Relationships

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I’m not going to jump into Revelation. I think pastor has been doing such an incredible job with the Book of Revelation, and and I just don’t want to mess up that flow that he has. So so I’m going to head in another little bit of different direction today than Revelation. But one of the things that pastor has been great to bring up consistently to us is that we were created for relationship. And because we’re created for relationship both with God and with each other, because that’s the case. Then I got thinking about it as we’re approaching the end of revelation, it made me realize that that like, we’re going to be in relationship with God forever. I mean, we we’re in relationship with him now, hopefully, because we’ve trusted in Jesus and we’re going to be in relationship with him for the rest of our lives. But then in eternity, we’re going to be with him in relationship with him forever. And it started me thinking about these relationships and and that’s pretty important. I mean, I, I ought to be understanding that cultivating my relationship with the Lord now all the time and but I also because I live here on earth and because we all get to be friends and get to know each other and stuff. We also have another whole stack of relationships with people in this room, people in the other services, people in your connection group. We have we have all kinds of relationships.

People in your family, people people at the store that God brings into your life. It’s a relationship. And so what do we do when relationships get to be challenging? Well, how do we deal with that? And is there an example? Is there some kind of precedence in the Bible that we can look at? And and that’s what I want to look at this morning. I’m going to look at three guys out of the book of acts. And you know, these guys, if you’re familiar with the book of acts at all, we’re going to look at Saul and Barnabas and John Mark and look at their relationship and what happened with that and where it ultimately ended up. And hopefully in that process, if you are well familiar with it, we still bring up something that’s an encouragement to you this morning. But it interesting stuff to be able to see how God has worked through these guys lives. And and I’m going to start by just giving you some background of each one of these gentlemen. And I’m going to bring up a whole bunch of references, but we’re not going to read them all. And so on. The at the end of your little sheet of paper, if you grab one on your way in, are the references for what we’ll be talking about this morning. And you have the opportunity to later look those up, read through it and see the full get the whole picture of what’s going on with these three men and how they got to the place they got to, and how they all come and work together and, and broke apart for a while and then maybe come back and work together again.

So let’s get into this and see what we can learn from these three guys. I’m going to start with Saul. Saul of Tarsus. We first meet Paul. We know him as more more intimately, probably. But we first meet Saul in Acts chapter seven, the end of acts chapter seven, in the first of acts, chapter eight. And Saul at the time is a is a Jewish religious leader. He’s doing everything he can to persecute the church. That’s what they call the way to persecute this new church that Jesus created. And and he’s even going so far as to hold on to the cloak, coats and everything of those that stoned Stephen. And chapter eight says that he approved of Stephen’s death. He was doing Saul was doing everything he could to destroy this new church. That was his goal. The next time we see something about Saul is in acts chapter nine. And Saul becomes a whole different person. It’s so fun. Acts chapter nine Saul is on his way to Damascus. His plan and his goal is to gather up all the Christians, all the followers of the way that he can, and haul them back to Jerusalem and put them in jail.

But before he gets to Damascus, you remember what happened. Jesus appeared to Saul. Saul had a personal experience with our Lord and totally changed him. He became a whole different person. He never went into Damascus to persecute anybody. He went into Damascus to learn what God had planned for him. And God is going to use him in a great way. And then the next time we hear about Saul is in acts chapter 11. And this guy named Barnabas comes and he comes to Tarsus. Saul has gone back to Tarsus for a while. He comes to Tarsus, looking for Saul to bring him to Antioch. Antioch of Syria. And we need to make that distinction, because another Antioch is going to come up in a little bit. But so he brings him back to Antioch of Syria. And they serve the believers there because the church there is growing like crazy. And Barnabas thinks they need some help there. And so he brings Saul there, and ultimately the church there decides, well, we’re going to send an offering up to the church in Jerusalem, in Judea. And because of this famine that’s going on. So Paul and Barnabas are Saul and Barnabas are selected to take this offering up to Jerusalem. And then the next thing we hear about Saul is in acts chapter 12, at the end, toward the end of acts chapter 12, and he and Barnabas are on their way back from Jerusalem after taking the offering up there.

