Men of Example (Part 2)

This is a tremendous opportunity to, to really have an

opportunity to reach every corner of a country.

And it's just not some, it's not an opportunity that you get very

often. And so we're thankful for the

opportunity and we're trying to make the most out of it.

Of course, one of the things that I'd like you to consider as

well, we in about 3 months probably are going to, are going

to hit the ground running with remodeling some of these

buildings down there where the, the goal is right now because of

the, the, I don't know what you call it, but the, the, the good

deal, I guess I'll say that we get on the hotel that we stay

at. You can stay there for about

$150.00 a night by the time taxes and everything else are

done. So you stay there for a week,

you're at over $1000. And then you have to pay for

food, you got to play pay for your plane ticket.

If you're taking a couple people, it just adds up even

more. And the goal is to try to make

make it as cheap as possible for people to, I mean, obviously

we're not going to have our own plane or anything like that, so

we can't fly people down. But you get there, we want to

make it as cheap for you to stay there as possible so that more

groups have the opportunity to come, more people can come when

a group comes and obviously just just continually reach out from

there. And so the goal is to try to

remodel a lot of the buildings that are already existing and

make it possible for groups to stay in those buildings.

They, they look like hotel rooms really.

There's three buildings that have 6 units each and then one

building that has three units that are set up like apartment

style. And so just just really good

layout, really, really nice the way that everything is set up.

But in order to save as much money as possible in that

remodeling process, we're going to, we're trying to get groups

to go down there, you know, spend 456 days just doing some

of that remodeling. And we'd like to take a group

down there. I know we got a lot of people in

our church that are handy enough that can do it.

And of course you'd have to, you'd have to pay to get

yourself down there and probably for food while you're there.

But we'll stay there for free. One of the buildings is livable

and we'll stay in there while we're working on remodeling the

other ones. And then the building that's

livable now will remodel last. And, you know, just turn it into

a nice place for people to stay as cheaply as possible.

So think about it. But probably first couple weeks

of January is when we're going to try to head down there and

start doing some of that work. We're going to try as much as

possible to send materials and things down ahead of time.

It will save us a lot of money and a lot of time once we get

down there as well. And just just a lot of work that

needs to be done to get it up and running.

But I think it's going to be a tremendous, tremendous missions

opportunity once it is. So be thinking about it, be

praying about it. And if I can give you any kind

of encouragement, January is a great time of year to go to

Belize. It's cold here and that's that's

really their best season. It's not rainy, it's not hot and

humid. It's literally 82° every day and

76° every night maybe give or take a degree here or there.

So, and you can't ask for a better time to go than that.

And so we'll, we'll plan to take a group, hopefully we'll have

some other groups, other churches that may be able to

send people at the same time. We can knock a bunch of it out

at the same time or, you know, if we may miss him and, and

they'll, you know, just kind of do the work themselves.

But we certainly wanted to try to do our part in helping with

that. So if you're handy and you or

you can carry things, then you can come down there and be a

part of it. So be thinking about that and

praying about it and looking forward to what the Lord has for

us. All that to say that two weeks

ago we started in Colossians chapter 4 with these lists of

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

men that Paul gives us as an example.

And we mentioned, in fact, let's just, let's just take a step

back and read verse #7 of Colossians chapter 4.

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

All my state shall Titicus declare unto you, who is a

beloved brother and a faithful minister and fellow servant in

the Lord, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that

he might know your estate and comfort your hearts.

And we said about him that he was the faithful man.

Of course, I think we could say that about everyone of these men

that's mentioned. Even Paul mentions that about

most of these men as well. But he's a faithful minister,

Paul says about Tichikas, and he's A and, and a fellow servant

in the Lord. Verse #9 With Onessimus, a

faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, they shall

make known unto you all things which are done here.

And we said about Anessa Onessimus that he was the

fugitive man. Paul sent him back with Tichikas

and and and others to go to the church there at Colossae and

carry this letter. But Onessimus was also carrying

his own letter back to his master that he had deserted.

And thankfully Philemon was a Christian.

And obviously things worked out, and they were able to work

things out amongst themselves. But Onessmus, we said, was the

fugitive man in verse #10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner

saluteth you. And Marcus, sister son to

Barnabas, touching whom you received commandments, if he

come unto you, receive him. But Aristarchus, there we said

about the fearless man, my fellow prisoner saluteth you.

He was a man that obviously was in prison with Paul.

Some think that he would have had to surrender himself in

order to be in the prison with Paul to be able to, to comfort

him and to to encourage him. And he was willing to do that.

And that's why we said about him that he was the fearless man.

And then we come to Marcus, sister's son, to Barnabas,

touching whom you received commandments.

If you come unto you receive him.

That's the next man that we're going to talk about.

And the next one is verse #11 and Jesus, which is called

justice, who are of the circumcision.

These only are my fellow workers under the Kingdom of God, which

have been a comfort unto me. Now there's more men that are

mentioned here, and I want to mention them briefly as we get

started. Epaphras, who is one of you, a

servant of Christ, saluteth you always laboring fervently for

you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in

all the will of God. For I bear him record that he

hath a great deal for you. And them that are in Laodicea

and them in Hierapolis. Obviously a glowing

recommendation of Epaphras and a man who is definitely a man of

example. And the only reason I'm not

covering Epaphras here is because we've already talked

about Epaphras when we covered a couple of the other books,

Philippians being one of them. And Epaphras was a, was a man of

great example and a man of great testimony and a man of great

faith and faithfulness. And Paul always has some great

words to say about Epaphras. Of course.

Then he continues on in verse #14 Luke, the beloved physician.

