
Who was right in Paul and Barnabas?
39:16
We don't know. You can have your own opinions.
39:18
That's fine. But I do know this.
39:21
The contention became so sharp they weren't able to resolve it.
39:24
And it says Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cypress and Paul
39:28
chose Silas and departed. Verse 40, being committed by the
39:31
brethren to the grace of God, he went through Syria and Silesia,
39:35
strengthening the churches. We do know this God took this
39:39
difficulty. Instead of 1 missionary journey,
39:42
now there's two more. Instead of 1 partnership,
39:45
there's two partnerships. And it really doesn't matter who
39:48
is right or wrong in this case, the Bible doesn't make it an
39:51
emphasis. What God, I believe, wants us to
39:54
see is that problems occur sometimes.
39:56
You can't solve them, but keep moving forward in the Lord.
39:59
Don't destroy a brother on the way out.
40:01
Don't destroy a sister. You know, I even even if it's
40:04
just one or two or you know, just just carpet, you know, just
40:07
like carpet bomb the church because you're upset or or you
40:10
know like just destroy people's lives because you couldn't
40:13
resolve. No, we don't see any of that.
40:15
We just see him moving on, doing the work of the Lord.
40:18
They took their pain, they took their difficulty with them.
40:21
But we do know this. Who was right or wrong.
40:24
We do know this. We do.
40:27
We do see a couple of things that are absolute #1 Barnabas
40:31
was very strong in his opinion, even though he's the son of
40:35
encouragement. Paul very strong in his opinion
40:42
and he we can expect that from him.
40:43
He was a strong personality. How do we know that?
40:46
Well, right from the text we know that that Barnabas was
40:49
determined not just because it says that, although that's
40:52
enough, but also because of verse 39, Barnabas took Mark.
40:59
How do we know he was well, he took Mark and took off.
41:03
And Paul? How do we know that he was
41:05
insisting? Well, verse 40, Paul chose
41:08
Silas, said Barnabas. You don't want to go with me.
41:11
I'll take Silas with me. And they acted out on their
41:15
commitments. Paul though, we get an insight,
41:20
if perhaps there was a leaning to one way or the other who was
41:24
right or wrong. We do get insight of this later
41:28
on in life. Paul changed his mind about
41:31
John, Mark later on in life when he's sitting in prison.
41:35
Second Timothy, Chapter 4. He's got nobody around him
41:38
except Luke. What does he say?
41:40
Hey, get Mark and bring him to me.
41:44
Something happened along the way.
41:46
Where is perspective now? It's even possible that he loved
41:49
Mark all along and just didn't trust him in this one area of
41:52
ministry, but always loved him. That's possible.
41:56
But I do know this. God wanted us to make sure we
41:59
don't ever hear about Barnabas again.
42:00
We don't hear about that missionary journey.
42:02
Nothing, because the focus is how God used Paul in the Bible.
42:06
Well, this is what Paul says. Get Mark and bring him with you.
42:11
He is useful for me in the ministry.
42:13
Now, if you were John Mark, how would you feel?
42:16
Paul said I'm useful. I'm there, man.
42:18
Yes. I don't think that's the first
42:20
time he heard it. But I do believe Paul changed
42:23
his mind, which may give some indication that he could have
42:26
bent some more in this. Possibly.
42:28
We don't know. I do know this.
42:30
I can look at Paul, my life, and I can look at my own life, and I
42:34
can conclude this. There are times where I could
42:36
have bent more. There are times where I could
42:40
have humbled myself more. There are times where I can make
42:43
the change and you go like, Eddie, have you made that many
42:46
mistakes? I've made way more than that.
42:49
But it's really not about it, is it?
42:50
The Bible studies for you. And I wonder if you could look
42:54
back on your life and go, you know, I really didn't have to go
42:56
there. I really didn't have to say that
42:59
I really could have. And the Holy Spirit will just
43:01
use that not to condemn you, not to convict you, but to prepare
43:05
you for what's up ahead. So you can be a better husband,
43:08
you can be a better wife, you can be a better ministry leader,
43:10
you can be a better employee, you could be better as you abide
43:13
in Christ. So on the negative side, as we
43:16
conclude, a great team in friendship was broken, which is
43:20
always sad. We never again have reading of
43:23
them coming together in ministry.
