WEBVTT 00:00.151 --> 00:16.201 [SPEAKER_00]: So today is a message title if you want to take notes and actually fun fact we're on U-version Bible apps so you can also follow along with some bullet points this morning first time in a long time but U-version Bible app if you go and advance you'll see fervent church under there. 00:16.681 --> 00:19.462 [SPEAKER_00]: or you can search it, try to figure it out. 00:19.582 --> 00:23.864 [SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, if you take notes, message tile today is when we disagree. 00:24.384 --> 00:33.268 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the realities you guys know this to be true, if you've lived life long enough, I mean, even my kids know this, is that people disagree, don't we? 00:33.368 --> 00:35.149 [SPEAKER_00]: Just show hands, you ever had a disagreement, right? 00:35.209 --> 00:35.989 [SPEAKER_00]: I think, you know, 00:36.549 --> 00:37.290 [SPEAKER_00]: 10 out of 10. 00:37.610 --> 00:38.871 [SPEAKER_00]: We've all had a disagreement. 00:38.931 --> 00:42.434 [SPEAKER_00]: Husbands will disagree with their wise wise disagree with their husbands. 00:42.875 --> 00:53.264 [SPEAKER_00]: Friends will disagree with one another at times, family members, co-workers, and here's the thing that yes, even Christians at times will disagree with one another. 00:53.625 --> 00:57.908 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes these disagreements that we have are over important things, right? 00:58.008 --> 00:59.610 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're very passionate about it. 01:00.050 --> 01:01.191 [SPEAKER_00]: But oftentimes, 01:02.052 --> 01:09.721 [SPEAKER_00]: we're upset, we disagree over things that in the grand scheme of eternity don't really matter that much. 01:09.821 --> 01:17.610 [SPEAKER_00]: Can I get a amen, maybe if some of you have been in a disagreement, maybe specifically with your spouse at times, you're like, what do we even argue in about? 01:18.831 --> 01:21.073 [SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, no, not definitely not us. 01:21.774 --> 01:22.575 [SPEAKER_00]: Uh-huh. 01:22.955 --> 01:24.497 [SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, but we argue over things. 01:24.537 --> 01:26.919 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes matters a lot, sometimes not a big deal. 01:27.439 --> 01:30.562 [SPEAKER_00]: But some of the, here's one of the things I've seen in my life. 01:30.922 --> 01:34.225 [SPEAKER_00]: I won't try to share too many examples today because I have a lot to cover. 01:34.326 --> 01:40.171 [SPEAKER_00]: But I've seen some of the smallest disagreements separate some of the strongest like friends. 01:40.211 --> 01:42.013 [SPEAKER_00]: Friends that I thought, man, they're going to be friends. 01:42.613 --> 01:43.133 [SPEAKER_00]: forever. 01:43.233 --> 01:45.154 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you have examples of that in your life. 01:45.534 --> 01:54.736 [SPEAKER_00]: But unfortunately, what we see is that the church, us, you and I here today, we're not immune to disagreements and even at times division. 01:54.756 --> 01:55.937 [SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to talk about this. 01:55.977 --> 02:00.838 [SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully it'll be very practical for you to apply in many different ways in your life. 02:01.218 --> 02:23.274 [SPEAKER_00]: but here's the first question is well what causes division in the first place well there's many things a few things if you want to jot them down opinions and preferences is one of them right and just note opinions right that's your thought or understanding or your preference of a certain thing or matter right and sometimes we confuse what we prefer to what is actually right 02:24.095 --> 02:27.640 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, another thing that causes division, I've seen this is apathy, right? 02:27.780 --> 02:31.445 [SPEAKER_00]: Apathy is just like, hey, I just don't really care or someone just doesn't care. 02:31.485 --> 02:36.212 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't take their job, their responsibilities seriously and they leave others to carry the way. 02:36.492 --> 02:40.678 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes that causes division doesn't it or some disagreement at the very least. 02:41.479 --> 02:44.842 [SPEAKER_00]: Another thing that causes division, unresolved conflict. 02:44.862 --> 02:47.004 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it'll just figure itself out. 02:47.604 --> 02:47.785 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 02:47.805 --> 02:48.665 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a disagreement. 02:48.685 --> 02:52.529 [SPEAKER_00]: You just try to ignore it, sweep it under the rug, like one day it's just not going to be there anymore. 02:52.629 --> 02:53.490 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 02:53.570 --> 03:04.119 [SPEAKER_00]: We'd like to believe that, but that's not usually the case, is that it often it needs to be dealt with, or it will come back up, it's just a matter of when an unresolved conflict will do that. 03:04.139 --> 03:08.503 [SPEAKER_00]: Another thing that brings division is our sin, pride. 03:09.063 --> 03:13.124 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't like to admit that we're wrong, we don't want to admit that we've done anything wrong. 03:13.164 --> 03:19.866 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes our selfishness, which is sin, our dishonesty, gossip, rebellion, these things can lead to division. 03:20.267 --> 03:22.947 [SPEAKER_00]: Another one unforgiveness, this one might be something. 03:22.987 --> 03:24.708 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you may be need to hear today, right? 03:24.728 --> 03:27.349 [SPEAKER_00]: You hold people's past against them. 03:28.210 --> 03:36.215 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of extending grace, and so then what happens is you don't forgive them, they're upset with you, and there becomes a division at some point. 03:37.376 --> 03:45.801 [SPEAKER_00]: And another one, maybe this one's pretty timely, if you've been watching anything in the world this week, is another thing that causes division politics. 03:46.122 --> 03:48.183 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you are like, well, too soon, Nick, yeah, I'm the way. 03:49.028 --> 04:09.694 [SPEAKER_00]: But politics, we allow things out there to cause division within the church, and the thing is, again, disagreements are inevitable, disagreements will happen right here, no matter how good we are, how close we are to Jesus, we will disagree at some point, but here's the thing is division, division is avoidable. 04:10.850 --> 04:19.833 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not always necessary, and today we're going to see a disagreement between two incredibly faithful, powerful men of God by the name of Paul. 04:19.893 --> 04:23.974 [SPEAKER_00]: How many of you know what I'm talking about, Paul, like wrote half of the New Testament, like Paul. 04:23.994 --> 04:27.415 [SPEAKER_00]: He's somebody and we got Barnabas, how many of you heard of Barnabas? 04:27.735 --> 04:36.078 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, Barnabes is another guy who's a pretty, um, he's a stud in the Bible, where I be like, man, this guy is somebody and they, here's the thing up to this point. 04:36.098 --> 04:38.119 [SPEAKER_00]: They've been on a missionary journey together. 04:38.139 --> 04:44.681 [SPEAKER_00]: Their homies together, ride together, die together, we're preaching Jesus to everyone for the rest of our life, right? 04:44.701 --> 04:45.401 [SPEAKER_00]: They're close. 04:45.441 --> 04:46.722 [SPEAKER_00]: They're sold out. 04:46.782 --> 04:54.744 [SPEAKER_00]: They're all in, but in today's text, we're going to see that they have a disagreement that's so big or important that they end up 04:56.445 --> 05:07.730 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, and the question I want us to consider today for ourselves will see this in the text a bit, but how should you and I, how should Christians handle disagreements? 05:08.873 --> 05:17.099 [SPEAKER_00]: So Acts chapter 15 verse 36 will read through there are entirety of the scriptures, just six verses this morning. 05:17.119 --> 05:26.986 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, in after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaim the Word of the Lord, and see how they are. 05:27.907 --> 05:40.343 [SPEAKER_00]: Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark, but Paul thought best to not take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphilia and had not gone with them to the work. 05:40.883 --> 05:45.909 [SPEAKER_00]: And there arose a sharp disagreement so that they separated from each other. 05:46.470 --> 05:55.395 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 05:55.415 --> 06:00.158 [SPEAKER_00]: And he went through Syria and Celicia, strengthening the churches. 06:00.178 --> 06:01.558 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the word of the Lord. 06:01.578 --> 06:02.579 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to look at today. 06:02.599 --> 06:04.620 [SPEAKER_00]: There's the disagreement that happens, right? 06:04.660 --> 06:05.200 [SPEAKER_00]: We see it. 06:05.220 --> 06:05.841 [SPEAKER_00]: It's right there. 06:05.901 --> 06:06.721 [SPEAKER_00]: It's plain as day. 06:06.781 --> 06:09.283 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul wanted to go and visit the churches. 06:09.303 --> 06:11.464 [SPEAKER_00]: They just got back from a missionary journey. 06:11.484 --> 06:13.265 [SPEAKER_00]: They're like, hey, now we've rested. 06:13.605 --> 06:17.528 [SPEAKER_00]: We've recharged, we've told the brothers, like, let's go visit them again. 06:17.548 --> 06:18.729 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a good thing, right? 06:18.769 --> 06:21.631 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, hey, let's go see the churches that we plant. 06:21.651 --> 06:25.034 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's go encourage them, make sure they're teaching the truth. 06:25.935 --> 06:31.599 [SPEAKER_00]: So Paul wants to go visit them, and Paul and Barnabes, as I already said, they've been through a lot together. 06:32.280 --> 06:36.263 [SPEAKER_00]: They've served, they've planted churches together. 06:36.543 --> 06:40.246 [SPEAKER_00]: They've seen people come to Jesus and, like, mass numbers. 06:40.286 --> 06:42.228 [SPEAKER_00]: They've seen miracles performed. 06:42.628 --> 06:50.569 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, in Jesus' name, and they've even gone through opposition and hardship together, where they almost Paul, in one instance, almost lost his life. 06:50.589 --> 06:58.491 [SPEAKER_00]: He was stone, if you remember, they thought he was dead, but he wasn't dead, but they took him out of the city, like, get this dead body out of here, but he was really alive. 06:58.791 --> 07:00.611 [SPEAKER_00]: This is stuff they've been through together. 07:00.671 --> 07:01.771 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnivist was there. 07:02.432 --> 07:10.413 [SPEAKER_00]: And so then the problem here, Paul's like, hey, let's go strengthen the churches, let's go visit them, encourage them, let's keep up the ministry. 07:11.267 --> 07:15.670 [SPEAKER_00]: But Barnabas he wants to take John Mark, right? 