Sermon: Missionaries to Asia- the Jerusalem Council Acts 15

Acts 15:36-41 (NRSV) After some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Come, let us return and visit the believers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work. The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

“Flatter me, and I may not believe you “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.” William Arthur Ward

If we take people as they are, we make them worse If we take people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat them as if they were what they ought to be, we help them to become what they are capable of becoming. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

WHICH AM I? I watched them tearing a building down . . . A gang of men in a busy town, With ho-heave and lusty yell, They swung a beam and a side wall fell; I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled And the men you'd hire if you had to build?" He gave a laugh and said, "No, indeed! Just common labor is all I need; I can easily wreck in a day or two what Builders have taken a year to do!" And I thought to myself as I went away,

"Which of these roles have I tried to play?" As I a Builder who works with care, measuring, Life by the rule and square? Am I shaping my deed to well made plan, Patiently doing the best I can? Or am I a Wrecker, who walks the town, Content with the labor of tearing it down?