Welcome to this podcast from Harvest Community Church of Huntersville, North Carolina, where our vision is to make disciples who make disciples. I'm your host, Liz Stefanini. Should you have a five-year plan? Well, a five-year plan is a list of goals, as you know, either personal or professional, that you want to achieve in the next five years. And if you establish a five-year plan or a 10-year plan, you'll set up many goals along the way. Here's an example of just something I got off a website. But as a Christian, should you establish a five-year plan? I'm not sure that this sermon is going to completely answer the question for you, but there are things in it that will help you think that through. Hopefully the people, the leading characters in our story today certainly experienced twist and turns that changed their plans. And so I invite your attention to acts chapter 15. Verse 36, here at Harvest, we're teaching through the New Testament book of Acts. And we come today to Acts 15, 36, we're gonna go up to 16, 10. And let me set the stage for what's happening there. Sometime after the Jerusalem council, the apostle Paul wanted the missionary team to revisit the converts from their earlier ministry. So let me back up there in case you've just come in today for the first time, as we've walked through Acts, we came to note that at the beginning, every believer in Jesus Christ started out Jewish. Christianity started as the fulfillment of Judaism. And so these were Jewish believers. And if you were a Jew and you lived in those days, one of your highest goals was to stay away from everybody else and not let all of those sinful Gentiles, which was everybody but a Jew, influence you or infect you. Right? It's like COVID in the first century. That's a joke. They set aside a different diet. God set that for them. There was the Sabbath day. Nobody honored the Sabbath out through the years in the Old Testament. And the baby boys were circumcised. That was not just a medical procedure like today, but that was what marked the Jewish people off. So here now, Jesus came as a Jewish person. He completely fulfilled the law. He obeyed the law and fulfilled the law. He died on the cross. He was buried. He rose again to pay for our sins. And now people are becoming followers of him and they start out as Jewish people. But as the church developed, then other people, which was God's design all along, the Gentiles, Started becoming followers of Jesus Christ great, right? Well not so fast because Some of the Jewish people many of the Jewish people perhaps were like wondering. Okay. Well, okay It's it's it's good that these Gentiles over here are are now following Christ, but to go all the way They need to become like us. They need to become Jewish like us. So they need to adopt our customs, including circumcision. And that was what the big issue was in Acts 15 that we covered last week here. And that's what I mean by the Jerusalem Council. The Jerusalem Council was when a group of leaders got together and had to make a decision. Are we going to require these new Gentiles to also be circumcised? And they discussed it and debated it. They came up with the right answer and that was no They do not have to become Jewish in order to follow Jesus and that's where we left off last week sometime after that now Paul the Apostle There are three different missionary journeys. We call them journeys. They were they took years and years of his life and But there were three of them. And on the first one, he started out and many people were saved and churches were formed. And now he's back at the home base in Antioch. And sometimes after this council, he says, hey, let's go back. Let's go back and and help these earlier converts that begins what is known as Paul second missionary journey So we start at 1536 and it goes into the middle of chapter 18 All of that is what is known as the second missionary journey. Let me put a map up there for you That red arrow is Antioch and this all of this area here was the first missionary journey now Here's another map and again the green shading. That's where the first missionary journey started All in that green shaded area But if I take it away, you follow this red line. You can see the second missionary journey. It's hard to see there. Let me make it a little bit bolder. It covered a lot more territory, a lot more places. And we're gonna look at some of them today. In fact, on that map, as I bring in the passages, 15, 36 to 41, that shows where they were. And then you just start walking up to 16, one to five, and then 16, six to eight, and then 16, nine and 10. You can see this is the progress and the development. Let's read the passage together, Acts 15. 36 we don't often do this, but I for some reason I feel like it'd be good to do today We just stand with me as we read God's Word Acts 15 36 to 16 10 Sometime later Paul said to Barnabas Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preach the Word of the Lord and see how they are doing and Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. End of chapter 16, Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer, but whose father was Greek. The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, come over to Macedonia and help us. After Paul had seen the vision, We got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. This is God's word. You can be seated. Now first this morning I want to define a term that I'm going to use a lot today. I'm going to talk about God's sovereignty. Let me give you a couple definitions from a couple of good strong biblical theologians. Wayne Grudem defines God's sovereignty simply as His exercise of rule over His creation. God rules over