We're in our survey of the book of Acts, and we're moving right along. And in the beginning of this chapter, we have the debate over the Gentiles keeping the law for salvation. They say that they must be, except you be circumcised. After the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. So there is the debate about the gospel and about the grace of God. Peter preaches about salvation. through grace, and then in verse 6 through verse 11 in Paul and Barnabas, they give a testimony of what God has done in the ministry, and then there's the council that sends the official letter and they choose some godly men, verse 26, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the report to Antioch beginning with verse 30, and then the last few verses is what I want to focus on. It's the contention over John Mark. And I titled this particular message, A Difference of Opinion. Now, let me ask you something. Think about it. What is the best flavored Ice cream, let you know. Old fashioned banana, strawberry. Well, you both can't be right, who? Chocolate's not any good, everybody knows that. Jamolken almond fudge. The Bible says let the women be silent in the church. Vanilla is it, and I know I'm right. But the reason why Baskin and Robbins has done so well is because they have 31 flavors. And what we see here is remarkable to me. You see two men of God that are filled with the Holy Spirit. that God has used in a great way, but yet they had a difference of opinion that brought about strong contentions. And we know what the Bible says, what brings forth contention? It's pride. And so look in verse 36, Acts chapter 15, verse 36. I've got a frog in my throat tonight, and I'm pretty sure he's got his legs crossed. So let me try to get that clear. But Acts, chapter 15, verse 36. And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again. I'm so sorry. Let me try this again. Me, me, me, I don't know. I scared you with that, didn't I? And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we've preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. And Barnabas determined, that's a key word here, determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought, that's the key word here, Paul thought not good to take him with them who departed from them, from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, between Paul and Barnabas, that they departed asunder one from the other, so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God, and he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. For the Apostle Paul, the church of Antioch was not going to be a parking place, but more of a launching pad for him to go preach. Paul could never settle down and be in a comfortable ministry as long as there's places that he could go to preach the gospel. I know that there's a lot of preachers today who are just looking for a comfortable place. I don't ever want to be that older pastor that just tick-tocks down until I just can't, you know, go anymore and the church just tick-tocks down with me. We don't want to do something like that. So he had a great desire, and wherever there was an open door for preaching the gospel, Paul went to preach. Paul was a great lover of souls, and we should be a lover of souls as well. And there were several new facets of Paul and Barnabas' second missionary journey that indicated that God was still at work. God was doing the deep work here. He had immensely blessed their first missionary journey. And after some days, Paul turns to Barnabas and says, let's go back and let's check on all those people and check all those churches where we had preached and where we had ministered. And so this is their second missionary journey. And it indicates that God is still doing a mighty work in spite of what's going to be some obstacles and some personal difficulties that are going to arise. Now, Paul and Barnabas agreed on the importance of the trip, but they could not agree on the arrangement of the team. They had differences of opinions there. And notice here that two dedicated, godly, righteous servants of the Lord who had just helped this other church with their unity, yet they could not solve their own disagreements. Now, Psalm 133, verse 1, I want you to know this psalm. I want you to mark it. I want you to know it. It says, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in what? Unity. Yes. The word is a precious word. Unity. Discord is a nasty word. and you can get on the piano and someone who can play the piano, the keys are in unity and it flows and it blesses your soul. But you have someone who's just banging on the piano, that is what discord is. It is offensive, it is hard to listen to, it's hard to deal with. And isn't it amazing how God was doing such great things that the devil comes in. The devil's at part here. And he comes in and he tries to destroy the unity of Paul and Barnabas and does. He actually does. And to halt, to stop the work of God. Now, Ephesians chapter four gives us some insight on this. And let me say that we we had a business meetings Sunday night. I've been pastoring the church now this February. I think will