Antioch Fellowship Church | Bible Study | Church 101 (pt. 19)

i said that the other week we had about five of them sitting there looking at me i see either they death or dying and something is wrong with them boy isn't god good you know every day i get up with joy in my heart i used to understand old folk talking about that now i understand it you know when you start losing one a month that was your friends with hello somebody now you can get up and say thank you for this day all right we're going to have the motion by digging good afternoon uh scripture reading be coming from romans 8 starting at verse 35 who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or apparel or sword as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted accounted as sheep for the slaughter they in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to calm nor height nor death nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord may the lord have a blessing on the readers and hearers and doers of his holy word let us pray each one god our father we come into your presence thanksgiving for another blessed day thank you lord for last night's rest his mornings are rising closing our right mind able to move around on our own thank you lord for being god all by yourself you give us a mind to come out to the house of worship to study your word to learn how to live by your word your will and your way open up our hearts and our minds that we may be receptive to your word so we can learn dear lord how to please you in everything we say in everything we do bless the sick among us the lord go with them and stand by them heal their fevers aches and pains is only you can do nevertheless that your will be done bless the ones the lord who've lost loved ones have them to know that your god all by yourself that you've never made a mistake give them that peace that surpasses all understanding that's the antioch church in a special way and each family that's represented here make each family's home a home of prayer love peace and joyfulness miss our pastor in a special way touch him right now in the name of jesus continue to let him down off into the tree deep treasures of your word that he may tell us what we should know when then when we find out what we should know help us to go and tell a dying world that you live because you live within us this is one by one and bless us all together you know why we're here today the lord we have to study a word and help us to be able to study a word and be able to do something that will please you in jesus name pray and ask it all amen dean is always trying to run something glory glory hallelujah since i laid my burden down glory glory hallelujah [Music] since i lay my [Music] i feel better so much better since i lay my burden i feel better so much better since i lay my burden down friends don't treat me like they used to since i laid my burden down don't treat me like they used to since i lay my burden down i'm going home to live with jesus since i lay my beard down [Music] i'm going home to live with jesus since i lay my burden down glory glory hallelujah since i lay my burden down glory and glory i'll let you since i'll leave my burden down amen amen amen amen that concludes the devotion i don't have a word for today pastor chris come running in i call that a sign god bless you better me thank you right amen thank you brother for leading us in that period of devotion good afternoon to all who are with us in person and those who are joining us virtually this afternoon as we are continuing to journey through acts here at our time together at our noon day bible study hour um i am glad that you're here and uh i commend each of you for taking the time to cultivate your relationship with the lord in the study of his word you you tracked with me through that dna series and i was talking about who we're called to be as a church we are called to be committed to teaching um so i want to commend each of you who have taken the time to join us in person or virtually um for this time and and i'm aware that some people will go back and watch this video um at a later time on on the man when you're able to and so i commend you for finding the time being committed to the teaching of the lord's word so that we can grow to know jesus serve jesus follow him effectively amen we're in acts chapter 15 we're going to conclude or seek to conclude acts chapter 15 today um this is this is such a such an intriguing chapter of scripture um so i'm i am looking forward to looking forward to to sharing in this time in action 15. let's quickly recap um what what we covered last week in relationship to uh this this particular chapter of scripture uh you'll remember that you know paul and barnabas have have concluded you know their their first missionary journey they have returned back to the church at antioch and there are some certain men according to acts chapter 15 verse one we don't we don't know who they are by name we know that there are some there are certain men who have showed up to the church of antioch and it started to preach that salvation was not valid without legalism and started to preach that that if you did not you were not circumcised if you didn't keep these ritualistic legal traditions then your salvation wasn't authentic and that in order to be saved it was jesus and legalism to which paul and barnabas fiercely argued and they could not come to a conclusion so the bible says that paul barnabas these certain men go to jerusalem to seek the wisdom of the apostles and they hear what god has done with the gentiles and peter who seen god move amongst gentiles says yo that that's that's not the gospel um i am a movie fan a huge movie fan um to the point where you know before this pandemic i would uh sneak away take me a little lunch break at the movies and i didn't care what what was playing i just want to watch a movie my