Live for God's Interests and Avoid Tripping Your Brother — James Jennings

The Word of God and the Spirit’s Help

Father, Lord, we do want to be people of the Book. Lord, there's a lot of books. Lord, Solomon knew it. There's much books and with much reading can be weariness. Lord, it can be very weary. We're thankful, Father, for all these books that men of God have written, but Lord, we're thankful here today to have a book from You.

A book that does not have error, that has been preserved. Lord, a book that You've given us that we can understand. Yes, we realize like Peter said, there are many things that Paul said that are hard to understand.

But Lord, we're thankful You've left us with the Helper, the Spirit, who's going to illuminate our minds and help us to understand what Your Word says. And so Lord, help us. Help us to be people who are in the Word, reading the Word, studying the Word, diving into the Word all the more this year, knowing it in a greater way.

And so Lord, I just commit this time to You. Help me to share from this passage, Lord, what Your Word says, Your intended thought, Father, that it would be beneficial for these brethren. Lord, help me to be rightly balanced as Your Word is.

In Christ's name, Amen. Alright, before I have you turn, a question for you. Who is the man? And I say the man because I can only think of one man who this is true of. But who is the man who put a stumbling block before the Lord Jesus Christ?

Peter as a Stumbling Block to Christ’s Mission

Who is the man? Who gets that label? Yeah, Peter. And the ESV uses the word hindrance, but it's the same Greek word for stumbling blocks. That's why I'm using the word stumbling block. Now before we turn to this passage, to maybe help it be more memorable in your mind, think about that passage.

How does Christ define what the stumbling block was? This is important because one of the things I've got to do to you is to define to you what a stumbling block is. How does Christ in the text define how Peter was a stumbling block to Him?

Can you think about it? What's it say? Okay, I didn't catch all of that. Say it again. Yeah, setting your mind on the things of man, not on the things of God. Setting your mind on the things of man, not on God's interests.

That's what it says. So turn to Matthew 16. That's how Jesus defines what Peter was doing to Him. Matthew 16. Not setting your mind on the things of God. Not setting your mind on God's interests. Matthew 16, let's just read v. 21 and on.

And we will look near the end. There is an important point that can be made from what just had happened prior to v. 21. So I'm not ignoring that, but I'll bring that out at the end because this is an interesting transition here for Peter.

V. 21, from that time, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And on the third day, be raised.

And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. So Peter hears about what Christ is going to do and Peter takes Him aside to rebuke Him. One thing commendable here is He took Him aside. Far be it from You, Lord, this shall never happen to You.

But He turned and said to Peter, get behind Me, Satan. You are a hindrance. You are a stumbling block to Me. And then He describes what He's getting at here. You see the conjunction? For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but you're setting your mind on the things of man.

And then right after this, let's read Jesus' teaching that He follows up with. Then Jesus told His disciples on the heel of this wrong thinking in Peter's mind that Jesus gives His teaching in v. 24, then Jesus told His disciples, if anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

For whoever would save his life, which is basically what Peter was just telling Christ to do, he will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what is the profit of man if he gained the whole world and forfeited his soul?

Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and He will repay each according to what He has done. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.".

So there you go. There are passages. Here you've got interaction between two people who are close to one another. And one of these dear individuals puts a hindrance, a stumbling block before the Lord Himself.

Right? What a situation that happens. So let me give you some thoughts and let's think about how we can apply all of this. The first thought, we know this, but it might help to just think about it again.

Christ’s Mind Was Set on the Father’s Interests

You know what this passage shows me about Christ? He had a mind constantly on whose interests? Whose interests was He primarily concerned about? Where was the mind at? It was on His Father's will in the interest of His Father.

He did whatever it took to maintain the mindset even when close friends opposed it. Right? We're going to see that. It's very interesting how often the people who oppose you and I the most from having the mind of God, it's not the atheist, it's not the lost person, it's close friends.

Incredible. So Peter acted as an adversary to Christ. Using their friendship not to support him during the trial, but to discourage him that he was actually going down the wrong way. Jesus says, I must.