His creation and that is His sovereignty. Millard Erickson says this about God's sovereignty. He is not subject or answerable to anyone. Man is in no position to judge God for what he does. So the fact that God is sovereign means he is in charge. He is over all. It is his world, he has created it, he is superintending it, and he is sovereign. Now, we see God's sovereignty in this passage, but it actually might be in surprising ways. In fact, that's the way I'm arranging the outline this morning. Surprising ways God accomplishes his purposes. Do you know that God always accomplishes purposes? He always does. And in this passage that we read today, there are two surprising ways. So let's walk through them. The first way is God accomplishes his purposes in spite of human failures and broken relationships. When there are human failures, when there are broken relationships, we often think, oh, that's it. But God still accomplishes his purposes. And we see it watch as we walk back through the passage sometime later. Interesting. We, we aren't told how much longer after the Jerusalem council, it's just sometime later, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where he preached the word of the Lord and see how they're doing. You know, Paul and Barnabas had the Great Commission in view, the entire Great Commission. And that was for people to get saved and then to become followers of Jesus Christ and then to make other followers of Jesus Christ and to obey him and to learn and to grow. Paul didn't want only new converts. He didn't want people to become Christians only. He was interested in people being saved and discipled. And so after getting back, he says, you know what? We should go back. We should go back to these various territories. We should go back, in fact, to all the towns, see there in verse 36. Paul wanted to go back to every single place. Now, let me ask you this. If you've read Acts at all or you've been in this series, did good things happen to Paul in every city where he went? No, but he's going back everywhere. Let's go back everywhere. They became Christians. Let's go back and visit them. Okay, sounds like a plan, great. Well, what do we do next? Barnabas wanted to take John who is called Mark. But Paul did not think it wise to take him because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. Earlier in Acts, Paul was on a missionary trip and John Mark was with him. And right in the middle of the trip, he's like, I'm out of here. Acts doesn't tell us this, but we know from another place in Scripture that Barnabas and John Mark were cousins. Did that have an effect on Barnabas's desire? So you got two people, you got two leaders that love God, and they love each other, and they've been used by God, and they've served God, and God has blessed them, and God has had his hand on them, and now on what seems to be not a major part of strategy, but it's just like, hey, can this person go on the trip? Barnabas is saying, yes, let's bring him. And Paul is saying, uh-uh. Now, this is a horrible split. This is a horrible split that happens in the early church. We don't know why Barnabas left the team originally. He might have been disappointed. He might have had unmet expectations. He might have thought, oh, missions is going to be this. Maybe he saw his cousin Barnabas and Paul, their relationship change and where you read early in Acts, it's Barnabas and Saul and then the language changes and Paul or Saul's name is always put first. So maybe he was resentful about that. Maybe he got homesick, maybe he got sick, maybe he got discouraged. We don't know why Barnabas, I mean, why John Mark left the team to begin with, But verse 38 tells us what Paul's view of it was. He deserted them. That's why Paul did not want to take him back. So here's Barnabas, and Barnabas was an encourager, right? I mean, that's what his name means, son of encouragement. So Barnabas was an encourager. He's like, hey, let's give the young man another chance. Let's bring him along. So this is, this is, This is human relationships, right? Two people looking at the same situation. in totally opposite ways. Barnabas is thinking, it seems, let's help him along and give him another chance and develop him. And Paul is like, well, no, I know what's ahead of us. And the task, we don't want it to happen again. And so they have a sharp disagreement. Verse 39 says a sharp disagreement. There's a strong word that's translated. It's from a verb that means to provoke. or to irritate. This is not pretty. How many of you in this room have ever been irritated? Can I see your hand? I mean, how many have been irritated a lot? Raise the other hand. All right. And if you've been irritated by the person, sit. No, nevermind. We won't go there. I have mixed emotions about this being in the Bible. This is sad. It's a sad passage in many ways to think of these two leaders who get separated from each other, but in a strange way, I'm glad it's here. In a strange way, I'm a little bit encouraged by this because you know what? It reminds me once again that human beings have failures and foibles and disagreements and problems and all the credit and glory goes to God because it's God's work and God is the one that's doing it, not the human beings, right? And that's what we have here. We have two people who cannot agree. Disagree. Let me say a few things about disagreements. Disagreements happen even among those that love God. Disagreements happen even among those who love each other. Disagreements may or may not be because someone is in the wrong. The Bible doesn't tell us, well, Barnabas was clearly wrong here, or Paul was clearly wrong here. We do see the church sending and commissioning, it seems, Paul, and we don't hear much more about Barnabas and Silas, but that's not because they did anything wrong. That's because the writer is now focusing on Paul's second journey, and that's where the focus goes. Disagreements, though they often represent human failure, they do not override God's sovereignty. And finally, disagreements are not final. In spite of this horrible parting, in spite of the failure, if there was there, the broken relationship, at least the broken working relationship, it was turned around by God. Look at verse 40. Look at the next verse. Look what happens. Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. Now, as we walk through this passage, there are at least four evidences of God's sovereignty. The first one is that the split furthered the work rather than crippled work. If you're going along and you're watching it and you're seeing, wow, the church is growing, the church is effective, these missionaries, what a great first journey. Now they're going to go for another one. All right. And uh-oh, they can't get along with each other. They can't decide whether to take Barnabas or not. You might think, what's going to happen to God's work? Well, this split didn't hinder God's work, it furthered God's work. Now, notice, I don't believe that means God caused the split, but he used it, and there's a difference. And sovereignty is not like my understanding of sovereignty from the Bible is not like a puppet master. You know, the puppet master who stands up there and he pulls every string and the puppets down there, you know, and everything the puppet does is because the puppet master doing. I don't think that I don't think God pulls every string. I don't think God gives us free will. God gives people choices and sometimes people make good choices and sometimes they make bad choices and sometimes even Christians Can't agree on a ministry strategy and they go different directions I don't think it means that God is causing all that but I do know from the Bible that God uses it all and This is what is happening. God is using it. How how did it further the work? Well now there are two teams. There are two missionary teams instead of one and Silas was added and Now, it was great with Paul and Barnabas, but Silas probably brought some new things to the table. He was a Roman citizen. He probably spoke Greek. He served as Paul's stenographer. And so now, Barnabas was a great loss, but Silas was also a great gain. Also, not only Silas, there was a young man named Timothy. And Timothy gets added to the team. We don't know, but if John Mark were along, maybe there wouldn't have been room to add Timothy to it. Look at chapter 16 verse one. That's where we get Timothy. Paul came to Derby and then to Lystra where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. That's very, very important description of him. We'll come back to in a minute. He's from a mixed marriage. Religiously, culturally, his mother is a believer and Jewish. His father is Greek. We don't know if he was a Christian or not. It's not stated. It is clearly stated she was, so we would assume maybe that he wasn't. Verse two, the believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey. So he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. Now, if you were here last week or if you've read Acts and you know that the decision that the Jerusalem council made when they decided, no, we're not gonna make Gentiles be circumcised, you go, wait a minute, well, why then does Paul circumcise Timothy here? Is it a compromise? Is it a conflict? And the answer's no. This is cultural sensitivity. They decided for Gentiles, we're not gonna require you to be circumcised, but Timothy was 50% Gentile. 50% Jewish, mother and father. And he, Paul knew that they would be walking and traveling and ministering around Jewish people and that the Jewish people that they were going to minister to would have said, okay, the council said we don't have to circumcise Gentiles, but Timothy, that young man that's with you, he's Jewish. His mother's Jewish. And so Paul was trying to remove any stumbling block to the gospel. Paul didn't want people to be stumbled by various things. It's like, let's keep our focus on Jesus. Let's keep our focus on the gospel. That's why Paul made this decision. And what a great decision to bring Timothy along. And what a relationship that developed between Paul and Timothy. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 4, 17, Paul calls Timothy my son. Two of Paul's letters in the New Testament were written to him, right? 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy. Six include Timothy in the salutation. Timothy served well in Ephesus in spite of strife. He accompanied Paul on his last visit to Jerusalem and he was with Paul in prison. What a great partnership that Paul had with this young man, Timothy. So That is an example of how God's sovereignty was at work. The church was furthered. This split didn't hinder the work. Secondly, the church was strengthened. Here's another evidence of God's sovereignty here. Verse four, as they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily. in numbers. And we're finding evidences of God's sovereignty here, right? That's two. Number three, John Mark was made useful again. John Mark was made useful again. Now we have to go past this passage to see that. And that's part of our problem when we're going through something and we're like, where is God in this? Is God sovereign in this? And we look at it and we can only see right here in front of us. We can only see now or maybe the next few months. But if you trace out through the rest of the New Testament, John Mark apparently