(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen. All right, finishing out Acts chapter 15, but before we continue with the end of Acts chapter 15, someone asked a question last week, and I apparently left a stone unturned, so I'm going to address that very quickly at the beginning. Go back to Acts chapter 15 and verse number 19. Go back to Acts chapter 15 and verse number 19. I want to just explain, somebody asked the question, and by the way, this is a good thing to do. Like, if you read something and you think, I didn't cover it, or you think that maybe I missed something, hey, bring that up. It shows you're paying attention, number one. And number two, you know, I don't want to leave anything unturned. I really focused on things strangled and from blood here, because I had been asked that question several times before on why that is and why those obscure things seemed kind of weird. But the question was, why these two sins? Because the things before, things strangled, you know, abstaining from things strangled and from blood, those aren't sins. That was more of a cultural thing, trying to just kind of bring the Gentile culture, you know, the whole dead raccoon to the potluck thing, right? So I'm trying to make this culture of this church one and have people get along a little bit better. But the items, pollutions of idols and fornication, those are actual sins. By pollutions of idols, you know, we could assume meats from idols, which, you know, not so much maybe is, that could go either way. But actually, idolatry itself is a sin. So why these two sins? It was the question. And let me show you why those two sins or why I believe those two sins were what James passed sentence on. Turn to First Corinthians, chapter five, turn to First Corinthians, chapter five. So you have to understand, we're starting with baby Christians here, we have Gentiles, not only did they just get saved, not only did they just receive and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they have no knowledge of the Bible, they have no knowledge of the oracles of God, as the Bible calls itself, they have no knowledge of what the Jews had knowledge of at all. But look at First Corinthians, chapter five, in verse number 11. So in First Corinthians, chapter five, in verse number 11, and this is also something, if you're new here, you know, in the last year or so, this is also something because I have preached on this, this is also something that will set us apart here from pretty much all other churches in, you know, around is that we actually follow what the Bible says. All right. So in First Corinthians, chapter five, in verse number 11, you see six sins, you see six sins listed here that are to not be tolerated in the church. Okay, so what this means is, is I mean, let's quite literally just read it in verse number 11. In First Corinthians, chapter five, verse number 11, the Bible says, But now I have written unto you, not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother, be a fornicator or covetousness, or idolater, or a railer, or drunkard, or an extortioner, with such and one know not to eat. So the Bible here is saying it look at saying very specifically, it's saying if any man be called a brother, okay, elsewhere in the Bible, Paul says that, look, you can't just stay away from all this stuff, or you'll never be able to be around anybody. If you stay away from what it's saying is, is that if any man is called a brother, like a brother in Christ is doing these sins, that they are not to be in the church, it is not to be something that is tolerated in the church. Now, now, look, this has happened here, okay, not to get into great detail, but this has happened and what the way it it goes is any man that's called a brother, so it's not like a visitor will come in the door, and we will start interrogating them on these items. That's not how this works, okay, but what happens is, is, you know, if somebody comes in the church and is starting to become a member of the church, and they are, you know, involved in one of these sins, you know, at some point, once they're called a brother, at some point, there will be a conversation with that person. Now, generally, the way, you know, the main one that has come up here is fornication, you know, someone living in fornication, living with their girlfriend or living with their boyfriend or whatever, and you know, look, I don't enjoy conversations like that, but if it comes to somebody's coming to the church, they're part of the church, they are they are saved, eventually, there's going to be a conversation, it's gonna be a very simple conversation that you can either stop being in fornication, you can either get married, or you can either, unfortunately, choose to go to church somewhere else. That's the way those conversations go, it's a very, it's not a great, it's not like I love that, but that's what the Bible says, so that's what will happen. Why is that, though? Why is that? Why does the Bible say these six sins? And look, I'm not gonna preach a whole sermon on this, but just look at it from this perspective. I stand up here and I preach the Bible, I stand up here and I just, I just rip your faces off on sin, and getting sin out of your life, and all these things, and we sit here, we're trying to raise children that are, that are gonna adhere to these standards, that are, that are not gonna think fornication is nothing, like the world will tell