07:15.690 --> 07:22.274 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the same mark that would go to write the gospel account that we call the book of Mark. 07:23.075 --> 07:27.998 [SPEAKER_00]: And Barnabas wants to take John Mark, but Paul doesn't want to take him. 07:28.848 --> 07:35.616 [SPEAKER_00]: Verse 38, right, says, but Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them. 07:35.696 --> 07:44.125 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, your translation, if you're, I read and teach from the ESV, but if you use another one, it might say a different word, one who had deserted them. 07:44.145 --> 07:45.787 [SPEAKER_00]: Does anyone's translation say that? 07:46.087 --> 07:46.368 [SPEAKER_00]: All right. 07:46.408 --> 07:46.928 [SPEAKER_00]: We got one. 07:47.189 --> 07:47.329 [SPEAKER_00]: Right. 07:47.349 --> 07:48.571 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the strength of this. 07:48.591 --> 07:50.634 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not just like, oh, hey, he needed a break. 07:50.874 --> 07:52.176 [SPEAKER_00]: You need to stick today. 07:52.196 --> 07:54.640 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, no, he had deserted them. 07:54.660 --> 07:59.387 [SPEAKER_00]: And so Paul's like, I think it's not best to take one who had deserted us. 08:00.404 --> 08:01.745 [SPEAKER_00]: and not gone to the work with them. 08:01.785 --> 08:11.971 [SPEAKER_00]: Now remember, in Acts chapter 13, right, we saw when John Mark left, we don't know all of why he left, but John Mark left them during the first missionary journey. 08:12.351 --> 08:18.014 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't know exactly why Scripture doesn't tell us, but here's the thing we can see today, is that Paul took its serious. 08:18.674 --> 08:19.915 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no small matter. 08:20.455 --> 08:28.420 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, you left us, and I don't know what it would have been, like what was he in charge of, but the point is, is like, you left us when we needed you. 08:29.362 --> 08:50.504 [SPEAKER_00]: right from so from Paul's perspective I can see it I can understand it like for him it's like faithfulness and trust matter how many of you are like yes amen faithfulness and trust matter and I can understand again Paul's perspective because ministry is hard the mission of the church is incredibly important right the opposition is real 08:51.697 --> 08:56.258 [SPEAKER_00]: Sacrifices are great, the stakes are high for those who serve in ministry. 08:56.858 --> 09:02.119 [SPEAKER_00]: And Paul doesn't want to take with him again, someone who might walk away when things get difficult. 09:02.139 --> 09:18.642 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, I just imagine I've been watching this show, it's not a true story, but it's like a military show, anyone like military shows, wars, shows, I don't know, but I just, I always just, like, that's me in my former life, no, I'm like, or who I could have been, I don't know. 09:19.660 --> 09:22.624 [SPEAKER_00]: But if I'm in battle and you're like, hey, I got your back. 09:23.164 --> 09:25.907 [SPEAKER_00]: Like to me, it's like, you better have my back. 09:25.927 --> 09:28.671 [SPEAKER_00]: Like we're going out, like we're shooting guns and things. 09:28.711 --> 09:30.393 [SPEAKER_00]: So like people are shooting at us, right? 09:30.453 --> 09:33.657 [SPEAKER_00]: And so when things start popping off, if you're like, whoa, was that a bullet? 09:33.837 --> 09:34.518 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, yeah. 09:35.078 --> 09:36.098 [SPEAKER_00]: We're in war, dude. 09:36.258 --> 09:40.020 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I didn't know that, so then you could take off, like, I don't want that for myself. 09:40.380 --> 09:41.500 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you want that for you? 09:42.080 --> 09:49.363 [SPEAKER_00]: I just imagine from ministries, like, dude, this is even more real and serious than something of our war nature. 09:49.403 --> 09:51.764 [SPEAKER_00]: It's spiritual war, but it's a very real war. 09:51.804 --> 09:53.524 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, hey, we're going to war together. 09:53.564 --> 09:55.405 [SPEAKER_00]: I need someone I know who's going to be there. 09:56.085 --> 09:56.785 [SPEAKER_00]: when I need them. 09:57.225 --> 10:02.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Not someone who's going to go and run away when things start popping off and things get harder than we plan for. 10:02.547 --> 10:03.447 [SPEAKER_00]: It will get harder. 10:03.967 --> 10:04.947 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just think of Paul. 10:04.987 --> 10:08.608 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like he's like, we need contenders for the faith. 10:09.588 --> 10:10.729 [SPEAKER_00]: Not just consumers. 10:10.789 --> 10:13.549 [SPEAKER_00]: Not just, hey, what can the church give me or do for me? 10:13.589 --> 10:16.410 [SPEAKER_00]: He wants people who are like, hey, I'm in the fight with you. 10:16.470 --> 10:17.450 [SPEAKER_00]: What do you need Paul? 10:18.311 --> 10:23.232 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we need people who are willing to endure hardship, who are committed, 10:24.037 --> 10:27.418 [SPEAKER_00]: to the mission of reaching people with the gospel of Jesus. 10:27.778 --> 10:31.338 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, we need people who will remain faithful when things get difficult. 10:31.639 --> 10:35.299 [SPEAKER_00]: Then so the thing we're doing here, fervent church, this is no small thing. 10:35.319 --> 10:38.900 [SPEAKER_00]: I know we're a small church, but this is an important work. 10:39.500 --> 10:48.982 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, we're carrying the message of Jesus to anyone who has ears, to anyone who wants to hear, anyone tuning in on liner, listening at some other point on some different platform. 10:49.282 --> 10:52.023 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, this is the truth, this is eternal life, 10:54.063 --> 10:56.025 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a pretty hard course thing, isn't it? 10:56.045 --> 11:04.551 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, it's like we're not just here because well we don't got anything else to do and we're just we like to go and set up at a elementary school for just no good reason. 11:04.591 --> 11:06.472 [SPEAKER_00]: Like no we're here because we got a mission. 11:08.073 --> 11:12.817 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just think with Paul man, he's already experienced Mark walking away. 11:13.878 --> 11:17.520 [SPEAKER_00]: He's already experienced him leaving the mission and now he wants to come back. 11:17.881 --> 11:19.822 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, there's a trust issue there. 11:19.882 --> 11:23.105 [SPEAKER_00]: Now the scripture might not tell us that but I think we can probably 11:24.354 --> 11:46.927 [SPEAKER_00]: Understand that trust has been broken right and that if you know anything about relationships like trust is the currency of any relationship Right, whether that's a marriage a friendship or here in the church right the moment trust is broken I mean, it's it becomes very difficult and the truth about is trust can be broken in a moment Can it 11:48.008 --> 11:50.290 [SPEAKER_00]: But if you want to rebuild trust, well, it takes some time. 11:51.211 --> 11:53.232 [SPEAKER_00]: Think of demolition in any, like a building. 11:53.252 --> 11:57.576 [SPEAKER_00]: You guys see videos like in the, like, it takes a moment to demolition a building. 11:57.596 --> 11:59.897 [SPEAKER_00]: But how long does it take to rebuild it? 11:59.937 --> 12:01.319 [SPEAKER_00]: Or build it in the first place? 12:01.399 --> 12:02.239 [SPEAKER_00]: It takes a long time. 12:02.499 --> 12:05.782 [SPEAKER_00]: Like the comparison is like, man, to destroy, trust. 12:06.363 --> 12:07.263 [SPEAKER_00]: It's very easy. 12:07.343 --> 12:12.367 [SPEAKER_00]: You just mess up one time, boom, you've lost trust for a while to rebuild it while it's gonna take some time. 12:12.748 --> 12:13.708 [SPEAKER_00]: And so something we can, 12:14.730 --> 12:19.312 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at on Paul's sides, like trust, faithfulness, matter. 12:19.552 --> 12:27.315 [SPEAKER_00]: But one thing we can try to, maybe if you take notes, understand, too, is forgiveness, doesn't always mean trust is restored. 12:28.505 --> 12:29.265 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's a hard one. 12:29.305 --> 12:30.686 [SPEAKER_00]: Cause you're like, well, I forgave them. 12:31.166 --> 12:32.187 [SPEAKER_00]: Why don't you trust me? 12:32.207 --> 12:36.709 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, cause you've proven to be not trustworthy. 12:37.569 --> 12:40.391 [SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus says this and Luke chapter 16 verse 10. 12:40.431 --> 12:43.472 [SPEAKER_00]: Many of you know the first half, but I wonder if you know the second half. 12:43.712 --> 12:48.175 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, one who is faithful and a very little is also faithful and much. 12:48.215 --> 12:53.517 [SPEAKER_00]: And he says this and one who is dishonest and very little is dishonest and much. 12:53.537 --> 12:55.318 [SPEAKER_00]: Like you did one thing, I guess not a big deal. 12:58.113 --> 12:59.353 [SPEAKER_00]: was just a little white lie. 12:59.393 --> 13:04.235 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, what Jesus is saying, well, then you're probably telling a lot of bigger lies than you're leading on to, right? 13:04.335 --> 13:07.055 [SPEAKER_00]: Faithfulness, trust, things of that nature. 13:07.155 --> 13:07.896 [SPEAKER_00]: It matters. 13:07.976 --> 13:08.836 [SPEAKER_00]: It is a big deal. 13:08.876 --> 13:12.077 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think for Paul, that's his problem with John Mark. 13:13.137 --> 13:15.858 [SPEAKER_00]: I can't take someone who's a liability. 13:17.108 --> 13:17.989 [SPEAKER_00]: We got things to do. 13:18.649 --> 13:20.391 [SPEAKER_00]: On the other hand, there's Barnabas, right? 13:20.431 --> 13:24.975 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnabas perspective, he's kind of the grace. 13:25.075 --> 13:28.898 [SPEAKER_00]: He believes all things to all people kind of guy, right? 13:28.918 --> 13:30.580 [SPEAKER_00]: He's the son of encouragement. 13:30.600 --> 13:32.141 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what his name literally means. 13:32.501 --> 13:34.743 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I can understand his perspective too. 13:36.125 --> 13:40.388 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnabas is the son of encouragement we saw in Acts chapter four. 13:41.049 --> 13:41.489 [SPEAKER_00]: But when, 13:42.510 --> 13:56.754 [SPEAKER_00]: And what we see in his past, Barnabes, that is, when Paul was coming into Jesus, the other disciples were afraid of him, right, they're like, we can't, he's not on our team, like that dude was killing us the other day. 13:56.894 --> 13:58.255 [SPEAKER_00]: He was trying to persecute us, right? 13:58.275 --> 14:02.336 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember the story of Paul saw conversion, but who was the one who vouched for him? 14:02.916 --> 14:04.457 [SPEAKER_00]: is Barnabas, right? 14:04.497 --> 14:07.838 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnabas is the one who's like, hey, no, he actually is the real deal. 14:07.938 --> 14:09.679 [SPEAKER_00]: He actually gave his life to Jesus. 