GOD WORKS THROUGH IMPERFECT MOMENTS - Acts 15:39-41

All right. If you have a Bible or an

app, let's open it up. We're back in

Acts chapter 15 this morning. Acts

Acts 15 · chapter mention Acts 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15. We're going to conclude

Acts chapter 15 by looking at a moment

Acts 15 · chapter mention

not just in the life of the New

Testament church, but between two

brothers who had a disagreement. How

many of us have ever had a disagreement

with someone?

Yeah. If you're married, you better be

raising your hand, right? Disagreements

are a dime a dozen in any in any

relationship, a marriage in particular.

But what do we learn? What do we learn

in particular when we walk hand in hand

with people that we've made a covenant

with? This is what husband and wife do

with one another. They make a covenant

with one another, before each other,

before those who are gathered at the

wedding ceremony, before their Lord to

say, "Through thick or thin, for better

or for worse, we're going to be in this

together." And did you know that when

you gave your yes to Jesus, when you

placed your hope, faith, and trust in

him, not only did you make a covenant

with him

to love him and honor him and serve him,

you also stepped into the covenant with

his bride, and his bride is the church.

Brothers and sisters, sons and daughters

of the most high God are now part of

your family. And though disagreements

may arise between us, God is actively

sovereign over our imperfections to

bring about the purposes of his glory

and majesty. And what we'll learn in our

text today, the furtherance of his

kingdom

so that nothing, absolutely nothing

stands in the way of God and his

purposes. If you've been with us over

the last 49 sermons, today is sermon

number 50 over the book of Acts. If

you've been with us over the past couple

of years as we've dived into the history

of the New Testament church here in

Acts, then you have undoubtedly come to

recognize that no matter what arises

against the people of God, against his

church, against the gospel itself, that

God's purposes prevail. And this is a

great moment in our service to reiterate

and maybe affirm some of us who might be

dealing with some mess who might be

dealing with some valleys and

circumstances in our lives is that God's

good purpose for you will never be

hindered. It will never be thwarted.

Matter of fact, the Apostle Paul will

tell us in his letter to the church in

Rome that God works in and through all

things for the good of his name, the

glory of his name, and for the purpose

of his kingdom.

>> And so, may we not fret,

may we not be discouraged, may we not

feel shameful. Whatever it is that we

are enduring, God will and can use it

for the purpose of his name. Maybe

you've heard it this way. Your pain is

not without purpose.

Now, we're going to unpack that because

often times we hear things like that and

the rebuttal is, "Well, then let me just

live life the way I want. If God's going

to work through me, then I'll just live

life the way I want." Then I we're

really missing the message here. Just

like we've learned over the last couple

of weeks, while indeed in Christ, we

have been given particular freedoms and

liberties, we're still called to crucify

the flesh daily.

And crucifying the flesh daily doesn't

just mean that we crucify the flesh,

that we put to death the sin nature in

our life in order that we might walk in

holiness and obedience. It means looking

at even good things in our life and

being intentional and disciplined enough

to say, "Though these things are good,

they better not be the greatest things

in my life." Because if they're the

greatest things in my life, then where

does that leave God in his truth?

because last time I checked there is one

God

who is jealous for the worship of his

name and he calls you and I to lay it

all down for him. So in Acts 15 we learn

that those who walk with Jesus and we

can relate with this. If you've walked

with Jesus for any amount of time, you

know the Christian life is a blessed

life.

And I'm not talking about in the

physical sense, though that may be true

for some people. And praise God for his

provisions,

but in the spiritual sense, it is an

absolutely blessed life because it is

through him that I draw strength that I

don't draw elsewhere. It is through him

that I discover a peace that is not

discoverable in anything in this world.

It is through him that stirs a joy

within me even in moments of absolute

chaos and darkness

because God works through imperfect

moments.

And we know that though our life is

messy,

that our love for the Lord, that our

love for his people, that our commitment

to the mission

can still move forward.

And maybe because I find myself there

oftentimes is when you endure these

moments that are messy.

These moments where conflict arises,

where where disagreements ensue or where

where maybe there's a sense of division

or the foundation seems like it's

cracking.

Maybe you begin to ask God, where are

you in all this?

God, what's your plan with all of this?