favorite movies though aside from you know marvel comic superhero movies or biopics movies movies about people in their stories and one of my favorite such movies is a movie called american gangster it follows um the narrative of a drug dealer named frank lucas played by denzel washington have you seen the movie um the movie is interesting frank lucas builds this this drug empire by taking out the middle man of the supply chain getting his product his his his drug product directly from a source in asia during the vietnam war and selling what is the most potent cocaine on the streets he stamps it with his title blue magic it is it is more potent than anything else because it is directly derived from the source it is more addictive gives a stronger high than anything else on the market but there is a there is a scene in the movie where frank lucas has a run-in with another drug dealer named nikki barnes have you seen it nikki nikki barnes because y'all looking at me like oh the pastor knows about the drug trade anyway i'm telling y'all about the movie not the game all right so um the the issue is the issue is that um nikki barnes has taken frank lucas's product right he has then added something to it that lessens its potency but then sticks the title blue magic on it so people are buying one thing thinking it's something that it's not and the reason it's not the same as frank lucas's product was not that anything was taken out of it but because something was added to it and because nikki barnes added something to it it lost his potency frank lucas says my issue is that if you want to do that to your product and call it whatever you want to call it you can do that but people know my product for its potency you don't get to add something to my product make it lose its potency and still call it mine whenever we add something to the gospel it loses its potency and we don't then get to call it the same powerful gospel so when you add tradition and legalism to the gospel it loses its potency and its effectiveness and then we don't get to then call it the same gospel am i making sense to you that that's that's not how this works you can lose effectiveness by trying to add your flair and flavor to something right the moment the moment you try to sprinkle in your ideologies and your traditions and your preferences on it and then call it truth it loses its potency the gospel is powerful enough to save and change it does not need your preference to do so that's that's the the point that's being made from acts chapter 15 or at least the first piece of acts chapter 15. now there's something else i want you to see um that happens in the first narrative of acts chapter 15 because we're going to cover the second narrative today other thing i need you to see about the the first narrative of acts chapter 15 is that the same men from acts chapter 15 verse number one were the same men from acts chapter were included in acts chapter 15 verse number 22. when the bible says that it pleased all the apostles the elders all those who were in the church to to affirm the truth that the gospel did not need circumcision all right i want you to see this so in exodus 15 verse 1 they are saying you got to be circumcised to be saved they argue paul and barnabas down to the point where they have to go to jerusalem but after they have a conversation in jerusalem they were all right realizing that they were wrong here it is hear me well if the holy spirit is at work in you you will be able to stand down when you're wrong they they stood for the courage of these convictions in verse one and verse two and verse three but by the time we get later on in the chapter by the time we get to verse number 22 they are pleased to say we were wrong let's send out this decree to the churches and let's let them know you know that this is what we believe because they realize the error of their ways because the holy spirit will always let you know when you're wrong and the question is will you submit or will you keep fighting truth we live in a world in a time when we don't like to be convicted the holy spirit does not condemn he will convict holy spirit will let you know when you're wrong the problem is none of us like to be told that we're wrong even by god himself don't tell me your spirit led if you can't be led into knowing you need to apologize don't tell me how much holy spirit you got if you don't have enough holy spirit to submit when you're wrong yes so they they have this conversation the apostles kind of you know make this decree yo we're not going to i love i love peter's words here peter says we're not going in verse 10 we're not gonna put a yoke on their neck that we you know couldn't keep we're not gonna bind them to tradition that we couldn't keep we're not gonna have expectations of them that we couldn't meet ourselves which is we talked about this last week this is one of the great issues of the church we put expectations on other people that we can't meet ourselves we we expect people to live a holiness that we can't live up to but the moment they get caught we call them out the only difference between them and you is that they got caught you didn't and if we got to be we were going to be honest you did get caught but nobody really cared that you got caught because you didn't have enough clout or wait for it to matter you can't say man say ouch you condemn people for the same stuff you do and people know you do but you think they shouldn't do it because they sit in a certain seat but you can i'm in the bible that's verse number 10 did not make this up peter says we're not going to put a yoke on them that we couldn't keep that our fathers couldn't keep which is interesting to me because peter didn't paint his ancestors with rose-colored glasses this is important to me because peter said let's not sit up here and act like just because they're memories every memory