To the Ends of the Earth | Act 15:30-41

Morning. How are you? Good. As we sung that last song, I was just kind of reminded, and I want to remind you of just how faithful God has been to us. As you think about your life right now, you could look back and on every little detail of your life has led you to this moment right here, for me to remind you of the faithfulness of God.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I am so prone to forget the. The truth of Scripture, the truth of what God has done and what he is doing. I love how Paul says this in 1st Thessalonians. Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 24 says, he who calls you is faithful. And I don't know what you're going through, don't know where you've been, don't know what God's doing, what he's teaching you right now.

But I just want to remind you that he is faithful. He will always be faithful. There's never a moment in your life where God can't be faithful. And so whether you come in here with a lot to be grateful for, if you just kind of walked in here kind of dragging, you're like, man, I just don't even have the energy right now. Can I just encourage and exhort your heart to be reminded that even right now, like even that very breath in your lungs right now is just a reminder of the faithfulness of God?

I'm just continually in awe of that. I'm continually in awe of what God's doing in you, what God's doing through you, what he's doing at this church, and just what God is doing all across our nation. So can you just put your hands together? Could you just remind yourselves to celebrate the fact that he is faithful?

Our last sermon for our series to the Ends of the Earth is today. We started in Acts 13. We're going to finish Acts 15 today. We'll kick off a new installment of Acts next week. As we look at Acts 15, we're coming to the end of Paul's first missionary journey, right?

This is where Paul was sent out in Acts 13 from the church, Antioch. And they're like, hey, man, you just go and preach and proclaim the gospel. Let me give you some kind of commentary here, though. When you look at Paul's missionary journeys, his first act is what we just finished. That's Acts 13, verse one through Acts 14:28.

We're going to see his second missionary journey start in Acts 15, verse 40. We'll get there today. It's going to end in Acts chapter 18. And then we'll see him set sail for his third one in Acts, chapter 19. When you're looking at the.

The text here, though, when you're looking at where we've been in Acts 15, we said that this was what the commentators and what church historians have said is the Jerusalem Council. What was happening is the Gentiles were meeting Jesus and some Jews didn't like it. They're like, no, no, no. They have to observe all of our rules and rituals also if they want to be Christians. So we kind of divided the Jerusalem Council into three, three parts.

The first one was in verses 1 through 18. That says that the gospel is our foundation for all things, Right? We said that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That, like, that is the gospel, is Jesus plus nothing equals everything. Last week we saw how the gospel plays out in our relationships with each other.

We talked about what it means to be a mature Christian. And then today, what we're going to see is that the gospel advances best with a unified church. In Acts 4, verse 32.

You texting me while I'm preaching? Come on now. I feel like I should read it.

Read it. Okay. Wow, this preacher is amazingly good looking. It's not what it says.

This preacher's ugly.

You know that Bible verse that says you're called to suffer? And that was Brittany some 19 years ago. She's like, she gotta wake up and look at this every morning. The gospel advances best with the unified church. Acts 4, verse 32, says, now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.

Like, if we are going to see a city reached and transformed by the gospel, it means all of us have to come to this agreement. Hey, we're in this thing heart and soul together. We are in this for the advancement of the gospel. This is like why we have core values that say we do whatever it takes to reach one more. That there are certain preferences I have that I just lay to the side because it's not about me, but it's about the gospel advancing.

I love this verse in 1st Samuel, chapter 14, verse 7. It says in his armor bearer said to him, do that is all in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul. What does that look like?

If we're gonna see the gospel advance, it comes through a unified church. What that looks like is this a couple things. Is it means that we have to grow with a great love for one another. Like, this is your brothers and sisters, this is your family. Like, you gotta Love each other deeply.

The people around you gotta feel seen and known. The folks in our church need to know that, hey man, I care deeply about you. I love you. I'm in this. I wanna see you thrive in all who God has called you to be.

2. There needs to be a relentless commitment to the Great Commission, right? Matthew chapter 28, Acts 1:8. That you will receive power and be my witnesses. There has to be in us this heart and soul that says, hey, we are about the Great Commission advancing.

What does it mean to be heart and soul. We see in the book of Acts a deeply dependent of people on God. That you and I would humble ourselves daily. We would humble ourselves and pray like crazy in such a way that it just strips of all of our pride, all of our self sufficiency and says that we need God to show up. 4.