And they bring back with them this young man named John Mark. And so just in the the introduction to About Saul, we get all three of these guys a little bit introduced to us. We’re going to see in acts chapter 13 that Saul is first called Paul there in verse nine of acts chapter 13. And we’ll talk about that in a few minutes. Barnabas, what an interesting guy. Barnabas is we we first meet Barnabas in Acts chapter four, and at the end of acts chapter four, there’s just two verses about Barnabas. But they’re so good. We learned so much. First, we learned these from the the island of Cyprus. From the country of Cyprus and not Judea. Not in the area where where most of the rest of the believers are. But the interesting thing we get about Barnabas is that he was a Levite. And interestingly, as as a Levite, he could have been a priest in the Jewish religion. We don’t know. Not every Levite was a priest, but all priests had to be Levites. And so he could have been a Levite in that religion, we don’t know. But here’s something else that it says about Barnabas. He was a son of encouragement. That’s what his name meant. Son of encouragement. Man, what a wonderful thing, right? I mean, it to be an encourager is such an incredible thing, I think.

And and that’s what Barnabas was even to the point of. He sold some property or sold some property that he had and brought the money to the church so they could use it however they needed to. Here’s all my stuff, you know, and that was common at the time in the early church. But Barnabas did that. And the next time we see acts, we see we see Barnabas in Acts chapter nine, and he’s doing exactly what his name says he does. He’s being an encourager because he takes Saul, who had come to Jerusalem with him, and he brings them to the church leaders because the church leaders didn’t want to accept Saul. They were afraid of Saul, and they didn’t believe that he was really a disciple of the Lord. And so he brings Saul and brings him to the church and brings him to the leaders and and encourages them to accept them because he is truly a believer. And then in acts chapter 11, this is where Barnabas by the church in Jerusalem, had decided to send Barnabas to Antioch again of Syria, because the church there was growing so much. And so Barnabas goes down to Antioch of Syria. And but in those verses, in acts chapter 11, we get this amazing testimony about Barnabas. It says he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

How many would like that to be said of you? Isn’t that. Isn’t that just a great description? A good man, full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith. That just is a great summary of Barnabas. And then, as we mentioned above Barnabas goes to Tarsus, he gets Saul, brings him back to Antioch of Syria, and they take the offering to Jerusalem and then return to Antioch with with John Mark. And now let’s look a little bit about John Mark. He an interesting fellow. He we first hear about John Mark in acts chapter 12. And what’s interesting about acts chapter 12 is this is Peter. You remember Peter was put in prison by Herod, and Herod’s goal was to kill Peter the next morning. And and Peter knew that. And yet Peter is in prison. He’s got all these guards chained to him and stuff, and he’s so sound asleep that when an angel comes to miraculously release him from prison, the angel has to smack him to wake him up. I mean, if I’m if I’m supposed to die the next day, I don’t think I’m sleeping. I mean, but here’s Peter sleeping so soundly that the angel has to wake him up with a hit. And so the angel, he miraculously releases Peter from prison, and he says he goes back to the house of Mary. And it says in acts chapter 12 and verse 12 that Mary is that is the mother of John, whose other name was Mark.

And so that’s the first time we hear about him. And, and we know that the church was meeting in this room, in this large room, that at Mary’s house. As a matter of fact, what’s really interesting about this story is they were praying fervently for Peter to be released. And when he was released, they were like, oh, it’s his ghost. God did a miraculous thing. Exactly what we were praying for. But we decided it was something else, right? And sometimes I think we do that. We pray to God. We. We ask him for stuff. We we man, and he does something miraculous. He does something amazing, and we try to justify it some other way. Right? Try to explain it some other way. But anyway, a good story. Read that in acts chapter 12. You get the time sometime. But we next see John Mark. Again in acts 12. Later on, when Paul, Saul and Barnabas bring him back to Antioch from Jerusalem, and then John Mark has mentioned a few other times later on Paul mentions him in the book of Colossians. And we learn in that book that John Mark is Barnabas cousin. An interesting connection. And we’ll we’ll read that verse and look at it more closely in a little bit. But interesting to, to look at. And then in first Peter chapter five and verse 13, Peter calls Mark my son.