about them was perfect it's always so interesting when i have conversations with people about tradition and things of that nature um because they they hold the church of yesteryear in such high esteem and high regard when when you were there in yesteryear you were complaining about the same stuff you holding in high regard the further we get from a time the more we're likely to remember it fondly since it's just us you know like we ain't streaming like we're not streaming since it's just us i always find it interesting when people come to me and tell me that this is just me being personal i'ma i'ma say this personally and then i'm gonna put my pastoral hat back on okay can i be chris for a second i'm always interested when people come to tell me your dad would have done this this this and that but i know you fought him too oh so you love him now huh did i just make it real awkward in here for y'all or i just kind of make it tense for you i think it's bad cause i did it with a smile and everybody's like oh does he know what i said maybe i might i love everybody though i'm just saying it really don't bother me i'ma love you the same way i'm just telling you i ain't a fool y'all y'all understand what i'm saying ain't crazy your daddy would have never you you raised all kind of hell when he was here what did you say dean he did he was right yeah pray for me see dean said dad said i was different let me tell you our difference between me and my my late father my hero unlike my that we're similar in a lot of areas different between me and him is i'm confrontational dad was the one that will run away from the fight as the kid i was the one that was running trying to get my licks in you see i'm saying like we just different you know daddy daddy's camden bread i'm triple d to the death of me i'm dallas i am i am y'all understand what i'm saying it's just it's just some you know you know y'all have heard me say i said what i said and i add more to it before i take it back all right let me be pastor again that was chris talking we're getting to know each other some of y'all thought y'all knew me hi i'm a little different than you expected i'm on one today i've actually gotten too much sleep this week just t and y'all to be happy that's all it is i love y'all y'all crazy okay for real let me get my judy okay oh y'all are too much i like i'm goofy like this and i'm watching some of y'all cringe like oh my god this boy is crazy what have we gotten ourselves into i love jesus for real okay i just still like the fight a little bit that's all that's all guys i love jesus okay peter says don't don't put a yoke on them that our forefathers couldn't carry don't put a yoke on them that we couldn't carry you know one of the things we talked about last week is a lot of the stuff we complain about today's generation of emerging generations of stuff that your parents complained about with your generation and if church was today what it was when you were growing up you wouldn't be in church either we talked about last week some of y'all up in here wearing pants and jeans and got drums in the sanctuary area play like good tars in your music shame on you listening to that worldly stuff say jesus all day long but if the beat two two popping the music y'all want me to make sure the choir sing every week you couldn't have sung in your church growing up i know they would have called it devil music sound too worldly to me y'all said that there's a yoke that now you're trying you know that if we're not careful we'll put yolks on others that we never would have abided by right that we couldn't care so this is this is what they decide to do and we're gonna we're gonna um i'm gonna conclude the first narrative just by quickly hitting on a couple things and then we'll move to the second narrative because i think it's a very um i told y'all last week we started acts 15 presents some conversations about conflict that might get a little tense last week was a little tense but it was fun i don't really see a lot of fun in the rest of this passage so i'm trying to get all our jokes out okay because because today is going to be some real real talk all right um so here's what happens they they decide i want you to note this um the apostles those who have gathered for this hearing decide to write a letter um to send send to the churches some particular churches i want you to see what happens in verse 23. um and then i'll kind of highlight it and we'll move on i wrote this letter by them the apostles the elders the brethren um who who are of the gentiles uh in antioch syria and celsius now this is what's interesting to me i want you to note they did not write this letter to all gentile churches they only wrote this letter to these three particular places because these three particular places were the only ones dealing with this particular issue right and and i want i want to make this a antioch specific conversation a statement really it's not a conversation because the jews and the gentiles were worshiping together in these particular locations these are the locations that had to deal with the tension of tradition versus um these gentile believers so these were the only places where they were having a fight about circumcision in the church were all gentiles there was never going to be a fight about circumcision because nobody else cared in a church about jews there was never going to be a conference in the church of all jews there was never going to be a conversation about circumcision because all of them were circumcised but some issues only happen when you have certain type of churches can i tell y'all a secret churches that don't have five generations ain't arguing about generational preferences some tension that exists in churches only exists because of the beauty of that church when i was out on sabbatical i went to visit a friend who pastors a church in the