Chapter number 21. What I want to do in light of the Barfields moving to Indianapolis is I want to help us all from the Word of God, okay? Do you know there were situations in the Word of God where people left churches and people that they love? You know it's difficult sometimes to say goodbye to people, isn't it? It's difficult sometimes for change. How many of you like change? You love change? I like the change that kind of fits in my pocket and jingles. You know, that puts in soda machines. But I don't really care for the other kind of change and most of us don't. But yet change is part of life and change is what God does and allows in our lives to develop us, to use us in a greater way, to broaden the influence. And so I want to encourage you tonight from Acts chapter 21 and some of what's going on here is not obviously parallel with what Brother Matt's doing and you'll see that in a minute. But I want to show you some people that had a little bit of a hard time with the Apostle Paul leaving them. And I want to call your attention to verse number eight of Acts 21, verse number eight. And the next day, we that were of Paul's company departed and came unto Caesarea. And we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. Now you read of Philip in a couple other passages of scripture. You remember in Acts chapter six, when they chose the deacons, we all think of and know Stephen, right? He was martyred. But Philip was also mentioned there in Acts chapter 6. We also read of Philip in Acts chapter number 8. You think of the Ethiopian eunuch and that whole situation and what God did through this man. And so here they are at the house of Philip and the Bible says, verse number 9, And the same man had four daughters, virgins which did prophesy. And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus. Now, this obviously was a prophet here. We read of Agabus in Acts chapter number 11. And in Acts chapter number 11, he warned that there was going to be a great dearth. And of course, at the end of that chapter, we see that. And then we go into chapter 12, where James was killed, right, for preaching. And Agabus here is the prophet, and Paul is on his third missionary journey. The main purpose for this journey was to deliver a financial gift to assist the church there in its time of difficulty. He had gone to great lengths in receiving this offering from the churches of Macedonia, Achaia, especially encouraging the Corinthian church to come through on their promise as well to assist, so he's headed to Jerusalem, he's going to deliver this financial gift, and then we see here what happens. Verse number 10, this prophet named Agabus, verse number 11. I wanna give you three points here tonight that I want us to see from this chapter, and the first is number one, we see the report, verse number 11. And when he was come unto us he took Paul's girdle. Now obviously not a girdle like you might think, especially if you're a lady. This is a belt-like piece of cloth worn to gird a man's garment about him. And so Agabus holds up this girdle here, and he says what? He says, when he comes to us, he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and his own feet and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. Now, obviously, nobody we are assuming is gonna bind brother Barfield. in Indiana there, okay? But the factors you'll see here, obviously, there were other factors. Obviously, as we look at this, this group of people love the Apostle Paul. And we know that he's obviously leaving. We know obviously there's a prophecy here. It doesn't look good for his future here. He's gonna be bound and this church obviously won't see him or they think they're not gonna see him again. And so we have here the report. I want us to see secondly, the response of this group of people. Look at verse number 12. So he stands up and says, hey, you're gonna be bound and you're gonna be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. Verse number 12, their response is normal and natural. And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. I want us to see as we look at their response, two aspects of this. Number one, first of all, it was hard. It was difficult for them. The word be sought is a word that means to ask for earnestly or to beg. So Agabus stands up and says this, Paul's going to Jerusalem and the folks there that loved him begged him and said, hey, don't go. This is hard for us. We don't want you to go. They appreciated him, they had appreciated his ministry. It's a natural response. I think whenever, especially in a small church, I think whenever anybody leaves for any reason, it's hard. It's difficult. Why? Because we're a family. We're a close-knit group. And in some cases, there's been years. I look at Brother Matz, you know, I came in 2008 and he was here to greet me. How you doing? Good to see you. We spent many hours praying together and soul winning together and planning together. And you think about these things and you say, hey, this is hard. It was hard for this group of God's people too. Secondly, not only was it hard, but look at verse number 13. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? Not only was it hard, it hurt. They were weeping. The word can mean to cry, to wail, to mourn. This was a deep hurt in their life because there was a connection with him and they were concerned about him. I remember a number of years ago I went to a viewing, we didn't do the funeral, but I went to a viewing and I was there with another pastor friend And we went in and we viewed, we were there with the family, and we viewed the person that had died, and we tried to help encourage the family. And just as we were getting ready to leave, there were about four ladies, I think it was, that came in. And they came in and they gathered around the casket, and they started weeping and wailing. And I'm thinking, this is kind of odd. Until the person that I was with said, you know, some people hire mourners. So I don't know if this was the case here, but it made sense to me to hire mourners to come in and mourn. It was actually a little bit nerve wracking at first for me, but there's that aspect of a love. There's that aspect of an emotional tie. There's that aspect of, hey, this hurts. And whenever the Lord would move somebody, especially in a small church setting, we have to be honest. You see, this hurts, you know? We don't like change. We love people, don't we? Well, that's what's going on here. We think, okay, good, we're normal. They're normal, so I feel better already, right? So we look at this and we see that Paul says to them, hey, you're weeping. It was strong. He asked them why they sought to break his heart with their weeping. I think there was a mutual love. I think there was a mutual deepness of relationship. And he challenges them. So number one, we see the report. Number two, we see their response. But number three is where I want us to center our attention here for just a few minutes. And I want you to see their resolve. Paul says in verse 13, I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Now again, this is a little different situation than what Brother Matt is going to, at least we hope so. Nah, I'm just kidding him. But look at what they say in verse 14. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased saying, the will of the Lord be done. their resolve was rooted in the will of the Lord. I want to give you three aspects of the will of the Lord as we understand it. Number one, I believe they had an understanding of God's will. I believe they understood that God has a specific will for His children. I believe they understood that specific will of God for His people. Now think about this. As we think through the scriptures in our mind, Not only does God say, be not unwise when understanding what the will of the Lord is, but we see it illustrated all throughout the Word of God. Do you remember Joshua and Jericho? And God said what to his people? Go in, destroy everything. There was a specific will. By the way, if you see God's people, children of Israel, you see God led them specifically. The pillar of fire, the pillar of cloud, he led them specifically. Do you remember David when he was king and David had his group of men and he asked God this, shall I go up? And God said, yes, you should. God even at times gave David his battle plan. Here's the plan of attack that you should actually use. Here it is. We think of Abraham and Isaac and the clear leading of God and the clear leading of God for Isaac's wife. Think through Old Testament. You got Jonah. Think through the New Testament as we think about New Testament examples. This morning we looked at Acts chapter 9. What did God say to Ananias? Hey, I got a man here named Saul who's coming, and you two guys need to meet. Saul, go see Ananias. Ananias, you go see Saul. How about Philip in the Ethiopian eunuch? Hey, go join yourself to that guy. Hey, what are you reading? Oh, Isaiah. Let me help you understand this. And I think the list can go on and on. We think about the Apostle Paul when he said he was forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the Word of God in some places. Why? Because God wanted him to go to other places. And so I think this, the will of the Lord be done, is rooted in an understanding of God's specific will for individuals. Secondly, I think it's rooted in this resolve, not just an understanding of God's will, but a conviction about God's will. Where is the best place in life to be? Right in the center of God's will. You see, sometimes the will of God isn't easy, but the will of God is what is best. The will of God is what brings blessing on our lives. Go back to our story about a good old Jonah. Hey, God was determined, Jonah, you're gonna go to Nineveh. Jonah said, no, I'm going the other direction. God wasn't happy that Jonah said, hey, I'm going opposite direction of what I want. By the way, I think God's not happy when his children go the opposite direction of what God wants. be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. And God gives us a free will and allows us to do what he wants us to do or allows us to do what we want to do. You will never find peace and joy and happiness outside of the will of God. I'm convinced that sometimes the reason why it's so difficult for us to determine the will of God in situations and circumstances is because we're not surrendered to do it. God's not playing hide-and-seek. The will of God is serious business. As a