SPEAKER_01: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Open your Bibles again to the Book of Acts in chapter 15.
SPEAKER_00: I won't ask you to raise your hands out of fear or embarrassment, but how many of us have had intense disagreements with someone that impacted our relationship with that person?
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure many of us could raise our hands where we have been saddened, disappointed by the result of a disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: Strong disputes can lead to distancing between people, even the severing of relationships rather than strengthening those relationships.
SPEAKER_00: That can be hurtful, and that can be sorrowful.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that feeds our perspective often.
SPEAKER_00: We view disagreements as negative, unhelpful, discouraging, distracting, maybe even sinful.
SPEAKER_00: But the passage that was read for us by Webb in the Book of Acts challenges those perceptions.
SPEAKER_00: And it challenges our reaction to disappointments and discouragements and sad situations.
SPEAKER_00: While discouragements and disagreements can be hurtful on a human level, we must remember that God is continually working on a human level.
SPEAKER_00: He's continually working to fulfill his purpose and his plan.
SPEAKER_00: And disagreements may just be his means of doing so.
SPEAKER_00: We all believe, at least most Christians believe, who spend any time walking with Christ, we're not going to limit God.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to say that God can't do something.
SPEAKER_00: But on a very practical level, sometimes we act as though something that happens in life that's disappointing, discouraging, sorrowful, like a disagreement, is just going to ruin everything.
SPEAKER_00: But God.
SPEAKER_00: Our section from Acts 15, verse 36 to chapter 16, verse 10 takes place after the Jerusalem Council.
SPEAKER_00: You'll remember in chapter 15, apostles and elders met together to figure out what to do with this new work of God.
SPEAKER_00: Saving non-Jewish people, bringing them into his people.
SPEAKER_00: What do we do with all of these non-Jewish people?
SPEAKER_00: They figured that out and they sent out a letter saying, here is how you need to act in order to have proper relationships with one another, to be able to interact with one another well as different kinds of people from different backgrounds, different cultures, different societies.
SPEAKER_00: And now in chapter 15, verse 36, we have two Jewish men, not a Jew and a Gentile, two Jewish men who can't figure it out.
SPEAKER_00: What happens with that?
SPEAKER_00: What happens is that this is a transition to the next major movement of the gospel going to the nations.
SPEAKER_00: But before we get there, we have to remember that as with all of Acts, this is about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is not the Acts of the Apostles, this is the Acts of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The crucified, buried, risen and ascended Christ works from his position in heaven, and he does throw to does so to accomplish his purpose and plan on earth.
SPEAKER_00: That work is accomplished through his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes, sometimes that work is accomplished in unexpected ways.
SPEAKER_00: Ways that look to us as though it's going to interrupt God's plan.
SPEAKER_00: Ways as though it looks as though God's plan is going to be thwarted.
SPEAKER_00: But what we find here is that God even uses painful circumstances to fulfill his purpose and his plan.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing will stand in his way.
SPEAKER_00: So Luke employs then the Apostle Paul's ministry as the foundation of these three sections, these three units that were read for us.
SPEAKER_00: First one is at the end of chapter 15.
SPEAKER_00: Second one is chapter 16, 1 through 5, and then the third one is chapter 16, verses 6 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: It's the Apostle Paul's ministry.
SPEAKER_00: But that's just kind of the groundwork, because each of these units highlights a different person in the Apostle Paul's life and ministry.
SPEAKER_00: First section highlights a man named John Mark.
SPEAKER_00: Second one highlights Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: And the third one highlights the Spirit of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And these three units are phases of transition to the next massive phase of God's mission.
SPEAKER_00: But that work hinges on the very first unit here at the end of chapter 15 with an intense apostolic disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: So these three units detail three ways Christ used disagreement between Paul and Barnabas.
SPEAKER_00: And I think he does that to challenge us, to challenge our perspective of how we view circumstances in life that we think are going to be disruptive or interruptive or discouraging.
SPEAKER_00: So look with me at the first unit where God used an intense apostolic disagreement to create two missionary teams and long-term fruitfulness.
SPEAKER_00: Sometime after the conclusion of the Jerusalem Council in chapter 15, Paul in verse 36 wanted to return to the cities that he and Barnabas had ministered to.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that on their first missionary journey, they left Antioch on the mainland and they went to Cyprus.
