Don't you think that song messed me up, Mike? That last line, speak, oh Lord, till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory. I couldn't, I lost it for a minute over there, but I think it's because it coincided really well with what I was going through yesterday. Yesterday was very stressful. It was very stressful and I thank God for Donna. Because I reached out to her and I said, can you please pray for me? And she sent out an alert to everybody to pray. Thank God for Kofina. Thank God for Pastor Jamie. Brother Box, Dave, Dave got in there and he had to hear me for a minute and he prayed for me and he helped, you all helped me pass the step points because it was very, I was under a time constraint. I knew I had to get there and then I was running against some roadblocks mentally, but I just labored through it and it came together. So we're praying that the delivery be in accordance with the preparation. So, let's go ahead and start. We're going to go to the next slide. I want to use the first three slides to just recap the key points from the last message. So, I'm not going to go over the exact message again, but I just want to recap it so that it stays in our focus for what we're trying to accomplish. Unity, the quality is not from this world is divine. He prayed it, you know, and that's the next one. Jesus prayed his high priestly prayer. He prayed it before he died. Let them be one even as we are one. And you know, Jesus gets what he prays for. And so it's our opportunity to align with his desire, with his will. And that's what I'm hoping is this is about him and not about us. Amen? The next thing is the key identifying characteristic of the believers. We know the children of God are going to be called peacemakers. And he called us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then he said to love our neighbors as ourselves. So he put that up there, right? He said, if you get this relationship right, it has to spill over into how we relate to each other. If it doesn't spill over into how we relate to each other, maybe this is not as intact as we want to think it is. Amen, so it's a mark of maturity and believers in the book of Corinthians. He said, you know, you guys think you're mature you running around doing all these gifts, but you know, you're causing schism and division. I'm with Paul. I'm with Peter. I'm you know, I'm you know, and they were getting locked into all these schisms and divisions and you know, clicks. But they were losing sight of the fact that you know that unity in Christ with Christ is the head is a goal for all believers. And as I said, it's a job requirement for all Church leadership. We don't come in here. We just don't do what we feel. It's not about us building up our own Empire establishing our own kingdoms. We're coming in here and we have a job requirement. This is only what I'm going to read for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ to what end till we all come in the unity of the faith and in in and of the knowledge of the son of God is all about Jesus and to a perfect man. and to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So it's maturing becoming more United and becoming more Christlike through it all. Amen. So the next one. We want to unite but we also want to unite right and the thing that came to my mind when I was sitting there is right now is the time where there's so much division in the land. But there's also a lot of unity in the land. People are getting together with people who have the same mindset, who have the same goals, with the same agenda, and they're partnering up, and it's like we're not coming together with them because we're not in agreement with them, and everyone's posturing themselves, no compromise, I don't want to hear it. But in some cases, the church has to have that in the sense that we're not trying to partner together with our own ideology, we're partnering together with God's mind and his heart. So it's all about, no, we got to abandon all our schisms, isms, divisions, and we have to come into agreement with His will, His purpose, His heart, according to His word which He revealed to us. Amen, so we're uniting, but we're uniting right. We have to have it under according to right doctrine, right teaching, the right means. It's not just having the right mindset. It's having the right part in the right mindset because you can be mean and right in your thinking, but it's not about that. We're supposed to have a certain character. the fruit of the spirit, love, peace, joy, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faith, temperance, meekness. We're supposed to becoming more and more kind, more and more gentle, more and more loving, more and more patient, you know, and I had to check myself in this. I'm not, I'm not, you know, because sometimes especially road rage is real y'all. And we can get very irritable, you know, because we're all about getting to where we want to get to, and it doesn't matter how we get there. We look at sloppy and crazy and misrepresenting. We have to start checking ourselves and not making excuses for ourselves. And that's one thing is if you justify where you're at, you won't get to where you need to go. So don't make excuses for it. Take it to the Lord. He can forgive and cleanse and align. Remember, transformation power comes from Jesus. It's not my flesh. So my flesh has limits and they're not necessarily high limits. I got a low standard going in my flesh. So what I'm saying is is that I have to constant with that makes you is a prayer person you a praying person because when you see how flawed I am. In my flesh? Oh, you want me to stay in my prayer closet? You want me to stay in there? You want me confessing and agreeing with God and asking him to make me reflect his character and his glory? As Pastor Jamie said, we're ambassadors. We're representing him. You know, and either we're looking sloppy or we're representing right. And even if we're representing sloppy, the good thing about this, and hopefully this is gonna be communicated and conveyed in this message, but with Christ, there's always room for