A willingness to do whatever it takes. And then 5, we just have to have this mentality that we are building a church that we deeply love and we're proud of. Like anybody who sets out to start a business, they don't build a business that they're just like, ah, this is just okay. No, it's something they're like, man, I'm deeply proud of this thing. Like, I want you to be so proud of the work that God's doing in you and through you.

The way that looks like is every single one of you that calls this church home or if you're on a serve team, this is you saying, hey, whatever I'm tasked to, man, if I'm here to point push buttons and make slides, I'm gonna make it the best I possibly can. If I'm a greeter, then I'm gonna be the best greeter that there's ever been. If I am in back in valley kids, well, I'm gonna be the best disciple of the next generation. That's what it looks like to be heart and soul. So what we're going to see here in Acts 15, verses 30 through 41 is that the Gospel advances best with a unified church.

The reality is though, that unity takes a lot of patience and hard times. You're going to see in Acts 15 a big disagreement that happens among the disciples and they end up working through their differences in such a way that the mission would continue to advance. Look at verse 30 through 36.

So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also.

Well, what is this referring to? Let me give you some kind of background. Paul and Barnabas and Silas and a couple others were sent out from Jerusalem last week. We saw that James, the brother Jesus gets up and he's like, hey, we shouldn't trouble the Gentiles. Let's not add to the Gospel.

Let's not add to the requirements of their salvation, but let's just tell them to do these three things out of respect and love for their Jewish brothers and sisters. So what Paul and Barnabas are doing now is they're back in Antioch reading that letter to the Gentiles, reading it to the church at Antioch and saying, hey, here's what God said. Here's what he told us to do. The letter was significant for the local church for three reasons. Is because the Jews had to die to theirselves, because they had to die to their traditions and die to their rituals and say, okay, we're not going to add to the requirements for the Gentiles.

We're not going to ask them to observe our laws, our rituals, do our thing, but we're just going to freely let them worship Jesus. There was another moment for where the Gentiles were asked to lay down their freedoms for the sake of their Jewish brothers. This was why the letter said, hey, don't eat meat with blood in it. Like, we all freaked out last week. We were like, man, Midwest steak, I can't eat.

That's why I got to give up. That's not what was happening for them in the text. It was saying, hey, don't do these things because your Jewish brother's conscience are going to be challenged. So lay those freedoms down for the sake of your brothers. And then the letter just reminded them that the gospel was and is always going to be by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

So just as a point of reminder, the letter that's being referenced here is in Acts 15, verses 19 through 29. And it wasn't about salvation, but about how they can lovingly serve one another. And so they're reading this letter to the church at Antioch. Judas and Silas are there. Paul and Barnabas are there.

It says that the prophets from Jerusalem stayed awhile as well. And they did two things. They encouraged and strengthened. I'm going to say this over and over again until you're annoyed by it, that there's not a single person in this room that's saying, you know, my biggest challenge in life right now, you know, the biggest thing I'm wrestling with is, like, I'm just too encouraged. Like, life's going so awesome and so great.

And all these people, they just keep lavishing encouraging words on me, and just like, I'm just kind of sick of it. Like, that's never been the case. But I've met far too many people that'd be like, man, I just need some encouragement. I need somebody to just speak life into me. So I will keep telling you over and over again, one of the greatest things that you could do for this church is just to open your mouth and encourage people.

Like, you ought to make it a goal every Sunday before you leave here. Like, I'm just gonna find five people and encourage them, or I'm gonna find five people and just say, hey, what's God doing in your life? Hey. I saw on Facebook that you posted about this. Everything cool.

It's looking at somebody and saying, hey, can I pray for you? Hey, no. You've been challenged with some things, heard you're struggling through some things, like taking the step towards somebody and bringing encouragement. I love how it says that Paul and Silas did that. And then it says Paul and Barnabas stayed a bit longer because Paul wanted to go visit the other churches.

Right. Acts 15:40 will pick up the second missionary journey of Paul, which is really going to be more next week as we kick off our next series in the book of Acts called Turn the World Upside down. This is Acts 16 through Acts 18. And the gospel is going to go some 2,800 miles, right? They're going to take this huge trip all the way to Europe from Antioch, Acts 17:6 says.

And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities. Shouting, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. So that's going to be the next series. Look at verse 37, though. Acts 15.

It says, now Barnabas wanted to take with them. John called Mark, but Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. Right.

