Disciples Need Disciples

we need to be in Colossians. We should have already

finished Colossians on Sunday morning. And then

Jordan skipped ahead. Can we dial this back just

a little? There we go. Yeah, is that good? Can

you also hear me? Good, good, good. Yeah, so

Jordan skipped ahead because he was supposed

to preach that passage anyways, but not at the

time that he did. And so I'll backtrack on Sunday

and cover what the portion we skipped. So we're

gonna be in Colossians chapter four. And we're

gonna be in verses seven through, we'll see how

far we get. And we're gonna be reading a passage

that both of my interns are really happy they

don't have to read, because if you just look

at how it starts, you'll see why they don't wanna

read this passage. But it's interesting, because

we're coming to this point in Colossians, and

if we're honest with each other here, you get

to this point in Colossians, and if you're reading

Colossians in your own quiet time, your personal

study time, I'm just gonna say it, 99 % of us

are gonna skip these final verses, are we not?

I mean, just look, it's a bunch of names, okay?

How often do y 'all just read through the names

of the Bible, right? I know y 'all well enough

to know. Okay, there you go, yeah. So you don't

wanna skip the names. People do it with genealogies

too, but I've said it before, there are so many

good things in the genealogies. And there's actually

a lot of really good stuff here in these final

names. How ominous. How ominous. There's some

good stuff and some names. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, when you look at the names though, one of

the reasons you shouldn't skip them is because,

and this is on the nose, they're in the Bible.

And the Bible is inspired by God, and He didn't

put any fluff in His Word. So the fact that these

names are included, Means that God wanted them

to be included. They are here for a reason and

I think the whole purpose kind of behind Putting

all these names in here and Paul mentioning all

these various people is the simple fact that

The Bible is telling us that disciples need other

disciples We we were never meant to do life alone.

We need other people in our lives specifically

We need brothers and sisters in Christ to fill

our lives and I'm not just talking about people

that you just go to church with or people that

you see on Sunday morning or on Wednesday, and

you're like, oh yeah, that's my brother and sister

in Christ there, you know, we know each other

from church. I'm talking about living in community

with other Christians, and that is how we are

meant to live our lives. And for me, this is

pretty difficult because I'm the type of person,

even though I'm a pastor, I don't really like

to be around people that much too often. I'm

a bit of an introvert that way. So it's very

difficult for me to be in large groups of people.

I don't like public speaking, which is another

shocker because I'm a pastor, but I don't enjoy

public speaking unless I'm preaching and teaching

God's Word and then I really enjoy it. But I

don't like to just be surrounded by other people.

It kind of drains my energy. It takes a lot.

I kind of feel like I'm having to put on a show

for people. My brother -in -law, Bill, Gene's

son, he is not like that. Bill has never met

a stranger. I don't think Bill knows how to be

alone. It's like there's something in him that's

wrong with him. He just can't be alone. He has

to be around other people. It's how he gets energy.

I mean, he thrives when he's around other people.

