The Restorer

Intro:K1st

o Cars in Guatemala

ShipShape: Restorers

· Last week/TB Continued—>This week/

· Antique shops:

marriage high maintenance/parenting high maintenance

Restorers realize relationships are worth repairing.

o When Damaged

· resistance to repairing hurt relationships: marriages, friendship, family ties, quiet quit

- Instead of leaning in, bowing out/Church offense/narcissism, toxicity/valid reason

need for us to seek maturity in our relationships.

do the work of restoring more often than replacing./tools for repair

The Conflict

Acts 15 “sharp disagreement” between Paul and Barnabas’ cousin, John Mark.

Acts 15:36–39 (NASB 2020)

36After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return and visit the brothers and sisters in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”

37Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also.

38But Paul was of the opinion that they should not take along with them this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

39Now it turned into such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.

But we do know it was resolved/Prayer to restore relationships/We need grit and tenacity

Pray.

1. Restorers value the usefulness of what was once useless.

o Seabiscuit[1]

Tom Smith: Trainer, Charles Howard: Millionaire/Smith saves horse, hired

“You don’t throw a whole life away just ‘cause it’s banged up a bit.” Buy Seabiscuit, small, avoided/Tom hires “Red” Pollard-5’7”, bonds, blind, race with Rosemont/Smith wants to fire Red, “You don’t throw a whole life away just ‘cause it’s banged up a bit.”/Symbol during GD, $438,000

· I believe Paul felt that John Mark had lost his usefulness.

· Proverbs 25:19 19Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.

shift occurs in Paul’s final days on earth/2 Tim.

Read 2 Timothy 4:9-10 with me.

2 Timothy 4:9–11 9Make every effort to come to me soon;

10for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

But let’s read verse 11.

11Only Luke is with me. Take along Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.

five things for comfort: Timothy, cloak, books & parchment, John Mark

Philemon 1, Paul calls John Mark “a fellow worker.”

1 Peter 5:13 (NASB 2020)

13She who is in Babylon [church in Rome], chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.

· “Deserter” with strong finish, friend to super A’s, author of Mark, useless

2. Restorers Become Resolvers.

o Paper-shredded Money: Ben & Jackee Belnap/envelope-$1,060, college ball

Leo “helping”, Bureau of Engraving and Printing- “Mutilated Currency Division,” 30,000 claims, $30,000 redeemed, ziploc/ dept of redeeming the irredeemable.

· So then, don’t you think /But we need to have the heart of a restorer/not born, become

Reflect: avoidance, awkward, more grace, finished, not hung up, not quiet quit, not walked

Ephesians 4:1–3 (NASB 2020) 1Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

- We’re going to need a few things: a. Humility & gentleness, b. Patience, c. Bearing with one another in love., Occasionally? No, w/ diligence/

· Relationships are opportunities to look. Like. Jesus./Mt. 5: on way to offer, brother against us, make right

LuAnn

Minutes or hours of awkward/but saves relationship, honors Christ

3. Restorers extend the grace that they have been extended.

o It’s Personal/ Romans 2:16, 16:25 “my Gospel.”/Recipient/Paul was ON MISSION, Dad, Might have taken step back, business of the Gospel to become personal/useless 2 useful

Response:

· Matthew 18:23-35: servant owes 10,000 T, servant begs for patience- V. 27:“Out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.”

- asked for time, patience, King showed GRACE, 100 denarii-100 days wages/servant “seized him and began to choke him,” demanding his payment./ The Master furious/

Application

· Jesus paid the unpayable/100 days is a lot, but could be recouped/We could never recoup price of sin that cost our Jesus so dearly./Required to extend grace

Altar.

· Who do you need to extend grace to?

· “Relationships get easier when the Gospel in your heart gets bigger.”

· I want to open up the altar. Maybe you have a relationship in your life that needs prayer. Maybe even a miracle.

- I just so happen to know of a God who can repair things that we thought were irreparable.