was a great help to not only Barnabas, but Peter. Peter calls him his son in 1 Peter 5.13. And in Colossians 4.10 and Philemon 24, Paul speaks of John Mark with approval. In 2 Timothy 4.11, Paul wanted John Mark with him at the end of his life. He said to Timothy, get Mark and bring him with you because he is helpful to me in my ministry. The same man who Paul at one time said, I'm not, I don't think we should take this guy with us on the missionary trip. Later, he says to Timothy, go get Mark because he's helpful to me. And we also believe he wrote the gospel of Mark. Failures are not final. Disagreements don't mean that God's work ends. And finally, I think there was healing probably between Paul and Barnabas as well. We don't see it in this passage. It's never explicitly stated, but in 1 Corinthians 9, 6, Paul just linked himself and Barnabas together, and that was written much later, so you would think that there was healing. Failure is not final. One of the greatest preachers to ever come out of America was Phillips Brooks. Phillips Brooks failed as a school teacher. How many school teachers do we have present? Can I see your hand? I know we have several. Yeah. Well, when he was a teacher, he didn't like his students and his students didn't like him. That's not a very good recipe for success. They fired him. So he's fired as a school teacher. And he said this, I do not know what will become of me and I do not care much. I wish I were 15 years old again. I believe I might become a stunning man, but somehow or other, I do not seem in the way to come to much now. But if you go to Holy Trinity Church in Boston, there'll be a statue of Phillips Brooks in front of it. He became a great orator and preacher of the gospel. Kent Hughes writes this, God can use unhappy, perplexing failures to bring fresh purpose and direction to our lives. He can restore the years the locusts have eaten with abundance. Even when we are at fault, God will use our failures to bring greater blessing. I'm not saying go out there and fail. But here's what I am saying. If you go out there and fail, or if you have gone out there and failed, God isn't finished with you yet. And God is greater than human failures. That's the first way that we surprisingly see God accomplishing His purpose. He does it in spite of human failures and broken relationships. The second way is that God accomplishes His purposes in ways that surpass human ability or planning. This means that God just has ways of having a plan and using His plan and making His plan happen even if it's not our plan to begin with. Now let's walk through the last few verses of the passage. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. A very interesting verse. Why would God keep somebody from preaching? Doesn't God want Everybody to hear the gospel didn't God care about the people who lived in the province of Asia, by the way This is the province of Asia not the continent of Asia Of course he does But maybe it wasn't the right time Maybe the people weren't prepared Maybe there were other people that needed what Paul was going to be giving them. And I'll bring that map back up again. You see the two red blocks there. Again, I know you can't read all the little cities and areas. It's small. But just to get the sweep, if you follow, we started down here and we're moving up to the left, you know, the upper left of your screen. And as we go through our passage and then we come to where the two red blocks are, that's the next two sections versus eight to 10 or six to eight and nine to 10. Paul's plan, remember, was to go back to this area and to focus in here. And yet he ended up going all a different direction. Why? Well, after ministering in Galatia, he wanted to go Southwest to Asia, but he was stopped. Then he wanted to go North into Bithynia to minister to those prosperous cities around the black sea. But again, he was stopped. As we see in verse seven, when he came to the border of Missia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So, Paul, how's your five-year plan going? How's your five-month plan going, Paul? I wanted to go to Asia. Oh, can't go to Asia. Let's go to Bithynia. Oh, I can't go to Bithynia. Well, plan C, how about we go directly west through what is known as the Dardanelles Straits and let's go into Europe. Maybe we'll do that. Well, what about God's plan? We saw in verses six and seven that he restrained them. He closed doors. And now in verse nine, he gives them a new door, a new opening. Verse nine, during the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, come over to Macedonia and help us. And by the way, how were they restrained by the Holy Spirit? We aren't told exactly what that looked like. It might be that they just, they didn't have peace anymore about going in that direction. It might have been difficult circumstances, maybe illnesses, maybe the Jewish residents opposed their coming, maybe banned their activities, maybe a Christian prophet spoke words to them. We don't know how God restrained them, but verse 10 gives us a hint, at least of another possibility. Look at verse 10. After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. There are two words in there that have not been used to this point in describing Paul's missionary journeys. So I'm going to read the verse again, and when I read them, I want you to read those words out loud with me, okay? But I'm gonna give you a hint when we come to them, okay? You ready? After Paul, only read one word at a time, okay? Spread out through the verse. After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Do you know who wrote Acts? Luke. Do you know what Luke's profession was? He was a physician. As Luke has