And I think there's probably a good balance between

that, between being Bill and being me, because

you don't want to be me, you might want to be

Bill, but there's probably a healthy balance

somewhere in the middle where we need to be reminded

that we need other Christians in our lives to

live life with. And so in these verses, I think

what Paul is doing here, as he's mentioning his

ministry partners and his friends, he's going

to show the type of disciples that we need to

fill our lives with. really the type of disciples

that we need to strive to be as well. I want

you to look at this first one here in verses

seven through eight. Tychicus will tell you all

about my activities. He is a beloved brother

and faithful minister and fellow servant in the

Lord and I have sent him to you for this purpose

that you may know how we are and that he may

encourage your hearts. Now you might not be familiar

with this name but Tychicus seems in many ways

to be one of Paul's right -hand men. Paul mentions

him in Acts chapter 20 verse 4 as being among

Acts 20:4

those who went ahead of Paul and waited for him

in Troas. And actually, if you look at the other

references to him in the Bible, this was often

the person that Paul sent his letters with. So

when Paul was writing to the various churches,

he would give those letters to Tychicus to take

to the churches and be his delivery person. You

see this in Ephesians 6 .21. Paul says, so that

you also may know how I am and what I am doing,

Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister

in the Lord, will tell you everything. And then

in 2nd Timothy 4 .12, he says, Tychicus, I have

sent to Ephesus. And then in Titus 3 .12, when

I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best

to come to me in Nicopolis, for I have decided

to spend the winter there. So when you look at

Paul's relationship with this brother, and you're

asking yourself, well, what is there about him

that we should aspire to? What is it about him

that is so crucial to have in our lives? And

I think what you really see out of him is someone

who is willing and someone who is reliable. Tychicus

seems like the type of brother who was always

ready and willing to do whatever needed to be

done, whether it was travel to the Colossian

church to encourage them and tell them how Paul

was doing. or whether it was to go to Ephesus

to deliver a letter, he was always willing, and

he was always ready, and he was reliable. He

was someone that you could depend on. And I'm

going to be honest with you, this is the type

of person that I like to fill my life with. These

are probably my favorite type of disciples, and

I think you could probably tell by my two interns,

this describes them perfectly. These are the

type of interns I like to have. I mean, this

described Joseph, God bless his heart. That young

man was willing to do anything that needed to

be done. And the same thing is true of Christian

and Mark. I mean, that's what I look for when

I look for an intern. I look for someone who

is going to say, you just put me in and I'm willing,

I'm ready. I'll do whatever you need me to do.

And this is really, a lot of you might not know

this, but probably a month or two back when there

was a lot of sickness going around and my family

had the flu and there was the stomach bug and

pretty much everyone in the church got the stomach

bug. I was so certain that I was going to get

sick that I was writing my sermon and as soon

as I finished it I was emailing it to Christian

and Mark and I said all right guys here's my

sermon for this week in the off chance that I

do get sick I need one of you to preach this

sermon on Sunday and without fail they both messaged

me back and said yeah not a problem we got you

now if you don't know why that's pretty astonishing

and amazing I want you to know that Mark has

never preached a sermon in his life, ever. Christian

has never preached a Sunday morning sermon, he's

going to later this year, but Mark has never

preached a sermon and yet Mark was like, all

right, yeah, sure, if I've gotta read your sermon

and preach it, I'll do it. This is the type of

person you want in your life, someone who's gonna

say, whatever needs to be done, I'm gonna be

there and I'm gonna do it. And I think our church

is particularly blessed, because we've got so

many of these type of people in our church. I

mean, it describes so many. If I were to go to

Lowell Caldwell, Michael Stevenson, or Gene McKinney,

and I say, hey, I need you to teach gospel group

or Sunday school this morning, they would do

it in a heartbeat. If I call Brian Hufstedtler

and ask him for literally anything, Brian is

gonna be there, and he's gonna do it. Or if you

need something done around the church, all you

have to do is call Tommy or Gene, they're probably

already here, and they're gonna do it. I mean,

this is just the type of disciple that you really

want to have in your life. And honestly, this

is the type of disciple that we should strive

to be. It's one thing to be good every now and

then for something and say, yeah, if there's

a certain circumstance and the situation is right,

then I'll maybe help out. But it's another thing

entirely to say, I see what God is doing. I want

to be part of that work. And no matter what is

needed of me, I'm there for God. Whatever he's

asking of me, I want to be the type of person

who gets involved. and does what he needs me

to do. I want you to look at verse 9 because

we see another one here. It says, Now, if you

don't know who this is, we learn a lot about

him from the book of Philemon. So if you're looking

for baby names, a lot of good options in this

passage in particular. haven't heard Onesimus

in a while, but if you remember the book of Philemon,

basically Onesimus was a slave of Philemon who

ran away, and so he runs away, and this is just

the sovereignty of God at work. Onesimus crosses

paths with Paul, and Paul shares the gospel with

him and tells him about Jesus, and God saves

Onesimus, and so he's converted under Paul's

ministry, and then Paul sends him back to Philemon.