Like unity in the church comes through a lot of hard conversations, comes through some disagreements that require the Gospel and require humility. When you look at Acts 15, verses 37 through 39, when Luke uses the phrase a sharp disagreement. This was a big one. This wasn't like, who wants to go to Cafe Rio? Who wants to go to Costa Vita?

And you get mad at each other and just go your separate ways, right? You turn on a 1300, like, we're going this way, we're going this way. But then we're happy because we got burritos. Now this is like this huge. The Greek kind of gives it this phrase.

It's this big irritation, right? Like this disrupted Paul and Barnabas relationship for a moment, that it was this big disagreement that led to them separating their ways. Why did they do this? Like, like what is this referring to? If you were to go back to Acts, chapter 13, verse 13, this is what it's referencing.

Now, Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga and Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem. Now this is where study and legree kind of makes sense because if you were to look at it, you'd be like, oh, John Mark just decided to go back to Jerusalem. Not a big deal. But as you unpack that phrase left them, it gives us this picture here that he had departed from them.

He turned away from them. And we don't know why. We don't know if it was just fear of what was to come. We don't know if John Mark was getting a little homesick. We don't know if he realized that, hey man, once we land and we go to Antioch, Poseidon, that's a hundred mile hike uphill.

And he's like, no, bro, I'm out. I don't. We don't know if John Mark saw the journey ahead, right? We gotta remember that journey of 100 miles wasn't just kind of like a walk on the bst. It wasn't like this like calm thing.

It's like, hey, we might die, or hey, I heard that the Romans can't control crime on it and I don't want to go endure that. Like that's the speculation here. Was he fearful? Was he tired? Did he just not have the endurance to do it?

We're not 100% sure. We do know that Paul in his deep conviction about John Mark was like, I'm not bringing him with me. I'm not going to take John Mark with me because he gave up along the way and I don't know if he'll do this again, right? This is what's going on in this stark disagreement It's Paul making this kind of judgment. He's like, he doesn't deserve to go with us.

He gave up on us once. He's unfit and unworthy to go again. This doesn't mean that he's unqualified or not called to ministry. It's just in Paul's eyes, he's like, hey, man, you don't got a seat on the bus right now. You don't get to go with us.

Because in my mind, if I'm Paul, he's gonna say, hey, we're going this way. And we got somebody who gave up along the way. We don't know if he's dependable anymore. This is what's kind of stirring in the heart here. So was it fear?

Was he tired? Was he homesick? We don't know. But Paul was determined to say he can't go with us. It cost him his seat on the bus, didn't disqualify him from future ministry, but it cost him a seat at the table with Paul.

And he's not wrong for this. Like, sometimes you're like, man, I thought you got to give grace upon grace upon grace. Yes, and amen. Paul's like, hey, man, you're good, dude. Love you, care for you, glad you're here, but you ain't going with us today.

You kind of lost your chance at it. There's grace that equals forgiveness. But trust is earned. And I'm wondering if it just comes down to the relational and dependability trust factor was broken. But you got to understand that Paul's not judging John's character.

Like, it's evident throughout the New Testament that John has this deep love for the church. He has a deep love for Christ. And even down the road, Paul and John are still united in ministry. You have to understand that when the church disagrees with each other, it should never, ever lead to a thought process of, you're dead to me, or a disregard for the person. Because guess what?

Y' all gotta go to heaven together. Like, here's the reality. Some people that you disagreed with deeply, some people that you're not friends with right now, if they're in Christ, guess what, man, for glory and eternity, you're stuck with them still. So you look at Colossians and you look at Second Timothy, and Paul, like, reaffirms the dignity of John Mark. He reaffirms who he is in Christ, he says of John, for he has been a deep comfort to me.

Just because John Mark didn't get to go on journey number two doesn't mean that he wasn't useful and wasn't loved by Paul. In second Timothy four, he says, luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful for me in ministry. Understand this, that you may lose some opportunities today, but that doesn't always mean for future ones. I think what probably happened.

This is just my speculation here, as I think that over time, John, Mark got deeply wounded in this disappointment and it pushed him towards Christ in a greater way, in a greater dependency upon him that led him to be reunited with Paul again in the ministry. You got to understand that ministry requires some grit and endurance and perseverance. Like this thing that we're doing called Church of the Valley is going to require a lot more endurance than we realize. It's going to require a lot more grit. Factor of seeing.