SPEAKER_00: They crossed the island of Cyprus.
SPEAKER_00: Then they went north to mainland Asia Minor and traveled into what is now modern Turkey to many locations, preaching the word.
SPEAKER_00: We see that return to the focus of the early church in verse 36.
SPEAKER_00: We proclaimed the word of the Lord over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: Luke reminds us this was the focus of the early church, the ministry of the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: But do you remember how Paul and Barnabas were treated in those cities?
SPEAKER_00: You remember?
SPEAKER_00: At one point, Paul was stoned and left for dead.
SPEAKER_00: They were run out of town several times.
SPEAKER_00: On multiple occasions, they had to leave out of danger.
SPEAKER_00: Life and death circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: But if that's the treatment that Paul and Barnabas received, what kind of treatment might the believers who are still there be enduring?
SPEAKER_00: So what we see here is a pastoral concern.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul wanted to see how those new believers in Christ were surviving.
SPEAKER_00: Are they enduring?
SPEAKER_00: Are they growing?
SPEAKER_00: How are they facing new life in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: He wants to check on his spiritual children.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is now a spiritual father to multiple churches in an entire region of Asia Minor.
SPEAKER_00: And Barnabas is apparently in agreement with that.
SPEAKER_00: Apparently, he thinks this is a good idea.
SPEAKER_00: We should go and do this.
SPEAKER_00: That's where things took a different turn, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Barnabas, the son of encouragement, wanted to take John Mark with them.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul did not.
SPEAKER_00: John Mark, if you remember, traveled with Paul and Barnabas the first time.
SPEAKER_00: He got on the boat with them and went to Cyprus.
SPEAKER_00: He went all the way across the island of Cyprus.
SPEAKER_00: He got on another boat and went to mainland Asia Minor.
SPEAKER_00: And then as Paul and Barnabas went further inland, John Mark turned back and got on a boat and went back to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: We weren't told why.
SPEAKER_00: All we were told in Acts chapter 13 is that John left them and returned to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Now in chapter 15, we get a little bit more insight into what Paul thought about that action.
SPEAKER_00: You'll see in verses 36 through the end of the chapter that this is detailed for us.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 38, we find Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.
SPEAKER_00: So we see here that there are two additional details added for us about John Mark.
SPEAKER_00: Specifically, he withdrew from them and he didn't go on with the work.
SPEAKER_00: Now Luke doesn't record John Mark's motives.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to be careful not to formulate those motives since Luke didn't record them.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul, in his disagreement with Barnabas, is assessing Barnabas' desire through John Mark's actions.
SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute, Barnabas, don't you remember what John Mark did?
SPEAKER_00: He's not, we don't see him looking at why he did it, simply what he did.
SPEAKER_00: And for Paul, the decision was simple.
SPEAKER_00: John Mark had left them, and he didn't participate in proclaiming the gospel to the end of the road.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever his motives were, Mark's actions were enough for Paul to say no.
SPEAKER_00: And the result is a strong, sharp disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: Now Luke doesn't record any anger, he doesn't record any selfishness, he doesn't indicate that there's anything sinful about this disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't a biblical, doctrinal, or theological disagreement, it's a practical disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: Paul didn't want to take someone that they couldn't trust to go with them all the way.
SPEAKER_00: It's as simple as that.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Luke records for us.
SPEAKER_00: It's very easy for us to read into that, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: But let's try not to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stop there and look instead at what Barnabas does.
SPEAKER_00: Barnabas, the son of encouragement, thought it would be good to take John Mark.
SPEAKER_00: We're not told why.
SPEAKER_00: That's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Why would Barnabas feel so strongly to have this sharp disagreement and go a different direction?
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe, maybe this son of encouragement wanted to give John Mark another chance.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he had a soft heart and thought, hey, we can give him another chance.
SPEAKER_00: There's something to him.
SPEAKER_00: We can make good out of this.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he thought that John Mark had grown up in the last few weeks.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know.