And based on what we read in Philemon, we see

the situation was Onesimus owed a great debt

to Philemon. We don't know what happened to incur

that debt, but we just know that he owed a great

debt to him. And it was one that he was unable

to pay and he was unwilling to work off that

debt. And so what he did is he ran away, which

was illegal. And so his past is marred by sin

and wrong decisions. And so what's amazing is

after he's converted to faith in Christ, He comes

up to Paul and Paul's like, all right, happy

to have you be a Christian now. Here's what I

need you to do. I need you to go back to Philemon.

If you're onesimus, this is not what you expect

to hear, right? If you're onesimus, this is actually

the last thing you want to hear. You want to

hear Paul say, and you can stay with me and I'll

teach you and I'll train you and you can see

how we do things. But instead he says, brother,

I need you to go back to Philemon. I need you.

to be a faithful servant in his household. But

then Paul tells him, any debt that you have,

I'll pay it myself. I just want you to go back

and do what's right. And clearly, he didn't just

go back to be a slave because we see here in

Colossians that he is actively serving with Paul.

And Paul is sending him to the Colossian church

as a messenger. And I want you to notice these

beautiful words that it says here. It's very

easy to look over. But everyone in the Colossian

Church knew about Onesimus' past. They had talked

with Philemon. They knew the situation. The rumor

mill started going around. Everybody knew about

the runaway slave. And so when they thought of

him, they thought of someone who illegally ran

away, who was unable to pay a debt, and who was

a wandering slave. And Paul, notice what he says

here. He says, I'm sending him to you, and he

is one of you. Did you notice those words? It's

so easy to miss. Paul sends them back and he

says, he is one of you. And so when we look at

Onesimus, we get the beautiful truth that the

sins of our past do not prevent us from being

used by God in the present. And that's an amazing

truth, is it not? That the sins of our past do

not prevent God from using us in the present.

I think there are a few things more beautiful

than seeing a notorious sinner with a bad past

be redeemed by God and saved by God and used

by God to do great things and you have to just

imagine how hard this would have been for Onesimus

to go to a place where everyone knows his past

everyone knows what he did and yet he's living

in the freedom in Christ and he's going to live

for God's purposes and I know I've already mentioned

it, but I can't help but think of our brother,

Brian Huffstetler, again, because many of you

have heard Brian's testimony, and it's an amazing

testimony, is it not? I mean, you look at his

past, and he's got a marred past. I've got a

marred past. I've got a messed up past. And I'm

sure, because of conversations I've had with

Brian, that there are certain places where if

he were to go there, people would start talking.

And they say, oh, you... You're talking about

Huff? Oh yeah, I know Huff. I know all about

Huff. I know the things that he's done. But the

amazing thing is, if you mention his name at

this church, no one says, oh I know about Huff.

They say, are you talking about Brian? One of

the deacons of George's Creek Baptist Church,

that's the Brian you're talking about. You're

talking about the man who checks on his families

and calls them every single week. You're talking

about the man who would literally give you the

shirt off his back if you said you needed it,

who would do anything for anyone. Are you talking

about Brian because that's the only Brian that

I know? Isn't that an amazing truth that your

past sins do not get to define you? Your past

mistakes do not get to define you and your past

mistakes do not prevent God from using you in

the present. I'm personally thankful for that

because I live in my own hometown and there are

people all across this town who know all about

Alex Chapman and all the things that I've done.

And I'm always thankful to get to encounter those

people and say, you know who I was, let me tell

you who I am because of what Jesus has done in

my life. You need people like this in your life

to remind you of the amazing grace of God, and

the mercy of God, and the power of God, and the

transforming power of God, to take a sinner,

to redeem them, to make them clean, and then

use them for His purposes. That's the type of

person that we want to have in our lives. I want

you to look at another one here in verse 10.

Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you.

And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning

whom you have received instructions if he comes

to you, welcome him. Now, Aristarchus seems to

have been one of Paul's most faithful companions.