Because I can't see it. And I think

therein lies a moment for the greatest

type of faith to be orchestrated in our

life

because faith is not molded just in the

good times. I think if we're honest,

faith is really molded in the bad times

because in the good times it's very easy

for us to forget and neglect the

spiritual things because things are

going well. So when things are going

well, there's no trigger for us to turn

to the Lord, to pray, to call upon his

name, to ask for his guidance, ask for

his deliverance. This is where healthy

spiritual rhythms come into play. This

is where we must practice discipline and

intentionality.

So that opening up God's word and and

letting the word fill us, praying so

that God's spirit fills us, living our

lives through a lens of biblical truth.

Our perspective is is a perspective that

interprets everything through the

gospel, through the truth of who God is

and what his word declares. That's the

type of intentionality that we have. And

when things go wrong, it's very easy for

us to turn to the Lord.

And so here in Acts chapter 15,

Acts 15 · chapter mention

we get a view that God is never hindered

by imperfect moments, but he's actually

sovereign

over them. And and here's what I love.

Here's what I want us to recognize. That

that the gospel here in the text is is

not just a gospel that's being

proclaimed. We praise God for that. We

want the gospel to be proclaimed, but

also, and these go hand in hand, we want

the gospel to be sustained.

You say, "Well, Roland, what do you mean

by that?" If you are a believer in here

this morning, you have placed your hope,

faith, and trust in Jesus. At some point

in your life, you had the gospel

proclaimed to you.

And if you are a growing believer, that

means you're actively pursuing the Lord.

That means when moments get tough, you

have mishaps, you sin, you rebel before

the Lord, the Holy Spirit holds you

accountable, you get right back up, you

dust off your knees, and then you commit

to pursue the Lord with greater

intensity. That's the gospel being

sustained in your life. We have a church

word that we use. It's called

sanctification.

It's the process of becoming holy. So,

let's go to Acts chapter 15. Let's

Acts 15 · chapter mention

finish it out beginning in verse 36.

Here's what Luke writes.

After some time had passed. Remember,

they had been in Antioch for a number of

weeks, a number of months. We're not

exactly sure. Maybe it was up to a year.

But but after some time had passed, Paul

said to Barnabas, "Let's go back and

visit the brothers and sisters in every

town." Do you pick up that pattern

immediately? The gospel is not just

being proclaimed, but they want the

gospel to sustain people. So, let's go

back. Let's visit our brothers and

sisters, those that we called into the

family of faith. Let's see how they're

doing. Let me hit the pause button for

just a moment cuz here's some practical

application for us. Some of us, myself

included, we need to just pick up the

phone and call somebody to see how

they're doing. Send a text message.

Maybe you'll bump into them this week. I

think a lot of times we mean well. Let's

go back.

But when it's follow through, when we

really check in on someone, that makes a

world of difference. I think a lot of

times, let me go here. This is going to

be challenging for us. I think a lot of

times, and this is preaching to the

choir because we're here, we have this

mindset of one day I'll go back to

church.

You're here this morning. So maybe for

some of us here this morning, you have

fulfilled the let's go back. Don't just

proclaim it. Let it be sustained. Let

the go back be something that continues

into the rest of this year and into the

rest of your life. So let's go back and

visit. Luke writes, "The brothers, the

brothers and sisters in every town where

we have preached the word of the Lord

and see how they're doing." Barnabas

wanted to take John, who was called

Mark, but Paul insisted that they should

not take along this man who had deserted

them in Panilia and had not gone on with

them to the work. Now Luke is

referencing a situation that took place

back in Acts chapter 13. Now Barnabas is

Acts 13 · chapter mention

wanting to take John Mark. This is the

same John Mark who wrote the Gospel of

Mark. And at some point in Acts chapter

Acts 13 · chapter mention

13, Mark decided he was going to go back

to Jerusalem. This didn't sit well with

Paul. This is where the disagreement is

going to arise. And now we're going to

get into a glimpse into a window of how

the church should respond. how

Christians should respond when we have

disagreements of one another. Now, you

may have noticed that over the last

couple of weeks, we've talked about

gospel unity.