14:10.019 --> 14:17.482 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnabas was willing to recognize God's work in Saul before other people were even new God was working on him at all. 14:18.162 --> 14:20.543 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, Barnabas was ready to take a chance on him. 14:20.563 --> 14:25.465 [SPEAKER_00]: And now, Barnabas, in this instance, wants to give John Mark another opportunity. 14:26.802 --> 14:45.747 [SPEAKER_00]: There's another little tie to this Barnabas is actually Mark's cousin, so there's little family tie there, but I also feel like that probably strengthens some of this, like it wouldn't be easy, because you don't know to me, I'm like, you know them a little bit more, right, if your family, but I imagine Barnabas was super excited. 14:46.387 --> 14:49.568 [SPEAKER_00]: Like John Mark wants to, he wants to come back, Paul. 14:50.388 --> 14:53.531 [SPEAKER_00]: Like he's back slitting, but now he's back again. 14:53.571 --> 14:54.331 [SPEAKER_00]: He's in the church. 14:54.351 --> 14:55.232 [SPEAKER_00]: He's ready to go on. 14:55.272 --> 14:55.612 [SPEAKER_00]: Mission. 14:55.632 --> 14:57.274 [SPEAKER_00]: He's ready to preach Jesus. 14:57.314 --> 14:58.195 [SPEAKER_00]: He's excited there. 14:58.215 --> 15:17.531 [SPEAKER_00]: He probably saw this as an opportunity, like this is a chance for Mark to grow, a chance for him to mature, a chance for him to prove himself faithful, and Barnabas seems to be, again, the one who sees the potential in people when others only see their past or their failure. 15:18.260 --> 15:28.725 [SPEAKER_00]: I've said it before, only talked about Barnabas, we need some Barnabas type people in our lives, encourageers, people who see God's call on your life when others don't, or when even you don't. 15:29.405 --> 15:32.647 [SPEAKER_00]: People who believe God can use you despite your failures. 15:33.107 --> 15:39.830 [SPEAKER_00]: People who don't hold every mistake over your head, forever, people who are willing to give you another opportunity. 15:40.878 --> 15:45.379 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, Barnabas is the type like Paul writes in first Corinthians 13, seven. 15:45.399 --> 15:53.961 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and does all things, and Barnabas is that guy, right? 15:54.021 --> 15:57.181 [SPEAKER_00]: He's ready to believe all things. 15:57.201 --> 15:58.962 [SPEAKER_00]: You say, you've come back to Jesus. 15:59.002 --> 16:01.562 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, come on, come on then, let's go. 16:02.283 --> 16:06.263 [SPEAKER_00]: But here's the thing, his love doesn't mean we ignore reality, 16:10.379 --> 16:18.956 [SPEAKER_00]: but love makes room for people to repent, to grow, and for eventually hopefully restoration. 16:19.938 --> 16:21.679 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, and so both perspectives matter. 16:21.699 --> 16:23.579 [SPEAKER_00]: You got Paul, you got Barnabas. 16:23.619 --> 16:26.200 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like in my own life, I start off as a Barnabas. 16:26.680 --> 16:29.602 [SPEAKER_00]: I think, well, hey, I believe you until proven otherwise. 16:29.642 --> 16:32.743 [SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of how I feel a little oftentimes, whether that's right or wrong. 16:33.303 --> 16:35.324 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, but I'm like, OK, you said you'd be there. 16:35.344 --> 16:36.424 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll see if you're there. 16:36.504 --> 16:38.165 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to believe you, but then you don't show up. 16:38.185 --> 16:39.125 [SPEAKER_00]: Then I'm now in Paul. 16:39.145 --> 16:39.865 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, you failed. 16:40.345 --> 16:41.646 [SPEAKER_00]: You didn't come through on your word. 16:42.246 --> 16:43.767 [SPEAKER_00]: But both perspectives matter. 16:44.147 --> 16:54.052 [SPEAKER_00]: I understand both sides, Paul's concern about faithfulness, reliability, Barnabas is concerned about grace, then restoration, both are important, right? 16:54.092 --> 17:02.435 [SPEAKER_00]: The church needs people who's gonna take the mission of God's serious, but the church also needs people who leave room for others to grow. 17:03.056 --> 17:07.278 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, here's the thing about this disagreement, and this is not over the gospel. 17:08.315 --> 17:13.897 [SPEAKER_00]: This is not over salvation, so not over a fundamental doctrine of the Bible. 17:14.297 --> 17:20.620 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a disagreement over whether John Mark should accompany them in this ministry journey or not. 17:21.360 --> 17:28.443 [SPEAKER_00]: But again, as we've seen, or we'll continue to unpack as the disagreement is so sharp as the word says that they separate. 17:29.243 --> 17:31.784 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture doesn't tell us who was right or wrong. 17:33.494 --> 17:47.105 [SPEAKER_00]: that Paul was right, or Barnabas was right, but it does show us something important that sometimes two people who genuinely are sold out on fire for Jesus, committed to the same mission, the same vision. 17:47.305 --> 17:54.090 [SPEAKER_00]: They can still have disagreements about how to move forward, or how to accomplish that mission. 17:55.245 --> 17:58.586 [SPEAKER_00]: So back to our question, well, what do we do when disagreements happen? 17:58.606 --> 18:08.150 [SPEAKER_00]: What do we do when these things happen in disagreements or even the potential division rises up in our lives? 18:08.871 --> 18:09.791 [SPEAKER_00]: How do we handle this? 18:09.831 --> 18:14.073 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we're going to talk a little bit, how do we handle disagreements biblically? 18:14.820 --> 18:29.797 [SPEAKER_00]: Right before we look at more of wipe-all and Barnabas-parted ways and what happened, we're going to just answer this practically, because again, disagreements happen probably every day in our lives, whether you recognize them or not, but number one, how do we 18:31.130 --> 18:32.651 [SPEAKER_00]: handle disagreements, biblically. 18:32.671 --> 18:34.252 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, number one, this one's so simple. 18:34.292 --> 18:37.373 [SPEAKER_00]: You're going to be like, well, yeah, obviously, but it's pray. 18:38.394 --> 18:39.495 [SPEAKER_00]: Wow, my book. 18:39.595 --> 18:40.075 [SPEAKER_00]: Chocking. 18:40.095 --> 18:40.615 [SPEAKER_00]: All right. 18:40.635 --> 18:41.235 [SPEAKER_00]: All right. 18:41.516 --> 18:43.036 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, how do you handle disagreements? 18:43.116 --> 18:44.557 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray before you respond. 18:44.877 --> 18:46.218 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray before you speak, right? 18:46.238 --> 18:48.259 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of us we like to speak before we think. 18:48.559 --> 18:48.779 [SPEAKER_00]: All right. 18:48.839 --> 18:52.561 [SPEAKER_00]: I'd say even before you start to think before you start to speak, you need to just pray. 18:52.601 --> 18:53.322 [SPEAKER_00]: God help me. 18:55.390 --> 19:04.314 [SPEAKER_00]: James I, James writes if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him. 19:04.334 --> 19:06.494 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we're like, well, I just don't know how to say it. 19:06.935 --> 19:07.575 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask God. 19:08.722 --> 19:11.064 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how to answer this thing. 19:11.084 --> 19:14.766 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how to deal with this disagreement or this difficulty here. 19:14.826 --> 19:15.607 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, we pray. 19:16.107 --> 19:21.852 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the most important things we should do and facing any kind of conflict is praying. 19:21.872 --> 19:25.134 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't just mean pray, like, oh, God change that person's mind. 19:25.614 --> 19:26.455 [SPEAKER_00]: Because they're wrong. 19:26.495 --> 19:27.215 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean pray. 19:27.315 --> 19:31.699 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, pray God, would your will be done not only in their life, but in my life. 19:32.279 --> 19:37.003 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray for wisdom and discernment for yourself, because here's the thing is you don't know at all. 19:37.523 --> 19:38.964 [SPEAKER_00]: I know you might like to think you do. 19:38.984 --> 19:41.926 [SPEAKER_00]: I would like to think, well, no, I have lived some life. 19:41.947 --> 19:42.827 [SPEAKER_00]: No, we don't know at all. 19:42.867 --> 19:49.733 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray, ask God, give me wisdom and discernment to understand this situation, not just from my eyes, but from your eyes, Lord. 19:50.473 --> 19:57.999 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray, hey, God, give me the right words and the right attitude to share with this person, to deal with this disagreement. 19:59.029 --> 20:07.956 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray that God, hey, God, would you reveal any pride, selfishness, or sin that's within me that might have caused this disagreement in the first place. 20:07.976 --> 20:08.696 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a hard one. 20:09.597 --> 20:10.698 [SPEAKER_00]: So we don't think we're wrong. 20:11.238 --> 20:13.020 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, God, would you show them there, sin? 20:13.280 --> 20:14.020 [SPEAKER_00]: No, me, I'm good. 20:14.040 --> 20:14.581 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't need that. 20:15.301 --> 20:17.903 [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, God, pray, maybe I'm wrong. 20:19.024 --> 20:20.465 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe I'm the reason this happened. 20:20.525 --> 20:21.386 [SPEAKER_00]: God, would you show me? 20:23.107 --> 20:25.208 [SPEAKER_00]: Definitely pray for the other person as well. 20:25.888 --> 20:44.655 [SPEAKER_00]: God, would you soften their hearts, give them wisdom and discernment, and pray for understanding on both sides, pray for an opportunity for reconciliation, because sometimes we're so convinced we're right, that we never consider that to maybe we're the ones who need to be corrected. 20:47.443 --> 20:56.208 [SPEAKER_00]: James 119, he writes, says, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. 20:56.228 --> 20:57.409 [SPEAKER_00]: And this could be a great one. 20:57.649 --> 21:00.130 [SPEAKER_00]: How do you deal with conflict and disagreements? 21:00.190 --> 21:01.671 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, be a good listener. 21:01.691 --> 21:05.974 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, it's been said, like, hey, God gave you two years in one mouth. 21:05.994 --> 21:08.875 [SPEAKER_00]: So you'd be listening, double the amount of time that you're talking. 21:08.975 --> 21:10.976 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of us, we talk more than we listen though, right? 21:10.997 --> 21:13.398 [SPEAKER_00]: We've got a backwards, listen. 21:14.617 --> 21:17.338 [SPEAKER_00]: but also again, back to the point before you do anything. 21:17.358 --> 21:19.579 [SPEAKER_00]: Before you say something, you can't take back. 21:20.219 --> 21:24.221 [SPEAKER_00]: Before you send the email or the text message, pray. 21:25.121 --> 21:27.102 [SPEAKER_00]: And don't just pray that God will change their heart. 