And Demas greets you. Now obviously we know a little

bit about Luke because he wrote the entire book of Luke.

Dimas we know a little about a little bit about as well, but

usually not for a good thing. Paul had to say, Dimas hath

forsaken me, having loved this present world.

Now Dimas was an example, but it wasn't a very good one.

And the sad thing is that Dimas actually seems to be a man who

was probably a pretty good example.

At some point, he said, hey, Dimas is here, and he's greeting

you as well. I don't think he would have said

that about Dimas if Dimas had already left and forsaken them

for following after the world. So I think Dimas at one point

was a good example, and maybe he became a good example again

later on. Obviously, we see some

redemption throughout Paul's life with some of the people

that he worked with who abandoned him.

And we're going to talk about one of those tonight.

But Dimas forsook him. And it wasn't just because he

was scared. It wasn't because it was too

hard. It's because he loved the world.

Demoth hath forsaken me, the Bible says, having loved this

present world. And then he continues on in

verse #15 salute the brethren which are in Laodicea and

Nymphis, and the church which is in his house, which again we

have some, some glowing words of about him as well.

When this epistle is read among you, 'cause it calls that it be

read also in the Church of the Laodiceans, and that you

likewise read the Epistle from Laodicea.

So we don't know much about Nymphis.

That's one of the reasons why I don't have, I can't, can't spend

a lot of time talking about him. Really all we know about him is

that he had the church there in his house and he was a faithful

man as well. And obviously they, they, they

needed those places that they could meet.

And as as people got saved and, and churches were being started,

very, very necessary that that Nymphis and others did things

like that. We also see another word of

reprimand that Paul gives to Archipus in verse #17 say to

Archipus, take heed to the ministry which thou has received

in the Lord, that thou fulfill it.

I don't know where he stood, and we don't really know anything

else about Archipeus other than what we see here, at least to my

knowledge. But he says, take heed to the

ministry which thou has received and make sure you do the

ministry. I don't know where he stood.

I think he was probably a good example.

But the fact that Paul had to reprimand him and say, hey, you

need to get back to doing what you should be doing.

You need to get back to the ministry.

You need to get back to fulfilling what God gave you to

do means that he that he was probably moving away from those

things. And I hope and and you know,

hope and, and assume that that he did get back to doing the

things that he was supposed to be doing.

But then Paul concludes by saying the salutation by the

hand of me. Paul, remember my bonds.

Grace be with you. Amen.

Lots of people that he mentioned here, but two of them that we

want to focus on tonight, and one of them goes back to verse

#10 Marcus, sister, son to Barnabas, touching whom he

received commandments. If he come unto you, receive

him, Marcus. Let's look at some background

about him. Turn over to Acts chapter 12, if

Acts 12 · chapter mention

you will. We looked at Titicus the

faithful man, Onessimus the fugitive man, Aristarchus the

fearless man. What I want you to think about

when you think about Marcus, is the forgiven man.

There's a little confusion maybe to his name.

His Hebrew name was John. His Roman name was Mark or

Marcus. And so we see him in the Bible

as John, Mark. And John.

Mark was was greatly favored in his youth.

We know that his mother was a Christian.

We read in Acts chapter 12 and verse #12 that the Saints met

Acts 12 · chapter mention

for prayer in her home. Verse #12 when he had considered

the thing, he came to the House of Mary, the mother of John,

whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together

praying. They must have had constant

contact with many of of God's servants.

You picture that prayer meeting wherever it happened to be.

Many times it seemed like it was in their house, but but John,

Mark and his mother were probably there.

Now, Peter was certainly one who is there often, in fact, that

the servant girl was the one who recognized Peter's voice at the

gate. And this is a story that you'll

recognize, but this happens here in Acts chapter 12 and verse #13

Acts 12 · chapter mention

And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to

Harkin named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice,

she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told

how Peter stood before the gate. To give you a little context and

remind you what's happening here, Peter had been put in

prison and all of these people gathered together to pray.

And one of the things that we skip over often is that it was

in John Mark's mother's house. John Mark was there and it was

obvious that Peter was there often because she recognized him

just by his voice. Rhoda did.

But they were they were gathered together to pray for Peter, that

he would be released from prison.

And Peter is released from prison and he shows up at the

door of the house. And she's so excited that she

runs in to tell everybody without even letting Peter in

the door. And then we find in verse #15

And they said unto her, Thou art mad.

But she constantly affirmed that it was Even so.

Then said they, it's his Angel. But Peter continued knocking.

And when they had opened the door and saw him, they were

astonished. I think it's really interesting

that they're praying, and they're praying in faith that

God would deliver Peter. And Peter shows up at the door

and they tell her she's crazy. Peter's not at the door.

We're praying for him right now to be delivered from prison.

I mean, yeah. How often we pray the same way,

right? We know that God can do it, but

we just don't think that he's going to.

And then when he answers, we don't even believe that he

actually answered the prayer because there's no way that

God's going to answer that for us.

He does that for other people, but he doesn't do it for me,

right? We get that way often.

And there and, and and finally, you know, Peter keeps knocking

and she keeps saying it's Peter. He's at the gate.

And they said it's not really Peter.

It's, it's Peter's Angel. I mean, they just couldn't

believe that the very thing that they were praying for would

actually be an answer to prayer. But they finally did and they

opened the door and they realized that it was Peter.

And of course, the Bible says they were astonished.

And later on, even Paul attended the prayer meetings there in the

House of John Mark. And, and of course, it was not

his house. It was his mother's house.

But John Mark obviously then was brought up in a godly home.