city i want to visit a friend who was a new pastor of a church in the city um he and i have been friends for a while and i went to support them i surprised them popped up on them and just enjoyed their worship experience i had a couple of people with me and i remember leaning over during the worship experience and said woo a little bit too young and energetic for me it was it was it was a lot that worship style was a lot woo lose a lot of jumping and running and you know rock sounding you i was like yo ccm is not my jam that style of worship not my thing you know what i'm saying that's just not and but his church is full of young people who have the same preferences and ideas about worship they're not going to battle about which sunday acquire seeing they don't have no choirs this letter is addressed to certain churches because these are the only churches that have that particular issue and i think the sad reality is some of the stuff that we should find beauty in we actually find conflict in there there is beauty there is beauty in the diversity of a local community i think the most beautiful thing about antioch is that we are a multi-generational church it is actually my favorite thing about our church unfortunately it's also the the cauldron of our greatest battles generational preference right we have these strong ideas about how a thing should look or how it should sound or where it should be placed and i think this text stands to reason that we're not alone in the fact that the uniqueness of our diversity gives us issues but this text also stands to reason that there is an answer and a solution and there is a way that we can work together this is this is what this conflict teaches us um and that that's what happens they um send this letter um says hey as long as y'all stay away from things offered to idols and you know abstain from blood and things strangled and you flee from sexual immorality keep yourself to this you'll do well follow follow the teachings of jesus guys not that big a deal stop trying to make it about more than what it what it's about that that's the and look at what happens in verse 30 the bible says they go off to antioch and they gather together they read this letter and the church rejoices over the encouragement praise god it don't take all that to be saved all right the bible says that they send paul and barnabas back to um antioch with a couple of brothers like judas and silas um also known as slovenias to stand as representatives of jerusalem as this letter is being read paul and barnabas represent antioch this is their kind of home base uh judas and silas represent jerusalem they're probably jewish christians who essentially stand to say we know what you heard from people like us we need you to know the truth from people like us we know that some guys tried to convince you that circumcision was required for salvation here we are jewish christians saying that's not true and we're witnesses to this conversation and they hang out in antioch for a while um and after they stay in hand got an antioch they get ready to send judas and silas back to jerusalem but silas feels this urge to stay in antioch verse 35 says paul and barnabas stay there and they're teaching preaching the word with many others they're back from their first missionary journey back plugged into their local church serving their local church silas is a part of the local church of the church at antioch is flourishing and growing as it was when we first saw it first first issue solved second issue second conflict we see in acts chapter 15. i think i can handle all these verses these six verses in the course of 30 minutes now after some days verse 36 paul said to barnabas let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the lord and see how they are doing as paul's here say paul really has a pastoral and apostolic heart paul did not think it was good enough to go preach on platforms but not check in to see how the word was growing in the places that he preached paul said the lord sent us out to do this missionary work to preach and establish these churches and build these communities of faith i feel a responsibility to go check on them to see if they're growing effectively and let me just pause here and say good stewardship is not your ability to start a thing being a good steward is evidence in how you maintain and sustain the thing that you started do you care about what the lord assigned to your hands not enough just to do an assignment but to make sure your assignment is being watered well right i think sometimes we get so in love with getting called to do tasks that we never stop to consider have we made sure our tasks are producing fruit paul could not rest wondering whether or not the work that was started was being continued well and i think if i'm being honest and this is just something i need us to think through christians struggle with follow-through what i mean by that is we gonna go do street ministry today we gonna go not y'all remember old school evangelism we're gonna go knock on doors today cool but after you passed out that track have you had a conversation to see what's going on with that family or did you just get to pat yourself on the back because you told somebody about jesus today know sometimes we we confuse at christian actions with true christian service like no there has to be a continuation of the work that the lord started in us does that make sense to you the lord didn't put that burden on your heart just for you to get a platform for you to follow through paul is having this moment he says you know let's go back let's go back and let's check on the churches but there's an issue verse 37. paul says let's go back but barnabas his partner here's god the dude did you say yo let's we gotta take john mark john mark is a cousin of barnabas they're cousins um we learned this um in the new testament there