21:27.122 --> 21:28.823 [SPEAKER_00]: Pray that He would change yours as well. 21:29.723 --> 21:32.024 [SPEAKER_00]: A second way, how do we deal with disagreements? 21:32.064 --> 21:32.804 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, here's one. 21:32.844 --> 21:35.165 [SPEAKER_00]: This one, you're not gonna like, but it's also so simple. 21:35.205 --> 21:38.607 [SPEAKER_00]: And it is very biblical as you go and talk to the person. 21:39.851 --> 21:42.812 [SPEAKER_00]: You talk to the person, Matthew 18, verse 15. 21:42.872 --> 21:49.774 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says this, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. 21:50.454 --> 21:52.555 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, just you to have a conversation, right? 21:52.575 --> 21:54.415 [SPEAKER_00]: This seems so obvious, I think, right? 21:54.435 --> 21:57.796 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's amazing how many times we will avoid this at all cost. 21:57.816 --> 22:00.137 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, wait, talk to them about a problem in an issue. 22:00.437 --> 22:00.697 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 22:01.817 --> 22:08.121 [SPEAKER_00]: That's your job, Nick, or that, you know, I mean, I want to pass the responsibility on to someone else. 22:08.901 --> 22:19.608 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's the thing what will happen is, instead of talking to that person about that problem, is that all of a sudden you start to talk to everybody else about that problem except for the one person that you're having a disagreement with. 22:20.208 --> 22:21.990 [SPEAKER_00]: You'll tell your friends about what happened. 22:22.010 --> 22:24.712 [SPEAKER_00]: You'll tell your spouse about how frustrated you are. 22:24.732 --> 22:27.075 [SPEAKER_00]: You'll tell other people your side of the story. 22:27.355 --> 22:37.965 [SPEAKER_00]: But you're avoiding the one thing that's necessary is like, hey, go talk to that one person by yourself and just, I don't know, be a man in a sense. 22:37.985 --> 22:40.067 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I got, I mean, women too, be a woman. 22:40.087 --> 22:42.470 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, you got to, you just got to step to the plate. 22:43.332 --> 22:44.656 [SPEAKER_00]: You just got to deal with something. 22:44.696 --> 22:50.051 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it's very uncomfortable, but it's definitely biblical because here's the thing you don't deal with it. 22:50.758 --> 22:59.384 [SPEAKER_00]: And I was talking with the friend earlier this week about some things within church and ministry, and he said, if you don't tell people like how it is, and then he said, people will fill in the blanks. 22:59.404 --> 23:04.107 [SPEAKER_00]: They will assume things and sadly most oftentimes people will assume the worst. 23:04.787 --> 23:11.252 [SPEAKER_00]: So he's like, if you don't have that awkward conversation as it might be, people will fill in the blanks with whatever. 23:12.012 --> 23:15.815 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, just not intentionally like bad. 23:16.015 --> 23:17.496 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't mean to assume the 23:20.986 --> 23:32.193 [SPEAKER_00]: And so before long, when things go unresolved, this disagreement between two people becomes a disagreement because it's not, you don't go and talk to them, it becomes something that involves 10 people. 23:33.153 --> 23:34.634 [SPEAKER_00]: 20 people, everybody, right? 23:34.674 --> 23:44.080 [SPEAKER_00]: Proverbs 16 verse 28 says, this is a dishonest man spreads strife in a whisperer separates close friends. 23:45.353 --> 23:52.743 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, gossip, slander, things of this nature, right, it will turn a disagreement into division very quickly. 23:53.743 --> 23:53.903 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 23:53.923 --> 23:58.885 [SPEAKER_00]: Because you avoid talking to the person and having that difficult discussion. 23:59.645 --> 24:04.047 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes the most important thing is just don't try and fix it. 24:04.067 --> 24:09.709 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll just sit down with the person and have that uncomfortable conversation. 24:10.469 --> 24:11.649 [SPEAKER_00]: Not to attack them. 24:12.990 --> 24:19.372 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's one thing I have learned too is not to defend yourself, but just to be there and, hey, let's come to a resolution. 24:20.372 --> 24:21.473 [SPEAKER_00]: What does God want here? 24:22.509 --> 24:28.151 [SPEAKER_00]: Not about an argument, but it's to pursue peace, especially within brothers and sisters in the church. 24:28.731 --> 24:31.111 [SPEAKER_00]: Peace, understanding, reconciliation. 24:31.672 --> 24:38.033 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, Matthew chapter 18, I mean, when Jesus says this, it's specifically addressing sin issues between believers. 24:40.954 --> 24:44.375 [SPEAKER_00]: not every disagreement is a sin issue per se, right? 24:44.475 --> 24:52.457 [SPEAKER_00]: But the the heart of this we can see like honest communication is very important. 24:53.417 --> 24:59.159 [SPEAKER_00]: Talking with someone that you have a disagreement, not just talking about them to everybody else. 25:00.299 --> 25:03.580 [SPEAKER_00]: A third thing, how can we deal biblically with disagreements? 25:03.620 --> 25:07.401 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, this is another big one and it's very obvious and also very difficult 25:11.193 --> 25:13.294 [SPEAKER_00]: forgiving someone, right? 25:13.494 --> 25:20.438 [SPEAKER_00]: Unforgiveness is dangerous, not only for you, but for everyone around you. 25:21.578 --> 25:28.162 [SPEAKER_00]: This might be one of the most important aspects of bringing reconciliation and restoration. 25:29.537 --> 25:34.100 [SPEAKER_00]: I was listening to the radio, I don't know, anyone listen to the radio, just me, I'm just a old soul. 25:34.921 --> 25:48.231 [SPEAKER_00]: I listen, and I also have an old truck, so, but I listen to this Christian radio station on the way to work and usually on the way home and on the way to work there's a few different shows and sometimes I'll get, I don't even know who the teachers are, but it's a Christian station. 25:48.291 --> 25:53.795 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it's a sermon, sometimes it's like Christian financial talk and sometimes it's the news. 25:54.762 --> 25:56.123 [SPEAKER_00]: but there's a sermon going on. 25:56.723 --> 26:02.225 [SPEAKER_00]: In this guy, I made an awesome yet terrifying point. 26:02.265 --> 26:04.726 [SPEAKER_00]: And it comes from Matthew chapter six, verse 12. 26:04.746 --> 26:08.827 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the Lord's prayer in Jesus says, hey, pray like this. 26:08.847 --> 26:14.549 [SPEAKER_00]: And this one part in the prayer says, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. 26:14.589 --> 26:16.290 [SPEAKER_00]: Now this guy on the radio is teacher. 26:16.330 --> 26:21.192 [SPEAKER_00]: He says that that's like one of the most dangerous prayers because he said that prayer can send you to hell. 26:21.932 --> 26:26.955 [SPEAKER_00]: I said, and I thought, when I heard, and I, okay, that's a little extreme, but I thought about it. 26:26.975 --> 26:29.137 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, he's not wrong, right? 26:29.157 --> 26:30.237 [SPEAKER_00]: Because what is he saying? 26:30.257 --> 26:32.839 [SPEAKER_00]: What is Jesus teaching them to pray? 26:33.319 --> 26:39.103 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's teaching them to ask God to forgive us like we forgive others. 26:41.234 --> 26:56.482 [SPEAKER_00]: God, forgive me like I forgive my enemies and my friends and family and the people that church, people that work right now you might be thinking hopefully for yourself what does that look like like well I don't know I don't do that well there's a problem. 26:57.322 --> 26:58.623 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, there's the scary part. 26:59.024 --> 27:02.988 [SPEAKER_00]: A few verses later, Jesus says, Matthew 6, 14, and 15. 27:03.008 --> 27:15.860 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, for if you forgive others, their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 27:15.900 --> 27:16.841 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, Jesus. 27:17.302 --> 27:21.466 [SPEAKER_00]: God in the flesh, in His teaching, He says, forgiveness is serious. 27:22.878 --> 27:23.638 [SPEAKER_00]: It's serious. 27:23.738 --> 27:28.259 [SPEAKER_00]: We cannot expect to receive mercy and grace from God. 27:28.299 --> 27:34.101 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, stubbornly, selfishly, refusing to extend a mercy and grace to others. 27:35.561 --> 27:40.023 [SPEAKER_00]: Right now, this doesn't mean we earn salvation by what we do. 27:40.603 --> 27:41.783 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, well, did we're you good? 27:41.823 --> 27:42.943 [SPEAKER_00]: Were you forgiving enough? 27:43.023 --> 27:46.264 [SPEAKER_00]: Right now, it's like it's by grace through faith. 27:49.666 --> 28:08.620 [SPEAKER_00]: a heart that's experienced the forgiveness of God, I think we're, it's a transforming experience to where all of a sudden you, you want to forgive others also, but a persistent, hard-end heart when who refuses to forgive, 28:10.254 --> 28:16.637 [SPEAKER_00]: You should seriously consider where you're at, pray or help me in this. 28:17.278 --> 28:22.560 [SPEAKER_00]: If you know it, right, like you know best, you and God know the state of your heart. 28:23.841 --> 28:27.823 [SPEAKER_00]: But Paul writes this to the church at Ephesus, it's Ephesians 431. 28:29.544 --> 28:37.207 [SPEAKER_00]: says let all bitterness and wrath and anger in clamor and slander be put away from you along with an all malice. 28:37.987 --> 28:43.629 [SPEAKER_00]: Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. 28:44.129 --> 28:46.050 [SPEAKER_00]: Now notice what Paul connects here, right? 28:46.070 --> 28:48.771 [SPEAKER_00]: This is letter to one of the churches he planted. 28:49.291 --> 28:54.853 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, there's bitterness, wrath, anger, slander and forgiveness. 28:54.873 --> 28:55.553 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a few others 28:59.507 --> 29:11.300 [SPEAKER_00]: bitterness, wrath, anger, slander, forgiveness, right when we refuse, when we refuse to forgive bitterness can start to set in, right? 29:11.520 --> 29:15.584 [SPEAKER_00]: And bitterness, here's the truth about it, bitterness rarely stays contained. 29:15.764 --> 29:18.047 [SPEAKER_00]: If ever, I don't think it ever probably does. 29:19.188 --> 29:24.691 [SPEAKER_00]: And when bitterness sets in, it produces resentment, right? 29:25.291 --> 29:44.901 [SPEAKER_00]: And resentment, I start to resent the people, the things, the position that you're in, whatever it is, everything around you, everybody else starts to be the bad guy and it's the victim mentality because bitterness sets in, now you're bitter, and then you become resentment, and resentment starts to transform into this disrespectful 29:48.262 --> 30:12.162 [SPEAKER_00]: that starts to gossip about one another starts to slander other people slandering is saying things intentionally to harm someone else's either character reputation or them individually and be for long what started as a disagreement because you withheld forgiveness or forgiving others it's become division divisive. 