them, the world says, you know, fornication is no big deal, living together before you're married, it's nothing now, people don't even think twice about it, so if I stand here and I preach the Bible to my children, to the children of the church, and then we just have open fornication in the church, it's a joke. It makes a joke, it makes hypocrites out of everybody, especially, you know, the leader of the church. All right, so the Bible is specifically saying that these six sins are not to be allowed in the church, and look, we're not on a hair trigger to just kick people out of church, we're here to help people get right, I'll give people whatever support they need, but at the end of the day, we will follow the Bible. So this is why I believe James singled out these two sins, because these were part of the six sins, these were the two of the, two of these six sins these Gentiles were into. These Gentiles were, were committing, so it was a big deal, and it's also a pretty cool proof of the Bible, that you have two supposed authors here, you have Luke and you have James quoting this, and then you have Paul literally writing this to the Corinthian church, saying basically the same thing, it shows you that the Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible, okay? So that is why I believe that he chose and kind of singled out those two sins, idolatry and fornication, because those were sins that they saw amongst the Gentiles that were common, that they needed to get right in order to be part of a church, in order to be part of the church at Antioch, the church at Jerusalem, the church wherever, all right? So that's why I believe he listed those two sins, all right? And of course, you know, there's going to be growth and as things, other things come up, I'm sure they will, they would have corrected those things as well. Let's go back to Acts chapter 15, but that kind of answers that question for you. Acts chapter 15, we're going to start at verse number 32 after we got over this question, this kind of this debate on circumcision and the Gentiles and James's sentence. Now in verse number 32, remember Judas and Silas went back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas to kind of act as, to kind of act as witnesses to the sentence that James passed, to write letters and to help the church there, but look at verse 32, let's start off this evening. The Bible says in Judas and Silas, being prophets also to, also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words and confirmed them. So they're up there and they're preaching the word of God and after they had tarried their space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles. Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still. So basically they said, okay, you know, you're, you're, you're free to go back and all this, but Silas chooses to stay in Antioch. Paul also in Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also. And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren into every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. So this is kind of the, the spark that lights off the second missionary journey of Paul here. But something happens here. There's a problem that kind of arises, you know, you'd say, okay, Paul and Barnabas, they're going to head back to where they came from, but there's something that comes up that's an issue. Look at verse 37. It says in Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul, now this is, this is Mark who left them at Perga. If you remember, as soon as they came from Cyprus, they sailed north to Turkey. I keep calling it by its modern name, but I want to give you kind of a, an idea of where this was at. They sailed north to Turkey, which would be Pamphylia, according to Bible times. And then right when they hit the coast, they hit the beach, you know, Mark kind of took off to Jerusalem and didn't head with them up to, you know, the other Antioch and down through Lystra and Derbe where they had the most trouble, by the way, where they really, I mean, they got into a lot of trouble. They nearly died several times and angry mobs were after them and then of course they went back the same way. It was a very difficult journey, right? So Paul thought it not good to take him with them who departed with them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work, right? So Paul says, Barnabas says, let's take Mark and Paul says, no. Look at verse 39. And you say it wasn't, was it just kind of a big deal? No, it says the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder for one from another and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed under Cyprus. And Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. So this Silas that stayed, he becomes kind of Paul's new partner on this next journey, on this next missionary journey. And he went through Syria and Caecilia confirming the churches. So I'm going to kind of give you a breakdown of this whole situation and I'm going to tell you who was right tonight. All right, I'm going to tell you who was right in this situation. First of all, before I pass my sentence tonight on this situation, turn to Colossians chapter four. Let's get some more context on everything that's happening, who these players are in this situation. Go to Colossians chapter four and look at verse number 10. Go to Colossians chapter four and verse number 10 and we'll learn two things in Colossians chapter four and