Hey, as you find your seats, kind of get settled in, make sure you have a copy of God’s Word and flip that Bible over to Acts chapter 15 as we continue to journey together through the book of Acts. And as you’re doing that, I have to ask. I’ve got to start this way. Any basketball fans in the house? Let’s go. Let’s go. Ok, I’m going to talk to you guys for a second. Everybody else, this is a great time to fill out the Connect Registry. Go ahead and do that for the next couple of minutes while I talk to my basketball friends for a second.
No, I love basketball. It’s my favorite sport to watch, play, just be around. And so March is obviously a great season for that. But I was reminded this week. I was thinking about my glory high school days, which were not very glorious, but they happened. And I was reminded of the feeling of game day, right? And you just kind of wake up on game day and you have this just anticipation, this excitement in your stomach.
And you’d go to school and it didn’t matter what happened in school that day, right? You could have a pop up quiz that you bombed or like a huge assigment that was due and you forgot about. It just didn’t matter. You just kind of floated through the day and you’d get out of class and you’d either jump on a bus for a road game or you’d go eat with your teammates and then come back and start warming up.
And there always came that time on game day when you’d walk into the locker room and coach would have the whiteboard right? And on the whiteboard would be the game plan. Coach would have the game plan, right? He’d list off the starters and he’d be like you know, “Hey guys, we’re going to start off in our flex offense. Just, you know, reminder of your positions for that. And hey, defense, we’re going to come out in a 1-3-1.” Right?
And you’d have some notes of things to remember. Box out, don’t get caught watching the paint dry. Like, you know, these little coach phrases and stuff. And we’d all gather around like, “This is the game plan.” Put our hands together and then roar! We’d go out and we’d be like, “Let’s play the game! Yeah!”
And then we’d come back in at halftime and a lot of time coach would be like, “Hey, we’re in this. Stay with it. Remember the game plan. Remember the game plan. All right? All right?” And we’d go out and we’d do it again.
But every once in a while we’d come back in and we’d all kind of pile into the locker room and coach would come walking in and he’d just be like, “New game plan! Not working, not going well, new game plan”. And we’d just start from scratch.
Whether it was our lineup was just getting destroyed on fast breaks so we had to switch out and go to our small players so they could keep up with what was going on or the zone was just killing us or whatever, there was a new game plan that came out. Same goal as to when I woke up that morning and as I went throughout the day. Same goal as when we went, “This is the plan,” and the goal is to win. But things just need to look a little different. And that’s what a good coach does, right?
A good coach will say, “Hey, time out. Time out. Come here. Let’s draw something else up. This isn’t working. Let’s change some things around.” Or we just need a fresh approach to this.
Paul today in Acts is going to get a new game plan. He’s going to get a new game plan. Same goal, make disciples, pour into people, preach the Word, take the saving grace of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. But the game plan is going to look a little different.
And as we look at chapter 15, we need to remember what just happened in our journey through Acts. The Jerusalem council has reached this monumental decision when it comes to how they were evanglising and how they were speaking about salvation. Right? It’s no longer you have to keep some moral standard that you can’t actually keep. And you don’t have to do these certain things. You don’t have to be circumcised to prove your salvation. Salvation happens through grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. Jesus is everything.
And that’s a big deal. That’s a monumental shift for the church at Antioch. And so Paul and Barnabas come back with the letter from the council and two representatives from the council just to prove they didn’t make it up. And they present it to the church and the church says that they’re rejoicing and they’re celebrating and they’re growing because they’re grateful for this amazing news that’s no longer about them. It’s all about Jesus.
And so Paul and Barnabas are there and they’re staying with them. They’re encroaching them. They’re teaching them. The church is being strengthened in the faith. And then let’s pick up the story in Acts chapter 15:36.
Verse 36 says this: And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”
Ok, so this is setting the stage for what is about to happen. Pual is getting ready to go on his second missionary journey. Right, he’s at Antioch and they’re teaching. We don’t know how long exactly they were there. But for a certain amount of time they were just pouring into those believers. But Paul is not settling down. He is like, I want what’s happened here at Antioch to go to the world, and so we’ve got to keep going.