redemption. God is, you can, if you've been a jacked up, sloppy representation, you can start today and ask God for forgiveness and get it together. Okay, but we have to agree with him, amen? So, worship is affected, right? Order. And this one is another thing too. If we're not in, if we have aughts with each other, pray to get them to get it together because you worshiping God and he smells that stench. Hallelujah. And he knows something ain't right. And so he wants us to get those things together. He, he reads hearts. Amen. And then the obstacles to overcome are gonna be the same obstacles that are always gonna happen in our growth. Flesh, pride, ego, self-centeredness, selfish ambition, you gotta drop that. You got to drop it. It's not about what I had a whole lot of goals and I'm looking at Jesus to make my dreams come true. No, he may not or he may tailor, he may temper it, he may refine it. But the fact of the matter is, it's about us finding out what he has in store for our lives. Otherwise, you're going to spend a whole lot of time chasing after pipe dreams and a lot of us have done it just to get frustrated in the long run. You know what I'm saying? So you might as well start You know, amen and real quick in the book of Ecclesiastes. I just had this conversation with somebody. They were talking about how everyone's chasing after materialistic things. And as Pastor Jamie talked about, a lot of people who had materialistic things still fell into despair and despondency and so on. They had everything that you would think that it would take to make them happy, but still were unhappy because there's something unsatisfying. And if you ever want to get clarity on it, read the, what is it? Ecclesiastes. Solomon had everything. He had riches, he had everything. And at the end of the day, he said, what did he say? It's all vanity, chasing after the wind. It was futile. It was empty. It didn't leave me happy. The eye can never get enough seeing, the ear can never get enough hearing. It's an insatiable appetite. So he said, the best thing to do is serve God in your youth. Bless the Lord. That was his summation. That's what he came to the conclusion of it. You want to find gratification? You want to find satisfaction? Seek God and learn about him and serve his purposes and then you'll find gratification that this materialistic world doesn't have to offer. Amen. So the world system and in the world system, they will unite but without Christ governmental rule and requirements. I told you there's a whole lot of things you can unite with in this world. And they have their ways, but they don't necessarily concern about motive and means. A lot of times the end justifies the means, but with us, both the means and the ends make a difference because we're doing it for God's glory. And then we have to also remember there's a spiritual aspect to everything. There's a divide and conquer strategy, and that's why we gotta armor up and be prayerful because the enemy, he knows one thing that Jesus said, any kingdom divided against itself will not stand. Amen, so let's go to the next slide and I promised you guys last week. I was going to come up with one case study. If that's what you want to call it within Scripture where conflict arose, but I fell on two and so I'm going to do my best to try to represent this right. Okay, Acts 15, 36 through 41 says, and 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. Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John, called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take them, one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. 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, and he went through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches. So this is an example of conflict. One of the things about the Bible, the Bible does not hide human frailty and error, it rather exposes them. And what it does is it does so that one, we can learn from them, so we can prayerfully hopefully avoid them, their pitfalls, and so that we can have hope in the times where we come short. that God has the ability to redeem any situation if we humble ourselves and turn to him and repent. So when we see people that are pillars and we're like, and they messed up and God still forgave them and still used them, then we can sit up and say, when I make a mistake, not that we go out and intentionally make mistakes, But when we make mistakes, because we're going to at times, and sometimes, unfortunately, more frequently than we want to think. But the fact of the matter is, when we make mistakes, we have the hope, okay, I can just turn to God. Because what is repentance, anyway, is saying, okay, when I do it my way, I make a mistake, now I gotta remember to turn it over to Him. And He always says, He will not turn anyone who comes to Him. So if we humble ourselves, and turn to him, and align with his mind and heart, we can find hope to get past that situation. So they separated from each other, but did not abandon the mission. That's what I want you to hear. They didn't give up on mission. So they were still very mission focused. and still about God's purposes. The difference in this case was not doctrine due to doctrinal error. So this is not splitting because one wanted to promote heresy. Okay, so you can't unite. How can two walk together when they cannot agree? If we're trying to agree with the word of God and they're trying to agree with, you know, some compromised version or some erroneous error, we can't, we can't lock, we can't agree. I can pray for you. I can love on you. I can, you know, you know, shined a lot of Christ for you, but we cannot walk together in agreement. Okay. Now what this is not meant to do is promote church-hopping and Lone Ranger mentality. Because I want you to see, you know how on cigarettes they put this is detrimental to your health? Church-hopping and Lone Ranger believing is detrimental to your spiritual health. And I'm going to tell you why. Because it keeps you intact. If you have to move everywhere because everyone rubs you the wrong way, then you stay intact. The Bible says, except