verse number 10 that are relevant to this situation. Look at Colossians chapter four verse number 10. The Bible says, and Aristarchus my fellow prisoner saluteth you. So Paul's in prison and he's saying, you know, Aristarchus is with me, my fellow prisoner saluteth you. And Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, touching whom he received commandments, if he come unto you, receive him. So Marcus is with Paul at this point. He's with Paul and he's saying, receive this man. So there's a couple of things that we need to understand here. First of all, things must be patched up with Mark at this point in Colossians chapter four. That's the first thing. And the second thing that we need to understand that which gives us a little bit more context on why Barnabas was maybe a little bit more understanding towards Mark. Look at who Mark is according to Barnabas, sister's son to Barnabas. And all of modern Bible versions say that they're cousins, which, you know, if it's your sister's son, who is that? That's your nephew. All right. So Mark was Barnabas' nephew. Barnabas was Mark's uncle. Does it make more sense now in the story how Barnabas is just, he is just advocating for Mark? You know, there's a little extra mercy going on here for the sister's kid is what's going on in Acts chapter 15. Look, I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's a good thing. I mean, it's really, it's really turned to Second Timothy chapter four. It's really the last we ever hear from Barnabas, not to say that he doesn't do anything great, but it's really the last we hear from Barnabas. But Mark is mentioned again, if you go to Second Timothy chapter four, Second Timothy chapter four, look at verse number 11. In Second Timothy chapter four in verse number 11, so we see that there's a little nepotism going on with Barnabas in Colossians chapter four. All right, you know, nothing in the Bible is there on accident. You know, God puts all these details in there for a reason, but look at Second Timothy 4.11. Paul says, only Luke is with me. Now, let me just say something here, okay? Luke was probably Paul's closest friend, or Paul's closest disciple that was with him all the time. Why? Guess who wrote the book of Acts? Luke. Luke wrote the book of Acts, you know, dictated to him by Paul. You say, well, was Luke just in Antioch, and was he in Antioch, and did Paul just dictate everything to him? Well, apparently not. If you look at Second Timothy chapter four, he says, only Luke is with me. So Luke was with Paul a lot. We don't know exactly when he was always with Paul, but, you know, Luke was very close to Paul. We can definitely make that assumption. But then look what he says. He says, take Mark and bring him with thee. Why? Is he still think Mark's, you know, a shortfall? But look what he says, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. So he's saying, take Mark and bring him with thee, for he's profitable to me for the ministry. So somewhere along the line, Paul's attitude towards Mark has changed. Mark kind of redeemed himself, all right? So that gives us a little bit more insight into the differences between Paul and Barnabas. Turn to Galatians chapter two. Let's learn a little bit more about Barnabas, a little bit more about Barnabas and Paul and kind of this Galatians chapter two in verse number 11 through 13 kind of gives a real good contrast of just the differences between these two men, Paul and Barnabas. All right, look at Galatians chapter two in verse number 11. So of course, at Antioch, there was a disagreement at one point between Peter and Paul. Look at verse number 11 of Galatians chapter two. Paul is writing this and you have the context of this, okay? Let's read it and then I'll explain this a little bit more. The Bible says, but when Peter was come to Antioch, I was stood him to the face because he was to be blamed. You know what Paul is saying here? He's saying, Peter came to Antioch one time and I went and I disagreed with him to his face because he was wrong about something. It's pretty bold statement there. Look at verse 12. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. So he was stood Peter to his face because Peter came to visit and before these people from the Jerusalem church came, which were Jews, I'm sure, he was eating with the Gentiles. Peter was, you know, just with the church and everything. But then these men from Jerusalem came and Peter separated himself and wouldn't eat with the Gentiles anymore. And Paul stood up to him and charged him right to his face and said, you're wrong for what you're doing. Look at verse 13. And the other Jews disassembled likewise with him. I'm sure this really made Paul mad. So Peter not only made a mistake, but he drew other Jews with him. So basically, Peter was dividing the church. Peter was a leader in the church, he was respected, he was dividing the church. Here they're working so hard, including James, by the way, to just get this cultural divide like just smoothed over and then Peter pulls this and just divides the church along Jew and Gentile lines again. But look what it says after the semicolon, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimilation. So here, when Peter did this, Barnabas went off with him. And Paul's standing there going, what in the world is going on here? Paul was a Jew. So Paul withstood Peter to his face and, you know, he called him out on it. And Peter was wrong and he