And what an intimate title to give to somebody that wasn’t your blood relative. And usually it’s I mean, obviously Peter and Mark were really close. But if you remember, Paul also calls Timothy and Onesimus my son, as guys that were saved under his ministry. And so it’s likely it’s possible then, that that mark was saved under Peter’s ministry. And that’s the reason for the title of my son. And so all of these things work together. John, Mark, we understand, was the author of The Gospel of Mark as narrated by Peter. Again, looking at the closeness of their relationship. And so we see these three guys in Antioch of Syria. And in acts chapter 13, the Holy Spirit says, separate from me, Barnabas and Saul, because I have work for them to do. And so they set sail, and interestingly, they head out to Cyprus. They go back to Barnabas home country, and they land at Salamis on the eastern side of the island, and they go into the to the synagogue there. And they preach, they proclaim Christ. And in verse five of chapter 13 says that they had John to assist them. And so we know that John is with them also. The Holy Spirit separated Saul and Barnabas, but they took John with them. And so he’s traveling with them at the time. So they go through the island and get to the western side of the island to to a city called Paphos.

And it’s after they leave Paphos that some interesting things start to happen here. First, in acts chapter 13 and verse 13, it says, Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem. Oh my! They were all on their way on this amazing missionary journey and made a couple of stops. They leave Paphos. They. They get up to Perga in the area of Pamphylia and John goes back home. The Bible doesn’t tell us why we don’t. We don’t know why John went back home, but he left them and he went back to Jerusalem. And and so starts some of the challenges to the relationship that these three gentlemen had. I one of the interesting things here in this verse is Paul is now or Saul is now all of a sudden called Paul and Paul. He was changed to Paul back up in verse nine. It says, But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him. And the him that he’s looking at is really an interesting story. The gentleman’s name is Bar-jesus or Elymas. He was a Jewish false prophet. And when Paul and Barnabas get to the city of Paphos, the guy that’s the proconsul of Paphos, his name is Sergius Paulus. And Sergius Paulus calls for Paul and Barnabas and says, come and teach me.

Come and tell me what you’re teaching people. And Elymas doesn’t like that. He tries to get in the way. He tries to keep Sergius Paulus from hearing the truth. He tries to to to cause dissension or division or. That’s not even the word I’m looking for. But he he wants Paul a distraction for for Paul and Barnabas. But it doesn’t work out. Eventually Paul curses Elymas and he goes blind. And Sergius Paulus, by seeing all of this stuff, ends up believing. And so a very interesting story about what happened there while they were still in Paphos. And so Paul and Barnabas then continue on their journey, continue on their missionary journey after Mark leaves them and they go from Perga, then they go up to Antioch. And now this is a different Antioch. This is Antioch of Pisidia in the what is now modern Turkey. What was called Asia at the time. And so they they go up to Antioch and and they are driven out of Antioch by the Jews. The, the Jews almost always are the ones that were doing the persecuting. When they heard the message that Paul and Barnabas had to share. So they’re driven out of Antioch and they go to Iconium. And by now we’re in acts chapter 14. But in Iconium they tried to stone them, they mistreated them. And so they headed to Lystra, to the next city. And in Lystra, kind of a crazy thing happens.

Paul Hills, a guy, and they say, oh, the people of Lystra say, oh, the men of the gods have come down in the form of men, and they call them Zeus and Hermes. And so they think they they try to make them gods. But then the Jews come back down from from Antioch and Iconium and convince them to stone Paul. I mean, they see this happen, and the Jews so easily come down and convince him to stone Paul. And so they drag him out of the city. They stone him and they leave him outside the city for dead. Well, fortunately, the disciples all gather around him and they pray for him. And Paul gets up. And if it was me, I’m headed in a whole different direction. But Paul gets up and goes back into Lystra like, I’m not going to go there where they just stoned me. But that’s what he does. He gets back and he goes into Lystra and then they the next day they head for a little city called Derby. And in Derby, they, they preach the gospel and they make disciples. And then they decide a second time they’re going to return to Lystra. And so here he is, another time going back to Lystra after being stoned there. And eventually they they go back to Iconium and back to Antioch and to Perga and, and work their way back to Antioch of Syria. And their first missionary journey is concluded.

And so all of these things going on with Paul and Barnabas is going to play into to everything happening here that that we’re going to see. Now, in acts chapter 15, we learn that men, Jewish men come down to Antioch because Paul and Barnabas are back in Antioch serving the Lord and and serving the church there. They come down to Antioch of Syria, from from Judea. And now they’re making this claim that the Gentiles, if they’re going to truly be saved, they have to be circumcised, like the law said. And this is a big challenge. This is a big problem. Paul and Barnabas challenged them, contend with them about it, and then finally they decide that they’re going to send Paul and Barnabas up to Jerusalem, and they’re going to help figure out what’s going on with this. And in acts chapter 15, you’ll you’ll see that that becomes this Jerusalem council that goes on where they decide what to do about these Judaizers. And that’s exactly what goes on. After some testimony from Peter about what God had done with him and Cornelius and and dropping down the sheet and all that. And then from testimony from Paul and Barnabas. They about everything that God’s doing amongst the Gentiles and everything they say, no, no, people don’t have to be circumcised to be a part of this new way. And they write a letter to that effect, and they send Paul and Barnabas back to Antioch with this letter and with the intention of reading it.