SPEAKER_00: We should also remember, though, that Colossians chapter 4, verse 10 tells us that John Mark is Barnabas' cousin.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a relationship here.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, yet again, we are not told the exact reason for the argument or for why Barnabas wanted to take John Mark.
SPEAKER_00: We're left to make assumptions.
SPEAKER_00: All Luke tells us is that a disagreement led to them going their separate ways.
SPEAKER_00: And so our focus ought not to be on what's not told to us, but on what is recorded.
SPEAKER_00: Barnabas and John Mark sailed west to Cyprus along the same path they had traveled before.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, taking Silas with him, travels by foot north through Syria and into the region of Cilicia, which is very near Paul's hometown of Tarsus.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see this in a map in a few moments.
SPEAKER_00: Now notice that in verse 40, Paul or Luke records for us that the church, or at least the church leadership, commended Paul and Silas to this work.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't tell us they commended Barnabas and John Mark, interestingly, but at the very least, it suggests to us that this disagreement and this going different ways wasn't a big deal to the church.
SPEAKER_00: But look at how the Lord used this disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: First, one missionary team now becomes two.
SPEAKER_00: They cover more territory at the same time, moving more quickly.
SPEAKER_00: That's a positive development for the growth of the gospel, for the encouragement of the churches.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps more importantly, though, Barnabas's work with John Mark changed the man, even in Paul's eyes.
SPEAKER_00: I mentioned to you Colossians chapter 4, verse 10, where it says that John Mark is Barnabas' cousin.
SPEAKER_00: In the next verse, the Apostle Paul writes to the church and Colosse that John Mark had been a comfort to Paul in his kingdom work and in his imprisonment.
SPEAKER_00: That's a change.
SPEAKER_00: Something by the time of the book of Colossians had shifted between Paul and John Mark.
SPEAKER_00: That becomes even clearer when we look at 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 11, where Paul writes, Luke alone is with me, get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
SPEAKER_00: That's an astounding change.
SPEAKER_00: Going from no, absolutely not, Barnabas, I will separate from you over this issue, to please bring him, Tim.
SPEAKER_00: He's useful.
SPEAKER_00: Something has happened in John Mark in those ensuing years to make him a different person.
SPEAKER_00: And it's likely that wouldn't have happened had not Barnabas taken him along with him.
SPEAKER_00: And we can go one step further.
SPEAKER_00: Church tradition suggests a third way that God used this disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: Later church tradition contends that John Mark is the author of the Gospel of Mark.
SPEAKER_00: We can't prove that, of course.
SPEAKER_00: However, it is a very strong tradition that John Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark while he was with Peter in Rome, just before or just after Peter's martyrdom.
SPEAKER_00: So that history puts Paul and Barnabas' disagreement in a different light.
SPEAKER_00: Barnabas' work with John Mark led to a kind of forgiveness and even reconciliation and trust between Paul and John Mark, such that Paul's view of him utterly turned around.
SPEAKER_00: And Mark became so valuable to him for ministry that he is memorialized forever with the book that bears his name.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you think that we ought to be slow in cutting people off regarding their value for ministry and our relationships with them?
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean there isn't room for separation.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean there isn't room for distinguishing between people or groups or separating and going your own way.
SPEAKER_00: But ultimately and forever cutting someone off, we should probably be a little careful about that because all things are possible with God, is it not?
SPEAKER_00: Even intense disagreements and differences can be turned around for long-term fruitfulness for the Lord's work.
SPEAKER_00: But that's just the beginning of this transition section.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the next unit, beginning in chapter 16, where we see how God used an intense apostolic disagreement to prepare a future pastor.
SPEAKER_00: This begins now in chapter 16, where Paul comes to Derby and to Lystra.
SPEAKER_00: A disciple was there named Timothy, son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.
SPEAKER_00: He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium, and Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was Greek.
SPEAKER_00: Paul and Silas then make their way north and west to the cities of southern Galatia.
SPEAKER_00: These were the cities in which they had previously been persecuted.
SPEAKER_00: The end of the road on the previous trip was Lystra and Iconium and Derby.
SPEAKER_00: Now they're going the opposite direction.
SPEAKER_00: They're coming at their route from the end and going back towards the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel had prevailed, and there were believers in those places due to Paul and Barnabas's ministry.