accepted that. But look, think about this. Think about this situation. Paul is literally writing a letter to the Galatian church here. He's writing a letter about how Peter messed up and Barnabas messed up and he's writing it to the church at Galatia being like, these guys messed up and I put them in their place. It's like, hey, you know, could we keep that under the rug a little bit? What I'm trying to get at here is Paul is not politically correct. Okay? Paul is calling a spade a spade. He's just calling things what they are and he's like, you know what? I've got an example that I can use for the Galatian church here and I'm going to use it and I don't care who gets thrown under the bus. That's just who Paul was. And Barnabas, you know, he was a little softer. He kind of actually got drawn away, you know, with this mistake that Peter made. You know, I mean, but Paul was just like pointing out somebody else's mistake just to use it as an example. You know, how insensitive people would say today. But here's my point and kind of here's my sentence, giving me all that context just to say this, all right? Look, the world needs people like this. The world needs people like Paul. You say, what? Why? Because they're truth tellers. The world needs, I mean, especially today, the world needs truth tellers. The world needs people that will tell the truth at all costs, that will just say the truth regardless of anybody's feelings. That's what the world needs. Look, it is literally impossible to find the truth today. I mean, you say like I'm trying to figure out what's going on in the world. I'm trying to figure out, you know, look, that is the problem today is nobody's telling the truth. It's hard to find the truth. Talk about the church, you know, talk about churches. That's the problem with churches today is they're not telling the truth. They're not telling the truth to people. Look, in order, in order, here's what you have to understand why Paul is so valuable is because in order for the truth seeker to be successful, somebody has to be speaking the truth. In order for somebody that wants to know the truth to actually get the truth, somebody's got to be saying the truth. And this, like, somebody needs to be out there telling it how it is. But they tend to run people over. You know, they tend to bulldoze people. You know, back to the debate over Mark. So Mark, you know, he wanted to go with Paul and Barnabas, and Paul said no. And Barnabas said, you know, I think you should go, and Paul said he's not going. But a couple things to know. First of all, just look at the logistics here. You got your map? Look at your map. Look at your map. So who was right? Who was right? Now that we have all that context, look at the map. Paul didn't go back to Cyprus, did he? Look at the arrow from Antioch. Look at the arrow from Antioch. He went by land north, and he went back to where? He went back to Derbe, to Lystra, and to Iconium. Those were the hardest places that Paul and Barnabas came from. Remember, Mark did not go to those places. He left before they got to the hard part. So he went to Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, and then where did he go? He went about twice as far. He went across the sea to Greece. He went over to Macedonia, to Thessaly, and he went through all this extra part of the journey. Look, this journey was going to be a lot harder than even the first one. So you blame Paul for saying, no, I don't think he's coming with me this time. Because Paul knew, Paul was going back into the storm, and then further is where Paul was going. I mean, Mark exited that storm in the first place. So where did Barnabas take Mark? Look at the last verse, or close to the last verse, of Acts chapter 15. Verse number 39, and the contention was so sharp between them they departed asunder one from another. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. So Barnabas took Mark to the island vacation. Barnabas took Mark to the easy part of the first missionary journey. And look, I'm not saying Barnabas was wrong for doing that. But here's what I'm going to get at. I'm with Paul on this one. Because there was no reason for Paul to believe that Mark was up to the challenge of what he was going to do. Especially where he was going to go. So I'm going to give you three reasons tonight that Paul was right. I'm going to give you three reasons that Paul was right. The first two are very simple. The second one, or the third one is a little bit more in depth. But look, I'm with Paul on this one because I'll give you three reasons why I'm with Paul on this decision. The first one is this. When you are a fighter and someone abandons you in a fight, you take that personally. And that was Paul. And that was Paul. Paul, look, and here's the thing. Most people are not fighters like Paul is. Most people are not hard charging people like Paul. And guess what? That's okay. That's why most people will read this story in Acts chapter 15. I'm pretty much guaranteeing that the vast majority of people will read this story in Acts chapter 15 and they'll be like, oh, Paul's being kind of mean here. Paul's kind of being a jerk there. And they won't come to the same conclusion that I will. But here's what I'm trying to tell you. Most people won't understand what Paul did. Because most people don't have, you know, that fight in them like Paul had. But when you're in the middle of a battle like that and somebody walks away