been writing Acts and narrating the story, it's up to this point, it's been, they did this. They went here. They went there. They did that. And now we have what's known as the we passages. Now it's, We are going. So at this point in the journey, we conclude that a new member to the team gets added and he's Luke and he's a doctor. So maybe the closed door was sickness. We don't know that for sure, but we know Paul had a lot of afflictions. All I know is all of a sudden we've got Luke added to the team. When you try to serve God and the door gets closed, how do you keep going in spite of that? How do you keep going in spite of sickness, in spite of disappointment, in spite of closed doors? Paul did that by reminding himself that God was in control. Later, one of the places he's gonna go to is Philippi, and he's gonna write a letter to the Philippians from jail, and he's in jail, and he said in Philippians chapter one, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Paul would not allow the what-ifs to rule his life. That's one of our problems. We allow the what-ifs to rule our life. Well, what if this would have happened? What if this would have happened? What if they would have responded this way? What if this door would have been open rather than that door? John Stott draws some insightful truths from this passage about how do we discern God's direction. He says usually, three things he says. He says usually it's not only a negative but a positive. So if you're seeking God's direction, it's not only a closed door, but it's also an open door. Secondly, it's not only circumstantial, but rational. Not just the situations that we find ourselves in, but thinking through them in terms of what is God doing. And thirdly, it's not only personal, but corporate. It's not wise to make decisions alone. but to involve other believers and Christian leaders in helping you think things through. You know, Paul and Barnabas were not the last servants of Christ to be redirected. David Livingstone tried to go to China, but God led him to Africa. William Carey's plan was to go to Polynesia in the South Seas, but God sent him to India. Adoniram Judson went to India originally, but ended up in Burma. It's difficult to understand God's sovereignty sometimes. But there are a couple things that help us. We may not know the full effect of circumstances for years. If we are trying to figure it all out right now, we're seeing something now, we're experiencing something now. As human beings, we don't always have the ability to know why this is happening now. Sometimes it takes years and years and years and we may not know until heaven and also We should not look at things from just a strictly human point of view Let me let me bring that map that you enjoy so much back one more time You can see the the passages right we're starting at 1536 and we're moving up to here But there's another place. If you keep going left, it's Europe. And Paul's plan wasn't to go to Europe. He wanted to just go back right where he had been so far, but he kept getting moved. He tried to go here. Nope. Can't go there. Try to go there. No, can't go there. Keep going this way. And then, then God says, come over here to Macedonia. That that's in Europe. And so now Europe opens up, and if we watch some of the cities that they go to in Europe, you see Philippi. Does that ring a bell? Philippians. Now a church, people were saved in Philippi, and Lord willing, next Sunday, we're gonna show you how the church at Philippi got formed. And we have the book of Philippians. The Philippian church was one of Paul's favorite churches, one of his most ardent supporting churches. If his original plan would have happened, maybe he would have never known them. And Thessalonica, we have first and second Thessalonians and then Corinth, first and second Corinthians. And then they work their way back down. They do hit Ephesus and they go back to Antioch. This was a complete redirection of Paul's ministry. I mean, this was, the five-year plan was out the window. God said, come to Europe. You know what? I'm glad for the New Testament. I'm glad for all of these places in the New Testament that we know about now. I'm also glad because Europe became the springboard of the gospel into North Africa, into North America, into Latin America. In fact, until recent times, Europe has been a place that sent missionaries all over the world. God is sovereign, right? God redirected this, and that's God's word for us this morning. When God builds his church, it relies on God's sovereignty. When God builds his church, It relies on God's sovereignty. Let me give you three ways to apply these truths as we go home today. Three ways to apply these truths. Because I know most of the people, there are some, like Chris and Mary Bowlesman here, that are vocational missionaries, but most of us in here are not vocational missionaries. If you're a believer, if you're a follower in Jesus Christ, this applies because the hope is that you'll have the same passion for the mission that Paul and Barnabas had. You may not be going to Europe, but you'll have that same passion. Here's the three ways. First of all, trust God, not your own planning skills. Kent Hughes says, why God directs us west when we expect to go north, we do not know. Why he did not give Paul a vision at the beginning instead of the end, we cannot fully explain. But this we know. God directs us through every situation, the apparently good and the apparently bad. We need to yield to his caring hand. I think this is why, as a church, we shouldn't ask primarily questions like, what can we do? Or what can we afford to do? Or what is comfortable for us? I think the primary question