30:13.790 --> 30:14.771 [SPEAKER_00]: because you didn't let it go. 30:15.991 --> 30:29.699 [SPEAKER_00]: Hebrews 12, 15, also talks about bitterness, says, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble. 30:30.359 --> 30:36.063 [SPEAKER_00]: And by it, this what happens, the root of bitterness, by it many become defiled. 30:37.100 --> 30:40.663 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, notice that phrase, right, many become defiled. 30:40.683 --> 30:42.966 [SPEAKER_00]: You like to think that bitterness is just you. 30:43.586 --> 30:45.668 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm keeping it to myself, I can handle it. 30:45.988 --> 30:51.233 [SPEAKER_00]: It's fine, I know I got my own issues, but go worry about yourself, I'll worry about me, right? 30:51.434 --> 30:54.857 [SPEAKER_00]: But the problem is that bitterness never stays with just you. 30:55.997 --> 30:58.258 [SPEAKER_00]: Bitterness affects everybody around you. 30:58.278 --> 31:00.079 [SPEAKER_00]: Bitterness will affect your marriage. 31:00.960 --> 31:02.601 [SPEAKER_00]: It will affect your friendships. 31:02.901 --> 31:09.745 [SPEAKER_00]: It will affect your co-workers at work and the atmosphere and it will affect your church right here. 31:10.045 --> 31:15.669 [SPEAKER_00]: Right now, one bitter person can spread bitterness among many. 31:16.821 --> 31:19.982 [SPEAKER_00]: And so be careful with what bitterness you may be carrying around. 31:21.103 --> 31:21.583 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 31:22.063 --> 31:26.065 [SPEAKER_00]: You might think you're the only one suffering from it, but maybe you're not. 31:29.587 --> 31:36.410 [SPEAKER_00]: Bitterness can divide us, but also understand, right, when we do forgive 31:37.884 --> 31:39.525 [SPEAKER_00]: So say like, well, I don't want to be bitter. 31:39.546 --> 31:41.027 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to be bitter. 31:41.047 --> 31:48.093 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to forgive, but understand, forgiveness doesn't mean that we just pretend like nothing happened. 31:49.314 --> 31:54.539 [SPEAKER_00]: I know in Scripture says, God, he separates our sin as far as the east is from the west, which means forever. 31:55.520 --> 31:57.582 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't hold our sins against us and all that stuff. 31:57.602 --> 32:00.184 [SPEAKER_00]: But we're humans, and there's a human element to it. 32:00.464 --> 32:03.647 [SPEAKER_00]: And we want to forgive, but doesn't mean that you pretend like nothing happened. 32:04.813 --> 32:10.197 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, forgiveness doesn't mean that you immediately restore someone to a position that they once had. 32:10.597 --> 32:11.738 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, well, they said they're sorry. 32:11.758 --> 32:13.259 [SPEAKER_00]: Why can't they serve again? 32:13.280 --> 32:18.283 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, because X, Y and Z, right, they give them marriage, right? 32:18.303 --> 32:24.648 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're unfaithful to your spouse and they choose to stay with you, like that doesn't mean all of a sudden trust is rebuilt. 32:24.668 --> 32:26.249 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I said, I was sorry. 32:27.250 --> 32:27.470 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 32:27.750 --> 32:29.751 [SPEAKER_00]: Why do you still, you don't trust me? 32:29.771 --> 32:31.151 [SPEAKER_00]: Why do you ask me about things? 32:31.191 --> 32:31.311 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 32:31.331 --> 32:36.393 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like I've seen this play out in different pre-marital and marital counseling. 32:37.013 --> 32:40.014 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like because they're, you can forgive, which is good. 32:41.615 --> 32:42.835 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's hard to forget. 32:43.575 --> 32:43.775 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 32:44.055 --> 32:45.296 [SPEAKER_00]: And we don't always, it doesn't. 32:45.656 --> 32:49.077 [SPEAKER_00]: So forgiveness doesn't mean everything's going to be better all of a sudden. 32:49.817 --> 32:51.538 [SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't mean everything's going to go back to the 32:55.768 --> 32:57.329 [SPEAKER_00]: are two different things I would say. 32:57.349 --> 33:15.395 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, forgiveness can happen in a moment, but trust, as we've already noted, is it takes time to rebuild trust and reconciliation, specifically, requires willingness or participation from both sides of the party, right? 33:15.415 --> 33:22.217 [SPEAKER_00]: Because you can genuinely forgive someone, even if they refuse to accept it or acknowledge their wrong, right? 33:22.237 --> 33:23.137 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you understand that? 33:25.778 --> 33:26.679 [SPEAKER_00]: you can forgive. 33:27.179 --> 33:29.381 [SPEAKER_00]: For giving it really means like I'm just gonna let it go. 33:29.401 --> 33:39.409 [SPEAKER_00]: Not gonna hold it against them anymore and it's like you're gonna let it go but again it doesn't mean oh well I forgave them so like let's just let them have whatever it is back. 33:40.429 --> 33:51.037 [SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean like I think of pastoring too it's like if a pastor does something like well I'm sorry and you're like well I forgive you like well you can't just go back to normal next Sunday like you did something 33:51.898 --> 33:59.480 [SPEAKER_00]: that at least for a period of time has disqualified you from ministry and there needs to be some type of path of restoration. 34:01.121 --> 34:08.583 [SPEAKER_00]: Another thing when dealing with it, how do we deal with the biblically, and this is important is we need to always pursue peace and unity. 34:09.703 --> 34:16.265 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul writes in Romans 12, 18, he says, if possible, so far as it depends on you live 34:22.118 --> 34:26.965 [SPEAKER_00]: live peaceably with all Paul recognizes that peace isn't 34:29.122 --> 34:41.765 [SPEAKER_00]: always possible, because we can't control other people's decisions or their choices, but Paul recognizes that we are responsible for our own decisions and choices. 34:42.845 --> 34:54.188 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul writes in Ephesians 4 verse 2, says with all humility and gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond 34:59.169 --> 34:59.730 [SPEAKER_00]: and unity. 34:59.790 --> 35:03.712 [SPEAKER_00]: Now unity does not mean we agree on everything, right? 35:04.032 --> 35:07.834 [SPEAKER_00]: We agree on the essentials for church, within church culture, right? 35:07.854 --> 35:10.296 [SPEAKER_00]: There's things that's like there, what's the word? 35:10.316 --> 35:13.718 [SPEAKER_00]: Like you hold with the close hand like, hey, Jesus is God. 35:14.098 --> 35:20.762 [SPEAKER_00]: I will not, I'm not going to argue or debate about that, right? 35:20.782 --> 35:23.423 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like if you want to be a part of the church, that's what we believe, right? 35:23.443 --> 35:24.424 [SPEAKER_00]: Because it is biblical. 35:24.484 --> 35:25.365 [SPEAKER_00]: It is the truth, right? 35:25.405 --> 35:25.585 [SPEAKER_00]: But then 35:27.906 --> 35:31.568 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, wearing a hat in church, right? 35:31.608 --> 35:32.929 [SPEAKER_00]: And I see many of you wearing a hat. 35:33.009 --> 35:34.210 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome, you know, good. 35:35.430 --> 35:41.433 [SPEAKER_00]: But wearing a hat in church, you might say, well, hey, I don't agree with that, but that's something I think we can hold with an open hand, I hope. 35:41.634 --> 35:46.816 [SPEAKER_00]: And if not, it's like, well, you can go find a pastor who has a three-piece suit and that's fine. 35:47.517 --> 35:51.219 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's okay, but that's not an essential. 35:51.879 --> 35:55.281 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not about salvation versus going to hell or not. 35:57.807 --> 35:59.288 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we want unity. 35:59.849 --> 36:04.773 [SPEAKER_00]: Unity recognizes that what unites us is Jesus. 36:05.413 --> 36:10.077 [SPEAKER_00]: And what unites us is greater than so many of the little things that you made disagree about. 36:10.758 --> 36:14.241 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we want to bear with one another as Paul says they're in Ephesians. 36:14.441 --> 36:17.444 [SPEAKER_00]: Bear with one another's weaknesses and shortcomings. 36:17.704 --> 36:23.889 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, understand like, hey, some people aren't as strong or far along in their journey with Jesus as you are. 36:23.949 --> 36:24.750 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's okay. 36:25.640 --> 36:29.243 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, we want to extend grace to people when they make mistakes. 36:30.163 --> 36:34.646 [SPEAKER_00]: We want to correct and we want to restore one another when necessary. 36:35.367 --> 36:38.889 [SPEAKER_00]: We want to be willing to listen to people, to learn. 36:40.290 --> 36:50.938 [SPEAKER_00]: And don't treat every personal preference, this is one that's important, but don't treat every personal preference you have as a biblical truth, 36:55.176 --> 36:58.097 [SPEAKER_00]: And remember that you and I and the church were on the same team. 36:59.318 --> 37:10.182 [SPEAKER_00]: Philippians 2 verse 2 Paul says he says complete my joy by being up the same mind and there's the idea of unity again, having the same love being in full accord and of one mind. 37:10.242 --> 37:10.422 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 37:10.462 --> 37:11.042 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's the thing. 37:11.062 --> 37:14.283 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not competitors competing with one another. 37:14.983 --> 37:16.284 [SPEAKER_00]: We're on the same team. 37:16.324 --> 37:22.446 [SPEAKER_00]: We're co-workers together in the mission to preach Jesus so that people would know Jesus 37:25.073 --> 37:35.661 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, our mission as the church, not just fervent church, but like, any biblically God or day in church is not to divide, but to multiply. 37:36.401 --> 37:36.962 [SPEAKER_00]: Right. 37:37.062 --> 37:38.523 [SPEAKER_00]: That's God's heart from the beginning. 37:38.543 --> 37:39.724 [SPEAKER_00]: Go look at Genesis, right? 37:39.744 --> 37:40.825 [SPEAKER_00]: He made Adam and Eve. 37:40.845 --> 37:41.665 [SPEAKER_00]: What does he say to them? 37:41.946 --> 37:43.747 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, go multiply. 37:43.807 --> 37:44.608 [SPEAKER_00]: Be fruitful. 37:44.948 --> 37:47.069 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, that's God's heart and the whole thing. 37:47.089 --> 37:52.113 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, he doesn't want us to build a church so that we can then divide it in what not. 37:55.162 --> 38:00.024 [SPEAKER_00]: We're called to make disciples, not make enemies of one another. 38:01.044 --> 38:14.369 [SPEAKER_00]: Imagine what the church, us, we could do if we spent less time worrying about little personal preferences and little arguments that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. 