How do we see a city transformed and reached with the gospel?

So the text is very short and abbreviated on the disagreement. All we know is that there's a sharp disagreement and they split ways. So we have to ask, how do we disagree then? Like, how do we disagree in a mature and Christ honor and way? Because we have to get there.

Because we have to remind ourselves, right? The old circus person would say, someone gets hurt or somebody gets fearful. They're like, hey man, the show must go on. Like, the mission still has got to advance here. So how do we disagree in a Christ honoring way?

Just a couple thoughts here. As number one, you gotta be brutally honest about your heart and motives. When you are in disagreement with somebody, you've got to be really, really honest about what's going on here. Because a lot of times what we're saying is not what's really going on here. All right?

Like, you think about it like, why didn't you do the dishes? I'm not mad because you didn't do the dishes. I'm mad because I feel disrespected. You gotta like, discern that, right? And because you gotta take the gospel and the gospel's gotta transfer, warm your heart to say, hey, here's really what I'm thinking.

Here's really what's going on here. And you've got to be brutally honest with it. Because if not, you'll argue and disagree on stuff and you'll be over here rather than dealing with what's really going on. Two, you need to make sure you're going to fight for what matters for eternity. I'm talking like core doctrine.

We live in a time where everybody wants to argue and fight over stuff and we're not even fighting over stuff that's going to go into eternity. So you gotta fight for what matters, for eternity. Number three, you gotta make sure you honor God and love each other. Well, you need to honor God with your words and the actions and the way you feel and think about people. Because you know how to slay some people with your words, right?

You know, like when your wife, she says something to you and it's the tone and you're like, man, I'm in trouble. Like, you gotta learn how to fight in such a way that you honor God with not just with what you say, but what you're thinking. And you gotta make sure it's bathed with a deep love for each other. You gotta ask yourself, when you're in a conflict or when you're disagreeing, does this person feel more or less loved by you? Because if they feel less loved by you, then you lost.

So you gotta honor God, love each other. Well, fourth, you gotta ask, do I want to win the argument or win the person? Because for some of us, man, we just want to win an argument. Because what does that do? That builds up our pride and superiority rather than bathed it in humility.

Do you want to win the argument or do you want to win the person more? Fifth, you need to resolve quickly because bitterness and pride go fast, don't they? Do you know, some of you are in this room and, man, you are being destroyed right now by your own bitterness. And your bitterness has led you to feel justified. So now you're dealing with a whole other sin issue called pride.

One of the most freeing things you could do is resolve some conflict so you could be set free from your bitterness. You know, the one funny thing about bitterness is the people that you're the most bitter about don't even know you're mad at them. You know who's out enjoying their life right now? The person that you're really, really bitter with and upset with. And they don't even know it.

And that makes you even more mad, doesn't it? It's like, you should know that I'm mad right now. I'm angry towards you. And the fact that you're out living your best life makes me even more mad because bitterness will destroy you from the inside. Resolve it quickly.

Have you ever thought through some of, like, your friends throughout your life and you have no clue that, like, bitterness has just destroyed you and taking you further from them? And you, you don't even know why you're not friends with them anymore. It's because Bitterness is just a slow burn. And then finally, there's some non negotiables for us as Christians. Like, these are just non negotiables when you look at the Gospel is that you have to be overly gracious, you have to give forgiveness, and you need to be pursuing reconciliation.

What's grace? Grace is just, amen. I'm just gonna be gracious and kind. I'm gonna give you this unmerited kindness and favor, right? Like, you've hurt me deeply.

But I'm just gonna lavish grace on you regardless. You gotta give forgiveness freely. We're called to forgive. It doesn't mean that you become best friends with the person again. We automatically assume that just because I forgave you means we're back to normal.

No, there's scar tissue, there's woundedness, there's trust that has to get built. But what we're saying is, as Christ has forgiven me, so I forgive you. And what that means is, I'm not going to hold this sin against you anymore. Right? Like, I wonder what those relationships between Paul and John Mark look like.

Hey, man, grace upon grace, bro. You're forgiven for abandoning us in Acts 13, but you ain't coming with us. There's a new boundary here. That's totally fine, but it's. Our job is to pursue reconciliation at all cost.

And reconciliation just means, hey, I forgive you. Maybe we'll be friends one day, but today not. But as we pursue reconciliation, we just want to be reconciled. Why? Because we got to come back, remind ourselves what the Gospel.