In fact, turn over to first Peter, chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

There's a lot of things that actually took place in the home

of John. Mark Barnabas, the Bible tells

us, was John Mark's uncle. But Peter was very possibly the

one who led him to Christ. First Peter, chapter 5 and verse

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

#13. First Peter, chapter 5 and verse

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

#13 The church that is at Babylon elected together with

you, saluteth you. And so doth Marcus my son.

Now, this was not his physical son, but you see, Paul calls

Timothy his son in the faith. Marcus is Peter's son in the

faith. Very possibly Peter was the one

who led John Mark to Christ. And it was evidently a measure

of affluence in the home that John Mark grew up in.

The Bible tells us that many were gathered together in their

house. It had to be a house that was

big enough to hold a lot of people there, a house that was

big enough to have a gate that was separated from the house

that this little servant girl ran out and answered the gate

and heard Peters voice and they didn't hear it on the inside.

So more than likely a pretty large house where the servants

were kept. Guests were entertained there.

And you know, it's not, it's not always a blessing to be born for

kids to be born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but it's

not always a curse either. Depends on what you do with it.

And Mark, John, Mark grew up in a house that was probably pretty

affluent and I afforded him some opportunities and he took

advantage of those opportunities.

And we'll talk about that a little bit more in just a little

bit. But Mark had John, Mark had some

pretty consecrated relatives as well.

And we already commented on his mother.

We know that he had Barnabas for an uncle.

And, and really it can be a blessing to have relatives that

are serving God. You just never know the kind of

impact that you can have on those, especially the young

people, but you never know the impact that you can have on on

on your relatives as far as it relates to living for the Lord,

especially when it comes to your own children.

The impact that you can have on your children, the impact that

you can have on your nieces and nephews, the impact that you can

have on, on, on your grandkids, the impact that you can have on,

on so many other people when you just live for the Lord.

And I and I can't help but think that Barnabas and, and John

Mark's mother and, and so many others that that were probably

part of that same family that were not even mentioned that

live for the Lord and had an impact on John Mark.

And, and, and 1, you know, caused him to want to go into

the ministry. But we have a pretty good

suggestion from what we read in first Peter chapter 5 and verse

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

13 that John Mark was probably saved at a pretty young age, was

converted to the truth through Peter's ministry.

It's possible that it was even at that very prayer meeting that

we read about in Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

He's not mentioned there, but he was young and it was in it was

in his mother's house. There's no reason to think that

John Mark would not have been there and, and, and, and would

not have seen the miracle of Peter's release from prison by

the Angel. But how great to come to Christ

at a young age and how, how great to see your children saved

at a young age before the, the ravages of the world and the

flesh and the devil have had an opportunity just come in and,

and destroy their lives and, and allow them to go through the

things that the devil wants to do to them before they get back

to living for the Lord. Many, many kids that, that get

saved at a young age have so many more advantages and so many

more opportunities to live for the Lord than somebody who saved

at 30-40, fifty years old. And you know, I used to, I was

saved at a young age myself and I used to, here are the

testimonies of some of these, you know, maybe you've heard of

unshackled and some of the testimonies that come out of the

Pacific Garden mission and, and evangelists that, that traveled

and, and gave a testimony of a life that was just destroyed by

the world and destroyed by the devil.

And God saved them out of all of those things.

And what a tremendous testimony that is.

And I used to think, why couldn't I have a testimony like

that? I was saved young.

I didn't, I never drank in my life.

I've never smoked in my life. I've never, I've never done

drugs. I've never done a lot of the

things that the people in the world do.

I've never, I've never, never even really been given the

opportunity. And by the time I had the

opportunity, I didn't want to do it.

But I used to think, boy, if I only had a testimony that was so

exciting as, as some of these other people that have a

testimony. And, and somewhere along the

line, God really started impressing my heart about that.

And I said, you know what? I didn't have to be saved out of

those things. God saved me from those things.

And that's a tremendous testimony in itself.

And I'm thankful that God saved me out of those things.

And you ought to be thankful that your kids are growing up in

a place and in homes where they're being saved out of those

things as well. But that's, that's what happened

with John Mark. And here's this young man who

was able to take his entire life and lay it at the feet of Jesus.

And God used that. And it was this same John Mark

who wrote the book of Mark. And this is obviously a little

later on, but it was his close association with Peter that lent

the Apostolic authority to to Mark's gospel.

Since Peter was evidently Mark's primary source of information.

I believe that that John Mark was probably pretty young during

the time of that Christ was here on the earth.

Obviously Peter was one of his disciples and went on to do

great things for the Lord after that.

But turn over to Mark chapter 14.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

It's been suggested, and I think that's a good suggestion, that

Mark was referring to himself in the account there in Mark

Mark 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14 about a certain young man in Gethsemane.

It seems that he had a pretty first hand account.

Somebody would have had to have been there to see what happened.

And so Mark chapter 14 and verse 50 says, and they all forsook

Mark 14 · chapter mention

him and fled. Of course, that was when the the

soldiers showed up with Judas. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss

and they they took him in. The Bible says they all forsook

him and fled, and there followed him, a certain young man having

a linen cloth cast about his naked body.

And the young men laid hold on him, and he left the linen cloth

and fled from them naked. Now, since all the other

disciples had fled and abandoned Jesus, I think there's not

really much else that we can conclude then that he was this

certain young man that was there that saw everything happen.

How else would he have known about this story?

Who was that certain young man? I suppose it's possible that he

heard about it from somebody and he talked to this young man.

But very likely John Mark was a young man and he was that young

man that saw everything happened that day in the Garden of

Gethsemane back in Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

If you'll turn over there, I want you to see this.

John, Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas when they turned to

Jerusalem from sorry, returned from Jerusalem to Antioch.

The Bible says in Acts chapter 12 and verse #25 in Barnabas and

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their

ministry and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.

Acts chapter 13. He then accompanies them on

Acts 13 · chapter mention

their first mission to the Gentiles, verse 5.

And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in

the synagogues of the Jews, and they had also John to their

minister. Now when we think of of his

background, his home, his the the influence of his mother, the

influence of Peter and the other Saints, the influence of his

uncle Barnabas, and so many other influences, it's no wonder

that John Mark had a burning desire inside of him to serve

the Lord. As we call in full time service.

Now we all should be full time Christians, but there are some

obviously who are able to give and and and surrender their life

to give to full time Christian service where that is their

life. And when the opportunity came

for him to join Paul and Barnabas, he jumped at that

chance. But sadly we read this just a

few verses later in verse #13 of Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Now when Paul and his company loose from Paphos, they came to

Purga in Pamphylia, and John, departing from them, returned to

Jerusalem. Now it seems that John Mark

suffered a spiritual lapse. I don't know if this is the case

exactly, but turn over to Luke chapter 14.

Luke 14 · chapter mention

It almost seems like John Mark jumped the gun a little bit.

Maybe it wasn't the time that he should have gone.

Maybe he needed more preparation.

Maybe he needed more training. I want to talk to our young

people for just a few minutes and I'd like you to write these

things down. I know most of you are taking

notes anyway, but I want to point these things out to you

and have you write these things down specifically, especially if

you're a young person who is considering full time service.

And I hope all of you are considering it.

I know there are things that you might like to do things that you

might think you want to do, but I hope you are considering full

time service and, and until God makes it very clear that He does

not want you to do that hope that's the the burning desire of

your heart. But I want to say a couple

things. And the first one is this count

the cost. Count the cost.

I think that may be where where John Mark failed here.

Perhaps he felt the the thrill of being a missionary and he

knew of the apostle Paul and he knew the high standing of of

Barnabas, who was his uncle. But I think he just didn't

sufficiently face up to the hardships and the problems of

the of the testing that comes to a missionary's life.

And the Bible says in Luke chapter 14 and verse 28, for

Luke 14 · chapter mention

which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down 1st and

counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it.

It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a cost involved with being

with being in the ministry. You're going to give up some

things. And I think many times you, you,

you see the evangelist that comes through and you see the

pastor and you see the excitement part of the ministry

and, and, and maybe you miss out on some of the, the discouraging

sides of the ministry. And you want to do this and

you're gung ho all about it. And look at the excitement and

look at how many people are, are so happy to hear you come in and

preach and listen to how many people you know, lift up the

pastor and lift up the evangelist and lift up the

missionary. And I want to do that.

I want to be that person. Imagine being able to get up in

front of everybody and talk every Sunday, and it may seem

glamorous to you. It didn't to me that you

couldn't have paid me to get up and preach in front of people

when I was in high school especially.

But you know, God called me to do this.

And I know that God called me to do this, but there's a cost

involved in it, and you need to count the cost.

Who who doesn't do that, that Jesus asked.

So that's what I'd say first. But #2 I want to say this.

Go go back to Deuteronomy chapter 8.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

Deuteronomy Chapter 8 #2 I want you to understand this.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

Don't be in too much of a hurry. Don't be in too much of a hurry.

I think this is good for parents too.

Your kids are only kids once and they need to have a childhood.

Let them be kids as long as they can be kids now.

They don't need to be childish for as long as they can be

childish, but they need to be kids as long as their kids.

Let them have that childhood. Don't be in such a hurry to push

them out the door to go accomplish something with their

lives. Let them be kids with the

opportunity they have to be kids and kids.

Don't be in such a hurry to get out and get on with your life

that you get ahead of God's timing.

Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse #2 This is God talking to Moses.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God LED

thee these 40 years in the wilderness to humble thee, and

to prove thee to know what was in thine heart, whether thou

would just keep His commandments or no.

See, God never hurries when He is making and preparing His

workmen. And discipline is one of the

things that's necessary for that.

And lessons of humility and obedience and lessons in trust,

all of those lessons have to be learned.

And if you allow God to take the time to teach you those lessons

instead of trying to get out in front of God, instead of trying

to get out in front of, you know, all the things that you

want to do and, and, and, and accomplish all of these things

with your life. Sometimes we get ahead of God.

And I believe that may be what happened with John Mark.

John Mark might have gotten ahead of God's timing a little

bit. He needed more testing.

He didn't more proving he needed more opportunities to, to, to do

exactly what God said here to humble, to prove, to, to know

what is in thine heart. Look what God did with Moses.

Moses spent 40 years in education learning how to be a

somebody, and then he spent another 40 years in education

learning how to be a nobody. He was 80 years old by the time

he finally went into quote UN quote, ministry in God's

service. And then God gave him the last

40 years of his life, which is just one third of his life, to

show him how you can take a somebody who thinks he's a

nobody and do something with him.

And that's exactly what God did with Moses.

But you think about that, if you, if you're going to live to

be 90 years old, which I know that's long, but 90 years old

and you're going to see what you can do in God's service.

It'd be like 30 years in education, 30 years learning how

to be humble, 30 years learning how to be a servant, 30 years

just doing things that you think are insignificant.

And then when you're 60 and you get into the ministry that God

actually has for you with the rest of your life, and I get it,

Moses lived to be 120. It's a little bit different than

it than it is now, but you, it's still 1/3 of his life, right?