be 32 years. I never, ever, ever can remember a knock down drag out ugly, nasty business meeting ever. There's no reason for us to have that. We should never have that. And I think one of the reasons that we haven't is because the deacons and I have never presented anything to the church that we, which disgruntled, are in disharmony, are in discord about. That doesn't mean we've always agreed. We haven't. And there's been some things that we've not agreed on. And I can't ever remember leaving a deacons meeting in almost 32 years. I never can remember leaving a deacons meeting thinking ill or harsh towards one of our deacons ever. Ever. And I haven't. And I think that will be true of them as well. But we haven't always agreed. And, you know, and the older we get, I think the more we the older we get, the more, the more there's a greater chance for some of that in some ways. And I kind of say that with tongue in cheek. But You know, two grumpy old men get together and they can't agree on certain things. And but what we've done in the years is we have tabled those things and we've prayed through that till we've come to some kind of a good compromise, not a liberal thing, but a good compromise that would work. and then we would present it to the church. How many have ever been in a church business meeting that got out of control and got crazy? Let's see, there's one, two, three, four, anybody else? Yeah, five, six, yeah, okay. I remember I was just probably 17 when God had called me to preach, and I don't wanna take the whole time, But it was a business meeting, and I think the pastor was at great fault with this. And I loved him, but the way he handled things, or rather did not handle, he made a few statements, brought someone from out of town to vouch for his character, then he left and let the church fight it out. You know, everything rises and falls on leadership. You don't leave. And so it was a mess, and I got up and walked out. It was New Hope Baptist Church. They became No Hope Baptist Church after that, and I never went back. Now, Ephesians chapter 4, look in your notes that I've given you. In verse 1, it says, Now, look how he tells us to walk. for bearing one another in love. And let me tell you, there's some people that you come in contact with that are good people that you have to forbear. We all aren't from the same stem or root. We think different. We we we we're different. But that doesn't mean that we're more than them or they're less than we are. But we just have to forbear some things. There are some people who've never put a watch over their mouth. And they just say anything. And they don't think about it before they say it. And it can get under your skin. But you need to forbear one another. How? In love. And then he says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. To keep unity is an endeavorment. And the way that I accomplish this is to love you in spite of that. You're you get on my nerves worse than a hand going on a chalkboard. OK, we have to endeavor. It's an endeavorment. We have to forbear, we have to endeavor, and then he says, he reminds us, verse 4, So we are a body of one and our body doesn't need to fight itself. It needs to learn to cooperate. Understand this. The Bible is very clear. Not one part of the body is greater than the other part. The eye can't say to the hand that it's greater. And there's the uncommonly parts, maybe not the flash in the pans. That would be maybe your spleen, your liver, your kidneys, the inner parts that, you know, but they're very vital to the body. And the church as a body, everyone is vital here, even if you have a difference in opinion and you're grossly wrong about strawberry and mocha chocolate and all that kind of stuff. Now, in the passage we find some disturbing and I think some painful conflicts. These issues are issues of pride, they're issues of contention and of disunity, and they're still very much in the church today. Regardless, the Lord was and is still able to overrule all the obstacles and the personal issues to accomplish his personal will, and that's God's power. Now, there's three thoughts here I want to cover. First of all, notice John Mark the quitter. He's a quitter. He quit. The first mention of John Mark is in the church prayer meeting for Peter. Remember when Peter was in prison and Harriet had killed James and he was waiting for the Passover or whatever. I think that's what it was. And then he was going to take Peter because he saw how well it pleased the people to kill James. And he was going to make a great production in Notice in verses 11 and 12 of Acts chapter 12, And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know for a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectations of the people of the Jews. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. So we see the first mention of John Mark. He's in a church prayer meeting. He's praying for Peter. Now, this is not his first prayer meeting. There are some things about John Mark that sticks out. He's a spiritual person. He has spiritual thirst. He has Mary, his mother, his father's not mentioned, but obviously she is a spiritual woman, and she's grooming him to be used for God. And this is the first mention we see. Notice the first missionary journey. John Mark quits and departs from the ministry. In Acts chapter 13, verse 13, the Bible says, And having sailed from Pappas, Paul and his company came to Pergia and Pamphylia, and John separated from them and returned to Jerusalem. He quit. He left them. Now, this was a big issue for the Apostle Paul. And we don't know why. The God doesn't tell us why John quit or Mark quit or John Mark quit. I don't know. I've tried to reason just from some logic myself. Maybe he's traveling. This is a young man. and he's traveling with Paul and Barnabas and he's thinking he's going to have some of the responsibilities of getting up and preaching and they're saying that we need some water. Would you go get us some water? Would you? You know, I left I left my Bible on the back of the burrow. Would you go to the go go to the donkey and get my Bible, please? Go get the penitent. That's what I need. You know, after this ministering and dealing with people, could you please go down to the Cafe Jerusalem, and would you please get us, you know, two burgers, kosher, and, you know, Diet Coke, and be back here. He became the errand boy, perhaps. And he became disillusioned and said, man, I didn't sign on for this kind of stuff. And he quit. We don't know if he was genuinely, he was in uncharted waters. He was in dangerous places. And maybe he was just fearful and petrified. I've been in some place. I remember the first time I went to prison. I walked in there with the purpose of walking out. But I went to prison. And there's a list of things that you do not do. There's about 10 things. You don't go up and say, hey, Mac, what did you do? You don't go up and say, hey, man, what are you in here for? There's a list of things. You don't take in any pens or anything sharp instruments. All you carry in is your driver's license so you can get yourself out. And if you don't have that, you don't get out. But it was as soon as we walked in, the very first prison I walked into was Fort Pillow. It's a very old, old, old prison. And as we walked in, after we got through several of the steel gated doors, There was a large, enormous, about the size of this pulpit puddle of blood and there was someone who had narked on some other people and he was between two guards and they were taking him to a seclusion room for his own safety and he got shanked to death just minutes before we walked in, he got shanked to death between two guards, and the blood was still there. Now, I want to tell you something. When you go into a place like that to preach the gospel, you want to be as close to God as you can be. You want to be right with God. So maybe he saw some things that were unsettling to him. He's a young man. Maybe he was just plain homesick. You know, boys are that way, girls not so much, but boys are that way. We used to take our junior kids to camp and boy, the boys, they missed their mamas. And they did, they missed their mamas. And we'd take them to camp and we'd all get in bed after devotions that night And oh, I remember so much. I remember so much Neil Ray. Oh boy, he wanted his mama. And I know he's gonna watch this. He's gonna kill me. And but he was a sweet boy, just a little boy. His mom and dad was at Canada at school. preparing for the mission field, and they didn't know what to do with their kids, so Heather and Neil went to camp with us. I said, Eddie, we'll take good care of them, and we did, and we went to camp, and that first night, lights out, and I would get up, and I'd go to each bed, and I said, Pastor, I just wanted to come by and pray with you, and I'd put my hand on their chest on purpose, and I'd feel them heaving. I just want to call my mama. Can I just call my mama? You know, I just want to call my mama." And I said, oh, I want you to call your mama, but it's too late now. But maybe, and that's the key word, maybe we'll get a chance to call them tomorrow. But let me pray with you. Let's go to sleep. We're going to have fun tomorrow. Oh, we're going to go to Cowboy Town and we're going to do these things. We're going to have a good time. But I just want my mama. I know you do. And Neil came to me about three o'clock in the afternoon. He said, is it OK to call my mama now? I said, well, you know, I don't think your mama can take a phone call right now, son. And I just kept, if you put it off long enough, they'll start having so much fun, they'll forget about it. Any kid, that's what I hate about cell phones, by the way, because they'll call their mama And next thing I know, I turn around and there's the, you know, the, you know, Jerome's there. They are trying to use him by his name. There's the Jerome's. So what are you doing here? Oh, you know, Tommy called me and it says he's he's just missing so much wants to come home. And by the time they make the six hour drive, Tommy don't want to go home anymore. He's having the time of his life, you know. But maybe John Mark just got homesick and wanted his mama. We don't know, but