Peter comes in and discourages him from going down that path. That's incredible. No one's ever tried to do something like that to you, have they? And you've never tried to do that to someone, have you?

I mean, brethren, it can happen just that fast in such a subtle way. It's not always as obvious as it is here. And by Peter doing this, he unknowingly echoed the temptation presented by the devil in the wilderness.

Jesus, you've got to face the devil after this time of fasting. And now you've got to face Peter. Incredible. You've got people trying to discourage you from this path. So, first observation here, what is a stumbling block?

Stumbling Blocks and God’s Interests

What is a hindrance? Think about this, right? That's what the passage mentions Peter is and does. It doesn't just say he put one, but Peter is the stumbling block with his attitude. If you look at the Bible as a whole, are there times a stumbling block is used in a more positive way?

It's kind of a positive in a negative way. And what's that way? The Scripture talks about who being a stumbling block. Who? Christ. You can say, well, that's a positive use of a stumbling block. Well, the Jews, because their mind was not on the things of God, they were just tripping right over the Lord thinking that this Messiah, this crucified Messiah, there's no way this could be God's way.

The Jews, they didn't understand rightly the mind of God. They didn't understand the mind of God. In our text, a stumbling block is something that gets your mind off of God's interests. It's something that could trip a believer from moving forward on a path of doing the will of God.

And you might say that sounds too simplified. Well, that's how Christ describes it right here. He turned and said to Peter, get behind Me. You are a hindrance to Me. How? You're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

It can really be that simple, brethren, of a reality. Let's think about this further. Is there something that can trip a believer from moving forward on a path of God's interest? Christ expresses here.

You could say what Christ is doing. Let's think about this thing of the conscience. Christ expresses in v. 21, He began to show His disciples where He's at and the direction He's got to go. Right? And you think about your conscience.

We talk about I've got to have a clear conscience. Well, what's one way you clear your conscience? Don't just think about it as an I confess something where I sinned and stained my conscience. But you also clear your conscience by moving forward in obedience.

There is a sense where I have to do this to positively obey God in order to clear the conscience. The conscience is it's weighing on me that I must act. Right? So that's what Christ has here. He must go and be killed.

He knows that this is the will of the Lord. And here Peter is trying to prevent Him from going down that path. He's got to go clear his conscience. He's got to be obedient to God's interest and in doing that, in suffering and dying and being raised, that obedience, the conscience continues to remain clear in this one perfect life of the man Jesus Christ.

Right? James 4 .17. For him that know the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. Right? You can sin not just by committing, but by omitting from doing what you know you should do. And here in the midst of all of this desire that Christ had, Peter says, God forbid, Lord, this must not happen to You.

Well, Peter, not only is God not forbidding this from happening, God is what? God has ordained and planned for this to happen. And so Peter, his mind is completely off where God's mind is at. And that's where Christ's mind is at.

And so Peter is giving forth a false message to the Lord to discourage Him from continuing on a path He should be on. And, you know, specifically in this situation, it's not Peter's wrong mindset is seen by his focus on Christ not suffering.

And that's often what happens, right? You talk about the serious suffering you might face by making a certain decision as a Christian. It might be suffering from your family. It might be physical suffering on the mission field.

It might be suffering at your job and being fired because of the stand you take. And people tend to come in there and discourage you from going down that path because it's going to be one fraught with great difficulty.

Right? That's exactly what Peter here is doing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus has to press through that, not trip over it, but He's got to continue doing the will of His Father right here. Now, this idea of a stumbling block being something that prevents you from doing God's interest, I would argue it carries over into the well-known chapter of Romans 14.

You don't need to turn there, but Romans 14 talks a lot about stumbling blocks. Think about it. I'm convinced in my own mind, let's say, that I shouldn't eat meat that was sacrificed to idols. I'm convinced.

So for me to eat meat sacrificed to idols, if I do that, even though it's clean for another person, am I doing the interest of God by eating that meat sacrificed to idols? No, I'm not. Because God's interested in me not eating that meat because in my conscience, my conscience tells me that meat is not something that is actually right for me to eat.

So if I go and encourage someone to eat meat or honor a day that they're not convinced in their own mind, what am I doing? And Paul says you're putting a stumbling block before them, right? You're setting them up to encourage them to do something they shouldn't do.