38:14.409 --> 38:21.271 [SPEAKER_00]: Imagine what we could get done as a church with the gospel of Jesus if that was our primary and only focus. 38:22.031 --> 38:23.272 [SPEAKER_00]: Be probably pretty amazing. 38:24.406 --> 38:27.267 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm hedging that this room would be probably a lot more full, right? 38:27.287 --> 38:28.567 [SPEAKER_00]: But I really have without person. 38:28.667 --> 38:29.528 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about them. 38:29.628 --> 38:31.568 [SPEAKER_00]: If we're just like, no, man, Jesus, come in here. 38:32.209 --> 38:32.989 [SPEAKER_00]: Come and see. 38:35.470 --> 38:36.370 [SPEAKER_00]: But here's a question. 38:36.390 --> 38:39.171 [SPEAKER_00]: What happens when you've prayed and think I have prayed? 38:40.511 --> 38:41.592 [SPEAKER_00]: I did talk to them. 38:43.260 --> 38:50.622 [SPEAKER_00]: I did pursue peace, I tried to unite, upon the gospel of Jesus, and maybe you still can't agree. 38:51.662 --> 38:58.504 [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes, and I'd say this is probably a last resort, but sometimes the best resolution is to part ways. 38:59.624 --> 39:08.946 [SPEAKER_00]: Going back to our text from this morning, Acts 15, verse 39, says, and there arose a sharp disagreement so that they separated from one another. 39:13.368 --> 39:24.817 [SPEAKER_00]: sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose silence and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord, says any went through serious, celicia, strengthening the churches. 39:25.658 --> 39:29.040 [SPEAKER_00]: My poem Barnabas, they couldn't agree about John Mark. 39:29.060 --> 39:30.642 [SPEAKER_00]: Should we take him or should we not? 39:31.843 --> 39:36.827 [SPEAKER_00]: Their disagreement became so sharp, which is a pretty, I don't know, intense word. 39:40.018 --> 39:41.221 [SPEAKER_00]: a big disagreement. 39:42.283 --> 39:45.229 [SPEAKER_00]: It became so big that they separated. 39:45.269 --> 39:46.571 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, these are like brothers. 39:47.072 --> 39:48.676 [SPEAKER_00]: They've planted churches together. 39:49.352 --> 39:51.693 [SPEAKER_00]: And at this point, they've decided, well, we need to part ways. 39:52.314 --> 40:09.843 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnabas, he takes Mark, Paul takes Silas, and understands, though, sometimes the best resolution is the part ways, but understand this text right here, is not a doctrinal disagreement. 40:11.140 --> 40:17.464 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, earlier last week, we looked at Acts chapter 15, verse 1 through 35, that was a doctrinal disagreement. 40:18.004 --> 40:39.576 [SPEAKER_00]: They're like, hey, the Gentiles, they want to be saved by Jesus, but hey, don't they need to hold to the law, a Moses, like, don't they need to be circumcised right and do all these religious rituals, and that was a doctrinal disagreement, because the truth is, no, hey, grace, it's by grace through faith in Jesus, by grace alone, we're saved. 40:40.276 --> 40:52.752 [SPEAKER_00]: right now is the whole doctrine will just that's a big one but here in this moment this is uh... this is not that this is them arguing about will should john mark come or or should he not 40:53.604 --> 41:01.131 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a matter of judgment, trust, responsibility, like, okay, what do we do with what we have? 41:01.171 --> 41:02.332 [SPEAKER_00]: How do we steward this? 41:03.052 --> 41:07.576 [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes these are difficult disagreements that ends up in partying ways. 41:08.417 --> 41:13.922 [SPEAKER_00]: But understand that even though they part ways, they're not hostile towards one another. 41:15.192 --> 41:20.956 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, ideally, we should, as believers, pursue peace and reconciliation. 41:21.816 --> 41:32.963 [SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes, after trying and attempting to work through an issue, we part ways, but we don't part ways out of bitterness. 41:32.983 --> 41:38.647 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, you shouldn't ever leave a place because you're bitter or leave a conversation because you're bitter. 41:39.234 --> 41:43.557 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't part ways to punish the other person or party. 41:44.057 --> 41:55.125 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't part ways to damage someone's reputation or character, but I mean, hopefully our prayers that we want God to bless them too. 41:56.150 --> 42:07.560 [SPEAKER_00]: So separation or dividing in that sense as they are here doesn't need to be hostile or have any bad blood right between them. 42:08.561 --> 42:11.743 [SPEAKER_00]: And notice again, it's not a doctrinal issue. 42:12.184 --> 42:18.269 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not that Paul chose to keep serving Jesus and Barnabas is like, well, I guess I don't want to serve Jesus anymore. 42:18.389 --> 42:20.971 [SPEAKER_00]: Notice both of them they continue serving Jesus. 42:22.087 --> 42:26.729 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnabas just took Mark Paul takes Silas, the work continues. 42:26.769 --> 42:32.572 [SPEAKER_00]: So in a way, you can see that they, yes, they divided, but they did multiply their efforts at the same time. 42:33.252 --> 42:46.419 [SPEAKER_00]: Right now, Scripture doesn't tell us that this argument of what they had was, I don't know, handled properly, I guess, that's why. 42:46.999 --> 42:51.021 [SPEAKER_00]: But we see God continues working through all of them. 42:52.752 --> 42:52.932 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 42:52.952 --> 42:58.954 [SPEAKER_00]: Because sometimes if you do got a part ways, I mean the best thing you can do is you can faithfully continue to follow Jesus. 43:00.014 --> 43:00.254 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 43:00.374 --> 43:11.538 [SPEAKER_00]: And so if you feel so compelled that this is what God has for you and there's no resolution in that sense, but you've handled everything biblically, well, you just got to follow Jesus. 43:11.898 --> 43:16.139 [SPEAKER_00]: You got to keep Paul going, right? 43:16.199 --> 43:16.779 [SPEAKER_00]: Following him. 43:18.100 --> 43:19.480 [SPEAKER_00]: But here's this brings up another 43:21.966 --> 43:30.948 [SPEAKER_00]: topic in a way, but so say God does call you to go on to separate and I want to bring this up. 43:30.988 --> 43:33.949 [SPEAKER_00]: I talked with the friend this week. 43:34.029 --> 43:44.452 [SPEAKER_00]: He's a wiser, smarter guy than me, but we're talking over this, but how you leave a situation matters. 43:45.591 --> 43:53.398 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, there is a right way and a wrong way to separate, especially when we're talking about believers, right? 43:54.219 --> 43:59.284 [SPEAKER_00]: And notice what we don't read, and you will not find in Scripture anything about this, right? 43:59.544 --> 44:03.668 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't read that Paul went around slandering Barnabas. 44:05.011 --> 44:09.618 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't read that Barnabas was trying to turn the churches against Paul. 44:09.638 --> 44:10.479 [SPEAKER_00]: You'd never guess. 44:10.519 --> 44:12.722 [SPEAKER_00]: He wouldn't let John Mark come in. 44:12.943 --> 44:14.385 [SPEAKER_00]: So Paul's a bad guy, right? 44:14.405 --> 44:15.687 [SPEAKER_00]: And he doesn't do that. 44:16.489 --> 44:22.814 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't read a letter from John Mark, writing to all the churches about church hurt, right? 44:22.834 --> 44:25.056 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, all Paul wouldn't forgive me. 44:25.136 --> 44:26.937 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul wouldn't let me serve. 44:26.997 --> 44:28.178 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul rejected me. 44:28.879 --> 44:29.820 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't find that. 44:30.460 --> 44:32.822 [SPEAKER_00]: And you will not find that in scripture, right? 44:32.862 --> 44:42.710 [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture doesn't tell us all that happened, but Luke, the author of Acts, he does not record an ongoing campaign of slander or division. 44:43.890 --> 44:47.555 [SPEAKER_00]: They disagreed, they parted ways, and they continued serving Jesus. 44:47.975 --> 44:54.884 [SPEAKER_00]: But here's one I want you to note, may write this down for Homer, Proverbs 6, verse 16 through 19. 44:54.924 --> 44:56.987 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll look at this here briefly. 44:58.097 --> 45:07.940 [SPEAKER_00]: But some of the wise words of Solomon says there are six things that the Lord hates and this is important is for you, me, anyone who wants you like what is the Lord wants, what does he hate, what does he like? 45:07.980 --> 45:13.602 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, hey, good for us, praise God, he wrote it down in his words and, hey, these are some things that I hate. 45:16.303 --> 45:16.543 [SPEAKER_00]: 7. 45:17.084 --> 45:18.604 [SPEAKER_00]: That are a bombination to him. 45:19.285 --> 45:33.591 [SPEAKER_00]: Hot eyes, a line tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies and check out this last one, this is what I want to key in on. 45:33.911 --> 45:38.854 [SPEAKER_00]: And one who sows discord among brothers, that's a serious statement. 45:39.727 --> 45:42.688 [SPEAKER_00]: God hates discord and division among his people. 45:43.328 --> 45:46.929 [SPEAKER_00]: And I've seen this in our old church back home in Tucson, Arizona. 45:46.969 --> 45:50.049 [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen people get hurt, bitter, resentment. 45:50.089 --> 45:54.830 [SPEAKER_00]: They start to sow seeds of discord among the people, eventually among the leadership. 45:55.130 --> 45:59.772 [SPEAKER_00]: And then relationships, a friends that I thought, man, they're going to be doing ministry forever. 46:00.652 --> 46:01.492 [SPEAKER_00]: Get broken down. 46:02.525 --> 46:10.226 [SPEAKER_00]: because somebody was bitter and they didn't resolve it and then it turned into discord and so in seeds of discord. 46:10.506 --> 46:12.707 [SPEAKER_00]: They start talking bad about the leaders. 46:12.747 --> 46:16.187 [SPEAKER_00]: They start to sow seeds of doubt, discouragement, distrust. 46:16.467 --> 46:19.128 [SPEAKER_00]: They tell people their side of the story only. 46:19.148 --> 46:25.109 [SPEAKER_00]: They try to convince people that they're right and to convince people to leave with them. 46:25.149 --> 46:26.669 [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen this happen. 46:27.689 --> 46:31.470 [SPEAKER_00]: People undermining the very work of God that they were once committed to. 46:32.825 --> 46:50.577 [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes people do these things without even realizing they're doing them, without realizing the damage that it's causing, James writes in James 3-16 for where jealousy and self-ambition exists, there will be disorder in every vile practice. 46:53.199 --> 46:57.282 [SPEAKER_00]: Now let me make this a little more practical if this isn't already practical enough. 46:58.253 --> 47:03.234 [SPEAKER_00]: If someone wants to serve in ministry here at our church, furniture, right? 47:04.135 --> 47:12.037 [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe me and Pastor Sam, we think it's not the right time for you to serve stepping into that role. 47:13.197 --> 47:13.937 [SPEAKER_00]: That's okay. 47:15.338 --> 47:17.218 [SPEAKER_00]: Sam says, no, I think they need a little more time. 47:17.238 --> 47:17.918 [SPEAKER_00]: That's okay. 47:18.279 --> 47:20.679 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there's some growing that needs to happen. 