He’s a true entrepreneur. He’s like, I’ve got to check up on my investments before. So he’s like, Let’s do a tour of where we just were to make sure everything is good.
And we have this letter from the council that could help some people. I don’t want people getting stuck in legalism where we were. So let’s go back through, and that’s our plan. We’re going.
He says to his pal Barney, Hey, let’s go. Load up. We’re leaving at 0500, right? And that’s Paul. Paul was the guy. He only spoke in military time. He was just eating MREs all the time laying right on the ground even though there was a bed. He’s like, No, hard core. Let’s do this. We’re getting after it. That’s Paul. Laser-focused on the mission.
And they’re getting ready to leave and look at verse 37. It says, Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. (Acts 15:37-39)
All right. We’ve got a little drama in the story now, some tension there. Like what is about to happen? Get your popcorn ready. Pastor “P” is about to throw hands over some dude with two names. What’s the deal? Who’s this John called Mark? We’re just going to call him Mark from now on because that’s super confusing and the Bible is going to call him Mark, so that’s a good idea. So he’s now Mark.
So this guy Mark, what’s the deal? Why are they having a disagreement? It’s so bad that they couldn’t resolve it that they’re separated from each other. All right, let’s unpack that here for a moment. Mark is Barnabas’ cousin, so there’s a family relation there. And this guy was on the first missionary journey with them. And if you remember, when we went through chapter 13 in Acts there’s this verse, verse 13. It says, Now Paul and his companion set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia and John (Mark) left them and returned to Jerusalem.
Now that sounds like a pretty harmless verse. It’s like that was a bus stop. Stop the bus. I’m getting off here. I’m done for now. But given Paul’s response to Barnabas here in chapter 15, we can conclude that this was not a good decision from John Mark. In fact, another translation of verse 38 says that he didn’t think best to bring with them someone who had deserted them and not gone with them to the work. So he views Mark as he bailed. He’s done.
So you can almost hear this conversation, right, playing out between Paul and Barnabas. Like, you know, Barnabas is like, We’re getting ready to go. Cool. I’ll call Mark. He’d love to come with us again.
Paul is like, No, no, no, no, no. That guy is not coming with us again. He’s a deserter. I know he’s family Barnabas, but he’s just not cut out for it.
He’s like, Paul, yes he is, all right? He’s young. He lost his nerve for a moment. We were going through some crazy stuff. Like give him the benefit of the doubt. Let’s give him another shot.
No way! No way, Barnabas! Like I don’t have time to invest in guys who might just leave me hanging out to dry. This mission is too important. There’s too much urgency. If he can’t take the heat, he’s got to get out of the kitchen. He’s not cut out for it. Let it go.
I’m not going to let it go, Paul. He’s family. You’re so quick to give up on him. What if I had given up on you Paul, when you came to Jerusalem and nobody believed that you were the real deal? I put my neck on the line for you.
Yeah you did, Barnabas. But guess what? Since the day I knew the truth I haven’t wavered for an instant. Do you not know what just happened to me in Lystra? You were there. I got stoned and left for dead. And by the grace of God I stood up. And what did I do? I didn’t run home. I walked right back into that city and I preached the gospel. No, if you want him you can have him.
Something like that, all right? And you’re like, My Bible just says, “And there arose a sharp disagreement.” Where are you getting that? Listen. I’m not saying you take that as like God’s Word, but man, it’s ok family to read into the Bible the personalities that we see. Because so often we forget that these are human men. We know that Paul is zealous and headstrong and stubborn, right? He sees the world in black and white. He was raised that way. Like Enneagram 1 for sure, right? High standards, can’t meet them, holds everybody else to that.
He constantly preaches to himself, “I’m the chief of all sinners.” It’s not even that he’s a sinner. He has to be the worst, meaning he’s the best sinner, right? Like it’s Paul. right? He’s doing this all the time.
And then there’s Barnabas, called the “son of encouragement.” He’s a 2 for sure. He’s constantly lifting people up. He’s the guy to stop whatever he’s doing. No, no, no, how are you really? How are you really doing? Oh man, you seem down and out. Can I tell you what I see God doing in your life? You have so much potential. Get back up on your feet. C’mon, we can do this.