in colossians 4 10 we learned that barnabas john mark cousins um so barnabas says we gotta take my cousin and uh paul was like nah bruh that's not gonna happen um and the reason that's not gonna happen is because of what happened in acts chapter 13. this is this is the beauty of um walking through all the scriptures because i'll be able to jog your memory those of you who have been tracking with us about what happens in acts chapter 13. acts chapter 13 is at the very beginning of the first missionary journey and do you remember the episode where they travel and they deal with um the sorcerer who's uh whose name was bar jesus and uh in acts chapter 13 [Music] you know paul barnabas have this run in with bar jesus john mark is there but but what you'll remember is that as they're working their way through this island and preaching the word of god there there is some tension that's existing but the bible says in verse number 13 of acts chapter 13 paul and the crew set sail in one direction john mark gets on the boat and goes back to jerusalem now we don't get a whole lot of detail into this but you know it was something for paul to still be mad about it i'd like to use my spiritual imagination to suggest that paul felt like john mark abandoned them when it got hard and when it when when it got hard and uncomfortable and and this wasn't what you thought it was going to be you ran away and here we are getting ready to go back to the same place as you deserted us but now you say you want to come with us so paul's like no he can't go because all he's going to do is abandon us again but then there's barnabas we we actually know a lot about the character of barnabas he is according to acts chapter four when we meet barnabas in acts chapter four we we know him for being generous for being um somebody committed to the call of christ and we meet him again we see him in acts chapter nine based on paul's history and story and his interaction with barnabas in acts chapter nine we know that paul or barnabas has character that is welcoming accepting forgiving loving he don't hold grudges he's the type of guy that sees the best in people that that other people might not see if anybody knows that it's paul because it's barnabas who defended paul it's barnabas who went and brought paul to the church of antioch so barnabas may be saying sure he did but everybody deserves another chance whatever the issue was it was so sharp according to verse 39 it was so sharp the fight was so tough that barnabas and paul walk away from one another i need you to note that this english translation does not do justice to what took place it wasn't an agree to disagree so we'll just go our own separate ways and it is what it is it was a bitter contentious heartbreaking split between two christians but not just two christians two men who had walked together and done ministry together and were called together who meant a lot to each other here's the reality you can love jesus walk in purpose and fall out with other people who love jesus and walk in purpose just as much as you here's the here's the interesting thing about the language of the text it would actually suggest especially if you follow this narrative because it's an ongoing narrative that both of them were kind of wrong but both of them had equal parts to do with this split right um it i mean you would think that if anybody knew to reconcile at all cost it would be paul or if anybody had the heart for reconciliation it would be barnabas nah they walked away now i'ma talk a little bit because this is interesting um let's not forget that barnabas and john mark are related they're cousins hear me hear me well sometimes you'll have to deal with conflict because the family you were born into will lead to trouble with the family you were born again into when you've been adopted into a new family you you're going to have to deal with some inevitable inevitable conflict between your family of origin and the community of faith that the lord has brought you into by adoption if you hadn't dealt with it keep living there there will be some conflict to exist because you're gonna you're gonna have to determine where your deepest loyalties lie there will come some inevitable moments where you have to consider is the family i'm born into more important than the family of god i've been brought into and if they're wrong who do i choose to go with can i make a statement to you that i see in the text nobody's arguing whether or not john mark was wrong or not john mark was wrong but the conflict is not between paul and john mark it's between paul and barnabas because barnabas is having to determine whether or not to defend the wrong family member to his partner in ministry and life that's conflict because you know how we are my family can be dead wrong you better not say it to him oh y'all y'all gonna play me that's blood blood thicker than water but if you're not careful the family that you've been born into can negatively impact the purpose you've been called to there's conflict here that but to your point dean i'm glad you said you took the words out of my mouth that's deep water that's and we don't like to talk about the fact that some of our conflicts in church are connected to some real deep and convoluted stuff and present some very real issues and i think sometimes if we stay on the surface we'll never understand the heart of people's issues i let me try to determine how much i want to say here i think if if if somebody asks me what the hardest thing for me has been in this season is that sometimes people fail to remember that i'm dealing with family trauma while also trying to deal with church politics and the pastor in me is gracious but the son in me are fights you pastor me and gracious is gracious but there is there is a there is a son in me i have to listen i'm gonna be honest with you i keep in the book cause