43:25
But on the positive side, we have two strong missionary turn
43:28
teams moving in opposite directions, spreading the word
43:32
of God. And even when we don't give God
43:34
our best, or when we don't arrive, or even with all of our
43:37
mistakes, even sinful mistakes, we're reminded in Romans chapter
43:40
8, verse 28. We know all things work together
43:43
for the good to those who love God, to those who are called
43:46
according to his purpose, so that even your failures and mine
43:49
will not stop God. And that's encouraging to me.
43:54
One more list and then we'll pray.
43:56
I want to give you a few observations.
43:58
I could have developed this into another Bible study, but I
44:01
didn't. I'll just give them to you and
44:03
you can pray about them this week and look them up yourself
44:05
or just consider them. Number one, this is looking at
44:07
John Mark. Now.
44:08
Number one, though, we failed. He got back up and he didn't
44:12
quit, though he failed and disappointed someone.
44:15
He got back up and he didn't quit church.
44:17
You got to get back up. Though.
44:19
A man falls seven times, he will rise again.
44:21
Proverbs 24, verse 16. That's God's will for you, even
44:25
with disappointment and failure. Number 2IN John Mark's life,
44:28
another believer saw past his failure and saw potential in
44:31
him. So be that believer and see
44:34
potential in people and draw out from them and draw them away
44:38
from their failure and give them hope for the future #3.
44:41
John Mark learned his lessons. John Mark learned his lessons.
44:44
He matured just like Paul matured.
44:47
He matured and is reconciled with Paul throughout his life.
44:51
#4 John Mark was given a second chance.
44:55
Give people second chances. Church.
44:59
We serve the God of the second chance.
45:01
Did you know that? And the third chance.
45:03
And the fourth chance. And if you've stopped counting
45:05
chances, he's ready to give you one there as well.
45:08
Why? Because he loves you, that's
45:10
why. He loves you.
45:12
He's not trying to prove a point to anyone.
45:14
He's not trying to say you know what that pastor.
45:16
He says give a shot. I'm a God of second chances.
45:18
God gives second chances because He loves you.
45:21
He sent his Son, Jesus Christ so that you might be in
45:23
relationship with him, that you might bring all your baggage and
45:27
all your difficulties and all your failures and get back up.
45:30
Even of great disaster. Not just a little argument, but
45:33
a great disaster. God's ready to restore you.
45:37
John Mark was restored into ministry.
45:39
I love that this is the grace heart of God.
45:42
Remember this. In Psalm 75 verse seven, God is
45:45
the judge. He puts down one and he exalts
45:47
another. And then finally I see something
45:49
in John Mark that even despite his failure, John is trustworthy
45:54
and loyal. That was part of his character.
45:58
So many times failures in the church reveal a man's character
46:02
and you got to be able to look in the mirror and say I've got a
46:04
character flaw. It's not everyone's fault.
46:08
It's not this situation. It's not that person.
46:10
It's not his. I God's working in me, making me
46:15
the woman he wants me to be, making me the man he wants me to
46:18
be. A lot of times these things are
46:20
character revealing. John Mark's character was
46:23
trustworthy and loyal. Maybe when he was young he was
46:27
immature and frightened and deserted.
46:29
That's possible. But he's loyal and trustworthy
46:32
and was went right back on the mission field.
46:34
I love it. So out of an ugly disagreement,
46:36
God now takes one missionary journey and makes it two, and
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opening a new door for Silas to step up in a new way.
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And God's not going to be thwarted by our sin or our
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failures. He's not going to be stopped.
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But don't you want to cooperate with him?
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Don't you want to enjoy it? I do.
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I want to enjoy what God is doing.
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So I need to stay usable, abiding in Christ.
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Amen. All right, Father, Thank you for
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your word. And it is a good word to us
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today. And we we hurt these things.
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They stir up pain and and hardship.
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And it's not easy having to deal with separation.