And they end up tripping. Romans 14, 13, never put a stumbling block or hindrance it's the same Greek word as we have in our passage, in the way of a brother. In Romans 14, Paul says, do not let what you consider good be spoken of as evil.

Isn't that amazing? There are things that are legitimately good for me that could be spoken of as evil, and that can happen as I wrongly press that on your conscience. When God's actually not interested in you and partaking of that, for you to clear your conscience, you do not partake of honoring that day or eating that meat.

So by forcing a conviction you have of something that might be truly clean to you upon someone else, you can ruin something good for other believers by your own emphasis. I can damage something that's really a blessing in your life by my wrong emphasis on that thing towards you.

Again, 1 Corinthians 8, verse 9, but take care of this right of yours that it does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, listen to what Paul says, will he not be encouraged if his conscience is weak to eat food offered to idols?

So that person's conduct encourages and emboldens someone to do that which, for the one believer, doing that is God's interest. I have a clear conscience to partake of that meat that is sacrificed to idols.

God is interested in me and exercising my liberties in partaking of the meat. But then this person comes along and they encourage and embolden someone to do that which their conscience is informed that this is not right to partake of it.

So you get what I'm saying? One person by partaking is following through with the interests of God. The other person who's emboldened and encouraged to partake is now not doing God's interest. Even though it's clean for the other person, because for them, God's interested in them abstaining from that because their conscience isn't clear.

So, a negative stumbling block, you could actually think of it as a wrong type of encouragement. It gives a person a wrong type of boldness. Peter's trying to encourage and give Christ a wrong type of boldness.

The boldness to not go and suffer. That's not the type of boldness that the Lord Jesus Christ needs right there. He needs boldness to go die, not to abandon the path. So the person whose conscience says, well, I can't eat such and such, they need courage to keep on with that conviction, not a beating over the head to break their conscience conviction and go and partake of that thing because then all of a sudden, they've now not followed through with God's interest.

So, you see, if you look at this passage, this is about God's interest. A stumbling block is a hindrance that can trip. They might not fall, but it could trip you from moving forward on a path of doing the will of God.

Jesus says to Peter, you're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. So when you think about your conscience and you think about the will of God in your life, I've got to take the next step this week in my life to keep doing what is the revealed will of God that I can discern in my life.

And there might be people like Peter, close dear friends who get in the way and seek to prevent me from going down that path because their minds are not on the interest of God. So a stumbling block is something that's going to prevent me from going further in that direction than I should.

For Christ, it was the cross. For you, for I, I don't know specifically what it is. But it might be not partaking in certain things. I recently shared that clip of William Grimshaw talking about his cow becoming an idol and it's interesting, someone was commenting on that and said this is really weird for Christians.

How could a cow become an idol? This is so silly. Brethren, that's not silly. If you're seeking to really walk near and dear to the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to find things like a violin or a cow or whatever it might be that could get in the way of your heart in Christ and you've got to cut that right arm off and throw it away.

It doesn't matter what another person might discourage you and say, well, that's being a little too radical. No, if God is interested in you cutting the arm off, don't let anyone convince you not to get rid of that thing radically that is causing you to sin.

The Seriousness of Causing Others to Stumble

God is interested in you doing that, not making excuses to it or being discouraged by someone else with the wrong notion that it's being too radical. So, point two, how serious is this matter? And keep in mind, the traits or qualities in a person that would lead Christ to describe them as a stumbling block or a temptation to the soul, they're not necessarily going to be what you typically would associate with wickedness, right?

Don't tend to think of Peter and think, oh yeah, a stumbling block, right? Is that one of the first things that comes to your mind? Oh yeah, Peter, the man who sought to hinder Christ from going to the cross, right?

You don't tend to think and identify Peter with that. That's who Peter is right here in this text, right here at this point. He is being a tool of Satan. Get behind me, Satan. He's being a tool of the devil.

That's incredible. You and I could be tools of the devil in other people's lives and discourage them from going down a path that is truly the will of God. So how is this a serious matter? Three quick thoughts.