y'all know i ain't scared of none of y'all see you look at y'all smiling we getting to know each other already i had to listen to a deacon former deacon talk negatively about my mama not knowing i heard it and and i need no no i need y'all to know what i'm doing cause on one hand i'm like okay pastor pastor but chris sir you don't know me like you think you know me because i'm too old you're too old for me to whoop you but i'll whoop your son and say and make you watch that's the type of fool i am save the lord doing the work in my heart do y'all know what i'm saying to you and some of the deepest conflicts we got to deal with are ones that play tricks on our minds and our hearts and want to pull us out of character y'all understanding i'm trying to make this real to you that there are some conflicts that go deeper than kumbaya and yes jesus loves me you write about it dean thank god for the power of the holy spirit because that narrative could have ended up another way you know what's so funny about this most of the deacons in this room probably don't even know i heard what was saying this is their first time knowing why because the holy spirit at work said y'all understand what i'm saying to you there are moments that the conflict goes deeper then we can just sing it away and it's deep waters watch this that don't really have a right or wrong answer in the moment because if i would have confronted him nobody would have been able to argue it yeah well you know i would have done it too you understand what i'm saying so so here we are focused on this text are you going to be mad at barnabas for standing with his family you see how convoluted it is there are some issues when they cross from being doctrinal issues to personal issues that don't necessarily have a right or wrong it's not about is it right or wrong the questions you got to start to ask yourself is it is is it wise or unwise and is it purposeful or not you see how convoluted this becomes paul says he ain't he can't come with me because i can't trust him because he let me down when i needed him nobody can argue that this ain't about whether or not paul loved john mark as a brother in the lord this is about paul saying i can't trust him with my assignment who can be mad at that and here's barnabas saying no god forgave you you need to forgive him who can be mad at that here's paul's response i imagine he's saying this ain't about forgiveness i'll forgive him that doesn't mean i need to restore him to his place in my life who can be mad at that and the more you go back and forth the harder and harder it gets because these are two men who are mature in the faith who are dug in on their particular sides of the disagreement so they go their separate ways listen to me hear me well sometimes it's better to go your separate ways to stick around and argue sometimes the best thing you can do for the kingdom is go your separate ways for a season sometimes the kingdoms narrative can be the narrative of your disagreement can be more detrimental to your mission than anything else everybody know you arguing so ain't nobody listening to what you got to say when you stand up to teach your sunday school class they're actually listening to see if you say something petty about the other person or trying to hear you in a way that fuels the fire of your argument sometimes it's best to go your separate ways can i tell y'all something for real in here i know y'all it's uncomfortable here i only got 10 more minutes there's a reason why i don't fight with people when they leave the church oh y'all think i don't know people leave you wanna know why because what fruit will be birthed from me fighting with you you got feelings cool god bless you i'm not it's not worth the assignment watch this i know it's some stuff some of y'all been waiting on me to speak to and i'm not going to ever because it's okay to go your separate ways guys it's okay there is enough kingdom work for all of us to do i know he mad i'm not no for no for real you know what i do real good every night look at what the text says paul shows silas and departed being commended by the brethren to the grace of god they prayed over paul and silas this time chapter 13 they prayed over paul and barnabas chapter 15 they prayed over paul and silas go do the word into verse 39 barnabas and mark went to cyprus go do the work there's something to do with cyprus too brother don't do the work in cyprus you might not remember it but in acts chapter 13 that's where paul and barnabas went together the first time but there wasn't a lot of work to do because barnabas was from there paul was not paul might not have been able to accomplish a work there that barnabas could with his cousin there's work to do over there here here's more fun facts for you for you new testament scholars in colossians philemon and ii timothy paul the author of the author of those books commends john mark for his work he commenced the same john mark that abandoned them meaning you didn't work well with me that don't mean you're not saved and not called to do work and i don't have to be mad at the success of your work great job john mark exclamation exclamation exclamation now one one one um one commentator says we don't know if the lord how did he phrase it it doesn't make it clear whether or not the lord changed paul's position or john mark's position but i think it's safe to assume that he changed both of their hearts sometimes the best way that the lord can work on your heart is when you got distance from the person you mad at maybe the reason the lord ain't been able to work on your heart is because you ain't walked away for long enough go do something else let the lord deal with you while you're serving somewhere else because if there's one thing i know it's that serving the lord will do a work on your heart walk away from the conflict serve the lord let the lord