47:21.519 --> 47:24.060 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe trust needs to be established a little bit more. 47:28.203 --> 47:34.027 [SPEAKER_00]: but what that doesn't mean is that we don't love that person. 47:34.867 --> 47:37.829 [SPEAKER_00]: Right to say, well, they won't let me serve, so they must not love me. 47:37.849 --> 47:39.110 [SPEAKER_00]: No, that's not the case, right? 47:39.790 --> 47:41.371 [SPEAKER_00]: We're saying, hey, just not yet. 47:41.671 --> 47:46.054 [SPEAKER_00]: There's still some things we want to see God do in and through you in your life. 47:46.754 --> 47:51.157 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't mean that we think God can't use you if we said something of that nature. 47:51.738 --> 47:55.520 [SPEAKER_00]: And it certainly doesn't mean that we think that God doesn't have a call on your life. 47:56.677 --> 48:04.001 [SPEAKER_00]: If somebody genuinely believes got us calling in to serve, maybe they'd say, man, serve somewhere else, that's okay too. 48:04.781 --> 48:07.003 [SPEAKER_00]: I know Fervent Church isn't for everyone. 48:07.743 --> 48:13.366 [SPEAKER_00]: We're for anyone who wants to come here, but we're not for everyone, you know, because we have preferences and things of that nature. 48:15.284 --> 48:23.408 [SPEAKER_00]: But if you leave here, I'll just encourage you or leave anywhere, like don't go throwing grenades behind you. 48:24.128 --> 48:28.130 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't try to damage the people or the ministry that you're leaving. 48:28.790 --> 48:35.313 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, don't sow seeds of discord or undermine people or leadership or try to turn others against the church. 48:35.333 --> 48:38.915 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, that is not the work of the Holy Spirit whatsoever. 48:40.152 --> 48:43.715 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, that's divisive, destructive behavior. 48:44.435 --> 48:46.417 [SPEAKER_00]: And again, I've seen this play out in other churches. 48:46.457 --> 48:55.903 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, thank God, like, our church back home, Calvary Tucson, it's huge, so it's like a, I mean, even a little division would be felt, but it was like, you know, 20, 30 people leave. 48:56.444 --> 49:00.487 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like, 20 or 30 people leave here it'd just be me next Sunday, right? 49:01.027 --> 49:02.048 [SPEAKER_00]: We'd be in the negatives. 49:03.909 --> 49:05.430 [SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, like a little division, 49:07.192 --> 49:10.335 [SPEAKER_00]: A little, it's a big deal, right? 49:10.395 --> 49:14.778 [SPEAKER_00]: Especially if you're just going with selfish ambition, your heart, it's like again, it needs to be resolved. 49:14.798 --> 49:21.083 [SPEAKER_00]: There needs to be a conversation that happens so that we can pursue unity, that we can pursue peace. 49:23.325 --> 49:33.614 [SPEAKER_00]: But division, being divisive, so in seed the discord, that is serving the enemy in his purposes, not serving God or the church. 49:39.108 --> 49:49.392 [SPEAKER_00]: a couple other thoughts on this is that you can disagree with others in church, disagree with leadership, without dishonoring people. 49:49.432 --> 49:56.035 [SPEAKER_00]: You can leave, without slandering, you can pursue a different direction without trying to destroy or hurt. 49:57.803 --> 49:58.905 [SPEAKER_00]: people you're leaving behind. 49:58.945 --> 50:05.296 [SPEAKER_00]: But again, if God's calling you to go somewhere else, there may be there's a separation in that sense. 50:05.877 --> 50:10.866 [SPEAKER_00]: You just go faithfully, go graciously, go with the desire to continue 50:11.846 --> 50:16.750 [SPEAKER_00]: pursuing God, but also that prayer that, hey, God, what you would continue working in their lives as well. 50:17.351 --> 50:24.978 [SPEAKER_00]: Because the goal is not just, let's just build furniture, our goal is to build God's kingdom, which is so much more than just this church. 50:25.018 --> 50:30.243 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I would love to see our church grow and flourish and be more than this next year, right? 50:30.263 --> 50:36.568 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, but God, it's a little by a little, but again, coming back to this topic, right? 50:36.588 --> 50:38.310 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, maybe some, 50:40.793 --> 50:49.061 [SPEAKER_00]: separation of ways, you could separate ways but still be serving Jesus if you do things well. 50:51.964 --> 50:58.450 [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe one of the, so we're all trying, I'm going to try to wrap this up quickly but we'll see how quick this actually goes. 50:59.511 --> 51:03.435 [SPEAKER_00]: But try to bring this to a better close I guess is that 51:04.937 --> 51:06.238 [SPEAKER_00]: how we part ways. 51:06.398 --> 51:10.402 [SPEAKER_00]: It's important because you never know what God's going to do later in life. 51:11.763 --> 51:17.608 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to see, this is, we'll play out with Paul Barnabas and John Mark. 51:18.249 --> 51:20.952 [SPEAKER_00]: And so they separate ways in Acts chapter 15. 51:22.653 --> 51:27.737 [SPEAKER_00]: But if you know your Bible a little bit, you know that this isn't the end of the story, right? 51:27.757 --> 51:29.258 [SPEAKER_00]: It's in the end of the story. 51:29.278 --> 51:36.544 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is one of my last points that we'll kind of make, but trust takes time, restoration is possible. 51:36.644 --> 51:45.732 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is what I love about this story is that you're not going to find this in Acts chapter 15, but you will find it in second Timothy chapter 4, verse 11, a little bit. 51:45.772 --> 51:47.113 [SPEAKER_00]: So years later, 51:47.573 --> 51:53.599 [SPEAKER_00]: Second Timothy is believed to be one of if not the last letter that Paul writes before he dies. 51:54.219 --> 51:55.641 [SPEAKER_00]: For his faith. 51:55.761 --> 51:57.803 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the last letters he writes it to Timothy. 51:58.123 --> 52:03.468 [SPEAKER_00]: He says this, second Timothy 4, verse 11, Luke alone is with me, get Mark. 52:03.588 --> 52:06.911 [SPEAKER_00]: That would be John Mark and bring him with you. 52:07.932 --> 52:12.957 [SPEAKER_00]: Check this out for he is very useful to me for ministry. 52:14.676 --> 52:27.600 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, the same John Mark that Paul refused to take with him in Acts chapter 15 later on years later, Paul specifically asked by name that I want Mark here by my side because how he describes him. 52:27.620 --> 52:30.081 [SPEAKER_00]: He's very useful for ministry. 52:30.201 --> 52:31.241 [SPEAKER_00]: Something changed. 52:31.982 --> 52:36.403 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, Scripture doesn't tell us every detail of how this relationship was prepared. 52:36.423 --> 52:39.684 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't know when Paul said, okay, fine. 52:39.784 --> 52:42.665 [SPEAKER_00]: Mark, you know, he can start being in ministry again. 52:44.147 --> 52:52.732 [SPEAKER_00]: But we know that Mark eventually became a co-worker with Paul in Colossians, and even the file and you can go read them. 52:52.752 --> 52:59.616 [SPEAKER_00]: We see that Mark is one of the people involved in ministry with Paul, Mark is. 53:00.496 --> 53:06.040 [SPEAKER_00]: And so a couple of notes we can make on this is like proven character, or maybe rebuilding trust. 53:06.740 --> 53:07.580 [SPEAKER_00]: It takes time. 53:08.341 --> 53:11.403 [SPEAKER_00]: This is, again, it's, I mean, it's so simple yet. 53:13.523 --> 53:14.023 [SPEAKER_00]: profound. 53:14.063 --> 53:14.744 [SPEAKER_00]: It's important, right? 53:14.764 --> 53:16.565 [SPEAKER_00]: You can destroy trust in a moment. 53:17.406 --> 53:24.071 [SPEAKER_00]: One bad decision that took five seconds to do can destroy something you've been building for years and years and years. 53:24.091 --> 53:28.675 [SPEAKER_00]: You can damage your reputation through saying one foolish thing, right? 53:28.695 --> 53:33.818 [SPEAKER_00]: Or we can even see today, like by someone tweeting, I know it's not Twitter anymore, but. 53:34.659 --> 53:45.945 [SPEAKER_00]: by saying one wrong thing on Instagram can destroy 20-year career and their whole family because they said something that everyone else deems as whatever, you know? 53:46.966 --> 53:48.167 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, not wise, I guess. 53:49.087 --> 53:56.871 [SPEAKER_00]: You can damage your reputation at a moment, but restoring trust, showing yourself faithful again, it takes time. 53:57.492 --> 53:57.692 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 53:57.752 --> 54:02.615 [SPEAKER_00]: Faithfulness by its very nature is demonstrated over time. 54:03.915 --> 54:06.836 [SPEAKER_00]: That's literally, you can't be like, oh, well, I'm here today, I'm faithful. 54:07.196 --> 54:14.658 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, right here right now, yes, but faithfulness to say you're a faithful person, means you keep showing up day after day. 54:15.058 --> 54:22.501 [SPEAKER_00]: Time after time, it's consistency in doing the right things, even when it's difficult, even when it's inconvenient. 54:23.201 --> 54:27.062 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'd even say this, especially even this, when nobody's watching. 54:27.984 --> 54:31.205 [SPEAKER_00]: Your faithful no matter what, like that's faithfulness. 54:31.225 --> 54:36.386 [SPEAKER_00]: I wonder how many opportunities Mark had over the years where he was going to prove himself, right? 54:36.426 --> 54:39.186 [SPEAKER_00]: And it wasn't that he was doing it for Paul's approval. 54:39.966 --> 54:42.947 [SPEAKER_00]: But I bet you Paul in a way is like, well, let's see what happens now. 54:43.927 --> 54:47.428 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, like they're going through some hard trials as like last time he left. 54:48.128 --> 54:51.428 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's probably, I bet you Paul in a sense has watched and he wants to hear it. 54:51.708 --> 54:55.109 [SPEAKER_00]: Did he endure or did he bail again? 54:56.160 --> 55:08.394 [SPEAKER_00]: I wonder how many times Mark had to show up day after day, how many difficult situations he had to endure, how many opportunities did he have to demonstrate, like, hey, I'm not the person I once was. 55:10.016 --> 55:16.324 [SPEAKER_00]: We aren't told, but we know the outcome, Paul wanted him back. 55:18.320 --> 55:21.942 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is where Paul and Barnabas's perspectives come together. 55:21.982 --> 55:28.766 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul understands and is an example of someone who knows the importance of proven faithfulness. 55:30.267 --> 55:34.770 [SPEAKER_00]: Barnabas understands the importance of giving someone grace and another opportunity. 55:35.650 --> 55:40.273 [SPEAKER_00]: And later the relationship between Paul and Mark reminds us that both of them matter. 55:41.844 --> 55:46.507 [SPEAKER_00]: faithfulness does matter, but also giving someone another opportunity matters. 55:47.167 --> 55:50.569 [SPEAKER_00]: And so for you guys here today, maybe you're a person and you failed. 