There’s a personality difference that we have to read into the story a little bit and understand that that’s where it came from. But there’s also a perspective too. Right? Because everybody wants to know. Everybody asks. Everybody reads this part of Scripture and they’re like, Well who was right? Of course it was Paul, right? Of course it was Paul because he’s the apostle Paul. And Barnabas, this is the last we’re going to read about Barnabas in Acts. And the story goes on and the story follows Paul. It’s like a movie. It’s like, oh, he’s the hero. So he was right.
But I can imagine even in this room today as I read through that type of conversation discourse that could have been possible and described the personalities, there are people in the room who would lean toward one or the other. There are some of you that would say, Yeah, man, Paul has got it. He’s on mission. There’s work to be done. There’s too great a risk to take with someone who’s not ready.
Like if I go to the ER with a fatal wound, I don’t want the doctor to be like, “I’m a little squeamish with blood. I don’t know.” Right? I want the rock solid guy with the steady hand.
And Barnabas is coming at it like, people are like, Oh, but Barnabas was the true shepherd. Like we would have canceled Paul for this type of actions, right? Like Barnabas is like, “Man, c’mon, back up on your feet. There’s so much potential. God can use you.” That’s what we needed from a leader. What if Paul missed out on everything Mark could have done for the kingdom because he disqualified him?
So I put before you, they’re both right. They’re both right from a perspective. Maybe they were wrong in the way they were right and that’s what led to a sharp disagreement. But we can look at it like a great tragedy. Oh man, the fact that this dynamic duo split up. Now God has two teams going on.
God is going to use this silly human disagreement to catalyze two teams for the mission. I think perspective is a big deal, so I just want to kind of talk about it for a moment. Like imagine Paul and Barnabas out at recess, like little Paul, little Barney and they’re out at recess. And we’re going to play pickup basketball at recess. And Paul is like, I’ve got to win. Like I can’t not win. Losing is the worst. Winning is a big deal. And so everything he sees in front of him when he’s picking his team is through the lens of “We need to win.”
So what is he doing? He’s picking the best players. He’s picking the team that’s going to put the ball in the hoop the most time and stop the other team from putting the ball in the hoop at all. And he’s looking at Timmy who loves the game of basketball, but Timmy was on his team last game and it didn’t go so good. And he’s got this guy. He had a chance at the game winner and he missed it. So Paul is like, No, Timmy is done. I don’t need Timmy. I need to win.
Barnabas is standing there going, Man, Timmy loves the game. And man, he has way more heart than any of the guys out here. He may not have the build for it, the physique or the handles or whatever. But man, I think if I just encourage him, I’m going to pick him first. And it’ll just unlock. We have no idea what he is capable of. He might just come alive if I pick him first.
Different perspectives, different leadership styles. And it’s important to think about that when it comes to our own relational conflict. In fact, I want to illustrate this. Does anybody have a basketball or anything? Oh, amazing. That worked out so well. Geez. Thank you Lord.
So imagine it like this, right? We’re both looking at this together. And I say to you, “What is it?”
And you say, “A basketball.”
Ok, good. All right. Now you ask me, “What is it?”
“A soccer ball.”
Agree or disagree? Ok, we disagree. Let’s try again. What is it?
“A basketball.”
Now ask me. “What is it?”
“Soccer ball.”
Why can we not get there together? Like this is all I’m doing the rest of the message. This is it. W’ere going to get there, right? But what happens if I change your perspective? You might disagree still, but at least you saw where I was coming from. Ok? Still a basketball. Sometimes we just need to change our perspective. Thank you Pastor Nathan. Yep, that’s the high school glory days right there. Bounce pass for days. All right.
Can I just tell you that 98% of the conflict I see between Christians, brothers and sisters, is because one or both people will not look at it from the other perspective? They won’t just come around to the other person’s side. Disagree still, fine. At least see it from their angle.
And so there might have been a chance here that Paul and Barnabas, just like Barnabas, couldn’t see it from Paul’s perspective. Paul is like, But Barnabas, you’re missing the point. It’s not about who we’re bringing along. It’s about the mission.