I tell you this, he quit. He quit and he departs from the ministry. The first missionary journey, John Mark quits and he departs from the ministry. He returns to Jerusalem. Now, notice the words of verse 38, but Paul thought not good. And this is where things begin, the tension begins to build between him and Barnabas. Paul thought not good to take him with them who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work. Paul is a preacher who is focused on the work, the ministry. Is this bad? I don't think so. I think we preachers better be focused on the work of God. This COVID-19 has greatly destroyed the focus of preachers and the church. But we see that he quits, he departs, and then God uses Barnabas to restore John Mark. I just want to put this note in here. Later in Paul's life in Paul's life. He's just about to be executed He says in 2nd Timothy 4 verse 11 only Luke is with me Take mark and bring him with thee for he is profitable to me for the ministry now I want to see this verse. I want you to look at it real clearly because it's important He says take mark and bring him with thee for he's gonna say he's profitable for the work. I He's profitable for ministry. He says, he's profitable to me. And Paul is purposely putting his seal of approval. That makes me want to weep on this young man who had a great failure in his life. Can I tell you this? You know, evangelist Rick Flanders said this. It helped me. But there are people who you might call a hypocrite. because they preach or teach or they say one thing and then they fall in that area. And Brother Flanders said they're not hypocrites, they're just weak. They believe what they say and they want to keep what they say. And maybe their standard, maybe it's even too high for what they have. But a hypocrite is a play actor, someone who's pretending when this person means this. And a moment of weakness causes them to fall. And now they're labeled a hypocrite when they're not. They're not pretending they're real. They're just weak. And here we see the weakness. Notice we see John Mark the quitter. Notice Barnabas the encourager. Boy, we all need a Barnabas, don't we? And we have some Barnabas's and when I see them, my light, my eyes light up because I know they're going to be encouraging. And, uh, you know, when you have, you know, uh, uh, Diane Downer, I want to turn around and run the other way. You know, I couldn't say Debbie and, uh, but I want to be careful what I say here. And, uh, But Barnabas, listen, he was an obedient, generous, humble, helpful, encouraging servant. If you remember, I taught a whole lesson on Barnabas and this was the outline from that. He was obedient to the word of God. He was generous. He sold the land and brought the money later at the deposit. He was humble. He could be instructed. He was approachable. He was helpful. He made the difference in many people's lives, and he was encouraging. Now, Barnabas was and would be the champion for John Mark, because where Paul is focused on ministry, Barnabas is focused on people. Now these both are good things, aren't they? And this is certainly no surprise, because Barnabas, he was the kind of man that eagerly tried to help and encourage others. Joy Bell came to me a couple, two or three years ago, and we were talking about somebody, it just came up in conversation, and I said something about them, and Joy said, Dad, you're such an optimist, and you always see the good in people. I hope that's true. That's something kind, she said, but I hope it's true. I grew up in Memphis and I can smell the manure wagon from two miles away as well. But I tell you what, people who are weak and who fall, we need to help them get back up. I think fundamentalism is one of the top fates that kill their wounded, we ought to build them and help them get back. Barnabas, he would be John's champion. He'd be the one, you can do it, you can do it, you hang in there, you'll get through it. This is who Barnabas is. And this is certainly no surprise because Barnabas was the kind of man who eagerly tried to help and encourage everyone. This was his gift. I believe there are people who are gifted with this and it was his gift and this is why the early church named him the son of consolation or the son of encouragement, Acts 4 verse 36. Now, Barnabas and Mark were cousins. Their family ties were strong. And this makes it more difficult. Let me tell you how this went down. You know how it went down? Let me tell you the RSV version on this. You know what I'm going to say, don't you? You've been here too long. You know that. Paul says, let's go visit those churches. Let's go see how they do." And Barnabas says, Marvelous! Let's go. I'll tell John Mark. And Paul says, He's not going. And Barnabas says, Oh, he's different. I can't wait till you see him. He's changed. I've been working with him. He's crossed the street. He's turned the corner. He's ready this time. Paul says, He's not going. He's a quitter. He departed. He deserted. He, in Jewish terms, said, he ain't going. It ain't happening. And Barnabas, determined, said, I'm telling you something now, Paul, just as