Vertically reconciled to God, horizontally to one another. This is where the scripture says, seek to live at peace with everyone. So regardless of the conflict, let love flow from grace and forgiveness. Like, set that person free today. Just like, hey, man, I don't hold this against you.

Hey, you did some things that hurt me. I'm still a little wounded by this. But, man, I don't hold this against you anymore, man. You are set for free. You also got to remember that most conflicts are rarely about the current conflict because there's always an issue behind the issue, isn't it?

This is that moment in your marriage where you're like, man, you just keep fighting and fighting and fighting, and then all of a sudden you're like, I don't even know what we're mad about anymore. And you kind of like, get a little glimpse of just laughter and you're like, I don't even know how we're mad. But there's always an issue behind the issue.

It's in Paul Saying, hey, it's not that I dislike you. I just don't know if I'm going to be able to depend on you. Like, there's an issue behind the issue. And so your job as like a mature follower of Jesus is to say, hey, what's really going on here? Let me give you a freebie.

One of my favorite, favorite expressions to use is when somebody's like, mad and they're disgruntled, I always just ask a question. Hey, man, just help me understand this, man. You want to disarm somebody, use that. Our church in Florida, we shared a church building with a church called Lakeshore Baptist Church. And we had this one deacon and he was angry.

He borderline. It might have been demon possessed. I don't know. There's some parts where I was like, I don't know, man, maybe we don't need to pray for your salvation, but for your deliverance here. But David was always mad and rightfully right.

He's old, he's just grumpy.

I appreciate the laugh on that. That's not meant to be funny, just honest. And I just remember David, he's just always mad about stuff. I'm like, david, there's a hundred plus kids on this campus right now in that building. Like, God is doing something because of you, and you're gonna miss out on seeing what God's doing.

And so I just put my hand on him and I'm like, david, help me understand why you're so mad. I don't know why, but that's just free to just use. Because you have to understand there's always an issue behind the issue. Well, I'm very, very guarded and I'm kind of standoffish from people. That's the real issue.

So I need you to help me understand these things so I could push towards you, not away from you. Hey, it's not that you didn't do the dishes that I'm mad about. It's the fact that I just feel disrespected. It's with your spouse. Hey, when you're on your phone all the time and I get mad, it's not because you're on your phone.

It's because I don't feel seen right now. Paul and Barnabas and John Mark. Hey, John Mark. Love you, forgive you. But you turned away from us.

And I don't know if you're going to turn back when it gets even harder in the future. What does that look like as a church? It's because in a church, there's Typically doctrinal disagreements, philosophical disagreements and then relational disagreements, right? Like when we think about our church here, anything close handed, right? Like this is stuff, we're like, hey, this is essential for you being a Christian.

A lot of stuff out there says Christian, but it's not really biblical Christianity. And so for us, man, if there's any a point where you go to a small group or you hear me or you hear one of your elders, somebody says something, you're like, hey, man, that's in complete contradiction of core doctrine. Who God is, the nature of the Father, Son and the Spirit. Anything in regard to salvation, man, that's stuff that you fight for if it comes to open handed things, right? Some of y' all believe in gifts of the Spirit, Some of you are like, man, we don't have the Holy Spirit.

Just, just kidding, that's not true. Some of you are way more free in your worship. Some of you are more reserved. When we think about things like the end times, hey, there are a lot of God fear and Jesus loving people that disagree on stuff that, hey, at the end of the day it's not going to dictate whether you make it to heaven or not. Be extremely kind in those things, be extremely gracious.

Hey, I dare say talk to somebody who believes slightly different than you on some of these things and then maybe that will actually provoke in your own heart a greater love for Jesus. So there's doctrinal things. Close handed will fight open handed. Hey, we're just going to be gracious and kind. So churches will divide themselves because of doctrine, but a lot of churches, it's not really doctrinal things, it's just philosophical.

Hey, how do we do things, right? How do we do church, man? What kind of worship are we going to have? Is it going to be loud or are we going to do keys only? Are we going to have early services or later service?

Are we going to have groups or are we going to have Sunday school? You know, are we going to pass buckets around to collect offering or are we going to do giving boxes, right? All philosophy of ministry, how are we going to do kid ministry? How are we going to do student ministry? What are we going to do for college students, right?