And Barnabas might be like, No, the mission is the people. Both are right. And at the end of the day, this is what happens. Paul later in his life will commend Barnabas for his ministry. And then in 2 Timothy he’s writing to Timothy to come to him. And then he says this in chapter 4 verse 11. “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me in ministry.” From deserter to useful. We have no idea what happened in between there. Possibly Paul’s tough love partnered with Barnabas’ encouragement spurred something in Mark’s life that just like, I’m going to give it everything I have. I’m never going to be seen that way again.
We don’t know, but man, to see God work in the midst of something we would say, Man, that’s a tragedy. Maybe. Or God is using it.
At this point though, Paul and Barnabas they disagree on Mark. But they’re both still committed to the work. So they say, You know what? We’re just going to keep on mission. Teams are going to look a little different. We don’t agree on the roster, but we can do this still. So Paul stays locked in.
Look back at verse 39. 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.
Chapter 16 verse 1. Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him. (Acts 15:39-16:3)
Paul is there. Again, it would be easy to look at the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas and think it’s a tragedy, and man, how is God going to work? But we’re starting to see there’s a new game plan. Something else is happening.
So Paul replaces Barnabas on his roster with Silas, and they’re going to keep the same travel plans. They’re going back through and they’re visiting these churches and they’re preaching and strengthening them. And they get into Lystra and they run into this young disciple named Timothy. And Timothy was most likely converted when Paul was last there preaching. In fact, Timothy could have seen Paul get stoned and then just stand back up on his feet, go in and preach a message. If I saw that I’d be like, Yeah, that’s pretty legit. I’ll listen to that.
But we also know that Timothy is a third generation believer at this point. We actually know his mother’s name and his grandmother’s name. Does anybody know the names of Timothy’s mom and grandma? I heard Eunice and Lois.
Ok, if you read in 2 Timothy, Paul actually commends the faith of Timothy’s grandmother and mother. So like these women are pouring into their son and grandson, and he is now firm in the faith. His flame has been fanned to a point where now people, outsiders, are speaking well of him and his faith in Christ. But all we know about his father is his father was a great.
And that word was is past tense used. And so we can probably assume that his father has died. He’s no longer in the picture; he’s not around. And so here’s Paul. walks in, he’s down a player and he sees this young, hungry disciple. Probably everything he thought Mark wasn’t he sees in Timothy. And he’s in need of a spiritual father. And so his recurring alarms are just going off. Like this is the guy. Thank you Lord. Holy Spirit, wow, you did it again. Timothy, I want you to come with me and be a part of this. So Paul has got a new team now.
The hope we can see as we dive into this story is that despite our ever-changing circumstances, God will continue to do His work. And here’s the point. People might change, but the mission stays the same. The people that you walk with in life, you might walk with for a season. You might be around them for a while and that might shift and change. But the mission that you are called to will never change.
You might hypothetically attend a church where it’s the same lead pastor and worship pastor for thirteen years and hypothetically that changes. The mission is still the same. The roster has been shaken up, but the mission of the team is still the same. You need to believe that and trust it.
But that’s not the only thing that’s going to change in this game plan for Paul. Right? Look at chapter 16 verse 3.
Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places. For they all knew that his father was a Greek. Interesting, but it gets a little more interesting as you think about verse 4.
As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily. (Acts 16:3-4)
So Paul has Timothy do something so that they can go to the churches and tell them that Timothy didn’t have to do that. Anybody else kind of feel like, What’s going on? Like did Paul glitch for a second? Like forget? Like, Oh, I forgot we’re not doing that anymore. My bad, Timothy, sorry.
Or was he like, Hey, we had a little problem with like a guy chickening out last time. So to kind of prove that you’re legit, I’m going to have you just to see if you’ve got the guts. No. That’s not what’s happening. It says it right there in the text. Why was Timothy circumcised? Because of the Jews. Another translation of this would be “out of consideration of the Jews he was circumcised.”
Have you ever done anything out of consideration? Right? If you’ve done it, you’ve probably done it not because you wanted to or it was something you’d normally do. It’s just you’re thinking about other people. Like if you’ve never reclined your airplane seat or like just stolen the armrest, it’s out of consideration for the personal space of people around you.