the kernel of wheat fall to the ground and die at the bite of a lawn. So he gots to break us open. And sometimes the way he comes and creates the opportunity to get us besides ourselves is to create relationship conflicts with each other. Now, what that does is it doesn't mean that the person is right and you're wrong. What it means is that each and every time something arises, it's an opportunity for you to press into the presence of God and find out your responsibility in the conflict. And I say, pressing to the presence of God because we will measure ourselves against ourselves and we will always come up right. You don't know how they did me, though. You don't know how they did me. You don't know. You just don't know. No, you may have came at them wrong. You may have done all kind of, but you won't see that because we always think we're right in our own sight. We measure ourselves. There's a scripture and I want to bring it up the next time, but it says, you seem to, I forgot it's in the Proverbs. I'm going to quote it all wrong, but I'm going to paraphrase it. You seem to know the answer to a situation when you hear one side of the argument. But until you cross-examine the second person, then you find out that you don't really know what you know. I'm going to put it in this real quick example. But you ever watch that program 48 hours? And the first hour, you think, they just is guilty. They need to lock them up and throw them away. Then the next hour, they show all the countering things And then you're like, well, they're innocent. Why did they do it? You know what I'm saying? And you just vacillate and back and forth. And these people have killed people. But you really can come to a conclusion easily if you hear one side of the argument. So you have to be able to listen to both sides. And so what you want to do is ideally have an objective party. And there's no one more objective than God. Amen? So let's go. One thing I want you to point out, they didn't use carnal attacks in their division. They didn't resort to the works of the flesh. They didn't gossip. They didn't retaliate. They didn't do any character assassination. And I'm going to say this to you guys real quick. Don't make matters worse. Don't sow seeds that you will ultimately have to eat. The Lord told me that a long time ago. I was finding myself in all kinds of stuff. He said, because you're running your mouth too much. And I would sit up, and he said, sow, reap, and eat. The words that you speak, you're sowing seeds. So if I'm sowing judgment, I'm reaping hardship. So the better thing for me to do is keep quiet. There's a wisdom in the book of James. Be slow to speak, slow to wrath, and quick to listen. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. I got to learn how to sometimes shut my mouth, especially when I'm frustrated. and help me if I have to talk to someone, Lord, to first deal with you. Because sometimes when I'm dealing with him, I find out that I was the problem. You know, or it adjusts my thinking when I'm praying, because a lot of times it's like, okay, you wanted to see it one side, but I'm gonna give you a little bit more clarity in the midst. Okay, so let's go to the next scripture. Acts 13 13 says now Paul and his companion set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia and John left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they went out from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. Now I said, who is this John Mark and why is he causing all these problems? So we get a little bit from him here. This is one year prior to the fallout. And what it was was that Barnabas and Paul took Mark with them on the first recorded missionary journey. So they brought him with them. They're about to go and promote the gospel together with John Mark as a help. And when the trouble starts to come up, he bounces, he leaves. And so this is the reason why Barnabas and Mark got into, I mean, and Paul got into it, because Paul's saying, uh-uh. He left when the pressure came on. I don't want to bring him with us on the trip. But Barnabas, the encourager, said, I want to bring him. We got to give him a second chance. And so there was a disagreement about whether or not we should use Paul or Barnabas. So I'm going to give you a little bit of background on Mark. His mother was, it was his mother and her house when Peter, you guys remember this story, Pastor Jamie was going through the book of Acts, when Peter was locked up in jail, okay? They were under King Herod Agrippa II. He was persecuting the Christians. James, the brother of John, was killed, and Peter was thrown into prison The people were at John Mark's mother's house and they had a prayer group prayer vigil. We gonna pray till Peter comes out and they came together and they prayed and In the prison, an angel came in and Peter was miraculously let out. And if you guys remember the story, the comical side of the story is Peter goes back to John Mark's house, knocks on the door, Rhoda, one of the ladies there heard, she said, oh my God, I can hear Peter's voice, ran back, left him at the door, ran back and told him he's there, you tripping girl. We're going to go back to praying for him to get released. But he's at the door. No, we praying so that he will be at the door. But he's really at the door. Then he kept knocking. They went and got him, and he was out. That was John Mark's house. That was John Mark's mother's house. And so, of course, John Mark was familiar with Peter. This is what I want you to know. At the time that he went out on this missionary journey, he was familiar with Peter. He knew about the cost of discipleship because he knew that Peter was in prison. So he didn't go into their journey with them unaware. He knew there can be some risks in me going with you, Paul and Barnabas. But he went anyway. And when the pressure got a little rough, he decided to leave. But the fact of the matter is he knew the miraculous leaves of Peter. And then this is another thing too. So he also knew about God's ability to divinely intervene in situations. The other thing to Peter and Mark's pop