55:51.834 --> 55:54.735 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe recently, maybe you struggle with guilt, over failure. 55:55.035 --> 56:00.796 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to tell you that your failure doesn't define your future, right? 56:00.856 --> 56:12.099 [SPEAKER_00]: Repent of your sins, get back up, or come to Jesus maybe for the first time and start to demonstrate and live out faithfulness one day, one moment at a time. 56:12.859 --> 56:16.380 [SPEAKER_00]: To the person here today, maybe watching online who you've been hurt. 56:18.632 --> 56:19.532 [SPEAKER_00]: by someone, right? 56:19.932 --> 56:31.996 [SPEAKER_00]: Make room for grace for others, forgiveness, and make room for the possibility that maybe just maybe God's changing someone, and maybe even that someone is you. 56:34.017 --> 56:39.618 [SPEAKER_00]: To the person who's rebuilding trust, you've broken trust, but you're trying to rebuild it. 56:39.638 --> 56:41.119 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to encourage you to be patient. 56:42.464 --> 56:51.214 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't demand someone to trust you again in the relationship or the atmosphere to go back to what it once was just because you apologize. 56:51.234 --> 56:52.395 [SPEAKER_00]: That's just the beginning. 56:52.896 --> 56:57.321 [SPEAKER_00]: Be patient, endure, continue being faithful. 56:58.001 --> 57:03.507 [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe to the person who's here today, you're struggling to trust someone again because trust has been broken. 57:04.248 --> 57:12.631 [SPEAKER_00]: don't just assume that because trust is broken, that God can't restore and change them into someone new. 57:14.451 --> 57:20.333 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul writes to the Church of Galatia and Galatians, chapter 6 verse 9, says, let us not 57:21.551 --> 57:23.071 [SPEAKER_00]: grow weary of doing good. 57:24.292 --> 57:29.033 [SPEAKER_00]: For end-to-season we will reap if we do not give up, right? 57:29.173 --> 57:32.494 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's the thing about faithfulness and trust and rebuilding it, right? 57:32.514 --> 57:37.236 [SPEAKER_00]: The season of doing good is where trust is rebuilt, right? 57:37.316 --> 57:37.996 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't give up. 57:38.036 --> 57:40.777 [SPEAKER_00]: If you give up, well then you're giving up on building trust. 57:41.337 --> 57:43.999 [SPEAKER_00]: You're giving up on building faithfulness, right? 57:44.019 --> 57:46.440 [SPEAKER_00]: This is where God does some of that work there. 57:46.460 --> 57:55.805 [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes God will use the people, it that we're in your life who once failed you, us, maybe left us to do incredible things later. 57:56.165 --> 58:01.048 [SPEAKER_00]: And so don't let someone's past, I don't know, make you count them out. 58:01.888 --> 58:06.811 [SPEAKER_00]: Now again, I think there's wisdom where it could be like, well, you've done X, Y, and Z. 58:07.912 --> 58:09.914 [SPEAKER_00]: There's, I need to see proven faithfulness. 58:09.954 --> 58:10.934 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to see character. 58:10.954 --> 58:14.177 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to see God growing you and maturing you in your life. 58:14.237 --> 58:17.239 [SPEAKER_00]: And that doesn't mean that no, you can't ever serve again. 58:17.259 --> 58:21.702 [SPEAKER_00]: It just means, hey, right now, it's a season of restoration. 58:22.522 --> 58:29.067 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a season of, well, let's get you, I don't know, ministered to and growing again. 58:30.892 --> 58:32.577 [SPEAKER_00]: And so to close here, 58:34.327 --> 58:40.750 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul and Barnabas, they disagreed so much so they separated, but neither again remember they didn't abandon the mission. 58:41.850 --> 58:49.073 [SPEAKER_00]: The story of John Mark, I mean, it can remind us that strange relationships don't have to always stay strained, right? 58:49.233 --> 59:01.417 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes, reconciliation just takes time, sometimes trust, I mean, it can be rebuilt, sometimes you have to extend forgiveness, even when the other person doesn't deserve it, and sometimes 59:03.358 --> 59:05.660 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes you have to part ways for a while, right? 59:06.180 --> 59:08.602 [SPEAKER_00]: But through it all, we're called to represent Jesus. 59:08.642 --> 59:12.325 [SPEAKER_00]: And so a couple of questions for you to consider for yourself in your own life. 59:12.745 --> 59:26.355 [SPEAKER_00]: Number one, is there someone you need to forgive someone who's hurt you, upsets you, someone you've been holding bitterness towards, 59:27.682 --> 59:29.723 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that bitterness has turned into resentment. 59:29.863 --> 59:33.684 [SPEAKER_00]: Someone you resent is there someone you need to talk to in that sense. 59:33.724 --> 59:38.947 [SPEAKER_00]: Someone, instead of talking to them, you talk about them and everybody else. 59:39.007 --> 59:40.747 [SPEAKER_00]: Is there someone you need to forgive? 59:42.348 --> 59:47.850 [SPEAKER_00]: And if there is, I would encourage you to take that step to, to forgive, to let it go. 59:49.771 --> 59:54.093 [SPEAKER_00]: Second question, it considers there a relationship of friend. 59:56.457 --> 59:58.397 [SPEAKER_00]: that you need to pursue peace in. 59:58.417 --> 01:00:06.439 [SPEAKER_00]: They're just disunity and it's not peaceful and you're just arguing, writing the question to ask about that. 01:00:06.519 --> 01:00:09.780 [SPEAKER_00]: Have you prayed about it, about yourself, about that person? 01:00:10.200 --> 01:00:12.700 [SPEAKER_00]: Have you had the conversation that needs to be had? 01:00:13.161 --> 01:00:18.622 [SPEAKER_00]: Have you done everything you can reasonably to try to live at peace with that person? 01:00:20.302 --> 01:00:32.750 [SPEAKER_00]: And a third question to consider, are you allowing disagreements to distract you from the overall mission of making disciples of preaching Jesus, of living for Jesus? 01:00:33.571 --> 01:00:33.791 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 01:00:33.891 --> 01:00:38.734 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus didn't call us to be a collection of people who agree about every single little thing. 01:00:38.754 --> 01:00:40.015 [SPEAKER_00]: He called us to be the church. 01:00:40.656 --> 01:00:40.836 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 01:00:40.896 --> 01:00:46.720 [SPEAKER_00]: A people united by His Spirit, transformed by His grace committed to His mission. 01:00:48.578 --> 01:00:50.720 [SPEAKER_00]: John 13 verse 35. 01:00:50.780 --> 01:00:58.688 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says this by this, all people will know that you are my disciples and help me if you know or if it's on the screen, if you have what? 01:01:00.530 --> 01:01:01.992 [SPEAKER_00]: Love for one another. 01:01:02.813 --> 01:01:03.734 [SPEAKER_00]: One person knew that. 01:01:03.914 --> 01:01:04.154 [SPEAKER_00]: Good. 01:01:04.795 --> 01:01:07.798 [SPEAKER_00]: The rest of you know now, or you're asleep, we're almost done. 01:01:09.000 --> 01:01:14.682 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says by this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another, right? 01:01:14.722 --> 01:01:31.188 [SPEAKER_00]: They will know because you love each other, love requires grace, love requires forgiveness, love requires humility, patience, sometimes, yes, difficult conversations, but just again, our mission, our goal is not to divide. 01:01:32.158 --> 01:01:33.499 [SPEAKER_00]: our goals to multiply. 01:01:33.840 --> 01:01:35.721 [SPEAKER_00]: We want to see more people come to know Jesus. 01:01:35.741 --> 01:01:37.282 [SPEAKER_00]: We want to see more people get saved. 01:01:37.302 --> 01:01:41.947 [SPEAKER_00]: We want to see, as I've heard it said, heaven filled, hell empty, right? 01:01:41.967 --> 01:01:43.508 [SPEAKER_00]: Like we want to save souls. 01:01:44.028 --> 01:01:50.714 [SPEAKER_00]: And the world, when they look in at us, they shouldn't see a perfect church in the sense that man, they all agree and they always get along. 01:01:51.014 --> 01:01:54.978 [SPEAKER_00]: But they see that we, we love each other, even when. 01:01:55.702 --> 01:01:56.463 [SPEAKER_00]: we disagree. 01:01:57.424 --> 01:01:57.764 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 01:01:58.945 --> 01:02:05.692 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, Father, we thank you for your word this morning, Lord, is powerful, it's encouraging, it's convicting even, Lord. 01:02:05.712 --> 01:02:13.981 [SPEAKER_00]: And I just pray God, that as your word has gone out this morning, Lord, that it would be planted on hearts and minds, Lord, good soil, Lord, and that you would bring a, bring forth, 01:02:14.541 --> 01:02:32.104 [SPEAKER_00]: the fruit in our lives that you desire Lord I know for some here today maybe it's a fruit of repentance that we need to see Lord that we need to say we're sorry God that we've done things wrong and that's the whole reason there's a disagreement or an argument in the first place but we've withheld. 01:02:33.100 --> 01:02:38.763 [SPEAKER_00]: dealing with this situation, Lord, if there's something we need to do, I pray that you would convict us to do that thing. 01:02:38.783 --> 01:02:41.924 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, maybe today we need to forgive others. 01:02:42.704 --> 01:02:45.326 [SPEAKER_00]: We're holding bitterness and grudges against people. 01:02:45.366 --> 01:02:58.091 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, and I pray God that we would see your forgiveness, that you've offered to us, Lord, that you've so loved the world, you sent your only son to die on a cross, Lord, and that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have 01:03:01.913 --> 01:03:11.975 [SPEAKER_00]: Your mercy would be the standard in which we see ourselves Lord, to give and extend grace and forgiveness and mercy to people who hurt us in our lives, Lord. 01:03:11.995 --> 01:03:22.598 [SPEAKER_00]: But I also pray that you give us wisdom and discernment, knowing that trust and faithfulness and rebuilding some of these things take time, but I pray that we wouldn't divide and 01:03:25.336 --> 01:03:33.539 [SPEAKER_00]: Right people off because they've failed, but Lord that we would lead them back to you knowing that your grace is enough. 01:03:34.220 --> 01:03:43.443 [SPEAKER_00]: So God, it says we go into communion now, I pray that you meet with us, stir our hearts, solidify your word in our hearts and minds, Lord. 01:03:44.083 --> 01:03:47.587 [SPEAKER_00]: I pray that we would respond accordingly and I pray that's in Jesus' name. 01:03:48.288 --> 01:03:48.689 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 01:03:49.410 --> 01:03:50.611 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for joining us today. 01:03:50.631 --> 01:03:52.153 [SPEAKER_00]: We hope you're blessed by the message. 01:03:52.213 --> 01:03:58.881 [SPEAKER_00]: If you need to connect with us or you have prayer requests visit fervent.church and we'd love to hear from you and love to be praying for you. 01:03:59.141 --> 01:04:02.125 [SPEAKER_00]: Now go out there, live a fervent life so that people may know Jesus. 01:04:02.145 --> 01:04:03.787 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll see you on the next one, peace.