Number one, based on Christ's response, right? Verse 23, if you just got here, Matthew 16, 23. He turned and said to Peter, you know, you're really discouraging me. You know, please just, come on, Peter.

Don't you understand all the prophecies? Is that what he says? Get behind me, Satan. I mean, imagine being there. What does Titus say? Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. This is a sharp rebuke to get Peter to be sound in his correct processing of the will of God for the Lord Jesus' life.

Peter's being an adversary. If Christ would have heeded, He didn't in any way, but if He would have heeded, He would have been disobeying the Father. All these prophecies would have not been fulfilled and all of us would be in hell.

I mean, Peter, look what your little comment here, you know, hypothetically could have produced. If it would have caused Christ to stumble. He didn't stumble. He never stumbled. How serious is this? Well, the lexicons, they mention a stumbling block.

It causes a person to be led into sin. And causing a person to be led into sin is obviously pushing them towards what? Towards destruction, right? If I encourage someone to partake of something that they don't have a clear conscience to do, I'm leading them into sin.

Peter is seeking to lead Christ into sin. By choosing a route of not suffering and not losing life and not denying yourself, he would have been sinning. You see, that's a stumbling block. Get your mind off the interest of God and into a realm that is sin.

Even if it is just avoiding specific suffering, when it was the will of God to go down that path, you've now sinned. And you may say, well, I'm not sinning by committing specific sin. I'm not in immorality or whatever it is.

You're sinning by avoiding a path of suffering that God has designated for you. How serious is this? I didn't remember this, but the text Jeff dealt with last Sunday in the 10 a .m. Romans 16, 17 has the exact same Greek phrase.

I'll read it in another version that renders it this way. I call upon you, brethren, to mark those who the divisions and the stumbling blocks, contrary to the teaching that you did learn are causing and turn away from them.

Right, isn't that amazing? Mark them. You know what? I mean, honestly, Romans 16 in a subtle way, not in a subtle way, that's the wrong word. Romans 16 is being lived out in Matthew 16. Right? Peter puts forth a stumbling block and who does he get marked by?

Jesus. Jesus marks him right away. Get behind me, Satan. Basically, turn from this, wrong thinking here, Peter. The third reality on how serious this is. We think often about Jesus. He's coming back for the lawless, right?

Coming back for those who are living in all manner of immorality and sin. Listen to Matthew 13. The Son of Man shall send forth His messengers and they shall gather up out of His kingdom all the stumbling blocks and those doing unlawlessness.

Right? Isn't our Lord Jesus the one who said if you cause a little one of these to stumble, it's better what? A millstone tied around your neck and be thrown into the depth of the ocean. He's saying that would be a better judgment for you.

He's not saying that will be your judgment. That'd be a better situation to face. You see, discouraging someone from God's interest that often involved suffering. You don't look at Jesus right here and say, oh, wow, this is a really minor thing that I've done towards my brother, towards my sister.

No, I think this is far more of a serious reality because if they don't do, if they're rightly discerning the will of God and you're preventing them from doing that which God has given them the faith to do and you discourage that because of some supposed suffering, you're now encouraging them to take a path of sin even though they're not committing sin, but they're sinning in the sense by being passive and not following through with God's plan.

You see what I'm saying? That's what's happening right here. Jesus is determined to go and suffer and obey the Lord and Peter is standing in the way and being a tool of the devil. That's what's happening right here.

He's being a stumbling block. I don't like the ESV just using the word of hindrance. It doesn't capture the reality of it. You know, you're hindering me. No, you're being a stumbling block to me. This is a serious reality from Peter.

One last comment on how serious. Mark LaCour, who was here for one of our Menjah treats, he had a brief article on this and he quoted the verse, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better to have the millstone.

And he says this, he says, child abuse, child abuse, obviously not literal, but he's referring to spiritual, in the Kingdom of God is a good way to be fitted with a concrete necktie for eternity. It's not literal children Jesus has in mind, but weak Christians who have little knowledge of their liberties in Christ.

Those with oversensitive consciences who can easily be influenced to follow another Christian's actions for which they don't have any faith. Those in positions of leadership or strong in convictions are called upon to be stepping stones for the weak, not stumbling blocks.

