SUNDAY - JANUARY 18, 2026 ""A Willing Servant"

Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.

Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 a.m.

You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.

We hope you enjoy.

God bless.

To continue our study in Acts today will be in Acts 16.

But before we get there, let's go back and look at Acts chapter 15, verse 41.

Acts 15:41

He says this, and he, that's Paul, went through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches.

Where we find ourselves in our passage today is Paul and Silas are beginning Paul's second missionary journey.

And they're going to be introduced to a new person, a new companion that is going to journey with them on this trip named Timothy.

In our passage today, we're really focusing on Timothy and how Timothy became a willing servant in the missionary call.

Now listen, I understand that you and I may not have received a missionary call like Paul or like Silas, but understand that we have received a call.

As believers, we have received a call from God, and in that call, we should be willing servants as followers of Christ.

And so the challenge for us today as we study this passage is to be those willing servants of Christ.

So the question that we seek to answer this morning as we study, as we look at the life of Timothy and how Timothy came on, where our question is, how was Timothy a willing servant?

And hopefully by understanding how Timothy was this willing servant, we can understand how we can be willing servants as well.

So we'll be in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

I invite you, if you if you're able to stand with me as we give honor to the reading of God's word.

Acts chapter 16, verse 1.

Acts 16:1

Luke writes, God says, Paul came also to Derby and to Lystra.

A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.

He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.

Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and the elders who were in Jerusalem.

So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.

Let's pray together.

God, once again, we come to you and thank you.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you that you have revealed yourself to us through your word.

And God, we pray now as we engage with your word that you will change our lives for all eternity.

Jesus, it's in your wonderful name that we pray.

Amen.

As I read this passage, I went back and began to think about when I was in high school.

My freshman year in high school, we were, football season was over and we were in, it wasn't really spring training.

It was more like winter training, and and we were doing all kinds of things.

We were lifting weights, working out, we were doing conditioning, something almost every day.

We were doing things like that.

And because South Pontiot was such a small school, listen, that is really the only reason.

It's because South Pontiot was such a small school.

I was looking at the possibility of starting being the starting quarterback on varsity the next year.

And because of that, I was super excited, but there were some issues that had to be worked through.

One is, I know it's hard for you to believe now, but I was tiny.

I mean, I was little.

Shopping wet, I weighed about 140 pounds.

And and and my coach, he he wanted me to gain weight, and so he found before it was cool and a thing, he found some protein powder basically, and it was was powder not to supplement any kind of meal, but it was powder to add to a meal.

So so three times a day, breakfast, I had breakfast and a protein shake.

Lunch, I ate lunch and a protein shake.

Supper, I wouldn't eat it then.

I would wait till bedtime and I would have a protein shake.

Did everything I could to gain those two pounds, and it was amazing.

Not only was I tiny, you may find this hard to believe, but I was slow.

Very slow.

So we had to do some work on that.

And my coach, who some of you know went to high school with, Dennis Robbins was his name.

Uh, Coach Robbins, he encouraged me.

He said, Grant, one thing when I was in high school that I did when to to help me to gain some speed is in the offseason I started training by running a four 440 meters, like one loop around the track on the football field.

He said, and and and I would do that every day, and my goal was to do that in less than a minute, in less than 60 seconds.

And and when I reached that, you wouldn't believe how quicker I was on my 40-yard dash time.

And so that's what I'm gonna challenge you to do is every day go out and and run a lap around the football field and get better and see if you can get it below 60 seconds.

So listen, every day I went out there and ran.

I got below 70.

But listen, I was so excited, I became willing.

If somebody said, hey, if you do this, or if you do that, or if you do this, you'll get better.

And I was so excited and so wanted to do well and wanted to be, I was, I was so excited that I was willing to do anything.

As we come to Timothy today, we find in Timothy a willing servant.

Someone who is willing to do what it takes to follow Christ.

And no matter the cost, no matter what happens, he is willing to follow Christ.

He becomes that willing servant.

We need to understand what Paul and Silas are doing here.

Paul's first missionary journey, he went from Cyprus to Iconium to Antiochidia to, or from to Lyst, actually, Cyprus to Antiochidia to Iconium to Lystra and Derby.

On this second missionary journey, he's going backwards.

So where we find him today in chapter 16 is we find him to, he went to Derby and then to Lystra.

We're going to camp out in Lystra today because it's here that he meets Timothy.

And it's here that we're going to engage with Timothy and again seek to answer the question: how was Timothy willing?

How was he, how did he become this willing servant?

Well, the first thing that I think we see here is in verses 1 and 2 of this chapter that he was a disciple.

He was a disciple.

See what it says.

Paul came also to Derby and Lystra, and a disciple was their name, Timothy.

Well, what does it mean, though, that he was a disciple?

How do we know that?

How do we see that?

Well, there's a couple things in this.

One is to be a disciple, he was first a believer.