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But sometimes good friends and good ministry partners do
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separate. And even after they separate,
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they then they can come back again.
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One other, you know, come back again.
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John, bring Mark to me. He is profitable and useful for
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me. And so, God, you see our hearts,
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You see our minds. You see us help us to yield to
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you and to carry forward. You're calling upon our lives
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with caring hearts, Pastor Shepherd's hearts, acting out on
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the people you burden us with. You know, the things people were
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thinking about. I mean, I think today, of all
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the thousands of people we're here at church, if every one of
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us just did one thing every day for seven days, thousands of
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ministry open doors would occur. It's unbelievable what you want
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to do through us. And you know, as the church is
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praying, I want to give the opportunity for you and you as a
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church keep praying, please, because God is doing a work and
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drawing people to himself right now.
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And so today, if you're here and you've never repented of your
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sin and given your life to Jesus Christ, I want to invite you to
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do just that. I mean, for the very first time,
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you're hearing all these things in the Bible.
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But, like, it doesn't really resonate.
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And I'll tell you why it doesn't resonate in its totality is
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because you're separate from God.
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God wants to do with a what a pastor cannot do.
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He wants to save your life. God wants to do what a church
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cannot do. He wants to rescue you from sin.
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God wants you, wants to do what an organization can never do,
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and that is relieve you of the guilt and shame of your own sin
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and forgive you. God wants to do in your life
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what? What, no cult or no
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organization, no pastor, no priest, no one is able to do.
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And that is forgive you of your sins by the shed blood of Jesus
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Christ. And so today I invite you.
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If you're here, you'd say, Ed, I want to follow Jesus.
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That's my that's it. I want my sins forgiven.
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Would you just stand to your feet?
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I want to pray with you. I want to help you obey God.
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Today, where the Bible says if you confess with your mouth the
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Lord Jesus, you believe in your heart that God raised him from
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the dead, you shall be saved. I want to invite you right now.
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Just stand where you're at. Agree with God that you've
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sinned and fallen short of his glory.
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God bless you guys here. You're going to have somebody
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come up to you. So don't be.
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It's not uncomfortable. It's a pastor.
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It's going to come up and they're going to stand with you
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and they're going to stand with you for the gospel.
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And bless you here in the back. Bless you guys in the back,
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right here in the front. You know God is already working
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among us. He's already helping us.
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Hey, Josh. Right over here in the middle.
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This is this is the time. We don't need to wait for next
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week. God is working today.
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He's got your attention. And I'm inviting you not to a
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church. I'm inviting you to a savior.
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And we all needed him. This is the thing.
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Sometimes it's separation. I just want you to hear me out,
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because sometimes it's separation.
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I'm standing on the stage. You're sitting there like, well,
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that guy must be way better than me.
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Not in any way. I just tell you right now, God
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saved me out of some really, really bad, difficult dark
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stuff. No hope in my life, no future,
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no connection to God. No care, no concern.
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But God can do a thing and God can do a work in your life that
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no one else can do. He can deliver you and free you
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and help you. So let me help you with this
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prayer when to confess with your mouth.
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You can talk to God directly and I acknowledge you guys online
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even I don't see you. And on the radio right now,
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perhaps around the country, listening in, God is speaking to
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your heart today. And you can ask God to forgive
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you so you can pray to God. You can repeat after me.
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You could say this, God, I admit that I've sinned against you,
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and I ask you to forgive me of all of my sin.
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I believe you sent Jesus Christ to live for me, to die for me.
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And I believe Jesus rose again from the dead to save my soul.
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I turn away. I repent of my sins and my
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sinful life and choose to follow you today.
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And Father, I know anyone, anywhere that will come to you.
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You said you won't cast them out.
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But there's a battle and there's a challenge.
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So I just pray for those crying out to you today.
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I pray for those asking to. I pray for those asking for
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forgiveness, that it would be real, that it would be genuine
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and there's a supernatural work happening even now already,
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haven't happened of your saving power in their lives, in Jesus
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name. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer.
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Call us at 87730 Grace. That's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
52:57
or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you Worship Jesus this week.