And we know when people are inconsiderate, right? It’s the 6’9” guy who stands in front of you at the concert. Like, Dude? Anywhere else, bro. All right? It’s the lady with 47 items at the express lane. You’re like, I’ve got two things. Let me go. It’s the- trigger warning- the person going 5 under in the left lane on the highway. Like, You’d better get over. I’ll consider you here in a second.
We know when people are inconsiderate, but when we’re doing something out of consideration for others, we’re deferring to them. We’re making their needs, their preferences, higher than our own. And that’s exactly what’s happening.
See, it’s not like something that, you know, was like checked. I always think that when we talk about circumcision. Like do you get a membership card? Is it like Costco? Just kind of show it on your way in at church and they’re like, Oh cool, you can come in.
No. It says that they knew his father was a Greek, meaning his father wouldn’t have done this for Timothy when he was a child. And so he wouldn’t have kept this custom because he wasn’t a Jew. And so it would have been an issue as they walked into these churches because again, the brothers knew him. And they’re still struggling with this ideology that circumcision is a part of salvation. And they’re there to deliver the good news that it’s not. But before they can deliver the good news, they have to like work through the fact that Timothy is not a part of what they’re trying to fix. Right?
And so you can just imagine them standing in church and the brothers are like, Hey, cool, Timothy, that’s awesome. You’re in church. That’s cool. Your dad is a Greek, right? Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Quick question. Super awkward. Um…
Ok? It’s in their minds blocking them from being able to receive the truth that Paul and Timothy are trying to bring to them. And so Paul is like, Let’s not even mess around with it, Timothy. It’s not a big deal. Let’s just get this out of the way so that we can focus on the truth.
And we know that this is the way that Paul approached ministry because in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 look at this passage of Scripture that Paul writes.
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)
Here’s the point. The preferences change. The preferences might change, but the truth stays the same. Family, I wonder how many secondary issues, personal preferences, minor things get in the way of your ability to share the truth? How many things that you hold to and cling to? If we can’t get on this then I got nothing else to say to you.
Maybe it’s something as simple as it’s not easy for you to approach somebody who looks different and talks different than you. There’s not common ground there. I’m not going to do it. My preference is to talk to people that I understand.
Maybe it’s just a wholehearted disagreement on political views. No, never. That would never happen, right? Or maybe it’s just like something that you feel is way more important than it actually is and so you oppress that on somebody else and they just can’t even get to a place where they’d have a conversation with you.
Paul understood that the truth reigns above every preference, right? He says, I’m free from it all. You can’t put me underneath any of it, but I’ll become a servant to all of it if it helps me win some. What do you need to pick up? What do you need to lay down so that the truth can go forward?
So the churches were strengthened in the faith it says. And then in verse 6.
And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6-10)
Awesome story of God leading His people through what seems to be tribulation, trial, hardship. See we don’t know what was blocking Paul from getting there. We don’t know. It just says the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus forbid him from going to those places.
There’s times in my life where I struggle to act like a really good Christian. Anybody with me on that? Sometimes it’s just hard. LIfe is hard. One of those times is when I’m trying to find a parking spot in a crowded parking lot. Like I kind of turn into not a great person. And I’m confessing that to you. We’ll get some oil up here later and we’ll just anoint and pray and try to fix this in our lives, right?
But here’s the deal. I had this reminder this week as I have like a really bad addition to believing there’s a better parking spot. So what I’ll do is I’ll pass multiple open spots because there’s probably going to be a better one. And after the 23rd one you know, and my wife has respectfully reminded me, “Um honey, you just passed another one,” I kind of start to get a little bit frustrated. And now we’ve been in the parking lot for fifteen minutes.
And it will always happen that I’m going down the row and you know, you see the bumper and you don’t see the bumper of the next one. You’re like, Oh, that’s a spot! You pull up, motorcycle. Go down the next row, same thing. Oh yeah, there it is! Expectant mothers parking. And I’m like, Jen, shove this under your shirt and we’ll just…I’ve never done that. Thought about it, I’ve never done it.