Children shouldn't have to adjust their walking stride to keep up with the adults, but the other way around. Those adults who do that the best are the ones Jesus calls great in God's Kingdom. All right, so we better watch out.

So that leaves me in point three. Who often becomes stumbling blocks? Well, I mean, based on the text, the answer is believing friends, right? Friends. A man who is near and dear to Jesus wasn't the one who put the stumbling block.

It wasn't the Pharisees. It wasn't his enemies. It was his friends. Do you get that? Brethren, you and I can bear the responsibility for succumbing to the enemy's influence and temporarily align yourself with the devil and take another believer's minds off of God's interests.

You can do that. I can do that. Richard Baxter said good men. Richard Baxter said good men oftentimes do the devil's work though they know it not. You see, you and I have got to be here today. We've got to be living our life in this church recognizing that one day could be true of you.

Could be true of me. So God help us for that not to be a reality. Peter hearing about everything that's going to happen with Christ, yeah, his mind was in the wrong place. That can happen to you. It can happen to me.

These friends, they believe they have good intentions, right? Peter thought he had good intentions. But Peter, your intentions were entirely in the opposition to God's will. Right? Totally in opposition to it.

And Christ was interested in doing the will of God. You've got many examples in the Scriptures, but one obviously that should come to mind is the Old Testament example of the spies. In Numbers 13, they brought back a bad report to Israel.

And here you really have this moment. It's clear the will of God is to go into the land and conquer the land. Right? It's very obvious. But people sought to hinder them from advancing where they should advance.

Numbers 13, 31, we are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we are. And what did their report do? It took away courage. It wasn't the enemies coming and saying, look how tough we are.

It was those within Israel itself. Right? Those within the nation. Those who had seen the miracles. Those who had witnessed the will of God. They're the ones now stepping up to the plate and putting a stumbling block and a hindrance before this nation to go in there and do the will of God.

And ironically, just like them, they saw many mighty miracles and many wondrous things and then they were a stumbling block. That's exactly what we have in our passage. Right? If you don't know Matthew 16, you just look right up.

Before all this interaction, what just happened? Verse 16, Simon Peter said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. And he goes on, he says, on this rock I will build my church.

And on this rock I will build my church. The gate of hell will not prevail against it. And then, you know, what's happening a little while later? Get behind me, Satan. Gates of hell aren't going to prevail against it.

And then, you're becoming a tool of the devil just right after that. You see, you and I can have an incredible experience in a meeting and a closeness to God. It could happen in a Sunday meeting. It could happen in a prayer meeting.

It could happen in your devotional life. And literally, the very next hour, just like a husband who wakes up in the morning, he has great devotions and he is impatient with his wife at the breakfast table and he kind of stands back and he thinks, man, the Lord just met with me in the Word of God.

How did I just fall into grieving the Spirit of God by standing against my wife at breakfast and being impatient? Brethren, that's the same thing that can happen here. You can be in tune and saying the right things of God, then a moment later, being a mouthpiece of the devil in another believer's life.

This is an incredible reality. Now, Caleb, but he gave an encouraging response. He was interested in God's interest. I named one of my sons Caleb because of this verse. I preached on it years ago, but Numbers 14.

Look, you want to see a man who is interested about God's interest? Numbers 14 .24, the Lord commends Caleb. My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit, he has followed me fully. I will bring into the land into which he went and his descendants shall possess it.

You see, that's where Caleb's mind was at. I'm fully following the Lord and he's the one, he speaks up right there and takes a stand. So God is interested in those who are interested in doing His will.

So what friends can put stumbling blocks? Just two closing thoughts on this point. Number one, those with undeveloped knowledge and discernment, right? That's what you see happening with Peter. Obviously, if Peter fully understood all the prophecies of Isaiah and everything, he wouldn't have been saying what he was saying.

You understand? So you having undeveloped knowledge in certain areas as a Christian can actually cause you to say things to people that you'll come back later and realize, why did I discourage them from that?