sure as the nose on your face, Mark's going with us. And Paul looks and he says, isn't he your cousin? Isn't he family? And Paul says, yes, he is. He says, yeah, I thought Paul says, yeah, I thought that. I thought he was family. And then Barnabas looks at him and says, Saul of Tarsus, when no one else would have anything to do with you, I had to do with you. Zap. Who's wrong here? Who's right here? Yeah, we're all pretty dumb right now, aren't we? We don't want to say anything. You see Colossians 4.10 says, Now notice, Barnabas continued to insist that they take Mark alone. Verse 37, And Barnabas determined to take with them John. whose surname was Mark. But in verse 38, Paul thought not good to take him. So the work of God is too important, too demanding to enlist someone who might prove to be undependable. Now, do you know, over the years, occasionally I've had someone come, and they may come to church once, one Sunday morning a month, twice every six weeks. And they will emphatically stop at the door and tell me something we need to do in the church. You know, they will. And they want to start a jail ministry. Pastor, I've been praying about this, and we want to start a jail ministry. You believe in souls being saved, don't you, Pastor? Yes, yes, I do. I believe in being church, too. And well, pastor, would you let me start a jail? I want to start a jail ministry when I know they're they're undependable. I mean, they're like a broken tooth. They're like a foot out of joint. You know, they're not going to be there. And they get wounded when I say, well, we and I don't tell them no, because they're not used to hearing. No, they look at you like a calf looking in a new gate when you tell them no. But so, well, I tell you what, let's really pray about this thing. because I think it's a fleeting thing. Now, I think that they're sincere at the time and they're really... Baptism, they can't even get to church. They can't even get on first, much less in ministry. So Barnabas, he determined it was set. I think the Apostle Paul saw him set his jaw. And the work of God, it cannot deal, it cannot have undependable people. As Paul and Barnabas discussed, as they continued discussing this, this is when the argument came, in verse 39, and the contention was so sharp between them. Now what does that mean? That means they both said things they probably shouldn't have said. The word contention, the Greek word, it means to spur. Like on a horse, get up, you're spurring. It means to dispute in anger. It means to purposely provoke. So in Proverbs 13 verse 10 says, only by pride cometh contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom. So Paul and Barnabas, they felt the only solution to their situation was to divide the territory and go separately. Now, Barnabas took Mark and they went to his native Cyprus. Paul took Silas and they headed to Syria and Cilicia. Silas, you should know, he was a chief man in the church. He, in Acts 15, verse 22, when it says, then pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of them, of their own company to Antioch. And it mentions their Paul and Barnabas, but it also speaks of Silas. And it says about Silas, chief man among the brethren. So Silas, he probably You know, his name was probably in the Greek Saul, but he was used of the Lord and the Holy Spirit to co-author with Paul the Thessalonians epistles. Now Silas was like Paul. He was a Roman soldier, I'm sorry, a Roman citizen. Acts chapter 16, verse 32. When Paul and Silas was taken and they were beaten and they found out they were Roman citizens, that was illegal, friend. And they opened the cell and said, y'all can leave. And Paul always says in Acts 16, verse 37, In other words, they didn't get a trial. They didn't have a trial. They were not even found guilty. They didn't have a trial being Romans. Say what? We're Romans, Roman citizens, and have cast us into prison, and now they thrust us out privily? Nay, verily. He says, this ain't happening, but let them come themselves and fetch us out. They want us out of jail? They want us out of prison? Have them all come down here and take us out. Don't you love Paul? I like that. You see, some people think, you're such a legalist. You're so mean-spirited. You know? You know what he told Timothy? Beware of Alexander, the copper smith. He's withstood my words, and you need to be careful. He named people. I mean, you talk about Joel Osteen, and people lose their tongue. They lose their breath, think that you did something terrible. You know what? Who was it, the prophets of Baal? Elijah? Elijah. You know what he did? He mocked them. He says, I think your God's out on vacation. Hey, I think your God's asleep. He mocked him. He was a prophet of God. You know what's happened to Christianity? We've gotten just so sissy soft is what it is. You know, you got some guy with a woman, some guy wearing a man bun trying to tell you what's right and what's wrong, you know. He's confused about what gender he is. That's going to sell really good over there, let me tell you. Lastly, y'all having a good time? Lastly, notice Paul the preacher. Now we had John Mark the quitter, we had Barnabas the encourager, and we got Paul the preacher. Paul was not just a preacher, Paul was a preacher's preacher. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. Romans 1 verse 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, notice Paul's preaching. And I want to tell you this, listen to me. This is what part of the problem is in their contention and in their debate and issue. Paul was ministry-minded, ministry-focused. I want to tell you, when we were building this building, and I was preaching out quite a bit back then, I really was ministry focused. I literally, you know, you know, there's some pastors, they they punch a clock and they're done, you know, but real pastors are on the clock all the time. And and we see Paul's he was ministry focused, where Barnabas is people focused. And I'll cover more about that in a minute. But notice Paul's preaching. He preaches fight the good fight in 2 Timothy 4, verse 7. I fought a good fight. He preaches the mercy of God in 1 Peter 1, 3, which according to his abundant mercy. He preaches that we are one, Galatians 3, verse 21. for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. He preaches the Spirit of God in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14 of the Spirit of God he says. He speaks about and preaches about to walk in the spirit. Galatians 5 verse 16. This I say, then walk in the spirit. You shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. He preaches about our hope in first Timothy, chapter one, verse one, which is our hope. Last part of the verse. He preaches to be courageous in your faith. In second Corinthians, 11, verse 23, just I am more in labors, more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons, more frequent in death oft. He preaches about spiritual blessings in Ephesians 1 verse 3. He preaches about blameless through Christ in Colossians 1 verse 22. He preaches the salvation only through Christ in Acts 15, verse 11. He preaches on the grace of God in Ephesians 2, verse 8. He preaches that Jesus is going to return again for us. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 6. He preaches marriage in 1 Corinthians 7, 8 and 9. He preaches on the day of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 2. He says, For yourself know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. He preaches on giving thanks in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Can I tell you this? I could go on and on and on. He was a preacher's preacher. Now most of us pastors know much about Charles Haddon Spurgeon and he's been deemed the prince of preachers and he and that is correct. He is tremendous. And I have the exhausted works of Spurgeon in my office in the church bought him to him for me some 30 years ago and I love him today. But I want to say this outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know of a greater preacher than this preacher. What a tremendous man of God. So his focus was on the work. His focus was on ministry. Now, is he wrong that he didn't focus on John Mark? Is that wrong? You see, and I want you to know, when I've hired staff in the past, I didn't hire staff to try to, you know, be their missionary in their mission field of life. I hired them to help me, and they couldn't help me. If Dean Manley can do their job without getting salary and insurance, then why do I need them if Dean will do it or if James will do it or if Dennis will do it? Why in the world? If you're not valuable, then you don't need to be on the payroll. Valuable men never go hungry. And listen, Paul was absolutely adamant about not taking Mark. In Acts 13, 13, he says, and John separated from them and returned to Jerusalem. Paul, he hadn't forgotten the first mission journey. Mark had deserted. He had quit. He had gone back home. And Paul considered Mark weak and undependable. And because of that, his mind was made up that he was not gonna go. Now, in conclusion, who's right and who's wrong? How many say Paul's right? Anybody? Jed and Ben. Now I'm really worried about, how many say Barnabas was right? A lot of you. Well, it really doesn't matter who was right or wrong. To be honest, both men, because of contention, Both men had points that were right and points that were wrong. We know that John Mark ultimately did succeed in the ministry. In Colossians 4, verse 13, we see Paul makes mention of Marcus there in 2 Timothy 4, verse 11. He says take Mark. He's profitable to me for the ministry. And then he talks about and Philip and Philemon. It should be Philemon 24 Marcus my fellow laborers. So we see that John Mark did redeem himself. Now, let me say this. I want you to listen. This is a good lesson for us good and godly people in the church are going to disagree. This is a painful, but it's just an absolute fact of life that we have to accept. We had a business meeting Sunday night. I don't know if everybody agreed with everything. Maybe some stayed home and watched live stream because they didn't want to vote because they were in disagreement. I don't know. But Paul looked to people and he asked this. Paul's