from you, you take that personally. That's why Paul, you know, that's one of the reasons. And the second one is this. The bold. Remember. Remember Barnabas and Paul, what did it say in Acts chapter 13? It said they waxed bold. Look, it took a lot of boldness to do what they did, even going from Antioch back down to Lystra, back to Derb, back to Iconium, then to go back the other way. It took a lot of boldness. But here's the thing. Bold, the boldness. The bold people, they need people that they can rely on. In Acts chapter 13 and verse number 6, it says, Mark was there to their minister. That means that he was like their support staff. So what I'm trying to get you to understand is if bold people are going out into a difficult situation, you know, look, it would be better if you went into a tough situation with less people than if you went into a tough situation and a bunch of people you thought you could rely on left. It would be better to go in with less people. And that's what Paul knew. Because Paul got dropped on his head. Mark wasn't just a nobody. Mark was there for their support. Mark was there to help them. He was one-third of the force. Think about that. 33% of their effort was Mark. And he just took off. And so Paul's like, I'm not going to be left hanging again. He's like, I know what we're going into. I need to be able to count on the people that are with me. So that's what Paul knew. Turn to Proverbs chapter 24. So those are just two, just right off the top of my head that I can guarantee you Paul was thinking. That, you know, just being in a fight, someone abandons you, you know what, that upsets you. You take that personally. Right? The bold, the bold, they need people that they can rely on. They need people that are also bold. So that they know that that support staff will be there when boldness is required. But here's the big one. Here's the big one. And this is more, this is more of a focus on John Mark himself. Okay? This is the third reason that Paul was right. But it's focusing on John Mark and some of the things that I just read to you from 2nd Timothy chapter 4 and Colossians chapter 4 about John Mark and about what, how he ended. About you know, what happened to him in the long term. Look at Proverbs chapter 24 and verse number 16 for the third reason that Paul was right. The Bible says, for a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief. Here's the third reason that Paul was right. Because failure should lead to future success. That's the third reason that Paul was right. You think Paul was harsh? Read this verse. You know, the Bible is always much harsher than, than you know, paraphrases of the Bible that you see on a poster somewhere. This Bible verse right here is, you know, haven't you, have you heard the one that they tell the, you know, grade school kids or maybe even people at work today? You know, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. I mean that's the modern version of Proverbs 26, Proverbs 24, 16. But what does the verse say here? It says, it doesn't say, you know, first you don't succeed, try, try again. It says, if at first you don't succeed, it's basically saying if you don't get up and succeed, you're wicked. That's what the wicked do. That's what the Bible says. All right. This Bible is saying it's the wicked that get knocked down and stay down. Now look, the Bible isn't here, the Bible isn't telling Christians here. You have to read this with the right, with the right mindset. The Bible isn't telling you as a saved believer that, you know, hey, you're wicked if you stay down. It's saying, it's saying it's going to motivate you. It's saying if you, if you get knocked down and you don't get up, it's like that's what the wicked do. It's like, don't be this person that gets knocked down six times and then they don't get up. It's like, that's what the wicked does. It's like, it's the wicked. It's the wicked that, you know, gets laid off or has something horrible happen in their life and they go crawl into a bottle. It's like, that's what the wicked does. Don't do that. That's what the Bible is saying here in Proverbs 24, 16. Look, the road to success is paved with failure. I mean, I don't know how to get this across to people, but you think Paul was harsh. Just read Proverbs 24, 16. It's saying you have to get up because the wicked are the ones that stay down. The wicked are the ones that, that fall into sin and get knocked out of the Christian life and all that. That's what the wicked do. What are you doing following that? You see, here's the thing, folks, people think, and I don't know how to get this across to people. I mean, I've tried. I've tried and I'll keep trying, but here's the thing. People think, people think that successful people are just super smart. People think successful people are like, they just, it's just because that guy is super successful because he just thought of the best thing. That guy, that guy is super successful. Just think of somebody successful in your mind right now that is successful with whatever your criteria is. And people think like that guy was super successful because he had the best opportunity, he had the best education, he had the best idea, wrong. That's not the case at all. And look, successful people will even tell you this. That successful person, and look, here's the thing, with everybody, failures are more common than success. That's what you need to understand. It's kind