That's really consistent with the character of God and His Word. That's number one. Or you're fully aware of God's power, right? The Israelites, they were not blind to the power of God. Their issue was a lack of faith, right?

In Joshua's day, they lacked the faith. They were overly fearful. They doubted the power of God and they didn't go forward. All right, point number four. Just like many other truths, it's possible to take this one to an extreme as well.

Counsel, Discernment, and Paul’s Suffering

And so as I was studying and thinking about how Peter responded to Christ and Christ's response to him, it drew my mind to Acts 21. And I thought, well, okay, is this in any way parallel? Let me read this.

You could turn if you wanted to turn to Acts 21. You don't have to, but 21, v. 11, while we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea and coming to us. He took Paul's belt.

Anyone ever had someone take your belt off? And bound his own feet and hands and said, thus says the Holy Spirit, this is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

When we heard this, we and the people urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, what are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart, for I am ready not only to be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said to him, let the will of the Lord be done. You can see why this passage came to my mind as I'm thinking about this. Now, Paul is told about his suffering in a prophetic way.

My point isn't whether it actually perfectly came and happened as was said, but you had people trying to stop him from going. Right? And to suffer. And Paul says to them, you're breaking my heart. The apostle Paul's heart got broken.

Breaking someone's heart. That is how the ESV renders it, right? Okay, I'm reading different versions. Sometimes you get the wrong version pasted in your notes. Does Paul say, get behind me, Satan? Does he use the word stumbling block here?

He doesn't. He doesn't. So that to me is an interesting... There's a difference here. Are the people hindering Paul from going in the direction by saying which he believes God should have him go? You could argue the people are hindering him, but the truth is, prophetically, Agabus is seeking to warn him, and then the people based on this, their discernment for Paul is don't go and do this.

And this is the Paul who the Spirit of God had prevented from going other places. And the Lord uses a means and counsel in our lives. These people are giving him counsel. And I'd also say this, was Paul's path forward as clear to him as it was for Christ on his way to the cross?

No. Christ said I must go. And he literally had to. There was no other route than Golgotha and crucifixion. But you know what? There's a difference for you and me in our lives. And so we don't want to put ourselves in the Lord Jesus' place in all these situations and say that we have a perfect comprehension of God's will.

At the same time, we don't want to be in a place where we're hesitant and uncertain and we're looking for a sign, but even if you are like fearful Gideon, you know what, the Lord can do things for you at times, which is incredible to me, His patience with Gideon.

But Paul said he's ready to suffer. Whatever tomorrow brings, suffering didn't discourage Paul. And so it would seem like these people here again, you hear about someone suffering and you're almost like, oh, let's protect you.

Let's protect you here. Paul's fine with it. And the people in the end, what they say, Luke included, they say let the will of the Lord be done. So these people were resigned. If Paul's going to go and he's going to suffer and all this is going to happen, let that be God's will.

So you see, there's a difference in Acts 21 from Matthew 26 when you think about this whole issue of putting a stumbling block and the seriousness of that phrase and what was happening right there in Matthew 16.

And so that's one example of how you could take it too far. The proud might tend to take it that way since their own way is always right in their own eyes. Isn't that what the Proverbs say? A man's way is right in his own eyes.

And so that could be an area for some of us. Do I have this perception that my way is always right and there's an inability to hear counsel? We could end up being like in a place we don't want to be. But, brethren, we can break people's hearts.

Have you ever broken someone's heart? Like Paul says right here, you're breaking my heart. I mean, what's Paul saying he wished their response would have been? You know, really to get on board and be really encouraging, right?

Like, brother, oh, this Kevin Waddell, something like Kevin Waddell. You know, this would be great to see you getting bound up and tortured. They want us on board. And encouraging them as they go down this path of doing God's interest, which often is a dangerous path of suffering.

And then we make the comet encouraging them to go down a path, a different path. Now that different path might very well be the will of God. We see that in Paul's life in Acts 19. This crowd, all this stuff's happening.

Paul wished to get in among the crowd. And what did the disciples do? Paul, no. We're not going to let you get in there. That's not God's will for you right here. And in Acts 20, after the uproar ceased, Paul, he didn't make it in.