All philosophical things. Understand that a lot of times people take their philosophy of ministry and elevate it over their doctrine. And that's why churches divide themselves, right? Some of you raise your hand, grew up Baptist, you might have went through what was called a church split, right? Because somebody wanted to change the carpet.

Like we got this nasty carpet. We want wood floors in here. And somebody's like, no philosophical thing. Sometimes it's just relationship. There are people that you used to be friends with in the church, but you're no longer friends with them because there was a relational strife that hasn't been reconciled.

So a mature Christian is going to say, how do I push towards this person? How do I love them? Even when we disagree, because we have to at some point realize that what Satan would want, nothing more, is for church people to just argue with each other and bicker with one another and divide and conquer themselves so that the mission doesn't exist. Advance. What you're going to see here is Paul, Barnabas and John Mark.

They have their disagreement and they say, hey, you know what? Love you, care for you, fist bump you. We'll run into you along the journey. But we're going to go our separate ways now because we have a mission to advance. Look at Acts 15, verse 39, part B through 41 says, after they separated, Barnabas took Mark and with him sailed to Cyprus.

But Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria Sicilia, strengthening the churches. Because at some point, we can't just sit and argue all day long. At some point we have to say, hey, you know what? The Lord be with you, the grace be upon you.

But we're going to go about preaching the Gospel because there will be more disagreements along the way. It's not a matter of if, but when. And more importantly, it's not when they happen, but how they happen. And what do we do? We have to posture ourselves with an enormous amount of humility because it's just the spirit of the air right now is rage.

And then it comes into the church and then everybody's just arguing with each other. I saw this from a head of marketing. So we found something that sells better than sex. It's rage. Like, rage is just intoxicating.

And so we can't allow rage and arguing and disagreements to be the only thing we talk about. This past week, I was in Charleston with our entire US Acts 29 team, and I just want to, like, applaud Brian Howard who leads our network. Big issue happened over the last couple weeks in our organization, and Brian's like, hey, at some point we just got to move on because the mission is far more important than this. The vision of seeing churches planted is far more important than us to just sit here and debate and argue what to do in this situation. And that's what the disciples did.

Why? Because remember last week that mature believers don't just ask what is permissible, they ask what is beneficial for the family of God. So if you want a metric of your maturity, it's when you don't get your way or you're disagreed with, what do you do? Hopefully, the gospel pushes you into a sense of humility and a greater love for. For the church and for the people of God around you.

Because what an immature person's gonna do is just push away from the table, seek isolation, and then later call themselves the victim and never, ever get back on mission. So, friends, I am more and more convinced of what God is doing here in you and through you right now. I am more and more convinced that the gospel is at work in our city in ways we've never dared to imagine. Like, I'm more and more convinced that our best days are ahead. And I'm more and more convinced that there are some great things that God wants to do here.

And the way this happens is through us fighting and maintaining unity. So there's just three things on my heart for us this year, right? Like Paul and Barnabas, they split ways they go about preaching the gospel. That's what we're gonna keep doing. And so as I think about priorities for this year, it's just three things because the show must go on.

Number one is that we'll be a church fueled by prayer. Remember the furnace room when Charles Spurgeon asked what the secret of his ministry was? Or I told a lot of young buck preachers are like, man, how you got such a great amazing big church? And Spurgeon laughs. And he just says, hey, it's a lot simpler than that.

Has nothing to do with me, but it's the fact that my people pray for me. And so we're building this foundation as a church. I mean, we're just going to be a church marked by prayer. Like, I want people to be like, yo, man, I'll go with you, church of Valley. But I really don't want to pray for 80 hours, right?

Like, I want us to be accused of those things one day. Spurgeon also said this. He's talking to his church. He said, if you cease to pray for me, let me know the day, and I must cease to preach. Let me know when you intend to cease your prayers.

And I shall cry, O God, give me this day my tomb, and let me slumber in the dust.

So I don't want you to ever, ever, ever, ever not pray, man. Like, there is this reality going on right now in my own heart, right where I'm like, man, I want to endure and I want to make it. Like, I want to graduate in the ministry. And how does that come in? By you praying for my life and my heart to just constantly be in the pursuit of godliness and holiness and humility.

And when we ask you to pray, to be praying nonstop. All right, like, this is one of my favorite things. Every Sunday at 9:45, some dudes come to my office and they're like, let's pray. And it is one of the greatest gifts you'll ever give me. But a church fueled by prayer.