But here’s something interesting. They sent a couple other guys. They sent a guy named Judas called Barsabbas and Silas. And so these guys all go down with them. These guys are men that were were accepted and leaders in the church. And so they take them with them. And so now we’re going to get to acts chapter 15. And this is where we’re going to spend some time and, and looking at a couple of things. First, in verse 36 of acts 15, it says, 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 this is a great thing. It’s a wonderful thing that they want to go back, check in on the churches, check in on the people that had gotten saved, see how they’re doing. If if Paul and Barnabas were persecuted, these guys were probably going to be have been persecuted as well. Let’s go see how they’re doing. And we can take this letter to them, because this letter was a big thing, being a decision made by the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. And so this it’s a it’s a good deal. It’s a wonderful thing to go do. And weird that Paul wants to go back to Lystra again, but that’s what he wants to do.

And then in verse 37, we get an interesting dynamic thrown in. And it says that now Barnabas wanted to take with them. John called Mark. Now, if you’re like me, you’re wondering, where did John Mark come from? Last time we left him, he had left and gone to Jerusalem. And. And so how did he even get back to Antioch? So that they could want to take him with them? And and the Bible doesn’t really tell us, but there’s the it’s likely that he came back with the group from Jerusalem that brought the letter. And and it’s also likely that Barnabas, being the encourager, being his cousin, had a big part in that, wanting him to get back, wanting him to get back into the ministry, back into the flow. So we do know this, that John, Mark and Barnabas are are in Antioch, and Barnabas wants to take him on this journey. Well, sadly, Paul’s not. Paul’s not on board with this whole idea. And so verse 38 says, But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. And it’s interesting that they used the wording to the work because, I mean, that’s that’s got to be the way Paul was thinking it. Ministry is hard. Missionary work is hard, and it’s dangerous. And Paul is saying, look, this guy, he deserted us.

I mean, he really deserted us even before things got ugly. You know, the only thing that went on before, before they got to Pamphylia was that Elymas bugged him for a little while and tried to dissuade Sergius Paulus. But they weren’t really persecuted physically themselves. So whatever went on that nothing went on really, before John Mark deserted them and left. And you got to think with Paul, what’s going to happen to John Mark when things get ugly? Because things are going to get ugly again and persecution is going to happen. So what’s going to what’s he going to do then? And so we can somewhat see Paul’s argument. But on the other hand, the other side of the argument is like, where’s the love? Where’s the mercy? Where’s the grace? Where’s the forgiveness? Where, where’s the giving? Somebody a second chance. Where’s all of that? And why isn’t Paul responding more like Barnabas? Ought to be being an encourager. Right? But now we find out in the next couple of verses that it’s no longer about Paul’s relationship to John, Mark and Barnabas relationship to John Mark because it becomes about their relationship. Verses 39 and 40 says that and there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

And it’s interesting that this this phrase sharp agreement just it it translates an angry dispute. Dude. They’re mad at each other. They were upset with each other. They were mad. And you think about, well, who was right and. Well, both of them to some extent. Who was wrong? Both of them for sure. Right. I mean, nobody was really right and wrong in it, but we we can learn from the book of Galatians a little bit about what Paul might have been thinking. In Galatians chapter two and verses 11 through 13, we have this account. It says, but when Cephas, when Peter came to 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. And to get the full picture of what’s going on here, first think about the fact that that Paul and Barnabas are getting ready to go serve the Lord together again as missionaries on the second missionary journey. And and they’re arguing. That’s a difficult thing. But now put into perspective, the the book of Galatians was written after the first missionary journey, but before the council in Jerusalem and before they had this argument. And so, in Paul’s mind, he’s probably still thinking Barnabas was so easily changed out of this.