focused on ministry. He would ask, what can they accomplish for God? And Barnabas would look at people and he'd say. What can God do for them? Who's wrong in that? What this is, and by the way, Paul and Barnabas, they unite together again later on, you'll see that. But understand that God used this. Is God behind this? I don't think so. I don't think he's behind pride and contention and disharmony. I don't think he's in that. God took it and now instead of having one missionary couple, we have two teams going out to do the work of God. If God had to depend on perfect people to accomplish his work, he would never ever get anything done. Can I tell you this? Your pastor is not perfect. And don't talk to Debbie about that. She thinks that I am. Boy, that horse, that ship has sailed, hasn't it? But our limitations and our imperfections are good reasons for us to depend on the grace of God to get the work done. Now here's a great verse, let me give it to you. 2 Corinthians 3, 5. Now that we are sufficient, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to thank anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. And I want to tell you, you know, I'll tell you something and we'll be done. I've been preaching at Brother Allison's church for I don't know how many years at this conference, well over 20 years. And normally when I go to a conference, I have a message in the pipe and two or three in the in the magazine, but I had nothing. And I called Dr. Allison and I said, Brother Allison, I want you to pray for me. I'm coming to preach in your conference in 24 hours and I got nothing. Nothing. And Brother Allison said, I can't focus on anything. Myself, I'm the same way. And I want to tell you, I had to go through some some things on that day. And I prayed and I wept and I prayed and I wept. And. The spirit of God just spoke to me as clearly. We didn't check in the hotel till like 930 that night, and we were in bed by 1036, I was exhausted. And I got up and preached Wednesday morning and I preached Wednesday night and I preached Thursday morning. And I want to tell you, the fire of God fell in that place. The fire of God fell. Brother Allison told me, he said, this is the the greatest altar call we have had in over a year. And now I want you to know this, as soon as we take credit or glory for it, it's gone. But Debbie heard me as we were driving to Alabama. I said, God, I didn't volunteer to do this. You called me. And you told me you would help me. And God, I don't want to get up there and bore these people and waste our time. And I want to tell you this. God met with me and. We had a tremendous, tremendous conference. And I just want you to know some of you, you know, there are none of us are are perfect or meet perfection. Some say I'm such a perfectionist. And some of you, you consider yourself such a perfectionist that you don't even try. Because you might mess up or you know, you're not going to be able to do your very best. Kurt, you coach. There's been sometimes you've been on your game and sometimes, you know, it's just not there. There's times that I've I've coached, there's times that I've played ball, times I could throw the ball backwards over my left shoulder and could not miss. And then times I couldn't buy a bucket or whatever the game sport would be. But I want you to know it is our sufficient sufficiency in Christ or in God is where things are done. Let's stand our feet and we'll tell you this and I'll be done. The areas where we are most confident in are the areas we feel God the greatest in. When we have the attitude, God, you can sit down and take 10. I got this. I've driven a bus for years. I've taught Sunday school for years. I've seen this special music for the last 10 years. God, you know, you can take 10. I got this. And the areas where we are most confident are the areas where we feel God the greatest. But it's in those areas where we tremble in fear and say, oh, God, feel me, help me, use me. Those where we tremble in fear that the power of God, the fire of God falls on us and he gets the glory. God's people said, let me tell you something. We may have a difference of opinion. But it's OK. There's 31 flavors. When you get to heaven, you'll see vanilla is the best. OK, let's pray. Father, help us. Help us see this. God, show each one, whether they're live stream or whether they're here tonight. How critically vital it is that we guard our unity. Lord, we're walking in revival. And because of that, there's a sweet, sweet, sweet spirit in this place. And there's a great unity. Help us not to be the sour grape. The rotten apple that rocks the boat and destroys. The unity. May we forbear one another in love. And may we endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit. And may the work of God continue on. And may we rest in the sufficiency of God. to get your work done. In thy name, I pray. Tonight, hedge about and eyes are closed. Whatever your burden may be, whatever your situation is, hey, if for nothing else, come and let's ask God to continue to send revival to our church, that we have the fires of revival here. You come now.