And gospel unity should extend into the

church. This is why the Jews and the

Gentiles as they sat together, the

Gentiles were told, "Hey, it is better

and beneficial that you abstain from

eating these particular foods, not

because it's sinful to eat them, but

because it brings offense on your Jewish

brothers and sisters." And those are

examples of moments where we sacrifice

our particular rights and freedoms for

the unity of the church. But let me just

say this, unity does not equal

uniformity.

What do I mean by that? That means that

you can still be united for the purpose

of the gospel and still have

disagreement over particular things and

issues. Paul and Barnabas obviously had

a disagreement here on whether Mark

should accompany them on their trip back

to visit the churches.

Paul insists that Mark shouldn't go.

Barnabas insists that Mark should go.

There's disagreement, but what we'll

find here at the end of the passage and

as we continue into our series over the

book of Acts is that unity still

persists. Let me kind of break it down

to what that looks like in our modern

day context.

There are brothers and sisters in this

church that have particular

disagreements

over things that we find in the

scripture. Well, Roland, what do you

mean? I thought we're to agree on

everything in the scripture. We're to

agree on the non-essentials. Excuse me.

We're to agree on the essentials. Let me

repeat that because I I misphrased it.

We are to agree on the essentials. That

means we're to agree on the resurrection

of Jesus. You can't be a Christian if

you don't believe in the resurrection of

Jesus. We're to agree on his sacrificial

and atoning death. Jesus died for the

sins of the world. If you don't believe

that, you cannot be a Christian. That's

not Roland saying it. That's the Bible

saying it. You must believe in the

virgin birth. You must believe in the

incarnation. These are things that are

essential and non-negotiable.

But there's some other things in here

that we there are things we hold with a

closed hand. There are things that we

hold with an open hand. Whether the

gifts are still in operation in the

church today. Has tongues seized or have

tongues continued? Do healings

and deliverance that we see in the

gospel ministries and here in the book

of acts have those things seized or do

they continue? We can disagree on those

things and still be united in the

gospel. Does that make sense? This is

what we have happening here. Verse 39.

They had such a sharp disagreement

that they parted company. And Barnabas

took Mark with him and sailed off to

Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and

departed after being commended by the

brothers and sisters to the grace of the

Lord. He traveled through Syria,

Salicitia, strengthening the churches.

And all God's people said, "Lord, bless

your word. Holy Spirit, would you stir

our hearts?

It's a simple passage,

but there's a lot happening here. And

what I want to do here in just a moment,

I want us to go back through it. We're

going to go back through the passage and

we're going to pull out some truth, some

application that will help us as we gaze

into this moment of good godly leaders

having a disagreement over methodology

and who should accompany them as the

kingdom moves forward and what that can

look like in our life. If you remember

here in Acts chapter 15, it begins with

Acts 15 · chapter mention

people saying that you must not just

accept Jesus in your life, but you must

also do these other things. The result

of that is you have what is known as a

Jerusalem Council. The Jerusalem Council

gathered together, as we learned over

the last couple of weeks, not to state

what they believed salvation entails,

but what scripture has already made

clear what salvation is. That we are

saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. That

the Father looks upon the earth. He sees

your sin. He sees my sin. He sees your

sins yesterday. He sees your sins this

morning. He sees your sins tomorrow. He

sees your sins 10 years from now. And he

sends his one and only son Jesus Christ

who is born of a virgin

and who lived a perfect life who

fulfilled the righteous requirements of

the father as told to us in the Old

Testament. Jesus fulfilled it all

because what does God require? God

requires absolute perfect obedience.

You and I can't do that.

We have a sin nature and because of that

sin nature we fail. We fall short. We

miss the mark as Paul tells us in the uh

his letter to the church in Rome.

And so Jesus fulfills the law on our

behalf. And because of our sin, what

does God therefore require? He requires

payment, the shedding of blood, life for

life.

And Jesus says, "I'll do it.

I'll shed my blood on Calvar's cross.

I'll pay the price. I'll take the

penalty.

I'll be the payment for the sins of the

world." And I always love to personalize

it. You know, I do. Not just the sins of

the world, but for the sins of Roland.

Our God is a specific God.

And while the statement that that God

died that Christ died for the sins of

the world is theologically true, God

died for Roland's sin.

And when he died for my sin,

the Holy Spirit awakened faith in me.

I was resurrected out of death and sin.