has crossed at that time. That's going to mean something later. So Park that in your brain Peter and Mark. They knew each other. I mean, you know, Mark was a young boy at the time, but he was very aware of Peter. Okay, and then he knew about service Barnabas. Okay, this might have been a little motivation for Barnabas to keep John Mark in the mix was his cousin. So Barnabas, Mark, Barnabas is like, I want to take John Mark with me and Paul's probably saying, but that's your cousin, right? So he was like, that's probably the reason why you want to bring him with you. But he was also of the priestly tribe. So he would have known about service to God. Okay, so that's just a little background on John Mark. Let's go to the next slide. Now, this is to add one other element, and this is the reason why I had challenges. I said, Lord, there's too many pieces to this puzzle, so I'm going to try to help you guys to grasp what it took me a minute to grasp. But a year prior to the split, there was another conflict that came up. And so in Galatians, Paul wrote, but when Cephas or Peter came beyond Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, if you though a Jew live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to act like Jews? Okay, so this is one year prior to the split before Paul and Barnabas break way because Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them and Paul was like, no. Right and they went separate ways. So one year prior Paul had to address another conflict because it was causing conflict amongst the Jews and the Gentile believers. And so he's telling them he tells Peter you're being hypocritical. And I want you guys to get this. You're letting the fear of the circumcision affect him. Barnabas was led astray. And this is one of the things I want to get back to, because I said when you unite, you've got to unite right. We don't just go along to get along, OK? Here's what Peter did, I mean, Paul did. He confronted Peter because his conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel. He could have just said, that's Peter. I can't buck up against Peter. Peter Peter got along. Do you know who Peter is? No, and it or he could have just said, you know, I'm going to say nothing because we got to be United, right? Is unity at all costs, right? No, they had to be United and they had to be United on the right foundation. So the we weren't United under the kingdom of God. That means it matters what God thinks. So people are saying this is what God used to think but we're saying this is how he thinks now. Then we can't unite under that premise. His rule and reign is a requirement. Let's go to the next one. I try to capture a visual to help. So 47 AD first missionary journey John Mark abandons the mission. 49, Paul corrects Peter and Barnabas in the Galatians. So that's about two years later. Now some of these estimates, scholars may have some variation in terms of the dates, slight variation. But I used one scholar so I could keep it as uniform across the board. But I wanted to give a visual to help us kind of understand things and look at things from a a timeline perspective. So you got the first missionary journey, John Mark abandons. Then Paul turns around, has to address Peter and Barnabas for the error they were committing. And then one year later, Paul and Barnabas split because Barnabas wants to take John Mark with him, and Paul says no. Okay, so let's get, so how, what happened with it all? Oh, please don't let this thing, okay. Okay, I want to give you guys this. I want to really, really, really drill this thing home to you about how this went down and there's a reason. So I'm going to go through a couple of slides quickly. I want to give you Barnabas and then Peter's spiritual resume. Okay, so let's go to the next slide. So Barnabas, prior to Galatians, He gave generously to the early church and was noted in Acts 4, 36, 37. He would have also witnessed the death of Ananias and Sapphira when they lied about their offering. His birth name was Joseph, but given the name of Barnabas by the leadership, which means son of encouragement or son of exhortation, which was an indication of his character. He was a Levite, so he was inclined to service. He took Paul and vouched for him after his conversion, which helped apostles and other disciples to receive him, since they were initially afraid of him. He went to bat for Paul, because everyone was scared of Paul after his conversion. Nobody wanted to go touch Paul, because they wanted to make sure that conversion was real. You know, it's like, look, I want to make sure you really converted before I get around you because you're killing people, right? So, they want, Barnabas put himself on the line and said, let me go talk to Bar, you know, so I'm sure that Barnabas in the back of his mind was like, look, I gave you a chance, you know, why don't you give John Margaret a chance, right? Okay, then he went to look for Paul and brought him to Antioch Church where they taught and made disciples. This was a place where they first called the believers Christians. Let's go to the second one because he got two pages. He went with Paul to provide relief to the believers in Judea, Jerusalem during a famine. Mark accompanied them as assistants. That's not exactly true. I think he came with them afterwards. But the Holy Spirit appointed Barnabas and Saul to bring the gospel to the Gentiles living in the eastern Mediterranean region of the Roman Empire. This is their first recorded missionary journey for the church. During this church, they were opposed by Elimus, the sorcerer. He saw Elimus be blinded for a time immediately as a result. At Lystra, he saw Paul speak to a man crippled from birth, who then sprang up and walked. The crowds tried to worship him as Zeus and Paul as Hermes, but they forbid him to do so. He also saw Paul be stoned by a crowd and dragged out of the city. He and the other disciples prayed, and he immediately entered the city. So this man has some credentials. Okay, let's go to the next guy. Peter. Okay, he's gonna have three pages. I'm gonna go through these real