And I’m a little bit bothered by that. And so, you know, there’s a chance that that comes into play in this argument. And, and so we see that this hypocrisy of Barnabas might have played a role in Paul’s response in on Barnabas part. Like he if he’s an encourager, then all he wants to do is show grace and mercy. He wants to be quick to forgive. He wants to bring John Mark back into the fold, back into serving God and and and he was probably thinking, why doesn’t Paul want to do that? What’s the matter with Paul that he don’t want to do it? Besides, John, Mark’s my cousin, right? I mean, he ought to want to do something about that. But in the end, in the end, they separate. Their dispute causes them to separate. And Paul and Silas head back through the churches of Galatia. Barnabas and Mark head back over to Cyprus. And we think through this practically and and yeah, they were both wrong to get angry. They were both wrong to get upset about it. But it’s interesting that God even uses some of the dumb things we do. For his purpose and for for his glory. For instance, now there’s two groups of guys going out and sharing the truths about who Christ is and what he’s done. And so and that’s not to say we all ought to, you know, get in angry disputes dispute so God can do something amazing.

But it is nice to know that even in our messes, God can do something. God can use it for something. And so we got these guys that that have this broken relationship, and, and two of them are still hanging out and doing things together. But the third one is gone and separated and gone in a whole different direction. And, and obviously we’re talking about this because they reconcile. Right? But it seems like kind of in a tough place. It seems like it’s going to be hard for them to come back together in unity, serve the Lord in unity and reconcile. But but I think we see that as, as we go on. And interestingly, we don’t hear much more about Barnabas. Barnabas is brought up very little the rest of the New Testament. Paul mentions him once in First Corinthians chapter nine, and we’re going to look at that in just a second. And then he’s mentioned, as we talked about in Colossians, where it mentions that he’s John, Mark’s cousin. And that’s really from this point on, the last things we hear about Barnabas in first Corinthians chapter nine, what we hear about Barnabas, I think really helps us to see some stuff about this reconciliation. Chapter nine, I’m going to start in verse one. It says, am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

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 believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of our Lord and Peter Cephas? And listen to this, though, or is it only Barnabas and I who have not? Have no right to refrain from working for a living? And so in Corinthians I think this passage we see Paul affirming the ministry of Barnabas. We see Paul saying, listen, Barnabas, if he was upset at Barnabas, would he even bring him up right here? I don’t think he would. If I’m upset with somebody, I don’t sit and talk about him and write about him. So I think the fact that he even brings Barnabas up, mentions him positively, is starting to help us see that there was a reconciliation to this relationship, at least to some level. And what’s interesting about this Corinthians passage is it was probably written 4 or 5 years after they separated. So some time has gone by, but I think we’ve seen some reconciliation. And part of that comes from knowing the guys we’re talking about, right? I mean, Paul and Barnabas, they’re both men of God.

They they’re loved by churches. They’re filled with the Holy Spirit. They endured persecution together several times. And and they saw people saved and they enjoyed effective ministry together. So? So these guys understood putting God’s stuff first. And I think that’s a big part of, of of their reconciliation. Because as time went by, I think they both realized that the furthering of the gospel was much more important than their personal feelings. And and the furthering of the gospel was, was made it so that they could agree to work in unity for the good of the Lord, for the good of His church, for his purposes. They they saw that was more important than how I feel and what I think. And I think that’s the way that they were able to to see some reconciliation in their relationship. I think the reconciliation between between Paul and John Mark is a lot better. There’s a lot more to it. And the story gets really good here. Paul ultimately writes some some pretty amazing stuff about John. Mark. Here’s the colossian reference. We’ve talked about Colossians four and in verse ten it says, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greet you and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instruction. If he comes to you, welcome him. What a great thing! Mark again mentioning Mark as a cousin of Barnabas. But listen. Church in Colossae.

If if John Mark comes to you, you’ve. I’ve told you about him. Welcome him. That’s a pretty amazing thing coming from a guy that said, I don’t think we should take him with us. And second Timothy chapter four and verse 11, he says, Luke alone is with me. Get this is good. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. Ha, I like that. And in Philemon verses 23 and 24 says, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. And do And you get what’s happened with John, Mark and Paul. John Marks going from. No, he can’t be trusted to he’s my fellow worker in the Lord. He’s he’s valuable to me, very useful to me in the ministry. As a matter of fact, church policy, if he comes to you, welcome him. That’s a big transition. That’s wonderful to see that happen. And and it’s a it’s a beautiful picture of a relationship. Relationship being reconciled completely and to honor God. I mean it definitely for that purpose. So what can we get out of all this? What can help us with all this? And I hope, I hope you see some some application to your life. If you got if you grab one of the sheets on your way in, it’s got three points that I’m going to bring up now.

