Life and ministry is filled with road hazards. Potholes, landslides, detours, and road blocks can hamper and even derail our pursuits. We need to get things right to see all God has for us.
▸ Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9)
▸ Barnabas’ recruiting Paul (Acts 11)
▸ 14 years of side-by-side service in Antioch (Galatians 2)
▸ The fateful prayer meeting and the Holy Ghost summons, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
▸ The phenomenal success of the first missionary journey. (Acts 13 and 14)
▸ The stoning of Paul at Lystra (Acts 14:19)
As ministers, we have all taught from these passages, but how many times have we been willing to look honestly at Acts 15? In Acts 15 the wheels come off the wagon.
How many of you had a tough winter this past winter? I haven’t plowed that much snow in a long time. I noticed this Spring that my truck was pulling to one side. I knew what that meant ... one pothole too many had knocked the truck out of alignment. Running out of alignment caused my tires to wear at an accelerated rate. Obviously, I scheduled a front end alignment. A few days before the alignment, I found out that my spring hanger was almost rusted through. It had caused the rear tires to be out of alignment and I was actually steering to correct the problem. Who knew that one pothole could cause such trouble.
The dynamic duo, Barnabas and Paul, are planning a missions trip to retrace their steps to evaluate their effectiveness and strengthen the churches. BUT, they hit a pothole.
A while back my pastor and I sat down and had a long talk about our roles in the Body of Christ. I shared with him that there was one thing I had learned about my calling, I make a great “#2,” (Number One for you trekkies) but I am just a mediocre #1. I can implement vision strategy, analyze and improve any process, and build a successful team, but I can’t cast vision with an Ugly Stick. My problem is that I expect everyone else to share my passion, share my commitment, and be at my level of revelation. I get blind-sided all the time when I lead. But, when I am in proper alignment with a visionary leader, we see things happen. I am a Barnabas.
Barnabas could see the potential in Mark and was committed to seeing him reach his full potential. Nothing, not even Paul, was going to make him give up on Mark.
Paul, on the other hand, was an apostle. He was interested in results and didn’t have time to waste on a quitter. The pothole of Mark’s abandonment had left a misalignment that wasn’t exposed until now.
Back to my truck ... I could have gotten the front end aligned, but I’d still have been driving down the road sideways. I would get to where I was going, but I would not have fixed the root problem. Sooner or later, I would have to deal with the problem or it was going to deal with me. Paul and Barnabas hadn’t dealt with the misalignment of Mark. They had been driving down the road sideways but didn’t know it.
You may be driving sideways. You may have hit a pothole long ago. A fractured relationship , a twisted doctrine, or maybe a simple disagreement over process has left you out of alignment. Maybe you need a front end alignment - the part that is home to the power and direction for your life and ministry. Or maybe you need the drive train realigned - the part that takes all that power and converts it to work. Your whole team may need some adjustment.
We see this God ordained team going through divorce, Barnabas unable to reconcile and Paul unwilling to yield. Paul's pothole turns into Barnabas' sinkhole. Even though they were called together, had been an awesome team, and had their destinies linked, they were now being broken apart by the jarring impact of a pothole which had not been dealt with in the past. Barnabas goes off in the bondage of his offense, and Paul puts a new rear end in his truck, Silas, they get a fresh lube job from the church, and they once again set the world on its ear.
Barnabas ... disappears into relative obscurity.
Folks, we can’t afford to go through life driving sideways. We need to be in proper alignment to see all that God has for us.
How do we check our alignment?
I was watching a NASCAR race the other day and saw one of the speedsters lose traction and slam into the wall in turn four. He immediately made his way to the pits where they pulled out a long, thin, metal piece that would tell them if his wheels were running true. This template was their reference to identify the need to make adjustments that would keep the car running straight and give them a shot at winning the race. You and I must measure ourselves against our template, the standard. Anything that does not measure up has to be readjusted to bring it back in line. Our template is the Word as modeled by Jesus.
If you need a tune-up, get into the presence of the Father and let Him get things back in proper working order, He is the expert.
If your misalignment is with someone else, patch the pothole, reconcile, don't let the circumstance or the enemy steal the treasure God has put in your life.
We are the children of God, nothing is impossible to us, if we will just get in line with what God requires and directs.