He typically traveled with Paul wherever he went.

But what's amazing is when Paul faced some of

the harshest trials of his life, Aristarchus

wasn't just there for him. He was there with

him in the midst of those trials. I mean, for

instance, we all remember that Paul had a famous

shipwreck at sea. You all remember that? Paul's

traveling on the sea, he's on a boat, and there's

a shipwreck. You might not remember that Aristarchus

was actually on that boat with him. We read in

Acts 27 .2, an embarking in a ship of Adramidium,

which was about to sail to the ports along the

coast of Asia, we put to see, accompanied by

Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.

And so we also learn from Paul's letter to Philemon,

and here in Colossians, that Aristarchus was

a prisoner with Paul. So he wasn't someone who

just kind of hung around Paul, and he wasn't

someone who just said, Paul, if you need me,

I'll be there, just give me a call, you know,

send a letter. He was someone who says, Paul,

whatever you're doing, I'm going to be there

with you. Whatever you're going through, I'm

going to submit myself to the same thing. If

you're going to jail, I'm going to jail. I'm

in this with you. And so here was a man who was

not just content to be there for Paul if he needed

him, but someone who insisted on being there

with Paul in the midst of his trials and sufferings.

And these are the type of disciples that you

want to have in your life, is it not? I mean,

it's one thing for people to say they're there

if you need them or call them if something happens,

but it's another thing for a person to come to

you in times of trouble and say, I'm going to

be here with you in the midst of this trial,

and I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere.

We are going to bear this burden together. I'm

very thankful to have people like this in my

life. I'll just be very candid with you. Maybe

last year or two years ago. I was having a really

really bad day and My depression and my anxiety

was just at an all -time high I guess for anxiety

depression was all -time low Inversive that was

a bad place a very very bad place. I even started

having Suicidal thoughts again. It was it was

just not not good and I came here to the office

starting the work day, and that was the place

I was in, and I didn't know how I was gonna make

it through the day. And then Jessica and Jordan

came into my office unannounced, uninvited, because

Anna had called them and told them what was going

on with me, and said, I don't trust him to be

alone right now, I need you to be there for him.

And so Jessica and Jordan stopped whatever they

were doing, gave Daniel to someone, and they

came into my office and I said, hey guys, I really

don't want to be around people right now. So

if y 'all could just Leave and they said yeah,

that's cool. We're gonna stay here Until you're

ready to be alone. It's like well, I really don't

want company. They said yeah, we got you We're

gonna sit here and they did and they sat there

right across from my desk and they gave up hours

of their day and I was in tears and we were talking

And they eventually did leave, but they didn't

leave until I was in a place where they felt

like they could leave. And it was a reminder

to me of how thankful I am for people who aren't

just saying, hey, give me a call if you need

me, but who will walk into your office and they're

like, I'm just gonna sit here until I know that

you're okay. That's the type of people that not

only do we need in our lives, but that's the

type of disciple that we need to be in the lives

of others. We don't want to have our brothers

and sisters in Christ suffer alone the Bible

says when one suffers We all suffer when they

are mourning we mourn when they rejoice we rejoice

we are called to bear with one another No one

is meant to carry their load alone And so it's

not sufficient to just say, hey, give me a call,

or if you need something, let me know. If you

know someone's going through something, if you

know that they are hurting, if you know that

they're struggling, you need to be with them

in the midst of their struggle, just as Aristarchus

was for Paul. I want you to notice he mentions

another one here in verse 10. He mentions Mark,

the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you've

received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome

him. Now who was Mark? Anybody have any guesses?

Yeah, he wrote one of the Gospels. He was actually

a disciple of Peter, so if you're reading Mark's

Gospel, it's actually Peter's account of his

story with Jesus, which is really interesting

when you compare it to the other accounts, because

some of the times when Peter looks the worst...