Two, we're going to continually be about boldly sharing the gospel, right? This is why we have this whole vision campaign in front of you. 500 gospel conversations. Like, I want you to just be bold and courageous in telling people, hey, here's how you meet Jesus, bro. It's the whole Matt Chandler thing.

I need to tell you about Jesus. When you want to do this, you want to know a good way to sucker somebody into hanging out with you. So, hey man, you got plans this weekend? And the moment they say nope, you'd be like, alright, cool, so you're free then.

I thought that one was a lot funnier than but we're just going to boldly share the gospel, right? And then third, we're just like pursuing this entire year organizational clarity. This is like the boring, mundane stuff. But what I've tasked our leaders, I'm like, hey, let's just look at effective systems for growth. Like, let's fine tune every little system and process.

Like whenever somebody sends us an email, email, what's the process? Hey, as we raise more elders, what's the process? As we think about scaling and growing our church? Like, what are those boring little infrastructure things? Like I have a list on my computer of like 80,000 different systems and process.

Or I'm like, hey, let's just write these things and let's just kind of fine tune these things so we have an answer for all of these things. So two are like super exciting. I mean, it's like charge of the hill. And the other one's like, I love spreadsheets. I want to charge the hill in that way.

And so that's what we're doing. I really just think for a moment as this little chapter that we're together in right now is Church of the Valley, right? This little chapter that we would look back on 20, 26 and beyond and be like, yeah, I remember those moments. Like, I Remember when God just poured out his grace on this place? I remember those moments when we look back and we're like, man, that was awesome.

It's just a continuation of what we've been praying since last year. It's just Acts 4:33 over and over again.

And with great power. The apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great power, grace was upon them all. Like, I just keep praying that. Like, I literally in my office today and one of my mentors texts me every single Sunday that he's prayed for me.

And I just respond today, like, this is true. Like, you verify it. I just said, thanks, bro. Acts 4:33. And he said, still praying every day because you were preached.

Because you preached that when we were there. And every Single day at 4:33, he just prays Acts 43 for you. What does that look like? Great power. How?

By the Holy Spirit and through your prayers. That's how we see great power and then great grace upon the church. It's us saying, who are we that God would choose to use us? Like, you want humility to get in your heart as just be completely blown away by the fact that God in his office audacity would choose you and I to preach and proclaim the gospel? Like, who are we that God would say, you know what?

In 2026, I'm gonna pour out my spirit on Church of the Valley so that many would come to faith in him. Like, that's humbling. As every time I get up here and I'm like, hey, here's what God says. And people respond, I'm like, who am I that God would choose to use us? Like, who are we that God would allow us to lead groups and sing songs and serve and minister to kids and greet people and pray?

Like, God invites us into those things, right? The creator of the universe could literally do anything he wants to save and reconcile the world. And he's like, you know what? I'm gonna choose you guys. Like, he's just gonna choose us.

And when I think about us praying together that God would pour out great power and great grace, it just comes with like, who am I, man? And it's just this humbling factor. When I was sitting in Charleston, we were sitting on this rooftop, I was sitting with a group of our leaders from across the US And I just kind of breathed in and lived in that moment for a second of like, who am I at 40 some years old would get to do what I get to do, that I get a paycheck to come here every week and to study the Bible and proclaim it to you guys, that I get to answer your phone calls and text messages. I get to pray for you and serve you. And I just kept thinking in that moment, right?

And if you want to pray for me in a specific way, it's pray that I never lose sight of this. Like, I looked on this rooftop in Charleston. I just remember looking, Looking directly at the guy next to me, and I'm like, I just don't want to mess this up. I was like, man, God has just given me such a good life to live, and then I'm humbled by it. And, man, imagine if every single one of us just took that same mentality.

Who am I? That God would choose me?

Because, you see, the devil would love nothing more. For Paul and Barnabas in that moment to disagree and argue and keep cutting each other's throats and keep stabbing themselves in the back to where Acts 16 doesn't happen. But because there is this gospel maturity in them, they figured out a way to disagree, go their separate ways, so that the gospel would continue to advance. Do not fall into the trap, my friends. Do not fall into the snare of the devil that you are justified to keep harboring your own bitterness and resentment towards others.