quickly. You don't have to memorize it, but I want you guys to get it. He was commissioned by Jesus personally while he walked on the earth. He witnessed Jesus heal his mother-in-law. At the end of an unsexual day fishing, he followed Jesus' directive to cast down his net again and caught an abundant amount of fish. Jesus added to his name of Simon, Peter, from the Greek word petros, meaning rock or stone. He witnessed Jesus miraculously raising a little girl back from the dead. He saw Jesus walk on water and even asked Jesus to walk on water and he started to walk on water for a minute until he fell. He made a pronouncement about the deed of Jesus, but then later on turned around make proclaims that he will when Jesus said he'll be killed and rise on the third day he Peter rebuked him. Okay, so let's go to the next page. Peter, along with James and John, witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus and the appearance of Moses and Elijah on a mountain. Jesus makes a prediction that Peter will deny him three times before a rooster crows. Peter denies it, then later does it. Peter and the others slept while Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, saw Jesus miraculously restore the soldiers, eat after he cut it off. ear after he cut it off. He saw the empty tomb, then conversed with the risen Christ, was filled with the Holy Spirit with the other believers on the day of Pentecost, then preached a message that brought many to Christ. Let's go to the next page. This is the last page for you. He healed the man crippled from birth. He confronted Ananias and Sapphira after they lied about their offering and watched them fall down dead. Traveled and preached the gospel to different places. He was used by God to bring a little girl back to life. He was imprisoned under Herod Agrippa II after Herod killed James, the brother of John, but Peter miraculously escaped. I want you guys to say that. And then they fell. And then they fell. So what does that mean? These guys had done all these great exploits. And then the fear caused them to fall. So fear caused them to fall. Fortunately, that's not the end of the story. Fortunately, that's not the end of the story. But what I want you to get is both of these men had impressive credentials, but they got tricked. Both of these men accepted correction from someone who had less time than they did. Both of these men had to humble themselves despite their past accomplishments. So we need to learn from their error, and we need to learn from their responses. We should never get so big-headed that we can't accept correction when we're wrong. This should make us humble. I got 20 years in this game. 20 years and you can still fall. 20 years and you still can get tricked. We have to stay humble every step of the way. We have to stay in communion with God every step of the way because I can start to smell myself on day 30, fall day 31, but thank God he can raise me up on day 32 if I stay humble. But what if Barnabas said, wait, hold on a minute, who are you to tell me? about me when I'm the one that brought you into this mess. I mean, this mix. Let me clarify. But who are you? Peter can say, don't you know who I am? When was the last time you walked on water? Did you see him when the Mount Transfiguration? Okay, then don't come with me. You ain't got nothing to tell me. When you see him transfigured, then come tell me. But up until that point in time, you ain't on my level. And you know how we do. If we don't do it nowhere else but in our mind, who are you to tell me about me? Rather than Lord, is there any of this that's true? Is there any part of this whole confrontation with me, with my 20 years of all these spiritual accomplishment and miraculous experiences? Is there anything that I need to see about me that has me to deal with me that doesn't look like you? He said that I am the vine and you are the branches. That never changes up. We're always going to be a branch. We'll never be a vine. No, no, I'm serious, because I get mad when I see you here, and I'll tell you. We'll always be a branch. We'll never be the vine. See, I can say it correctly. But anyway, Jesus is the vine. We'll always be the branch, and that will never change. So that means I've got to cling to him. I've got to cling to him, because if I don't, I'll get crazy. I can smell myself after a while. And so that means but when you realize how crazy this flesh can be, then you claim desperately day by day. We all have to look at it like that. And I'm going to talk about this later today, but recovery, I know a lot of people don't like people talking about, I'm an alcoholic and I'm a drug addict and everything. And I get the idea. You don't want to put a label on yourself. But there is something about realizing that you have a fleshly inclination. and that I need to stay, I need to deal with this daily and lifelong, else if I don't deal with it, it's gonna deal with me. And just like the sleeping tiger syndrome, it'll come back and it'll come back with a vengeance. and the enemy will fuel it. So there's a level of a humility that needs to be carried with us day by day. And what did Jesus say? If any man want to humble himself, he will shall be exalted. But let a man exalt himself. Anytime you start to smell yourself, all he can do is take you down. But it's a blessing when he takes you down because even that is an act of love. Because he wants you sick and tired of being sick and tired of yourself. And realize, OK, you still ain't a Vine. OK, so let's reference it. OK. Let's go to the next slide. Well, no, no, no, no, no. Let's back. What is it? Leave it right here. OK. So. We can learn from their responses. So first Corinthians 937. This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a beloved believing wife as we do the other Apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Peter? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? OK, let's go to the next slide. OK, so 55 AD, five years after the split, there was obviously, what is it? What am I trying to say? Reconciliation. Thank you. Reconciliation. There was obviously reconciliation, because he would not have used him as an example of a dedicated leader if there had not been reconciliation. So bless God for that. Let's go to the next slide. So Paul and Barnabas, so they went their separate ways, but they still had a heart and mind. And this is one of the things I want you to get at. You got to be sold out to the mission. How about that? You got to say, look, my only reason for living and breathing after I come into Christ is to serve his purpose. The ultimate purpose and meaning for my life is the Great Commission. Everything under that is secondary. My main reason for living is to advance His kingdom. You've got to be sold out to it. And even when conflict arises, you've got to say, look, we can be sold out to the mission. We may not agree on certain parts, as long as it's not doctrine, but we can still be unified even if we're not on the same page about everything. Amen? So we see the progression. John Mark abandons the mission. Paul corrects Peter and Barnabas one year later. I mean, three years later. One year later, there's a split. By five years later, everything is already reconciled. Let's go to the next slide. Colossians 4.10 and 14 says, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you. And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions, if he comes to you, welcome him. Now, this is Paul writing. Okay, and Jesus who's called justice. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. And so just drop down to 13. For a bear witness, him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those who lay to see in heaven. Luke, the beloved physician greets you as does Demas. I want you to pay attention to Demas' mind. Just mark that in your back of your mind. So we can see that there is a change in heart concerning John Mark in the heart of Paul. So Philemon, let's go to the second scripture. This is AD 6062. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ, Jesus sends Christ's greetings to you. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord be, Jesus Christ be with you, your spirit. And so let's go to the next slide. So John Mark abandoned him. At one point, Paul corrected them. Two years later, a year later was a split. By five years, we can see there was definitely reconciliation between him and Barnabas. And by, I don't know, somebody do the math, 12 years later, we can see there was already reconciliation with John Mark. So these guys were mission minded, but they still had a heart for unity. because they had a heart for God's heart. Okay, let's go to the next. 2 Timothy 4, go to the next slide. 2 Timothy 4, 9 through 11. Do your best to come to me. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. So here go another person. He had to check out because the pressure was too strong for him. So Demas was with him the past two slides, that was the point, writing them scriptures. But Demas decided, uh-uh, this is a little bit too deep for me. And Cressus has gone to Galatia, Titus to Domitian. Now those, when I looked them up, those two went on for mission, they weren't deserting it. Luke alone was with me. By the way, get Mark and bring him with you, for he's very useful to me for ministry. I want you to see redemption in progress. Timothy's about I mean Paul is about to die. And one of the people he says is hit John Mark. He doesn't have John Mark's past love keeps no record of wrongdoings. He don't sit up and say, you know, John Mark. Okay, we're gonna try him out. No, he says, bring him with me. He's very helpful, very useful for me. So we all have to have a redemptive mindset. Even if we divide, even people who are doctrinally, we can hope, not that we can align with them, we can pray and hope that they get it right, that they come to repentance and that we can align with them because we want the Lord's church to be filled and the earth to be filled with his glory. Come on, let's go to the next slide. Oh, did I do wrong? I didn't have a slide in between there? A visual? Okay, well what I did was basically I just added one little line in there. Okay, so we saw from, so from 60 to 62 to 66 to 67 AD, we see Mark, Paul asking for Mark before his martyrdom. There's another slide in there, so we'll get to it. So, let's go to the next one. So, first Peter. 5, 12 through 14, says, by Silvanus, a faithful brother as regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand for a minute. She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you who are in Christ Jesus. So what we find out about Mark is he served under Paul, but under Peter as well. And if we know the history Mark wrote the gospel of Mark based upon Peter's accounts. So some refer to it as the book of Peter. He I told you his paths crossed with him when his at his mama's house when they were praying for him and got Peter out. So he was he was being kind of mentored by Peter, I mean, yeah, by Peter and then he even crossed paths with him during the time that Paul was let out of his first imprisonment and before his second imprisonment. So Mark, this guy who really has no title, is really being a help despite his track record. Amen? So let's go to the last one. We're really down to the wire, you guys, because I'm not really... So we can see, the first minute, John and Mark abandons the mission. Paul has to correct two years later, has to correct Peter and Barnabas and Galatians. One year later, there's a split. By five years later, Paul is using Barnabas as an example, showing reconciliation. Seven years later, he instructs them to welcome John Mark, showing there was reconciliation there. And then he sends greetings with Mark to Philemon. And then within five years, he asks for Mark before his martyrdom. I mean, that means something if he's going to stand for you when he's about to die. And then we see that Prior, Peter addresses Mark as his son. Mark works with Peter, writes his account, wrote the gospel of Mark, and then he's martyred. What is the point? God can work if we stay humble, if we stay humble to not only bring reconciliation, but think of all, what would have happened if all these guys' egos got in the