Even if you live to be 80, that's still 55 by the time you

get into the ministry where God is truly, really going to use

you, right? That's the way God prepared

Moses. I know that God doesn't prepare

everyone that way, but I but my point is this.

Don't be in a hurry to get in front of God.

Many times when we're in a hurry, that's exactly what

happens #3 turn over to Psalm one 39139 #3 is this.

Be absolutely sure that your motives are pure.

Be absolutely sure that your motives are pure.

Why do you want to be a preacher?

Why do you want to be an evangelist?

Why do you want to be a missionary?

Why do you want to be a Christian School teacher?

I know everybody would say it's the same thing that all the

police officers say, you know, all the firefighters say I want

to make a difference. I want to make a difference in

the world. And I, and I'm not discounting

that. I think that's why everybody

would say that. But again, sometimes we see the,

the preachers with a, a church that has 3 or 4 or 500 people

and you, you see the recognition that they have and you see that,

that everybody, you know, just gushes all over them when they

come in. And, and that's the glamour of

the mission field and the glamour of, of pastoring, the

glamour of doing this full time work.

And sometimes we're not looking for God's blessing.

We're not looking for how God can use this.

We're looking for. I want to have that same type of

ministry. I want to be lifted up in the

same way. I want people to recognize my

name as a great preacher or a great pastor or a great

missionary. I want people to write books

about me, alright? Sometimes that's what the motive

is, and that's the wrong motivation.

So all I'm saying is be careful about that.

Be absolutely sure what your motives are and make sure that

those motives are pure. Oswald Chambers said it this

way. It may be harder to face God

with your motive than to face congregations with your message.

It may be harder to face God with your motive than to face

congregations with your message. The psalmist said it like this

in Psalm 139 and verse 23. Search me, O God, and know my

heart. Try me and know my thoughts.

Can you pray that to God? Or do you know what's in your

heart? Do you know what your motives

already are? And you know what God would say

without even having to pray those things?

That's a hard prayer to pray, by the way.

You can only say that you can only pray that prayer to God if

you believe that your heart is right with Him.

Because why would you ask God to search your heart?

Why would you ask Him to to try you and to know your thoughts if

you already know they're not in line with what He wants?

That's a tough prayer to pray, but we all should be in that

position where we can actually pray that and ask God to search

me and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if

there'd be any wicked way in me. That's a tough prayer to pray

because the only reason you'd ask that is so God will point

something out to you. And if you're praying it with

the intention of God pointing something out, then you've got

to do something about it. But I think it's a great prayer

to pray when it comes to this. What are your motives?

Why do you want to go into that full time service?

Here's what I'd say for #4 turn over to Mark chapter 5.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

Remember that you have no greater success on the field

then you're having here and now. I think a lot of people make the

mistake, people, young people especially, but even even older

people, adults, maybe even somebody who's spent some time

as an assistant pastor or spent some time working in ministries

already and feel like God's calling you into something

different, some kind of full time ministry.

I think a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that even

though I'm not doing anything for God right now, all the

sudden when I get into that ministry, I'm going to be really

doing something for God. I think it works that way in the

ministries of the church too, right?

I want to lead that ministry because I really think that I

can do something for God. What are you doing for God now?

Because if you're not doing something for God now, don't

expect that when you get into that ministry as the head of

that ministry that you're going to all the sudden change and now

you're going to be doing all of these great things for the Lord.

You might be leading a ministry, but if you're not bold enough to

go share the gospel, you're not going to get bold enough to

share the gospel because you're leading a ministry.

If you're not doing anything for God now, it's not like it's

going to change overnight and all of a sudden you're going to

be some great soul and not God can get a hold of your heart and

you can be a great soul wondering give you that boldness

and He can give you that confidence to go on and live for

Him. But don't expect that if you're

not doing anything for God now that all the sudden when you

turn 18 or you turn 22 that you're going to be some great

evangelist and some great preacher and some great soul in

there for the Lord. Get busy doing those things now.

Mark chapter 5 and verse #19 How be it Jesus suffered him not,

Mark 5 · chapter mention

but saith on him, Go home to thy friends and tell them how great

things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on

thee. This man, he was saved and and

clothed in his right mind. And he said, Let me come with

you, let me, let me go with you and do your ministry with you.

And Jesus said, no, go home and tell your friends, go home and

do the little ministry. And it wasn't, it wasn't

discounting the fact that this man wanted to follow him and be

with him. But he said, I've got a, I've

got a great ministry for you already.

Go home and tell your friends. Go be an influence on them.

See how you see how you impact the, the little things that I've

given you to impact. So my question is, have you

begun at home doing the work of the Lord?

If you want to go into full time service, what are you doing for

the Lord right now? That's the important question #5

I want to say this. If you become a preacher or a

missionary, you should begin by being an assistant.

I've heard many, many stories of young people who get straight

out of college and go straight to the mission field.

And they're back in two or three or four years, everything fell

apart. Or they went and took a church

because they, you know, they were gung ho about it.

And two or three or four years later, after the entire church

is split and many lives were destroyed because they had no

idea what they were doing, they come limping back to the place

they came from where they end up moving to another church.

And you know, in many cases doing the same thing because

they don't learn, right? It's Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

And verse 5 tells us that that Paul and Barnabas had Mark as

their minister didn't mean that he was their pastor.

It meant that he was their assistant.

That's the word there that's used.

And that was the best thing for me as as I was an assistant

pastor for 10 years before I became the pastor of this

church. And I felt like that was a long

time. But I look back and I say

probably could have been a little bit longer, wouldn't have

hurt me to be there a little bit longer.