But three L’s. And so here’s the first one. The first blanks on your sheet are love for God, love for God, our love for God, and obviously our love for others. It it just ought to be greater than our desires, greater than our feelings, greater than our opinions, greater than even us being right. Right. I mean, my love for God and my love for other people ought to transcend all of that stuff. And it ought to be the first thing that I think about, especially with relationships. And I think that our guys are our three guys had to get to that place to where they saw their relationship as God saw it, and so that they could once again serve him in unity and serve him in spirit. And I got a verse here, Romans 828, you all know this verse, but it’s still it’s still helpful in this place. It says, and we know that for those who love God, there it is. All things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. So you got loving God. You got working together for good. You got according to God’s purpose. All right. There. That’s what these guys. That’s where they had to get. And I think that’s what the things we have to look at when it comes to our relationships. Loving God and desiring his best outcome, desiring that he be honored in our relationships and seeing our relationships the way he does, that’s going to make it so that we have many fewer challenging relationships when we’re loving God, putting him first, and thinking of him first.

The second point is point number two is listen to God. This is a this is an interesting thing and I know it makes sense, but I was reading earlier this week a devotion and our daily bread devotion and the devotion talked about a gentleman from Romania. He’s a potter, worked with Clay and he said this about the clay. This is so incredible. He said, Clay needs to to ferment for a year, to have rainfall on it, to freeze and to thaw so that you can shape it and fill through your hands that it is listening to you as a potter. That guy was thinking the the clay is listening to me as I’m working with it. That’s pretty incredible. And then it made me think about, well, all through the Bible. The Bible talks a lot about God being the potter and you and I being the clay. And and it made me think about that beautiful picture of God molding us, of making us more like him, of of all, all for his purposes, as we saw in Romans 828. And the key, though, is like, I’ve got to be willing to listen to him if he’s going to mold me. I got to be willing to listen to him.

I think that’s what happened with our three guys in order for them to reconcile and get back together. God molded them into the men, into the Christians that he needed them to be for his purposes. But they had to listen. They they had to get to that place where they made the effort to listen to God. And John chapter ten, verse 14 through 16, it says that I’m the good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the father knows me and I know the father, I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. Listen to this, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. That’s the goal of listening to Jesus, realizing there’s one flock, one shepherd. So that’s the big question. Are we listening to God as he molds us and as he makes us his vessels for his purposes, that we have to be willing to listen to him, to be molded by him. And then the last point is listen or learn from God. Love for God, listen to God and learn from God. I think anybody that’s lived a while and been in a bunch of relationships knows that we can learn from every relationship. If it’s a good relationship, we can learn from it. If it’s a bad relationship, we can learn from it.

We can learn from every relationship God brings into our life. And I think that’s that we really see this learning process, emotion, Paul, but only because we have so many of his writings and we see his heart. As we look through his writings and stuff. But Paul is going to go on and write extensively over the years about love and unity, about that all that. We’re all one body in Christ, and he’s even going to write about sinning and not getting angry or getting angry and not sinning. And so he’s going to write about all these things, and these are all things that he had to learn. And I think these are things that Barnabas and John had to learn in order to get these place, these guys, to the place where their relationship was mended. Learn all of these things that they’re writing about in Matthew 1128 and 29 are again familiar verses. But he says, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy. Heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Learn from Jesus. And the goal in learning from Jesus is finding rest and so very comforting. And, and and the question becomes then am I open or are we open to resting in Christ and learning what he has for us through the relationships that he gives to us? So in closing, you know, I think relationships can be hard, right? I mean, again, if you’ve been in a bunch of different relationships, you know, relationships can be hard.

But here’s the good news relationships can also be an amazing blessing. It can be an incredible blessing. And even as you look around to people in this room, you see people that you have relations with, relationships with that are a tremendous blessing. And so they can be that. And I think the key is, is, is that we need to cultivate our personal relationship with God and let him be in control of all the relationships. If I let God control the relationship, I don’t have to worry no more about whether I’m messing it up or not. Right? But cultivating my relationship with him is what gets me, is what can help get me to that place. So. So here’s where I’ll leave it is that it? May our love for God and for others, and our desire to listen to him and learn from him, guide all of our relationships, and all for his good and all for his glory. That that ought to be the goal with any relationship with have his good and his glory.