SPEAKER_00: One of those is Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: We are given three characteristics of Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, his mother was a believer.
SPEAKER_00: Moms, grandmoms, never dismiss the influence you have on your grandchildren.
SPEAKER_00: We're told that Timothy's mother was a believer.
SPEAKER_00: Luke's mention here of his father indicates that Timothy's dad was either not a believer or maybe perhaps no longer living, somehow out of the picture.
SPEAKER_00: But number one, we're told that his mother was a believer.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, we're told that Timothy has a good reputation.
SPEAKER_00: He's well spoken of.
SPEAKER_00: This becomes significant when we look at Paul's letter to Timothy, where being well spoken of is one of the key qualifications of an elder in a local church.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, we're told that Timothy was not raised in the Jewish custom of identifying as Jewish through circumcision.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know why.
SPEAKER_00: Whether that's because his mother wasn't a practicing Jew since she was married to a Gentile Greek, maybe his father didn't allow the practice.
SPEAKER_00: But what that meant was that Timothy was not fully Jewish and not fully Gentile.
SPEAKER_00: But that made Timothy the perfect ministry companion for Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Because that gave him inroads into both groups.
SPEAKER_00: But the Jewish group wouldn't accept Timothy if he was not fully immersed in the Jewish identity.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul takes Timothy as his protege and his apprentice.
SPEAKER_00: And since his pattern is to go first to Jewish synagogues before taking the gospel of the Gentiles, they remove the stumbling block before the Jews, and Timothy is circumcised, so he'll be accepted into synagogues by the Jewish people.
SPEAKER_00: The result in verses four and five is that the decision of the Jerusalem Council was passed down to every church.
SPEAKER_00: So we see then the chapter 15 and that decision by the apostles and elders becomes a key ingredient.
SPEAKER_00: To the growth of the local church as it spreads.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes one of the foundational documents, you might say, for new church plants as they grow.
SPEAKER_00: They were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily.
SPEAKER_00: But there's another result of this disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if Paul and Barnabas would have added someone to their team had it been Paul and Barnabas and John Mark.
SPEAKER_00: But it's just Paul and Silas.
SPEAKER_00: So there's room for Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: So Barnabas has John Mark to train and develop.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul now has Timothy.
SPEAKER_00: So the leadership groups are multiplying and going in different directions for greater effectiveness and expansion.
SPEAKER_00: And the leadership groups are then multiplying by pouring themselves into others who can then train others.
SPEAKER_00: So the Lord is using that painful disagreement to prepare for future kingdom work.
SPEAKER_00: It might have been painful in the moment, and there might have been disagreement and separation, but that was part of God shifting his people groups to further expand his kingdom work.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy becomes the one that Paul chose to lead the church at Ephesus during some very tumultuous times.
SPEAKER_00: And because of Timothy, we have two-thirds of the pastoral epistles to guide us through church doctrine and church practice.
SPEAKER_00: Again, doesn't that challenge our view of disappointing and painful circumstances?
SPEAKER_00: Look at what the Lord did.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord took what surely had to be a painful and hurtful experience, and he used it to expand the gospel's presence and ultimately to give us three New Testament books.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not suggesting that God will always do something that extraordinary with the sad and painful disagreements that come in life.
SPEAKER_00: I am suggesting that we can entrust those agonizing circumstances to Jesus as part of his purpose and his plan for our good and the continued expansion of his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Because far too often what we do is we look at those situations in life merely through our eyes.
SPEAKER_00: But if we were to take a step back, even a large step back to the realm of heaven and see God's universal purpose and plan and how Jesus is working out his purpose, we would see those things differently.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's what Luke is doing here.
SPEAKER_00: He's showing us that perspective of the risen and ascended Christ working to fulfill his purpose.
SPEAKER_00: But for us to have that change of focus, we have to shift our focus from what we feel in the moment to what Jesus is doing.
SPEAKER_00: And once we have that focus shift, we can then work to trust his purposes and his plan instead of what I'm feeling in the moment.
SPEAKER_00: Now, our third unit reveals a third divine use of Paul and Barnabas's disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: And it's that God used an intense apostolic disagreement to further expand the gospel's reach.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
SPEAKER_00: And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.