It was good for me. I was able to make some mistakes

and I made mistakes without ruining a ministry, without

ruining people's lives because I was under a pastor for that

time. Are you willing for that?

Just just do what you're told and allow God to prepare you for

the ministry that He has for you.

Turn back, if you will, to Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

I want to say this, lastly, as it relates to this, be

absolutely sure of your call. Be absolutely sure of your call.

And Acts, chapter 13, verse #2 We read that the Holy Ghost

Acts 13 · chapter mention

called two men, but three went as they ministered to the Lord

and fasted the Holy Ghost said, Separate me, Barnabas, and Saul

for the word, where until I have called them.

Verse #4 So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost,

departed unto the Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to

Cyprus. But John Mark was the third one

that went along with them. I wonder, I wonder if this was a

man's appointing and not God's. Now I don't know.

I'm not saying that this is exactly what happened, but it

wasn't all that long later when John Mark abandoned them and

went back. And it might have been that John

Mark's mother called him, or Barnabas called him, or John

Mark called himself to go out and do this ministry.

Those, you know, the desire, the opportunity, the need, the

ability of the invitation. Those are not necessarily God's

call. There are some people who have

the ability to speak, so they think, well, naturally I've got

to be a preacher because I can speak in front of people or, you

know, I have this ability to do that, or I have the, you know,

the talents to do this thing or that thing.

And they just automatically assume that it's God's call in

their life. And it very well may be, but it

also may not be. And, you know, I think there's

many, many people who have missed God's call in their life

who should have been pastors or who should have been

missionaries or who should have, you know, married a pastor or a

missionary or been a Christian School teacher or something like

that. I think there's a lot of people

who God was calling who did not answer that call.

But I also think there's people who answered that call that God

never called them. And those are the ones that,

that, that, that I think sometimes go into these churches

and ruin the church. And they come in and they, they

have a good heart and they have the right intention, but they're

not following God's will for their lives.

You know, God, God does not call everybody to preach.

God doesn't call everybody to be a missionary.

I think there's a lot of people that he is calling that are not

answering that call. But you better make very sure

that it's God that's calling you.

And I know, especially in a church like ours, our young

people have some of that pressure to go into the

ministry. I don't want to be the one that

calls somebody into the ministry.

I don't want to call my kids into the ministry.

Certainly if God wants him to do that, I'm going to encourage him

to do it. I don't want them to go into the

ministry because they think that that's what I want them to do.

I want them to know that it's God that's calling them to do

that. And I believe in a church like

this where where we do take a stand for the things of the word

of God. I think, I think the chances

that God is calling our young people are higher than they

would be in some other places. And I believe that God is going

to call some of our young people into the ministry full time.

But at the same time, you better make sure that it's God calling

you and not somebody else. It's God calling you and not

just your desire to do that. I, I kind of fell into that same

pattern a little bit when it came to missions.

I felt for years like God was calling me to the mission field.

I graduated from college with my degree in missions.

I told my father-in-law when I went to work as an assistant

pastor. I don't know how long I'm going

to be here, but at some point we're leaving and going to the

mission field. And God had changed my heart.

I had to make sure that it was God's call because God started

putting it on my heart that he wanted, wanted me to start a

church. And I said, hang on, I've told

people for a lot of years that I'm going to be a missionary.

I better make sure if this is God or if this is just me, what

is it? And I had to get a hold of God

and, and he had to make it very clear to me that it was his will

not for me to be a missionary, but for me to start a church

right here in the States, right here in this area.

You better make sure that it's God calling you and not you

calling you or your Mama calling you or somebody else.

What is the call of God in your life?

And so somebody said, if you can do anything else full time, do

it. If you can do anything but full

time ministry, do it. And what they meant by that was

this. When God calls you to the

ministry, you might have a desire to do other things and

you might have an ability to do other things, but you can't do

those things because the ministry is just burning in your

heart And the desire that God's given you and the call that

God's given to you. Well, God will make it clear to

you if that's what he's called you to do.

And there's, you know, for me, there was many other things that

I would have liked to like to have done, but nothing else that

I could do because I know this is exactly what God's called me

to do. And when you like the Bible

says, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee

the desires of thine heart. There's a lot of other things

that I that I had an interest in.

I always wanted to be a a pilot F sixteens and fly The Jets and

all of those things. I had an interest in that from

the time I was just a little kid.

Loved the Marines because I like their uniforms better than

everybody else's. I always wanted to go to the

Marines and fly and I had that desire for a long time.

And then God called me and I surrendered to preach and I

still wanted to go to the military, but I knew this is

what God wanted me to do. And in a lot of ways, God's

allowed me to do the things that I've always wanted.

And obviously I never went to the military, but I'm working

with the Police Department and it's close to that.

There's a lot of those kind of things that overlap.

You know, there's, there's a lot of other things that I thought

would always be interesting to do.

And you know, even even the desire, I believe, you know, my

desire for the mission field was a burden for the mission field,

not a call to it. But but now God's allowing me to

even have an influence in some of these mission fields that

I've, that I've been able to go to and see some of these mission

fields and work with some of these missionaries.

And you know, I don't preach around the country very much,

but I preach around the world a lot, it seems like.

And God's given me that I believe because of my desire is

there and not God gives you the desires of your heart.

He fulfills your desires, but he changes your desires and he

tells you what he wants you to do.

And if you're, if you're interested only in doing what

God wants you to do, he'll make that very, very clear.

The surrender is the is the aspect that he's looking for

from us. But I say that to make sure that

that to be absolutely sure of your call.