The gospel sets you free from those things, my friends. So I just keep thinking that, man, if we worship together and we pray together, we will be a church that will live on mission together. So as we close and go into our response time, all we're gonna do is just give you space to pray. We're gonna have some people in the back that are gonna pray for you. For some of you, maybe you needed, like, just come forward and kneel at the altar and be like, I just need to lay some things down with Jesus today.

But I want to give you four things, because I want you to pray something, but then I want you to be able to do something. And so, four things that you could pray in order so that you can say, number one, specifically, in light of Acts 15, Jesus, give me grace to forgive so that you can look at somebody and say, I forgive you. Secondly, you're gonna pray, Jesus, guard our unity. Keep this church unified. So that way I could say, with a full sense of integrity, man, I'm with you heart and soul.

Three, Jesus, would you broaden our shoulders so that we could say our do hard things? Fourthly, Jesus, would you save many so that when God answers those prayers, you can look upon somebody and say, hey, I see your new life in Christ, and it's awesome. Here's how this looks scripturally as when you think about Jesus, give me grace to forgive. If God has canceled your sin, how on earth do we feel justified to withhold forgiveness from somebody? John 13 says, A new command.

I give you, love one another as I have loved you, so that you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you're my disciples. If you love one another, how do you love somebody? It's when they hurt you and they wound you, say, hey, I forgive you. Hey man, we're good.

Hey, like by the power of the Holy Spirit, you're forgiven. And then you just set him free from being captive in your mind to guarding our unity, that the church can be unstoppable. My friends, when you and I are saying to one another, man, I'm with you heart and soul. Hey, man, this thing called Church of the Valley, man, I'm all in. I'm gonna do whatever it takes.

We're gonna keep building a church that's reaching people. We're gonna keep building a church, seeing our one mores meet Christ. We're just gonna get keep doing these things. This is 1st Samuel 14. Behold, I'm with you heart and soul.

You're going to pray that God would broaden your shoulders. All right? Like, I need followers of Jesus to stop forgetting that the tomb is empty and that Jesus wants to save people. Hey, you know that the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you. Like, we need the church to pray, ACTS type prayers.

God, that you just give us boldness and confidence to keep on proclaiming your word that the church doesn't give up so easily. Well, man are having some hard times. Guess what? You ain't alone. That's where you get other people to carry those hard things with you.

That's where you get to just endure some hard things. So that way it just builds stamina and endurance for the next time. I love what God says to Jeremiah. He says in Jeremiah 12, if you raced with men on foot and they wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if a safe land, you're so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

Other translation says, if you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thicks of the Jordan? Let's pray that God would just broaden the shoulders of this church. That no matter how hard it gets, no matter how despairing it gets, that we just like, this is child's play. This is nothing. We've been through this.

We'll make it through that. And then we would just cry out to the Lord. God, would you just save many? Hey, wouldn't it be awesome if Acts 2, verse 47 just was our story? It says, and the Lord added to their numbers day by day, those who were being saved.

Wouldn't it be crazy? Wouldn't it just be crazy if Liz had to, like, tell events and set up and break down? Yo, just get ready, man. You gotta. You gotta fill that baptismal up again.

We just had baptism last week. Yeah, but we're doing it again. And then the next planning center invites like, hey, hey, you know what? Don't even put it away. Just keep it out and just get that water warm every week.

Because the Lord was just saving and saving and redeeming and reconciling people, and this place just became that. What if it was like, you visited your home churches in other cities and you're like, y' all ain't baptizing people every week. Like, what's going on here? It's like. It's just.

We became so accustomed to it. So we're going to pray these four things together.

Give me grace to forgive, guard our unity, broaden our shoulders. And God, would you just save people? So you stand to your feet, let me pray for you. And then as I'm done praying, if you need somebody to pray with you in the back, if you need to come forward, if you're just like, hey, I got some stuff going on, tap somebody on the shoulder beside you and ask them to pray for you. But we're just going to fill this place crying out to the Lord, Father, may you have your way.

God, I pray for the person in this room that is just in bondage to bitterness and resentment. God, would you set them free today? God, would you give them the grace to forgive? Father, would you protect and guard the unity of this church? God, would you do so by allowing us to repent freely of our sin?

God, would you broaden our shoulders to just endure more in the future? And, God, may we dare to ask that you would just save people week after week after week in such a way that you could get that only you get the glory and credit for it? In Jesus name, amen.