But it’ll happen that at this point Jen is like, Ok, thank you Lord for the sanctification it is to be married to this man. And my kids are talking peacefully at a reasonable volume in the back still. And we need to just park and be done with it. And then it’ll happen. Like I’m kind of like idle in and then first spot, see the car turn on, see the white lights. They’re backing out. And I’m like, Knew it! Nailed it. “I conclude that we should park there.”
And Jen is like, “Yeah, park there. It only took us twenty minutes. We’re going to be in and out of the store in less time than it took you to park here.” Right? But I just had that picture for Paul. Because it’s like he has a plan. Like he’s like, all right, I’ve got some spots I’m going to go try. Nope, can’t go there. Ok, we’ll just keep moving. All right, we’ll go this way. Nope, blocked there as well.
And then he gets a vision saying, “Go to this place.” And he’s like, I conclude that we should go.” Yes, of course you should go, Paul. You couldn’t go anywhere else and you got the vision you should go to this place. Just listen and obey and do what God has called you to do.
But I think it’s interesting like it’s not like Paul is just on a highway and these are like exits that he’s trying to take that are like closed off for construction. LIke, Oh, I guess I can’t go there. These are significant detours. He’s going north and then he’s having to go south. He’s trying all these different things. And so you can imagine he gets to Troas. There’s nothing in Troas. And he’s just frustrated. He’s like, Ok, I got nothing. I don’t know what to do from here. And sometimes that’s exactly where God has to get us before we’re able to hear what He wants us to do next.
You have to resign all of our plans over to the Lord and believe that He is going to be the one who leads us. I heard a pastor say it this way this week, “God’s ‘no’ is just as important as God’s ‘go.’” Sometimes closed doors are the way that God will lead you through your life. But notice what Paul does. He doesn’t stop. A closed door is not the same as a red light. At a red light you just stop, you sit, and you wait for the green.
Since we moved here two years ago, my kids have become keenly aware that there’s like way more stop lights in Mishawaka, Granger, South Bend, than there used to. Is this a thing? Does anybody else agree with me on this? No, I’m just a snobby Minnesotan guy who had a way better traffic flow and you all just deal with it? Ok, cool. But my kids have just become aware like we sit at red lights way more than we ever used to.
And our two-year-old Lyric right now, it’s so funny, she’s got the rear-facing car seat and so she can’t see what’s going on. So we’re like, you know, third stop and we’ve gone a block at this point, right, and we’re at the light. And she’ll go, “Ugh, daddy, gooooooo!”
And I have to go, “Red light, baby. I can’t go. Not my turn. I would gladly go, but I’ll get a ticket. Not going to go.” Right?
I don’t know how many of you all need to hear this this morning. Ugh, just go! It’s not a red light. It’s a detour. Right? Turn the blinker on, go a different direction, but keep moving. Just go. Stop waiting for like the perfect moment for everything to be revealed. Right? Sometimes God speaks in visions and sometimes God speaks through a closed door.
Could Paul have had that same vision if he wasn’t in Troas? I don’t know, but he got to Troas and that’s where God needed him to be so that He could give him the next clear call as to where he was supposed to go. But sometimes we just get stuck waiting. Talk about a change of a game plan for Paul. like he had this great idea. I’m going to go all these places and then he just straight up can’t even go there.
Whether it was an illness or and infirmity or there was like a government restriction and he didn’t have the right ID, whatever it was. Or he just didn’t have a good peace in his stomach about going to these places. And Timothy is like, Yeah, he had these weird fish tacos last night, though. I don’t know. But he couldn’t get there, but he kept moving and trusting that God was going to speak. And God gives him exactly what he needs when he needed it to where he was supposed to go.
There’s a saying I remember my coaches used to say about, “You need to take what the defense gives you.” And if you’re really tired of sports analogies at this point, I’ll just unpack it a little bit. So I mean, if we had a play that was designed to get our guard in the corner for a three, and everything about the play was oriented to do that, but during the course of the play unfolding, the defense just collapses on the guard nad my center is standing underneath the basket wide open, but I say, Well, that’s not the play, and I just force it over to the corner, turn over, coach is pulling me out. And he’s saying, “Take what the defense gives you. You had the open lay up. You just give it to the center. It’s an easy bucket, right?”