And I'm not so sure that John Mark was very sure of that call.

Maybe he was, maybe he was and he just backed out of it.

But I think there's some things that we need to be cautious

about. Turn, turn back over to Acts

Acts 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15 because one of the lessons that we learned from

John Mark really is how sad it is to get out of the will of

God, brings trouble to us, brings trouble to others, and it

lets the Lord down. And we find this in Acts chapter

Acts 15 · chapter mention

15 and verse #36 some days after Paul said into Barnabas, let us

go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have

preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.

And Barnabas determined to take with him John, whose surname was

Mark. But Paul thought not good to

take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and

went not with them to the work. This is where you kind of get

the idea that it wasn't a very good split.

It's not like John Mark was just going to go with them for a

month or two and then come back. And he was just going to try to

get a little taste of the ministry he was supposed to be

with him. And he abandoned that, that

mission. And that's why Paul said, I

don't want him. He left us.

We tried that once and it didn't work out so well.

Verse 39. And the contention was so sharp

between them that they departed asunder one from the other.

And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed into Cyprus and Paul

chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto

the grace of God. And I don't know if this is any

indication or not, but what we find in the rest of the Bible is

that it follows Paul's story. And that's really the last you

hear of Barnabas. I don't know if that took

Barnabas out of God's will. I don't know that.

I mean, obviously Barnabas did some good work with John Mark

because we see that this story has a pretty good ending.

But the, the story is, you know, the John Mark story is, is, is

evidently well known and the stigma had become attached to

John Mark. Paul said, I don't want him.

He quit. He left us.

He had the opportunity to be there and, and, and he quit.

I don't want him back. Fast forward about 12 years.

It's at least possible by this time that Mark's Gospel was

already in circulation, that Paul read it and that he gave

his absolute recommendation of it.

And and his his view of John Mark and his usefulness to the

ministry changed a little bit by by reading that book.

But that may be why Paul's concern was to clear John Mark's

name, because it seems sure like Paul did that.

But be that as it may, John Mark was with Paul at Rome, and

that's what we find there back in Colossians Chapter 4.

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

And Marcus, sister, son to Barnabas, touching whom he

received commandments. If he come unto you, receive

him. We're not told how or why or

when John Mark actually joined Paul at Rome, but some people

have speculated that because his uncle Barnabas might have died,

and that John Mark felt the tug back toward Paul.

Either way, they made things right between them, whatever

that needed to be. John Mark, if you go back and

read about him as well, was a converted Jew.

So the one of the few Hebrew Christians that was willing to

be by Paul's side during that time when he was in prison

probably meant a whole lot to the apostle Paul as he sat

there. But now Paul trusts John Mark

enough to suggest that he go to Colossi on his behalf.

That's the story of redemption. That's a story of forgiveness.

That's exactly what you hope to see happening.

But you know, maybe the Colossians would have given him

the cold shoulder because they knew about this.

They knew that he had quit. So Paul asked them, accept them

touching whom you received commandments.

If he come unto you, receive him.

Mark. He was Jewish by birth, but he

no longer held that Judaistic belief.

So he would have been a tremendous help in countering

the Judaism that was that was creeping into a lot of these

churches. Turn back over to Second

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

Timothy, chapter 4 to finish out Mark's story.

He was later with Peter at Babylon, and that's not a church

that you hear of very often, but there was a church there at

Babylon and at the time of his second imprisonment, which he

never escaped from, Paul had such a high estimate and such a

high recommendation for John Mark that he urged Timothy to

bring him to Rome because he was profitable to the ministry.

He said that in Second Timothy chapter 4 and verse #11 only

2 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with

thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry.

The last thing that we read about him, the last thing that

we're told about John Mark, gives us an indication of just

complete restoration, complete reinstatement, and a full

dedication to the Lord's service.

Maybe he was too young, maybe he hadn't made sure of his calling,

maybe he had made some mistakes early on, but whatever it was,

he turned his life around and God was able to use him.

And not only that, but he made things right with Paul.

Paul made things right with John Mark, and Paul got to the point

where he could give that strong recommendation of him.

So Mark is the forgiven man. We can always make amends if

we're willing to do it. I think if you've gotten away

from the Lord, or maybe if there's been an, there's been a

time when you serve the Lord more in the past than you are

now. The Bible says in first John

1 John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 and verse 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful

and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness. He's always willing.

He's always able to put things back together, all the pieces,

and then use your life. And that's exactly what he did

with John Mark. Very quickly back in Colossians

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, We don't have a lot about this man named Justice,

but we do have a little bit. And I want to share that with

you this evening. We just talked about John Mark,

the forgiven man. But I want you to see this about

Justice. He was the friendly man.

And it's kind of startling to come across the name like Jesus,

which is called Justice. Jesus for us is a very sacred

name, but it was actually a pretty common name back in that

time. And I think it helps us to

remember that it was, it was common in among the Jews in that

day. And so Jesus was not anything

spectacular as it came in that way.

He was just an ordinary everyday name.

The Bible tells us in Isaiah that there was no form nor

comeliness about him. He was, he was not a handsome,

strong looking man. There was no, there was no

beauty in him. The Bible says that men should

desire him. I think Jesus was just a common,

common looking man with a common name.

He came and that's one of the things that's so significant

about the fact that this was not just a common man with a common

name. This was God in the flesh, but

Jesus, whose surname is Justice, which is called Justice, who are

of the circumcision. That means they were Jews.

And that surname justice really marks this man perhaps maybe as

belonging to a rigorous form of Judaism before his conversion.