matter of fact, Jesus said this in John 4, Think about my meat, that which I would eat, that which would sustain me and nourish me. You think about the picture that he paints there. He said, my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. You see, the Lord Jesus was about thy will be done. The Lord Jesus was about the Father's will being done on earth in and through Him. His meat, that which caused Him to exist, was to finish the will of God. I tell young people, you need to find God's will for your life. You need to follow God's will for your life, and you need to finish God's will for your life, for in that you will see God will satisfy and meet your needs. You will find joy and peace that you can't find anywhere else. By the way, when I recognize that God has a specific will for me and I do that, do you know the Bible says no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly? Well, we wanna get it all figured out. No, no, I gotta just walk with you, God. You're not gonna play hide-and-seek with me. You're gonna make it clear. Let me say this to all you young people here. You know, you say, I wanna get married someday, and I know the ladies think about it more than the men. Someday, I'm gonna find Prince Charming, and he's gonna sweep me off my feet, you know? And we think about this, and you know, God knows you. God knows where you live. God knows who He created just for you. Walk with Him. You walk with Him, He knows exactly how to make it all work. Right, Brad? Brad says, Amen. Hallelujah. God knows how to make these things work. Hey, I can find rest in that. And that's where we're going with our third point. Hey, I can find comfort in the fact that God's will is what is best. So as we look at the will of the Lord, number one, I think it was rooted in an understanding of God's will. Number two, I think it was rooted in a conviction about God's will. Let's say this, would you want anyone in this church to do something outside of the will of God? Now let's think about this, if Matt Barfield, or if I told you that Matt Barfield was out drinking beer last night. Now here's an illustration, didn't happen, not gonna ever happen. You would say, Matt Barfield is out of the will of God, right? We'd assume, hey, what that action was out of the will of God, and we don't want him or anybody outside of the will of God. All right, let's think and flip it this way. For us to say, hey, you shouldn't go to Indiana would be what? Saying the same thing. You're outside of the will of God. We don't want anybody outside of the will of God. And as we recognize, thy will be done." As we recognize, hey, the will of the Lord be done, that's the conclusion they came to. And number three, I think there was not just an understanding and a conviction about God's will, but I think there was a resting in God's will. I think the fact that they said, you know what, this is what God has called him to do, We're gonna accept that. And we're gonna rest in the fact that God knows where his servants are supposed to be. God knows where his servants are supposed to get help and to be of help. And you know, in our minds, we like to figure everything out, you know? We're not God and never will be. But I can rest in the fact that he's God, that he knows what's best, and thy will be done. The will of the Lord be done. And that's what we want in his life and really in everybody's life. Is it still hard? Sure it's hard. Still hurt? Sure. But you know what? If you think about this in the big scheme of things, this is a real small little dot in the big scheme of eternity. You know, as we look at that, we think, hey, in heaven we'll be there forever and ever and ever to be able to fellowship and sit around the throne of the Lord and praise His name forever. What do we have to do? Say, hey, I'm going to faithfully do the will of God in my life right here and right now. I hope you'll pray for the Barfields. They have a lot of details, a lot of things gotta happen between now and the end of the month. And I hope not only that, I hope you'll express appreciation for what they've done in your life and really in the life of our church. And I'm excited about what God's gonna continue to do. And we need to press on here, don't we? We need to keep moving on for the glory of God, and resting in the fact that His will will be done, and we can rest in that. You know, sometimes, and in this case, obviously, we see things a little clearer. Let me just take a step back. You ever known somebody to leave Victory Baptist Church, and you think, I'm not sure what's up with that. I'm not sure they even should have left. Do you know you still can find comfort in the same thing? God, you're in control. Your will be done. I'm keeping my eyes on you, and I want what's best. See? We can rest in the sovereignty of God. We can rest in the fact that Jesus said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We have a great God. We can trust Him. We can rest in Him. We can look to Him. And I trust that this is an encouragement to you as it was to me. And I trust that we'll let God do His work in our lives. And I do trust we'll pray for the bar fields. Let's bow for a word of prayer and then we're going to move into our Lord's Supper here tonight.