I turned to Jesus. This is your story as

well. And when God looks at you, when he

looks at me, he doesn't see the sin in

our life. But what does he see? He sees

the blood of the lamb that has covered

us, that has made us righteous. The

Bible says it this way. Though you were

as red as crimson,

you are now white as snow. Why? Because

of Jesus Christ. This is what the

Jerusalem Council is affirming. It has

always been the work of God to call

people to salvation, rescue, and

redemption.

And so they write letters. They they

send these letters out to the churches

affirming what salvation is. Unity is

clarified

doctrinally.

This is what salvation

is.

And right when everything seems aligned,

right when we understand what the clear

gospel is, what a unified church is,

what it means to have a growing mission,

what do we see? Tension enters the

picture. Have things ever been going so

great in your life that you are just

ecstatic over it and then all of a

sudden a curveball hits?

tension begins to arise

and maybe you ask God, what are you

doing in all of this? And it's in those

moments of tension. This is what we see

in the text that we begin to see how God

works through them all. So, let's go

back through the passage and let's draw

out some truths. If you're taking notes,

here's the first one. Pursue what God

has started. I think that is a truth

that every single one of us needs to

hear that we need to pursue what God has

started. I think we can all relate with

this. We do a great job of starting

things,

but oftent times we don't do a great job

of finishing things. I can hear some

husbands already. Come on. My wife's

going to get on me by the time I get in

the car.

We do a great job of starting things,

but we don't do a great job of finishing

things. Look back here on verse 36.

After some time had passed, Paul said to

Barnabas, "Let's go back and visit the

brothers and sisters in every town where

we have preached the word of the Lord

and see how they're doing."

I think this reveals something

spectacular about how God works.

God's not just concerned with you

starting your faith.

What God enjoys is you being sustained

in your faith

where there's a constant pursuit, a

constant chasing after the things of

God. and to be so in tuned and to be so

transformed by the spirit that nothing

hinders you from that pursuit.

And so it's a great picture here of how

the gospel flips the culture

because what do we see that has been a

pattern for the people of God? And this

is a pattern that extends into today.

This is where we need to take some

spiritual inventory. It's very easy to

go back

to what we once

left.

What did the Israelites during the story

of the Exodus want to do? Do you

remember that they had tasted freedom?

They had seen the miracles of God and

time after time after time they cried

out to Moses and they said, "Let us go

back."

Why would you want to go back to

slavery? Why would you want to go back

to being considered property? Why would

you want to go back to being persecuted

and beaten and mocked and ridiculed and

having your identity as a people

stripped from you? Because oftent times

we find greater comfort in our past than

we do in the challenges that lie ahead

us while we're filled with the spirit.

And when we hear it that way, we say,

"Well, why would anyone ever want to go

back?" That is something we need to look

in the mirror and tell ourselves.

Don't go back to that anger. Don't go

back to that sin. Don't go back to that

relationship. Don't go back to that

circumstance because all it will do is

pull you right back to the place where

you cried out for deliverance. But what

happens here?

Paul flips this.

We're not going back to the place that

we were rescued from. I'm not going back

to my sin. I'm going back to brothers

who came to know Jesus. to sisters who

are in love with the Lord so that they

can be strengthened so that they can be

sustained. Pursue what God has started.

The same God who saves us is the same

God who sustains

us. And let me just press into this.

A lot of us have started our faith in

the Lord, but we've not pursued what's

been started. Here's the sad reality for

a lot of Christians today. And I'm not

calling into question your faith. I'm

not calling into question

your emotional devotion to the Lord.

What I am calling into question is your

obedience.

Because it's very easy to say, I am a

Christian. I got saved vacation Bible

school. I got saved at summer camp. Or I

got saved during a revival. Or I got

saved during a Sunday morning message.

and I was baptized. Yes and amen. Praise

God for those salvation moments. But how

is the gospel sustaining you? What are

your spiritual rhythms look like? What

does prayer look like for you? What does

worship outside of church look like for

you? What does Bible study outside of

sitting and listening look like for you?

And I get that maybe for some of us,

we've never even been told that after we

come to know Jesus Christ as Lord, my

prayer life should be different. that I

should open the Bible and read

constantly and consistently, that I

should be active in the ministry of the

church, that I should be part of what

God is doing through a local church in a

community. Maybe we've never been told

that. And if that's you, I'm telling you

today, that's not the way it's supposed

to be. You are to be actively engaged in

pursuing what God has started.