of like, it's kind of like, it's kind of like gold mining. Think about gold mining. You know, it's not like one guy goes and gold mines over on this property and he just gets lucky and just finds like a big vault full of pure gold. It's like, no, gold mining is a function of how much material you can use, you can move. How much dirt and rocks and trees can I get through that's a function of how successful of a gold miner you will be, or I guess any miner of any kind. But people think like, oh man, it's just the guy that just, he dug a hole and he found a vault full of 80 tons of gold. No, it's the guy that moved the most material is the guy that was the successful gold miner. I mean, how do you get this across to people? Failure is the material that needs to be moved. Failure is before getting to the gold. You're just like, you know, you don't want to move other material, you'll never find any gold. Because success is buried in failure. You have to accept the other material. You have to accept that you have to get through the other material to find the success at the end of it. That's the difference between people. You're like, what does this apply to? It applies to everything. This is the guy, I wonder how many times in 23 years I've been, you know, I think about this sometimes, I wonder how many times in 23 years I've been sitting in a meeting full of people and there's somebody that had an idea that wouldn't say anything. Because they were afraid that if they said, hey, what if we tried this, that somebody would say, that's not going to work, idiot. Because we tried that last week or whatever. I say stuff like that all the time. I just don't care. It's like, hey, why don't we try this? And they're like, hey, moron, we tried that last year. I'm like, oh, okay. Look, there's more failure than success. There's more failure than success. You have to accept the other material. You know what? There's more people that are not interested in the Bible than there is that want to know the truth. Did you know that? Did you know that? You know, there's more people, look, you know, the saveable souls out there, you're like, what does this apply to? It applies to your Christian life. The saveable souls out there, those saveable souls, those people that you could knock on their door and say, do you want to know how to get to heaven? And then you don't know about that. You know those people? They're not in a pile somewhere. They're not in a pile in a park at 10, Saturday, you know, the 7th. They're scattered amongst all these people. They're scattered amongst all the people that are not interested. They're scattered amongst the indifferent. The person that wants to know how to get to heaven but doesn't know and is sitting there and is unsaved, he's scattered amongst evil people in many cases. He's scattered in a neighborhood of people that may slam the door in your face. He's scattered in a neighborhood of people that might come out of their house and tell you, hey, get out of here with your Bible. But those saveable souls, they're not just in a pile somewhere. You got to dig through all those rocks and those trees and that dirt to find them. You say, what's the, you know, you got to knock the 99 doors, folks, to find the one, to find the success. It's just like gold mining. It's just like any mining. The success that you'll have for souls is a direct function of how much other material you're willing to move. So you got to ask yourself, I mean, you got to ask yourself, you know, like, how much rebuke can you take? How much, how much rebuke can you take in your Christian life? How much, how willing are you, how confident are you to stand up for what you believe? And no matter how many people tell you, get out of here, not interested, how much of that can you take? How long can you take it? It's also a function of time. How long can you take it? You're going to have a one year, two year career in your Christian life? This is like the stats that are out there. A bunch of people have like a one year, two year, three year Christian life and then they're like tapped out because that's how much material they're willing to move. That's it. How much, you know, and then you just think about just getting completely knocked out of the Christian life. How much resistance do you have to sin? I mean, are you really angry about sin? Are you really serious about it? Guess what? That'll take you out of this whole thing. That won't just take you out of soul winning, that'll take you out of church, that'll take you out of the Christian life in general. I mean, how much fortitude do you have to stay in the Christian life? This is what separates the great Christians from people that will just do nothing. It's just like, it's not, look folks, it's not the success. It's not the success. I've seen so many people in such bad situations, they just can't get it right. Everything's terrible. It's just like, it's not the success. There's no magic, there's no magic potion that somebody else that doesn't have those problems is doing. Rather than just, they're just getting through the failures and they're sticking with it and they're just staying with it as they go through the rocks and the trees and the dirt. That's it. It's the willingness, the ability, the fortitude. I guess the Bible would say the diligence, the diligence, the consistency over time to trudge through the failures. That's what it is. That's the secret to success