SPEAKER_00: So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
SPEAKER_00: And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, and a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us.
SPEAKER_00: And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
SPEAKER_00: This is Asia Minor, a picture of modern day Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: You can see on the right hand side of the image there's the letters G A, that is Galatia.
SPEAKER_00: And the line there is dividing the region of Asia at the time and Galatia.
SPEAKER_00: On the very left-hand side of the image, you'll see several dots that are showing six of the seven churches of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: So you'll see places like Ephesus and Smyrna and Sardis and Laodicea and Colossae and Pergamum.
SPEAKER_00: They started down here in Lystra, in the bottom corner, and they end up on the top right hand side.
SPEAKER_00: At two points along this journey, Paul wanted, desired to go in a certain direction, but God said no.
SPEAKER_00: Interestingly, Luke says, God said, Don't proclaim the word of the Lord there.
SPEAKER_00: That's an interesting question for our theology.
SPEAKER_00: Are there people to whom the Lord does not want the gospel proclaimed to them?
SPEAKER_00: At least there was here for a time, for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: This is a significant passage because it speaks to following the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: Twice in these five verses, we see God not allowing Paul and his company to go to locations they wanted to go.
SPEAKER_00: They were forbidden by the Spirit to speak the word in Asia, and the Spirit did not allow them to go northeast into Bithynia.
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: Humans like to think that they are entirely free creatures.
SPEAKER_00: As if we live in a world of our own making over which we are altogether sovereign.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not the case.
SPEAKER_00: And this is one of the passages that debunks that claim.
SPEAKER_00: Because verse 6 suggests that Paul's group wanted to go through Phrygia and Galatia, but they couldn't.
SPEAKER_00: They had a desire, they had a want, but the Holy Spirit forbade them from going.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7 says they wanted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them to do so.
SPEAKER_00: So notice what's happening here.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is connected with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: One reference says the Holy Spirit, the other says the Spirit of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That links the elements here that Jesus is working, and he's working from heaven by his spirit on earth.
SPEAKER_00: This is the act of Jesus directing his people so that the progress of the gospel goes exactly where God wants it to go.
SPEAKER_00: What do we make of that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, remember Proverbs 16, verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: The heart of a man plans his way.
SPEAKER_00: But it's the Lord who establishes the steps.
SPEAKER_00: That redirects our thinking a little bit, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: From what we want to what God's going to do.
SPEAKER_00: Our plans are good.
SPEAKER_00: We have the freedom to think, to hope, but to plan as long as it works out what God's going to do.
SPEAKER_00: And if our hopes and our plans do not fulfill the Lord's purpose, he will move us in a different direction.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs chapter 19, verse 21 expresses this as well.
SPEAKER_00: Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it's the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
SPEAKER_00: So walk in obedience to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Faithfully follow him.
SPEAKER_00: Live your life and seek to do great things for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But hold your plans loosely because he directs your steps.
SPEAKER_00: Now that doesn't mean that our desires and our will are squashed.
SPEAKER_00: We still possess them.
SPEAKER_00: But it's a call for us to bring them into the service of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So in chapter 15, verse 36, Paul's desire was to visit and strengthen the churches.
SPEAKER_00: And that matched the Lord's will.
SPEAKER_00: They accomplished that.
SPEAKER_00: They went.
SPEAKER_00: But as they went later, the Lord Jesus had different plans of which Paul knew nothing until the vision came.
SPEAKER_00: And when the will of the Lord became clear, Paul submitted his desires to Christ, following his direction, to go to a completely new location.
SPEAKER_00: So remember that Acts recounts God's acts.
SPEAKER_00: This is the record of the ascended and risen Christ doing his work from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit is his agent directing events, redirecting people, and taking the gospel to new lands and people.
SPEAKER_00: And he hasn't stopped.
SPEAKER_00: He is working until he returns.
SPEAKER_00: Which means these same patterns are things that we ought to expect in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Where we want to do things, we make plans to do things, and we hold them loosely, expecting the Lord may desire something different.
SPEAKER_00: Like Paul, we opposed Jesus and his will in our lives before we came to trust in him.
SPEAKER_00: But now, by faith, we trust him with our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We trust him with our days, with our weeks, with our years, even as we should our hours and our minutes.