Matter of fact, here's here's some

practical application. If you go to our

website at reachthegroveve.com,

there's a tab on there that says family

disciplehip

and we have exercises and tools that you

can use in your toolbox this week to

help you cultivate a healthy rhythm of

pursuing what God has started in you.

Let me challenge the men in the room.

What does prayer look like with your

family? And I don't just mean praying

over a meal. I mean, actively gathering

with your family and say, "We're going

to pray. We're going to give God thanks

for the victories of today, and we're

going to pray for those who are in

need."

What does prayer with your wife look

like, men?

Are you praying with your wife? And I

don't mean to say, "Rolan, I I pray I

pray for my wife all the time." Do you

pray with your wife?

Now, are those things that we have to

do? Of course not.

But as a man of God, why wouldn't you?

What does that look like with your

daughters, with your sons? How are we

pursuing what God has started? Let me

throw up some passages up on the screen

to further clarify what we're talking

about here. 1 Corinthians 15:1,

1 Corinthians 15:1

Paul says, I want to make clear for you,

brothers and sisters, the gospel I

preached to you, which you received. So

it was started

on which you have taken your stand

and by which you are being saved. So do

we see not just a moment of when faith

is started but when faith is being

pursued and sustained.

This is thematic here. Hebrews 12:es 1

and two. Therefore, since we are

surrounded by such a huge crowd of

witnesses to the life of faith, let us

let us strip off every weight that slows

us down. That means turning from your

sin, especially the sin that so easily

trips us up. And let us run with

endurance, the race God has set before

us. How do you build endurance?

I've been running a lot lately and my go

I'm going to get this out there. So,

that means I have to do it.

My goal in 2026 is to run a half

marathon so that by 2027 I can run a

full marathon. That's my goal. So I need

to build up some endurance. Well, how do

I do that? I need to actively train the

body to run,

how to breathe, how to sustain energy

for that long of a time. It doesn't just

happen on its own. It's definitely not

going to happen when I'm sitting down on

my laurels and doing nothing. I need to

pursue the discipline. So, how when the

author of Hebrews says, "Let us run with

endurance the race God set before us."

How do you build your endurance

endurance in the race God set before

you?

This is our exercise

right here. opening this up, engaging

with it, reading it, praying,

worshiping, looking at the life of Jesus

and seeing how did he model a spiritual

life, how did he model spiritual rhythms

and doing those things.

And the author of Hebrews clarifies, he

says, "We do this by keeping our eyes on

Jesus, the champion who initiates,

there's the start,

and perfects our faith." There's the

sustaining, there's the pursuit. One

more. Philippians 1:6. I am sure of this

Philippians 1:6

that he who started a good work in you

will carry it out to completion until

the day of Christ Jesus. I want to walk

in completion.

This is where we follow the phrase the

already but not yet.

I get a taste of what recreation will

look like, what ultimate sanctification

will look like when this world is

stripped of its limits. It's stripped of

everything that is a result of sin where

God is central and we get to experience

completion.

I want to walk in that. And we only walk

in that when we pursue what God has

started. This is why Paul says, "Let's

go back. There are brothers and sisters

over there. Let's go see how they're

doing. Let's strengthen them. We

preached the word of God to them. They

were saved. The Holy Spirit's moving.

People are being saved. Let's go and see

how they're doing." Because here's

what's important to recognize. The

gospel doesn't just create converts.

It forms communities

and disciples.

A disciple is one that follows. And as

Christians, we're called to invest.

We're called to give back. We're called

to strengthen. We're called to follow up

because God uses people who are not just

committed to the beginning,

but who are committed to endure.

But as Paul and Barnabas prepare to go

back, something unexpected happens.

There's a disagreement.

This leads us to the second thing that

we see. We're called to hold our

convictions with humility. What I love

about this disagreement, what I love

about this conflict is that both

brothers held the line.

One didn't give in to the other because

neither of them is particularly wrong.

They just have a different mindset. They

feel led in different directions.

And so what did they do? They held fast

to their convictions. Right here in

verse 37,

Barnabas wanted to take along John who

was called Mark.

But Paul insisted

that they should not take along this man

who had deserted them in Panilia and had

not gone on with them to do the work.