we ought to ask is, what does God want to do? What has God stated that His will is, that His plans are? What does God want us to do? So trust God. It doesn't mean you don't plan. Of course you plan. So my answer, I'm not gonna say to you, don't have a five-year plan. It's not wrong to plan. God uses planning. But don't trust in that plan. Trust in Him. Secondly, keep your eyes on God, not other people. Keep your eyes on God, not other people. What's true of us corporately is also true of us individually. God is sovereign. God is sovereign. Maybe you don't understand what God is doing in your life. Maybe you don't understand why there's a broken relationship. Maybe you don't know why someone currently is hurting you or has hurt you in the past. You know what I say to you? Keep your eyes on God. Keep your eyes on God. Don't, don't focus on those people because people are going to hurt us and disappoint us, but God never will. And then number three, participate in God's plan for discipling the nations. Participate in God's plan for discipling nations. This is not only for missionaries, for every follower of Christ. Paul had a vision. Paul wanted to make disciples who make disciples. It's so clear here as I watch Paul. First, they were getting saved, then they were growing, and then he was sending them out. And this kept getting repeated over and over again. In fact, you might say Paul had a strategy to make disciples. Live, grow, go. Okay, I admit it, we stole it from Paul. We stole it from Paul. Live. People need to be saved. And that's what Paul did on that first journey. Let's preach, let's get them in churches. But they need to grow, so let's get them in churches and hey, let's go back. Let's strengthen those churches. And they also need to then go and make more disciples themselves. He would say to Timothy, hey Timothy, you know the things you heard from me? Commit those to faithful men who can teach others also. And you as a follower of Jesus can do the same thing. And that's the way you apply this. Who's around you? It starts at home. It starts at home. If you, if you have a family and you have children, if you're a parent, it starts at home. Introducing your children to Christ. So they live and then helping them grow and preparing them to go make disciples. But it also starts all around here at home. in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces. It's where you live, work, and play. Can you build relationships with people who aren't living yet? They aren't saved yet. They don't know Christ yet. And by the way, it's a good point to stop just for a second and say, if you're listening to this here live or through the stream, this is all about why Jesus came. Jesus Christ came. He was the Son of God. He died on the cross to pay for your sin and my sin so that we could be safe, so we could be made right with God, so we could experience eternal life. And that's why Paul was doing all of this. That's live. That's where it starts. And as you apply it, first of all, ask yourself, am I living? Have I put my faith in Jesus? That's step one. And then if you have, help others live. help others live, share the gospel with them, and then as they're saved, grow. What can you do to grow this week? What can you do more importantly to help someone else grow? You don't have to be a formal teacher to help people grow. Get involved in a group of people. We have all kind of community groups, and men's groups, and women's groups, and you know, sometimes we cast them as, hey, this is a great place for you to come and grow, and it is, and that's a huge part of it. But let's also think about it, hey, I'm joining a group, not only for myself, I'm joining so I can help others grow. This is what happens as we study the Bible together and we talk with each other and we pray for each other and we love each other in life. We help others grow and then we help others go. So go somewhere in our community and make disciples and also go somewhere that's not in our community and make disciples. see Paul's passion for the world. That's God's passion for the world. And so that means either you going full time, permanently, or maybe you go on a short term trip, or maybe you pray for our missionary partners, our 16 families that we support. Maybe you give financially, maybe you encourage them, but everybody can be involved in making disciples who make disciples by living, by growing, and by going. So should you have a five year plan? You decide, but I want you to do something as we close. I want you to take something in your hand. It can be your Bible. It can be your phone. It can be, you know, a $500 bill, just whatever. And I'm going to take, I'm going to take, I'm going to take my mask. All right. Everybody got something. And I want, I want you to, these are your plans. Okay. And there are two ways to hold your plans, all right? So first of all, I want you to hold it tightly. I mean, I want you to hold it tightly so that nobody could grab it away from you, okay? You know what, this is often the way we hold our plans, right? I'm holding on to it tightly. But there's another way to hold them. So now I want you to open it up, palms up. You're still holding it, but you're holding it in the presence of God. And you're saying, God, if you want to change that plan. I'm on board, amen, because when God builds his church. It relies on God's sovereignty. Let's bow our heads together, please. Thanks again for joining us today from Harvest Community Church. This podcast is also available on our website HarvestCharlotte.com. Please go there if you want to send a question or comment, learn more about our ministries, or find out how you can donate to support the podcast.