Sometimes we need to hear that as well. God’s closed doors, sometimes He’s pointing you exactly to where you’re supposed to be because it’s meant to be a little easier. Just because you didn’t go where you wanted to go doesn’t mean that He’s not still working. Take what He’s given you.
Church, I just need to tell you, if you’re waiting for the perfect moment to start being used by God, it’s right now. Right? If you’re waiting to start discipling someone until you have the right amount of knowledge or you’re in a better season of life, it’s never going to happen. Just start meeting them for coffee and start talking about Jesus and watch what God does.
If you’re waiting to be generous in your finances until your nest egg is kind of secure and you know what’s going to go on and what the world is going to look like in five, ten years from now, never going to happen. Just start being generous now and watch how God takes care of your needs. Right?
If you’re waiting for the moment when your co-worker walks in weeping and says, “How can I be saved?” it’s never going to happen. It might happen. We’re going to see it next week. But you never know. But what if you just start talking to them about what God’s doing in your life? What if you start talking to them about what’s going on in your life right now, not until that perfect moment? I guarantee God will continue to use you.
When we say live sent, it doesn’t mean wait for you to be called overseas to Prague or wherever. It means start when you walk out the door. When your feet hit the pavement, you are sent and on mission. The people might change in your life, but the mission stays the same. The preferences might change or the people you’re talking to or working around, but the truth will remain the same.
And then this. The place might change, but the calling stays the same. We struggle with our place, whether geographically or situationally. This place in my life that I’m in, I just don’t know if God can use me. I guarantee He can. He’s doing it in my life. I struggle with this. The best is coming. There are better days ahead. Someday I will be ready. When I’m out of this season with young kids, when I’m, you know, out of this season with kids, when I’m out of these seasons of my life then God will be able to use me more effectively. No. I’m done with that.
I was convicted this week watching Paul’s life. He never wavered in no matter what was going on in his life, he said, The calling is the same for me. I must preach the gospel.
So can I just ask you this as we close? Do you need a new game plan? Do you need someone to just come in and just wipe away what you’ve been doing because it’s just not working? Maybe you just need to be reminded of the game plan that God has called you to. Maybe some things look different than how you would have drawn it up. Maybe things are constantly changing in your life and you’re just struggling through the idea that, Man, how am I supposed to get my feet underneath me with every sign that going on in my family and in the world?
I love Paul. In probably a dark moment where he is frustrated and he has no idea what God is calling him to, he just has a simple vision of a man he has never seen before. He doesn’t name him or we don’t know who he is. And he’s just at a place. He says, You know what? After everything that has happened, do you know what I conclude? We need to go and preach the gospel.
So we can have trust and belief that God, despite our ever-changing circumstances, will continue to work. The mission is the same, the truth is the same, and our calling is the same no matter what you’re facing. So would you stand with me and let’s pray that.
Father God, there is a reality in this room that we would much rather stay in the known than go anywhere near the unknown. It would be a lot easier if we were able to see clearly our next steps ahead of us or the plan that we’ve arranged for our lives just worked out exactly to a “T” how we wanted it. But Lord, I love how the gospel is about to go into a place that it’s never been before, not because Paul had great leadership skills and he knew exactly what to do, but because the Holy Spirit led him there.
And so Lord, let us take on that this morning, that in Granger, Indiana, South Bend, Indiana, Mishawaka, Elkhart, Niles, Edwardsburg, all surrounding cities, God, there is an opportunity for us to go and preach the gospel. That we should not miss out on the fact that it doesn’t require us to bolster ourselves up and figure it out. It relies solely on us saying, “Lord, where do you want me to go?”
We trust you. Your way is better. I’ve tried my way a few times. It’s not working out. Give me a new game plan. The mission is the same. I trust you above everything else because we know and we believe in your promises that you will build your church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it and that we are to go into all the world and preach proclaiming the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Not that we could boast in our works but that you made us alive together in Christ so that we could live in a new identity rooted and planted with faith. So God, give us faith we pray in Jesus’ name, amen. Amen.