They had such a sharp disagreement. That

phrase sharp disagreement means that

this wasn't just, hey, we're talking

about this and now we just kind of feel

different. I mean, these gentlemen held

the line on their convictions.

They were emboldened by their

convictions. And the result is they

parted company. Barnabas took Mark with

him and sailed off to Cyprus.

Who determines your convictions?

Some of us, we can walk into the room

and we are gifted enough to hold the

line.

This is what I believe. If you don't

believe it, that's fine. I'm not

changing my belief

because I am convinced this is the

truth. I've examined the evidence the

Holy Spirit has stirred in me

perspective and life change. This is the

truth of what God has declared. what

forms and informs

the lens and filter by which you

approach things.

For some of us, it's it's the world if

we're honest. It's the latest social

media headlines. It's we can walk into a

room and if everyone else is believing

the opposite, we just give right in

because we don't want to be different.

We don't want to be disciplined enough

to give

of our mental capacities, of our

emotional capacities, of our spiritual

capacities to hold the line. And do you

know why? Let's just be honest. Cuz it's

not fun.

It can get lonely sometimes.

We can feel like like the odd man out,

but we're called to be different. We're

called to be set apart.

trials and suffering and the pains of

this world. This isn't Roland speaking.

This is biblical truth. This is

thematic.

They compare not to the glory that

awaits God's people.

Church, there is a greater glory that

awaits you.

And often times we are so consumed with

that which is temporary versus that

which is eternal.

And what's eternal? The kingdom.

Christ says, "I go and prepare a place

for you. And if you have said yes to

him, Christ has a place with your name

on it."

And so this life is not all there is.

Let's hold our convictions and let's

hold them with humility. So this sharp

agreement,

this deep emotional clash,

these brothers in Christ, these coal

laborers in the gospel, they see things

just a bit differently. And again, unity

in the gospel doesn't mean uniformity in

every decision

because even mature believers can

disagree.

I think we need to hear that not every

disagreement we have is sinful

because how we carry our convictions

matter.

Are we humble? Are we gracious?

Are we more concerned with being right

than we are with being Christlike?

I I think also as well I think about

this. The scripture tells us in the New

Testament that we are to be slow to

speak, slow to anger, and quick to

listen.

And we need to listen with the intent to

understand rather than with the intent

to respond. We've talked about this

before. Sometimes we already have locked

and loaded what we want to respond with.

We're just being gracious enough to let

the other person finish. That's not real

listening.

That's manipulation.

I think at some point we're all guilty

of that.

Paul Paul takes the mission seriously.

Paul values faithfulness.

This is what we see from Paul's side of

things because back in Acts chapter 13,

Acts 13 · chapter mention

things got a little difficult.

Mark said, "I'm going to go back to

Jerusalem."

Paul didn't like it. It's not that Mark

was wrong. It's just Paul was being

faithful to the mission

and Paul was insisting that even if

things get difficult, we need to stay

the course. Barnabas, on the other hand,

wants to give Mark a second chance.

He wants to invest in Mark. Both have

noble goals.

Both have noble desires. And many of us

must learn how to hold strong

convictions without losing Christlike

character. And let me just say this, I

hope this hits. The church, this church

is full of redeemed people, not perfect

people.

We'll never be perfect.

But we can aim our hearts towards the

righteous requirements of God. I say it

often. We'll never be sinless.

But the more we pursue Christ, the more

we live for Christ, the more obedience

is active in our life, we can sin less.

Here's a third thing that we need to

understand. Trust God to work through

the mess.

I think if there's anything that we hear

this morning, may it be this. Trust God

to work through the mess. Let me finish

by reading from verse 39 again through

the end of the chapter.

They had such a sharp disagreement that

they parted company. And Barnabas took

Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus.

But Paul chose Silas and departed after

being commended by the brothers and

sisters to the grace of the Lord. He

traveled through Syria, Celicia,

strengthening the churches. What do we

learn from this? Watch this.

What was originally one team

going forward to proclaim the gospel and

at this point in Acts, it has followed

the command of Christ in Acts 18 prior

to his ascension that you were to begin

in Jerusalem, preach the gospel there,

work your way throughout the Judean

area, preach the gospel there, work your

way out through the Samaran area, preach

the gospel there, and to the ends of the

earth. And so right now we have one team

going in one direction, but through this

disagreement, through this mess, God

works sovereignly. And so what looks

like a mess is actually something that

God purposes to not just have one team

going and preaching the gospel. Now you

have two teams going and preaching the

gospel.

