Sunday, March 20, 2016

"Disagreement between Two Godly Leaders"

                        "Graciously Disagreeing and Pressing On"
                            Acts 15 : 36-41; Ephesians 4 : 29-32
                                                     Part 2


       Sometime God uses a major disagreement between two capable servants of His to spread the gospel in different directions. That is exactly what happened with Paul and Barnabas. Two more delicated, more godly men couldn't have been found in the first century. Both were effective and spiritual,y minded. Neither was selfish or immature. But what sparks flew when those two men of spiritual steel clashed!
       Lets's look now into the biblical account and set the stage for the tremor that shook those two pillars of the New Testament church. It all started when they took first missionary journey together. Accompanying those two well-rooted men of the faith was a young man named John Mark, a mere sapling of a saint, who was Barnabas' cousin.

            And when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim
            the word of God in synagogues of the Jews; and they also
            Had John as their helper. (Acts 13 :5)

      When the team trudged through Pamphylia, they reached an imposing range of mountains that stood before them like strong shoulderd giants of stone. To make matters worse, the coastline was infested with malaria-carrying mosquitos. Needless to say, when they reached Perga in Pamphylia, the honeymoon of adventure had become totally eclipsed. Pershap he lost heart. Perhaps he grew homesick. Whatever the reason, John Mark had had enough of missionary life.
 
           Now Oaul and his companions put out to sea from paphos
           And came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John left the. And 
           Returned to Jerusalem. (V.13)

John Mark's missionary dream had turned into a major nightmare. When there travel got tough, he got tired. Just when they all neede to pull together, he pulled out. His timing couldn't have been worse. It's very possible that Paul had gone down for the count after a hour with malaria or migraines from an eye disease. Later on the trip, Paul was stoned and left for dead

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