Those aren't actually in Mark's gospel. They're

in Matthew's. You might be wondering why. Well,

Peter's telling the story there. But he was a

disciple of Peter, and he was a traveling companion

of Paul. And you might not remember this, but

the book of Acts tells us that Paul and Mark

had a falling out. It says that when Paul and

Barnabas set sail to Pamphylia, Mark abandoned

them, and Paul took this personally. He viewed

this as Mark being unwilling to do what needed

to be done for the kingdom of God. He viewed

it as Mark basically copping out and not being

fit for the ministry and so they had this huge

falling out and it led to an even greater dispute.

In Acts 15 verse 36 through 40 it says, and after

Acts 15:36–40

some days Paul said to Barnabas, let us return

to visit the brothers in every city where we

proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they

are. Now, Barnabas wanted to take with them John,

called Mark, but Paul thought best not to take

with them one who had withdrawn from them in

Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

So notice the connection. He didn't go with them

to the work. He was copying out, he wasn't fit,

and there arose a sharp disagreement so that

they actually separated from each other. And

Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to

Cyprus. but Paul chose Silas and departed, having

been commended by the brothers to the grace of

the Lord. And so, that's what happened, but now

we get to see something very beautiful here,

where Mark, who had a falling out with Paul,

and this huge disagreement, and Paul said he's

not even fit for the ministry, Mark's now been

restored. And he's now working with Paul again.

And I think it's even more beautiful to read

in 2 Timothy. If you remember 2nd Timothy, Paul,

that's his last letter that he wrote. He is about

to die as he wrote 2nd Timothy. He knows that

he is about to be put to death. He knows the

end is coming. In his last request, in 2nd Timothy

411, he says, Luke alone is with me. Get Mark

and bring him with you, for he is very useful

to me in the ministry. How amazing is that? I

mean, again, that's one of those things that

we just kind of read over like, oh, he's saying

a name. But here was this guy that Paul said,

he's not fit for the ministry. He's not cut out

for the work. I don't want anything to do with

him anymore. And then at the very end of his

life, Paul's last request is bring Mark, because

he's very useful to me in the ministry. And so

I think there's a really beautiful reminder here

when we look at Mark, and it's that if God hasn't

given up on someone, we don't need to give up

on them either. If God hasn't given up on someone,

we don't need to give up on them either. Because

where a person currently is, isn't necessarily

where they're always gonna be. And I've seen

too many times in my life and in my ministry,

where we've almost written someone off and dismissed

them and given up on them, and God has restored

them and brought them back. I mean, you can talk

to any of the deacons about this. On our deacon

list, we have an inactive list of people who

haven't been here in a while. If they haven't

been here after a certain amount of time, we

move them from inactive to no longer members.

And there have been so many times where we've

said, you know, so -and -so hasn't been here

for a long time. Should we move them away? Should

we move them to no longer members? Should we

revoke their membership? And we say, no, let's

just keep praying for them. Let's keep asking

God to do something. and I kid you not we've

had times where we've had a person or a couple

on that list for over a year nearly two years

and we thought there's no way they're ever coming

back give up on them and sure enough they're

back with us today it's a good reminder that

if God doesn't give up on people we don't need

to give up on them either so if you have someone

in your life right now that you're frustrated

with if you're dealing with someone that you

think is immature in their faith or Maybe someone

who's acting un -Christ -like or you've had a

falling out with them and you think, well, that's

it. They're no good to me anymore. They can't

possibly help me or nurture my faith or be any

use to me. I just want you to remember those

are the same things that Paul thought about Mark.

And then at the end of his life, he was requesting

him to be by his side. You never know what God

is going to do in someone's heart and in someone's

life. You never know how God is going to transform

someone and make them useful in His service.

Now you look at verse 11, he says, in Jesus who

is called justice, these are the only men of

the circumcision among my fellow workers for

the kingdom of God and they have been a comfort

to me. So this is the only place in the Bible

where justice is mentioned, so we don't really

have a lot to say about him other than the fact

that he seemed to be a great comfort to Paul.

But we do know a lot more about the next guy.