right there. Because guess what? Guess what? You know, it always comes back to this. I don't know why. Well, I do know why. Because of the Bible. But here's the thing. Pride can't handle failure. That's why Jesus talks so much about humility. Jesus talks so, he warns so heavily against pride. Pride can't say, that didn't work. Pride can't handle being in the meeting with 20 people and having somebody say, we tried that last year, that won't work. Pride can't take that. And then that person will never say another thing again. So they had one shot. They're like, I got one roll of the dice and it better be success. It's not going to be. Failure, look, I don't care if we're talking technical things, if we're talking spiritual things, failure is much more common than success. I've joked around, it's like 9 out of 10, or it's 1 out of 10 ideas that seem to be technically good. But you've got to grind through the 9. You got to get through the 9. Look, spiritually, it's exactly the same thing. But pride can't say, I was wrong about that. And move on. So I mean, that Christian with that problem, it's just a matter of time. It's just a matter of time. See Mark, Mark took the rebuke. See because this was a rebuke. Are you telling me Mark wasn't aware of what was going on? Mark's in the other room. Can you imagine how Mark felt? Can you imagine Mark sitting in the other room and his uncle arguing with probably the greatest evangelist that's walked the face of the earth that was taught by Jesus Christ himself and this evangelist is saying, I don't want the kid coming with me. I don't trust him. He's not reliable. He's not coming with me. No. To the point where his most reliable missionary partner, Barnabas, he would let him walk away before he would take the kid. Can you imagine how that kid felt? Talk about a beat down. That was probably like the worst day of his life at that point. But you know what he did? He took the rebuke. He took the rebuke with humility. Look, that's taking it like a man. What's taking it like a man? What's taking it like a man? Taking it like a man is getting knocked down by Paul. Getting bloodied in your face in the dirt and standing up and going to your uncle and saying where can I go then? What can I do then? I failed him. What can I do for you? That is humility and that is why Mark became great again. He fell down. Guess what? We all fall down. The difference is how Mark handled it and then he had the greatest evangelist that ever lived tell him that kid is profitable to me in the Bible. After such a great failure and such a bad day in his life, he stood up and said what can I do? He didn't stand up and say, what a jerk. He didn't stand up and say, you know, he's being too hard on me. He didn't stand up and yell back at Paul. He just took it with humility and he moved on and was like what a great example. Mark is such a great example here. I mean, yeah, I kind of started off talking about Paul. We need truth tellers. We need brave, bold men like this. True. But we also need men like Mark who understand that failure and look if you can learn this in your life, you will never end up a failure if you can learn this in your life. That just failures, they just come. I mean, look, failures due to sin come. You're going to fall because of sin, but don't stay down. Don't whine about it. When somebody rebukes you, when maybe a friend who's supposed to sharpen you by the way, when maybe a friend, a brother comes and rebukes you, take it with humility and get up and get back. But pride will stop all of this. Pride will turn you into Proverbs 26 16 and you'll stay down and you'll crawl into sin and you'll crawl away from your spiritual life. But no, Mark took the rebuke and he went where he could go and he did what he could do and he wrote the book of Mark and he became a great prophet to the highest level once again. I mean, I thank God for this lesson. I mean, I thank God for this lesson, mainly between Paul and how we need those people. Try to understand those people. You see somebody that's just hard charging and driving, try to understand that we need those people. I'm kind of like that myself, grant me a little bit of patience. I'm trying to, you know, dull out my corners a little bit. But people like that are necessary. But Mark is the real lesson here because this kid just gets up from this and he just moves on and if you can do that, if you can do that, it doesn't matter how many times you fail because you will hit it. If you're just willing to keep moving that dirt, just keep moving those trees, just keep moving those rocks, even rocks you put in front of yourself. If you're in a good church, you're learning the Bible, you're reading the Bible, you step up, you slip up, and the pastor says, hey man, what are you doing? Come on, come on, get out of that, get over here, and say, sorry, what can I do? Where can I go? I messed up that. What else can I do? How can I be better? And just move on. Get back up. Your brothers and sisters in Christ, same thing. That's what everyone's here for, to exhort each other. But if you have people that can't be exhorted, that are filled with pride, it's just not going to work. It's not going to work. So look, Mark is a great example here. He became profitable to the highest level, even after an argument like this. But hopefully that gives you a little bit more context of this situation. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.