Acts 15:36-41 (NKJV)You know the back story:
36 Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” 37 Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from [abandoned] them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. 39 Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. 41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
▸ Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9)
▸ Barnabas’ recruiting Paul (Acts 11)
▸ 14 years of side-by-side service in Antioch (Galatians 2)
▸ The fateful prayer meeting and the Holy Ghost summons, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
▸ The phenomenal success of the first missionary journey. (Acts 13 and 14)
▸ The stoning of Paul at Lystra (Acts 14:19)
As ministers, we have all taught from these passages, but how many times have we been willing to look honestly at Acts 15? In Acts 15 the wheels come off the wagon.
How many of you had a tough winter this past winter? I haven’t plowed that much snow in a long time. I noticed this Spring that my truck was pulling to one side. I knew what that meant ... one pothole too many had knocked the truck out of alignment. Running out of alignment caused my tires to wear at an accelerated rate. Obviously, I scheduled a front end alignment. A few days before the alignment, I found out that my spring hanger was almost rusted through. It had caused the rear tires to be out of alignment and I was actually steering to correct the problem. Who knew that one pothole could cause such trouble.
The dynamic duo, Barnabas and Paul, are planning a missions trip to retrace their steps to evaluate their effectiveness and strengthen the churches. BUT, they hit a pothole.
A while back my pastor and I sat down and had a long talk about our roles in the Body of Christ. I shared with him that there was one thing I had learned about my calling, I make a great “#2,” (Number One for you trekkies) but I am just a mediocre #1. I can implement vision strategy, analyze and improve any process, and build a successful team, but I can’t cast vision with an Ugly Stick. My problem is that I expect everyone else to share my passion, share my commitment, and be at my level of revelation. I get blind-sided all the time when I lead. But, when I am in proper alignment with a visionary leader, we see things happen. I am a Barnabas.
Barnabas could see the potential in Mark and was committed to seeing him reach his full potential. Nothing, not even Paul, was going to make him give up on Mark.
Paul, on the other hand, was an apostle. He was interested in results and didn’t have time to waste on a quitter. The pothole of Mark’s abandonment had left a misalignment that wasn’t exposed until now.
Back to my truck ... I could have gotten the front end aligned, but I’d still have been driving down the road sideways. I would get to where I was going, but I would not have fixed the root problem. Sooner or later, I would have to deal with the problem or it was going to deal with me. Paul and Barnabas hadn’t dealt with the misalignment of Mark. They had been driving down the road sideways but didn’t know it.
You may be driving sideways. You may have hit a pothole long ago. A fractured relationship , a twisted doctrine, or maybe a simple disagreement over process has left you out of alignment. Maybe you need a front end alignment - the part that is home to the power and direction for your life and ministry. Or maybe you need the drive train realigned - the part that takes all that power and converts it to work. Your whole team may need some adjustment.
We see this God ordained team going through divorce, Barnabas unable to reconcile and Paul unwilling to yield. Paul's pothole turns into Barnabas' sinkhole. Even though they were called together, had been an awesome team, and had their destinies linked, they were now being broken apart by the jarring impact of a pothole which had not been dealt with in the past. Barnabas goes off in the bondage of his offense, and Paul puts a new rear end in his truck, Silas, they get a fresh lube job from the church, and they once again set the world on its ear.
Barnabas ... disappears into relative obscurity.
Folks, we can’t afford to go through life driving sideways. We need to be in proper alignment to see all that God has for us.
How do we check our alignment?
I was watching a NASCAR race the other day and saw one of the speedsters lose traction and slam into the wall in turn four. He immediately made his way to the pits where they pulled out a long, thin, metal piece that would tell them if his wheels were running true. This template was their reference to identify the need to make adjustments that would keep the car running straight and give them a shot at winning the race. You and I must measure ourselves against our template, the standard. Anything that does not measure up has to be readjusted to bring it back in line. Our template is the Word as modeled by Jesus.
James 1:22-27 (NKJV)If you are out of alignment and things are not working like they should be, repent and realign yourself to the fundamentals of the Word.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
If you need a tune-up, get into the presence of the Father and let Him get things back in proper working order, He is the expert.
If your misalignment is with someone else, patch the pothole, reconcile, don't let the circumstance or the enemy steal the treasure God has put in your life.
We are the children of God, nothing is impossible to us, if we will just get in line with what God requires and directs.