If you look in verse 12, it says, Apaphras, who

is one of you, servant of Christ Jesus greets

you always struggling on your behalf and his

prayers and that you may stand mature and fully

assured in all the will of God for I bear him

witness that he has worked hard for you and for

those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Now if you

remember Epaphras was the man who planted the

church in Colossae. Paul didn't start that church.

It was started by Epaphras. He's the one who

planted it. He's the one who nurtured them and

taught them. And I want you to notice this about

him. He was a prayer warrior. Notice how the

Bible describes his prayers here. It says that

he was struggling in prayer on their behalf and

working hard in prayer on their behalf. So this

was not your typical church guy where when you

or sharing a request, what does every Christian

say? Oh, I'll pray about that. Or I'm praying

for you. But then 95 % of them never actually

pray about it. It's just the church answer. Oh

yeah, we'll pray about that. Or I'm praying for

you. And then we don't actually do it. Well,

this was a brother who labored in prayer to the

point that the Bible literally describes it as

hard work. And I'm just going to tell you, you

need people like this in your life. People, when

you share a request with them, They're not just

going to dismiss it, but they're actually going

to dedicate themselves to praying for you and

praying for your request and laboring in prayer.

I'm thankful to have a mom who is a prayer warrior

like that. I consider my mom a great prayer warrior

because I know if I ask my mom to pray for something,

she's going to pray for it. And she's not going

to stop praying for it until I tell her that

she can stop praying for that particular request.

I've said it to you so many times now, you know

it by heart. She prayed for my salvation for

18 years. I do not have that kind of patience,

okay? I don't know that I could consistently

pray that long for something for 18 years, and

yet my mom dedicated herself to praying for my

salvation for that long. We need to be the kind

of disciples who devote ourselves to prayer.

And honestly, if we are to be truly biblical,

And we're to do what Christ tells us to do. We

need to commit ourselves to prayer and fasting.

Now, I don't have time to go into all of that

this evening. I have heard that there is a pretty

good podcast episode recently released on that.

So if you want to learn more about fasting and

what biblical fasting is and how to fast and

why Christians are supposed to fast, then check

out a podcast that answers questions on that.

But the point is we need to take prayer seriously.

And we need to be the type of people who actually

pray for things and trust that God is able to

do far more and abundantly than all we can even

think or imagine. How silly is it for Christians

to say there's no point praying for that because

there's no way it's ever going to happen. What

kind of God do we serve? That we wouldn't entrust

everything to him and trust that he is able to

do that. I mean we've got this situation with

the parsonage right now, right? We didn't see

that one coming. We didn't know it was going

to be that bad. And when you had told us at the

beginning of this year, none of us would have

said, hey, we're going to get a $45 ,000 bill,

and that's not even going to cover everything

for a parsonage that we didn't know how we're

going to fix. We don't just have that laying

around. We're not that kind of church that just

has $45 ,000 in the bank ready to say, hey, there

you go. But there's nothing too big for our God,

is there? And I don't think a parsonage with

some mold is too big for our God. If God owns

the cattle on a thousand hills, I do not think

$45 ,000 is too much for our God. And so what

if we were actually, rather than stress about

this situation, and fight about this situation,

and get anxious about this situation, what if,

novel idea, what if we prayed about it? And we

committed it to God. and say, God, we don't know

the way. We don't know how it's going to happen.

We don't know how you're going to provide, but

we are trusting that you were able to do for

us what we cannot do for ourselves. What if we

prayed, church, and trusted God? I could go on,

but we've already not even made it to Luke yet.

I really thought I'd be able to get through the

names. Look at verse 14 with me very quickly

because I'm about to run out of time. Luke the

beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.

Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea

and to Nympha and the church in her house. And

when this letter has been read among you, have

it also read in the church of the Laodiceans.

And see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.

It would have been nice if that letter had been

preserved, but it was not. So we all know who

Luke is, right? Luke was the famous doctor and

the historian. He's the one who wrote the book

of Luke and Acts, and possibly Hebrews. Probably

Hebrews. I can't prove it with certainty, but

maybe. But what's interesting about Luke is that

he never actually gave up his profession as a

doctor in order to pursue ministry. And we know

that because look how Paul refers to him here.