SPEAKER_00: We trust him with our jobs, with our families.
SPEAKER_00: We trust him with where we live, with whether our lives are comfortable or painful, whether we're stoned or chased out of town, or whether we're welcomed in.
SPEAKER_00: We trust him with every decision and every circumstance and even every disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: And over time, we learn that Jesus' way is best.
SPEAKER_00: Older saints, do we not learn that?
SPEAKER_00: Over time, we learn that Jesus' way is best.
SPEAKER_00: We learn to submit our desires to his.
SPEAKER_00: And if what we want and if what we have planned does not come to pass, we then command our souls to be content with his good and gracious provision, because we trust that he is working all things to his desired end.
SPEAKER_00: And even if you cannot say in this very moment that it is good and gracious, one day you will stand before him and you will acknowledge, yes, Lord, everything that you did was good and gracious and right.
SPEAKER_00: Because now I see it.
SPEAKER_00: And so we labor at faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that Jesus directs our paths.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we want to do certain things.
SPEAKER_00: We plan to do certain things.
SPEAKER_00: It is good to follow Christ, it is good to do ministry for Christ, it is good to desire great things.
SPEAKER_00: Go and do that, but be ready for Jesus to step in and say, Yeah, no, you're not going there.
SPEAKER_00: That's not time for that yet.
SPEAKER_00: Something else is happening.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, we don't need to figure out the path first.
SPEAKER_00: We step out in faith and we do something.
SPEAKER_00: He will make his will clear in the end, but always be ready to submit your desires to him.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, you'll find yourself fighting him.
SPEAKER_00: We know, and we would all assent to the truth that nothing will stand in the way of Christ building his church.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I will build my church.
SPEAKER_00: Not even the gates of hell will overcome it.
SPEAKER_00: We would assent to that.
SPEAKER_00: We would agree with that.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is expanding his kingdom and he is fulfilling his purpose.
SPEAKER_00: We would never disagree with that.
SPEAKER_00: What we then may perceive as hindrances to his work may actually be his means of expanding his work.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes painful, sad circumstances may be God's intentional means of accomplishing far greater things than we can imagine.
SPEAKER_00: Will you trust him with the painful circumstances of life?
SPEAKER_00: Will you submit your life, your days, your hours, your decisions, your plans to his universal sovereign work?
SPEAKER_00: Your response might be, I'm not the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: No, you're not.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God for that.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to be stoned, shipwrecked, beaten.
SPEAKER_00: But remember, there are no great men of God who are sinless or who are exceptional because they sin less.
SPEAKER_00: Barnabas is not the hero.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is not the hero.
SPEAKER_00: John Mark is not the hero.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy is not the hero.
SPEAKER_00: Pastors, missionaries, teachers are not the heroes of our story.
SPEAKER_00: There is only one hero, and his name is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Only one person works all things according to the counsel of his will, and his name is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So the greatest follower of Jesus is the weakest, the lowliest, the most humble and meek, not the most famous, smartest, wisest, or wealthiest.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to follow Jesus and experience his great grace overflowing in your weakness and your humanity, then submit your will, your desires, and your ego to his.
SPEAKER_00: For he is working a work that will either draw you into his magnificent purpose and grace, that will be to the praise of his eternal glory.
SPEAKER_00: Or he will leave you by the wayside to go your own way.
SPEAKER_00: To say that we know that Jesus' way is best.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we want.
SPEAKER_00: Would you bow with me in prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: May we be drawn to you by humility.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that you you you went before us and showed us the way.
SPEAKER_00: You did not consider holding on to the glories of heaven as something that you had you deserved.
SPEAKER_00: But you laid it aside so that we might be made sons and daughters of God.
SPEAKER_00: And want to be a part of that, a part of that eternal work, that glorious work instead of going our own way.
SPEAKER_00: As the King of Kings, as the Lord of Lords, the most glorious of all glories.
SPEAKER_00: Who thought it wise and best and glorious to take a people for your own name from all the nations, sinful people whom you would redeem and justify and make into your own image to stand before the Father as sons and daughters.
SPEAKER_00: May we come and worship before you in the spirit of truth.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_01: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.