way? Think of what if anyone got high-minded because of their credentials. What would happen if they didn't deny themselves daily and take up their cross and follow after? What if they made it more about their agenda than God's agenda? What would happen if it was all about them and rather than about God and his purposes? And look at what was able to be accomplished because they were willing to die to themselves. Whenever people are sold out to God's commission and willing to die to themselves, God is able to do great things. So we got to... This is one of the things I said, a takeaway. We want to be sold out to God's mission, especially when disagreements arise. I say especially because they're going to happen. You can't tell a married couple that you guys are going to come together, the two become one flesh. We ain't going to talk about disagreement because you'll never have it. No, you got to teach them what to do when the fight happens. How to do so in the same way when you bring a bunch of people together, you got to teach them. Hey, wait, hold on a minute. We may have a couple little clashes up in here. We may not agree on everything. There may be some problems at times, but we have to look at something greater than our own egos. We got to see something greater than our own personal agendas. And sometimes the conflict can be an opportunity that Pastor Jamie talked about within marriage. The rug can make you really have to deal with your conflict, character problems. It can really bring to light some things in you that are really divisive and not Christ-like. Doesn't mean overlooking doctrinal errors, so prioritize God's mission every way you can, disagreements with others. Doesn't mean overlooking doctrinal errors or sin. We've got to unite right. We've got to be prayerful, the house of prayer. The Holy Spirit is the one that unifies and aligns with God's will. I'm really down to two slides, you guys, and we're done. We've got to stay humble, so agree with God. He's the one that exalts. Growth requires prayerfulness, vigilance, and humility. That's the one thing you can learn from Paul and I mean from Peter and Barnabas in their fall. We have to be vigilant. Our progress doesn't mean we ever become the vine the vine. Let's see even a physical separation occurs than hope for spiritual oneness with God should be in our hearts. And there is always benefits for doing it the Lord's way and I'm going to tell you this because everything in God There's a price, but there's also a payment. There is a reward. I mean, sometimes we can talk about the cost, but we also got to balance out. There's a reward. Being obedient. I think he was saying it in the early part of the first song. When we're obedient, we get the fruit of obedience. We get righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. That means our character starts to change. And we need, most of us need a character transformation overall. I'm telling you, my character was so jacked. When I was young, I was drinking, destroying property, destroying relationships. And even when I got clean, I didn't have, you know, I had still addictive type attitudes because most addicts, we're control freaks. We want to sit up there. So we had to deal with not only, okay, now you stopped drinking, but now let's deal with your character flaws. And unfortunately, I had a lot. And so we have to...and still dealing. Still dealing because right now Christ is the standard. So we get righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And this is critical if you think about it, and this correlates to Pastor Jeremy's message, in times of despair. The Bible says, at the time waxes worst, men's hearts will fail them for fear. So we're living in a time where there's suicide epidemics, opioid epidemics, anxiety and depression epidemics, narcissism epidemics. So we got all these epidemics. And so what we need to do is realize the answer is in the vine. He is the answer. So we bless God for bringing us into the fold and now let's pay the price. Dying yourself doesn't always feel good. I mean you have to pray a lot. He said men ought to pray always and pray without ceasing. Well, I understand why the old school Saints used to lay on their faces because sometimes I'm telling you, you gotta fall out because people will make you, they will bring you to the floor. Because you know you won't act right if you don't lay on that ground. If my emotions are not prayed for, I can be tick, tick, boom, like I talked to you guys for two weeks ago. And if I'm not regularly in the presence of God, all I'm doing is building a case. So I'm nice. Hey, how you doing? How you doing? Oh, yeah, you cut me again. Hey, how you doing? How you doing? And then tick. OK, you got me again. God bless you, tick. Because I'm not taking this to the Lord. I'm not confessing my bitterness. I'm not confessing my anger. I'm not taking this. The Lord can send a tick. Tick. All right, now. All right, now. We need to have a conversation. We need to have one right now. And ain't no sweetness in it. Ain't no kindness in it. Because I let it build up to the point. So these disciplines are not just niceties. They're necessities. So when you see the value of confession, that's going to be my next message. Confession is good for the soul. OK? And it's a regular discipline that people don't want to necessarily abide by. But I got to stay in his presence. The 12 steps actually came out of scripture. They just secularized it. They were from a group called the Oxford Group. I'll talk to you about it later. But they really took the book of James and really made principles out of it. They just secularized it. So a lot of the things they're saying is we've got to actively deal with our character. We've got to actively deal with the fact that if we don't take things to God, we don't do a fearless search and mourn of inventory, we're going to act crazy. So we'll talk about that later. So let's go to the next slide. So we want to this is some of the things I just want to give you quickly. This list was a lot longer, but I just said, let me just keep in the highlights toward