He says he is the beloved physician. Instead,

Luke continued to serve as a doctor while also

participating in ministry. And I think this is

really important for us to consider because it's

one of those phrases that we can just read over.

But I can't tell you how many people I've met

who say, I want to do something great for God.

I want to serve God. I want to do something for

God. And so they think they have to quit their

job and find a job at a church or move overseas

and go to a third world country. in order to

be used by God to do something great. But Luke

reminds us that God can use us right where we're

at to make a difference in this world and for

his kingdom. I've told you all before, some of

the most fruitful conversations and ministry

I've ever been a part of was in the flooring

section at Lowe's. I've had some of the best

ministry conversations I've ever had in my life,

not in a church building, but on a tile aisle.

Talking about mortar and grout and leading people

to Jesus in that place. You can turn every conversation

and every opportunity into a ministry if you

are ministry minded. You do not have to quit

your job and get paid by a church in order to

be in ministry. I think one of the best examples

of this is William Wilberforce, great man from

history. And there's a famous story where early

on in his life he wanted to leave politics and

quit politics because he said, I want to do something

for God. I want to serve God. And so he thought

that meant he needed to quit politics and become

a pastor. And it was my favorite pastor of all

time, John Newton, who told him not to do that.

and told him that he should stay in politics,

and Newton said to him that he could serve God

just as faithfully in Parliament as he could

in the pulpit. And so he took Newton's advice,

and guided by his faith in God, he dedicated

his life to abolishing the slave trade. Every

step of the way he was seeking to serve God and

bring about biblical justice in a world that

needed it and God blessed his efforts and brought

about the complete abolition of slavery in the

British Empire in 1833 under the direction of

William Wilberforce. So you don't have to buy

this lie that you have to be employed by a church

to make a difference in the kingdom of God. God's

will is accomplished by ordinary Christians leveraging

every single opportunity God gives them to be

useful in His service. Whether that's on a tile

aisle, whether that's in a bank, whether it's

at the grocery store, whatever your job is, view

it as a ministry, because that is your ministry.

That is your sphere of influence that God has

given you to tell people about Jesus, to spread

the news of the gospel. And you might say, well,

I work from home, or I don't work at all. Well,

you know what? You can talk to people in the

grocery store. You can talk to people when you're

out around town. I remember I was going to get

my tires changed one time, and I normally would

take a book, and I had a book, and this guy wanted

to strike up a conversation. I said, all right,

this might be an opportunity. So I put down my

book, and I ended up having about an hour and

a half conversation with the man about Jesus

in the waiting room while we're getting our tires

changed. You can use these opportunities. Take

the earbuds out. Put the book down and be aware

of who God has put in your life and around you

so that you can actually have gospel conversations

and seek to make the most of the opportunities

that God gives you. I think the best way to end

this would be to read Paul's words to Archippus.

If you look at Colossians 4 .17, he says and

say to Archippus, see that you fulfill the ministry

that you have received in the Lord. I don't think

there's a better way to end it than that. Because

every single person in this room, even though

I think Mazan and I are the only people paid

by this church in this room, every single person

in this room has a ministry that has been given

to you by God. And you are to make the most of

that ministry. When you die, it will not matter

if you were employed by a church, if you ever

preached a sermon, if you ever taught a Sunday

School lesson or a Bible study. Because I promise

you, people don't remember what I preached last

month. They're not going to remember it when

I'm dead. But you won't, when your time comes,

for people to be able to look back at your life

and say, they served the Lord all the days of

their life. they took up the ministry that God

had given them and they seized every opportunity

that God put in front of them and they lived

to the glory of God alone and they have died

and now they are at rest with the Lord. That's

the testimony that we get to have because of

what Jesus has done for us. Fulfill the ministry

that you have received in the Lord. We probably

still have some work to do on Colossians, but

that's as far as we're getting tonight. Gene,

you have a word of wisdom for us?