And what happens, we'll learn this

throughout the rest of Acts.

Gospel multiplication

happens. miracles begin to be widpread

and you have hundreds to thousands of

people coming to know Jesus. God is

never hindered by your mess,

but he will use it to accomplish his

purposes. And let me close with this.

Some of you this morning, you're walking

through situations right now that feel

messy.

Maybe it's a strained relationship.

Maybe it's a hard decision that's coming

up. Maybe it's things that just didn't

go the way that you planned. How many of

us have ever been there? God, it's not

supposed to be this way. And you're

wondering, is this mess too much for God

to use? My encouragement, stay the

course.

Pursue what God has started because God

is always bigger than your imperfect

moments. Praise God for that.

Now that doesn't mean that we excuse our

sin.

That doesn't mean that we are okay with

the shortcomings in our life.

But we trust

even when things aren't ideal because

God is always at work.

We don't have to play a guessing game on

whether God desires to work through us.

God has promised to work through us.

Paul said it, "I preach to you the

gospel that saved you and the gospel

that sustained you. He who began a work

in you will see it to completion." And

so often we don't recognize the work of

God in our lives because we're not

pursuing completion. We're not pursuing

what God has started. We're not trusting

in God to work through the mess. And

here's what's actively happening. Most

people would not verbally say this, but

here's what's actively being confessed

when you live

You're giving more power over to the

mess in your life than you are to the

God of creation.

You're believing the lie of the enemy

that he is more powerful in you and over

you than the God who saved you. That's a

lie from the pits of hell. That's a lie

from the devil. Do not believe that what

God has started in you, he will bring

about to completion. That doesn't mean

life is perfect, but it does mean that

there's strength in the journey, that

there's joy in the pain, that there's

peace in the storm. What feels like a

setback can oftent times be God setting

the stage for something greater.

And as we step back and as we look at

the whole picture, we begin to see the

beauty of what God is doing.

One team gospel proclamation. Now, two

teams gospel proclamation. And I'm

getting ahead in our Acts series, but

later Paul and Barnabas will meet each

other again. And guess what? They will

rejoice

over the kingdom work that has taken

place.

They won't look back on this mess and be

bitter about it. They'll look back on

this and they'll realize God had a

greater plan all along. And just

remember this, God's mission

is never carried out by perfect people.

It's carried out by surrendered people.

Are you surrendered to

God?

Because the power of God doesn't rest on

us. It rests on him. Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for your word.

Thank you for how you move and how you

work.

Thank you for your grace.

We thank you that in the mess,

in the mess, in our lives are messy,

you work. I'm so grateful that you do

that, Lord.

I'm so grateful that in our pain, in our

brokenness,

that you love us still, Lord. Even Even

for me, Jesus,

I I have moments where where there's a

tension for me, Lord, where

sometimes I would rather you just be

angry at me

for the sin in my life

because it's easier to believe the lie

that I could do something

to be loved,

rather than to just understand that you

love me regardless. And so, so God,

today we we just we silence the lies of

the enemy. No power in this place in the

name of Jesus.

God loves you and he loves you because

of his son Jesus. And Lord, I pray maybe

there are some here this morning who

just need to walk in that. Maybe there's

just something they need to confess to

you. Maybe there's something some

brokenness and some mess that they've

been dealing with. And today, Holy

Spirit, may it be the day that shackles

are loosed, the chains are broken,

and we walk in the freedom that is the

son, Jesus Christ. Lord, bless us today.

In Christ's name we pray. All God's

people said,

>> "Amen." Would you stand to your feet

with me? We're going to sing together.

Christ shed his blood for you. And this

is a moment for us to respond.

Our altar will be open. Pastor Eric and

myself will be available to pray with

you.

If you want to just have some one-on-one

time with the Lord, this is an

opportunity for you to do that. If the

spirit's been stirring you to place your

faith in Jesus Christ, we'd love to

celebrate that with you. We'd love to to

talk with you. Our altar is open. We

invite you to come. I love you, church.