fix you and then maybe you'll be able to write and commend the person you were mad at y'all still tracking with me today interestingly watch this let me tell you how good god is paul and barnabas fall out barnabas and john mark go their own way everybody that paul worked with before was gone his crew is gone but god in his own wisdom and sovereignty did not leave him by himself because a few verses ago silas gets sent to antioch by the apostles he's supposed to be back in jerusalem watch this but the lord puts it on his heart to stay longer he doesn't know why he's staying he just knows he's not supposed to go and what do you know that the lord who orchestrated him to stay had already prepared a partner for paul's assignment here's the good news i feel my help coming and i'm gonna try to keep my composure stop crying about who left because god has already raised up a silas i know you feel abandoned i know you feel betrayed i know you feel like somebody walked away from you but while you're crying about what's gone you might overlook the silence that's right there because god will never allow people to walk away without preparing and producing another partner for his purpose y'all see that in the text and they went through sirius sicilia strengthening the churches there was work for them to do sometimes the greatest seasons of our lives are preceded by certain conflicts that make us walk away from people what what paul will soon discover that we'll hit on next week is that um sometimes the lord has to give you a new partner in ministry because that new partner is built to handle what's coming against you in your next chapter because y'all do know what happens in the next chapter don't you silas who signed up for the mission ends up in prison behind the mission and some people had to walk away because they weren't built to handle your next level of conflict if john mark walked away in acts chapter 13. what do you think he would have done in acts chapter 16 when they were beat with many stripes and laid into the darkest part of the prison and bound by the hands and feet maybe the reason the lord had to let them walk away is because they would have left you alone in the worst moment of their life all right don't worry about it you better learn to thank god for some of the conflicts that cause distance and you better thank god for the silences that show up cause silas is built to handle the prison john mark what all right deacon y'all take up this offering let's go um lebron if you'd be so kind to throw that graphic up uh there are ways to give we're gonna go ahead and make ready to give as we prepare to dismiss if you're streaming online you can text to give you can give through the app you can give online for those in the room you can place your offering in the trays or in the um tithing boxes or offering boxes throughout the room uh throughout the building let's let's continue to be faithful to give um thank you for all of those who are um you know part of a part of that faithful few here at the antioch church that are um giving and i'm gonna make a challenge to all of us in the coming weeks concerning not just our finances but concerning our time and concerning our gifts our abilities i've been marked by jesus saying it's easy to determine where somebody where somebody's hearty is jesus said you can easily determine where somebody's hearty is because that's where they put their treasure and i'm going to encourage all of us in the coming weeks for the last quarter of the year to examine where we put our treasure so that we can see on paper what we love the most you'll say you love jesus the most but if you look at where you put your money where you put your time and where you use your gifts it might not be that you love jesus as much as you say you do these are my words these are jesus's so we're gonna um we're gonna do that together as a family of faith and hopefully it'll spur us to uh to disperse to put feet to our heart and we'll that will really our treasures will show how much we love jesus not just finances but what we do with our time what we do with our gifts our abilities our talents so i'm gonna encourage us to start in october do something i'm gonna call a treasure check over the course of the last quarter of the year i just want to invite you to check where your treasury is anyway let's uh let's be dismissed it's 101 until y'all a minute too long let's pray lord thank you for your word thank you for your holy spirit it leads us into truth it does work on our hearts bless your word let the seed of your word produce fruit in our lives fruit that will remain help us to handle conflict well help us to learn how to manage difficult challenging moments with other like-minded believers who love you we just have different perspectives on things help us to not try to sing over a kumbaya over real issues to learn how to have conversations and when conversations become heated contentious debates give us the grace to know it's time to walk away for the good of the gospel message and lord when we walk away do a work on our hearts that teaches us how to forgive even from a distance so that we can be faithful to the work you've assigned to our hands thank you that you'll never allow us to be by ourselves that for every john mark and barnabas we lose the silas and the timothy will show up so we thank you for that lord bless our gifts today bless our offering that we've given thank you that you can take a little and stretch it so thank you that what we deposited the seed financially will build your kingdom and we'll come back as a harvest for us pray for traveling gracious we leave this place in jesus name amen i have a great week

Channel: Antioch Fellowship Church

Views: 410

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: 5dyDoiZkYIg

Length: 62min 45sec (3765 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021