But the fact that Paul says he was of the circumcision means

that he was a Jew. That was one of the rights that

made them a Jew. Paul suffered much from what he

calls the circumcision, the Judaistic, Legalistic mindset of

all of these people. And they're members of the

Jerusalem church. They had a lot of that.

James dealt with a lot of that in the, in the church at

Jerusalem. They were, they were Christians.

They believed in Christ, but they still had a lot of that

legalism and a lot of that stick to the law and, and, and follow

these things in, in that way. But these extreme Judaism

Judaizers, if you will, the, those who are of the

circumcision fought against Paul.

They were his enemies. And, and, and you know, they

dogged his footsteps. They, they subverted the

converts of the apostle Paul. They spread legalism and they

did their best at every turn to undermine Paul's message, to

undermine what he was trying to accomplish.

And I think had it not been for the circumcision, very likely

Paul would not have even been in prison, let alone killed,

because of these serious charges that they brought against him.

But here were Mark and Justice standing shoulder to shoulder

with Paul as some of his firmest friends, when Paul is in prison

and facing a death sentence. But Paul says that these men had

been a comfort to him. These only are my fellow workers

under the Kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.

That Greek word is used only here in the New Testament, but

it was a kind of a common medical term.

That word comfort. It's paregoric is the word that

the is where we get that English word from.

But it's it's a pair. That word paregoric means like

a, a soothing drug. It was a medical term.

And so when Paul calls them a comfort unto him, it's they're a

soothing drug to me. They're they're medicine to me.

They're such a help and and I'm so glad that they're here.

But justice had been a, a Good Samaritan to Paul, if you will.

He poured that soothing balm into the soul of the Apostle

Paul and they ministered to his physical needs as well as to

his, his spiritual and, and I dare say even his mental needs

as well. And we can do the same thing for

those who are of the household of faith who are struggling.

You know, there's a lot of people that get into that the

into that situation where they might be dealing with some form

of depression. You know, I said that Charles

Spurgeon spent a lot of his life and depression.

I've never been through it. I can't say that I know what it

feels like. And I think it's, you know, many

times it's our minds that are just not strong enough to handle

those things. But there are people who go

through it and there are people who who just seem like things

pile up one on top of the other and it just like they can't

catch a break. And as soon as they start

looking up and start seeing some things that are, you know, that

might look like they're good for them, something else comes out

of the out of left field and just knocks them down again.

And those are the those are the people that we can help.

Those are the people that we can be a comfort to our our comfort

can be like medicine to them. That's what justice did for the

apostle Paul. His comfort was like a soothing

medicine just just to be a friend to somebody may be all

that they need. I mentioned that we had a lady

that that came in this this evening before prayer meeting.

Brother George and I were here discussing some of the things

for the parade that's coming up. And she came and knocked on the

door and just tears streaming down her eyes.

She said, I don't need anything from you.

I just need somebody to pray for me.

I've had this happen and this happened and this happened and

this happened and I just, I, I drove by the church and I've

driven by the church many times and I saw that there was some

cars in the parking lot. I just need somebody to pray for

me. And we did that.

There's people out there who are struggling who just need

somebody to be an encouragement to them, who just need somebody

to pray for them, you know, And I think we get, we get

disillusioned sometimes because we think everybody wants

something, right? The only reason they're coming

is because they want money or the only reason they're coming

to me is because they think I can do something for them.

But sometimes all they need is just somebody to be a friend.

And I told her that I said, you come back.

She was actually, I mentioned that we were having a service

tonight. And she said, I can't come

tonight because I'm actually going home to take my mom to the

hospital. I think she's got something

wrong with her and she needs to go to the emergency room.

But I encourage, I said, come on Sunday.

We have a lot of ladies in our church who would like to be a

friend to you. Sometimes that's all people

need. That's what justice was for the

Apostle Paul. Just just somebody who was a

friend, gave him comfort, gave him that, that that soothing

balm that he needed to have just to be there when they need

somebody to lean on like John Mark, and like justice was for

the Apostle Paul. So there's other men that are

mentioned here as we already talked about, but what about

Mark the forgiving man? Are you willing to forgive

others? Are you willing to forgive

yourself for the things that maybe you've done in your life

and just go on and live for the Lord?

There's a lot of times when people say, I just, I've lived

such a horrible life. I can't believe I've done that.

There's no way that God ever could use me.

And that's just not true. Listen, if God forgave you and

the sin is against him, don't you think he wants us to forgive

ourselves, put it under the blood of Christ and just go on

and live for him? That's what he wants for us.

John Mark was a forgiving man and he didn't, he didn't, he

didn't grovel under the weight of abandoning the apostle Paul.

He got that forgiveness and he just went on and did something

for the Lord and it became profitable to the ministry,

justice, friendly man, somebody who was just willing to be there

and be a comfort to somebody that needed it.

How do you line up men of example?

We talked about five of them. A lot of things that we can do

to be a help to others. A lot of things that we can do

to be useful in God's service. Paul gives us as we close out

this book of Colossians 5, maybe more men who are actually a

great example to us. How do you stack up when it

comes to them? Where do you line up?

What do you need to change to help you become like these?

That obviously God chose to put in the word of God to be an

example for us. Great help, great help that they

are. Let's pray.

Father, again, we thank you so much for your goodness to us and

thank you for the men whose lives you chose to single out.

And I'm sure there was many, many people around the Apostle

Paul and in the churches that the Apostle Paul visited and

wrote to that were examples. But you chose these few men in

particular to be an example to us, and we follow their example

because it's obvious that they followed you and God.

May you help us where we fall short.

Thank you again for all you do for us in Jesus name, Amen.