working toward a resolving conflict. Be humble. Be the servant of the Lord in your mindset. Be prayerful before during and after. Sometimes y'all I'm saying pray during because it can get kind of ugly if you don't. Pray about timing for some conversations. Break if it's too heady. Sometimes, I mean, the Lord told me one time I got into with someone, I acted with a family member, and he said, next time walk away and talk to me. I was trying to stay in there and try to act right. And I was getting angrier and angrier, and I was like, no, I need to step away and I need to pray. And it's all right. But here's the one thing some people will do. They'll step away because they don't want to deal. That's the difference. Step away to commune with God. Don't step away because you're trying to avoid having to deal with real issues. Amen? Prayerfully assess, then own your part. Don't be like Adam and Eve, the man, if you didn't give me that man, that serpent, that serpent is the reason why we're in this mess. Or don't be like the wife you gave me, she did it. Don't get caught up in the blame game. Everyone needs to own their part. If you own your part, you'll continue to grow. If the other person refuses to own their part, they'll be stagnated. But at least you'll continue to grow because he gives grace to the humble. Bless the Lord. So pray for the right tone in heart when talking to the other person. I want to talk about that. That's one thing I'm going to talk about. That's one message, probably after confession. I don't know when these are coming. You all pray for me. But tone makes a difference in this time of hostility. Because everybody and their mother got opinion right now, and nobody's worrying about how they talk to each other. Whether it's online in the internet or in-face and in-person, we're having more conflicts because people don't have a level of civility. The hearts of many are waxing cold. People don't care how they talk to you. They'll talk to you like you've got a tail between your legs. And it will make you act like you've got a tail between your legs. So you've got to pray if you want to represent. Okay, pray to see the other person's point of view. Now that doesn't mean if someone's just off, but pray to try to see the other person's point of view, because sometimes they really have something to say. And they may be the eyes in the back of your head that you need. Pray to have a redemptive heart when correcting the other person. Be truthful, don't lie. You know how sometimes when we get back in the corner, it's easy to just kind of embellish the truth a lot? You know, some of us learned, you know what I'm saying? When you get back, just lie because you'll get out of it. But that's the worst thing to do. Because what you're doing is you're inviting the father of lies into the situation. If other persons don't own their part, you follow scriptural order and then commit it and them to the Lord. The Lord will discipline, chastise, and convict if he or she is a believer. If they're not, then if they don't, repent, you know that it's really gonna be bad for them. Now, one of the things about this whole thing is, just say it with me, I gave up my right for self-vindication when I gave my life to the Lord. And then this part I'm gonna throw in it, but God promised to repay. So that means you won't come up short even when people think they got over on you. If he repays you with peace, if he repays you with peace in a time of despair, that's a beautiful thing. People are losing their minds and you want the peace of God. Okay, you can have whatever you took, but Lord, don't take my peace. I mean by peace in this time of chaos and instability, when everything around you is falling apart, when the earth is acting crazy, when hearts, the heart love of many is waxing cold, when, and some of you guys don't know, but I watch some of these news media and reports across the globe, animals are dying in. weird amounts in certain locations. You don't necessarily get it on the national news. So in this part, all of a sudden, all these birds are falling out of the sky and dying. In this part, all of a sudden, sea ant life is just flowing up to the, dying all around us. And we're not hearing everything, so we're hearing bits and pieces and chunks. But if we got a whole big view the way God sees it, we'd see, hey, the contractions are coming closer. They're getting a little bit stronger. The baby is coming, but the baby is not a baby this time. Come on now. He's coming back and he's coming back with for a church without spot or wrinkle So he's fast-tracking us you guys so if you feel the pressure he's fast-tracking us He's putting us under the pressure because he's building his church so the earth can be filled with his glory Bless the Lord bless the Lord bless the Lord You can give up your right to vindicate because I want him to repay me. I You took what you took, but God gave more than what you took. I don't have to measure it against what you took. All I got to be grateful is what you gave at this time. The thief comes but to steal, kill, and destroy, but I came that you might have life and life more abundantly. I can let go of my bitterness. I can let it go. God's going to take care of that. He's going to take care of that. God, I'm getting a little...bless the Lord. I'm a testimony of it. The bitterness was killing me. I was rotting in the bitterness. But when I let it go, all of a sudden, I was finding freedom. I was experiencing more peace, more joy, more rest. God will repay. The benefits outweigh the losses. The benefits outweigh the losses. And when you deal with things, remember, the one thing you can't do in a conflict, you can't control anything but your resolve to surrender to God. You can't control the other person's responses. You can't control the way they think. You can't control if they're going to act right. They may not act right. And in some cases with some of these people, you have a high probability they aren't going to act right. But you can get deliverance. You can experience more maturity if you surrender to God. And on that note, amen.