He had trusted in Christ, he believed in Jesus, he had repented of his sins and placed his faith in Jesus.

And we see this probably happening back in Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

You probably remember the story.

It's been a few months ago, but we weren't there that long ago.

Remember in Acts chapter 14, when you start about verse 8, Paul was preaching in Lystra.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

And it tells us that as he's preaching, he looks out and he sees this crippled man who in Paul, it says, when he sees him, he saw faith in him.

So Paul looked at him and he said, Hey, stand up.

In the middle of the sermon, wouldn't you love to be called at, hey, stand up.

But this guy, in his faith, he stood up, and what we see is the people in that congregation, they they see that it was mostly a Gentile congregation, so they start trying to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, calling them Zeus and Hermes.

Paul and Barnabas paused them from offering those sacrifices and said, Hey, whoa, guys, whoa, whoa, whoa.

We are simply men just like you.

This man was healed by the power of Jesus Christ.

And then it tells us that as you move on through that story, as you get in verse 19, he tells us that that Jews came from Antioch and came from Iconium.

And what we we see in this story is it's as you read Acts, it sounds like it was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, one after the other.

We talked about this, but but there was some time that they spent in spent in Lystra.

It wasn't just that, hey, they uh immediately after this happened, they spent some time in Lystra.

And what happened is Jews from other places that Paul and Barnabas had been came and they began to accuse Paul of things.

And it says that they took Paul outside of the town, or they took Paul and they stoned him when they thought he was dead, they dragged him outside of the town, and then it says that the when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up, he went back to the city, and the next day he went to Derby.

It was probably during this time, during this time, that Timothy became a disciple.

He became a believer in Jesus Christ.

It was probably during this time where Timothy saw the power of Jesus Christ.

He saw the call of Jesus Christ.

He saw that Paul and Barnabas were doing what Christ had called them to and bearing witness to the kingdom of God and what and the power of Jesus Christ.

And God moved in Timothy's life and he became a disciple by first becoming a believer.

There's another thing, though, that we see in his discipleship that is interesting, and we find that still right here in these first two verses, especially at the beginning of verse 2, it says, He was well spoken of by the brothers.

He was well spoken of.

You know, and Paul later writes a letter to Timothy, writes two letters to Timothy that we have.

In the first letter to Timothy, Paul is writing, and he's telling Timothy, Timothy has begun pastoring a church, and Paul is talking to him about organizing the church.

Even last Sunday, we ordained two deacons.

And as we ordained those deacons, we looked back at this passage in 1 Timothy and how God gave qualifications for deacons.

Also in chapter 3 of 1 Timothy, he gives qualifications for overseers, for leaders in the church.

And one of those qualifications that he gives is in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 2, he says, Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach.

1 Timothy 3:2

Stop right there for a minute.

He must be above reproach.

What does that mean?

How do we deal with that?

What does it tell us?

Well, well, it tells us basically that as an overseer in the church carrying that office, and later about the deacons, he's going to say, likewise deacons.

So we talked about that last last Sunday night.

Must be live a life with such a reputation that if if an accusation is brought against them, they're really above accusations.

They've lived their life in such a way that you can't even really bring an accusation against them because they are above reproach.

They have lived a life well.

As you hear Paul write this letter to Timothy, you've got to imagine that Paul saw that in Timothy.

Later on in chapter 4 of 1 Timothy.

But set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, and faith in purity.

There must have been something that Paul saw in Timothy.

That he saw in him this person, this willing spirit that he wanted him to come along with him.

So first, how was Timothy willing?

He was a disciple.

Second, how was Timothy willing?

Paul wanted him on this journey.

Paul wanted him to accompany him.

Now remember what's just happened.

It's easy for us to forget, but remember what's just happened.

Paul and Barnabas just separated because Paul did not trust John Mark.

Now we talked about last week how reconciliation came between those, but right here, Paul separated from Barnabas because he didn't trust John Mark.

So now he comes on the second missionary journey and finds a young man named Timothy, and he wants him to come along.

He wants him.

Paul saw something in Timothy, whether it be a willing spirit, whether it be a believer who had lived a life that was so above reproach that he was so well spoken of, not real sure what it was that Paul exactly saw in Timothy, but he saw something in him and made him want Timothy to come with him and travel with him.

Now listen, you may be thinking, Grant, I get that, but how does him being a disciple and being well spoken of by other people and Paul wanting him to come, how does that show us that Timothy is a willing servant?

See if I can explain.

Next week, I think it's next week.

Is next week Super Bowl Sunday?

It's next week, isn't it?

Anyway, it's coming up.

No, it's in February.

First week in February.

I'm trying to get ahead of myself.

Anyway, Super Bowl's coming up.

Some of you will probably host a party or have a party at your house.

Now imagine with me, okay, just for a moment, that you're hosting this party.

Don't, if it, if you, if that gives you anxiety, it's not real, you're imagining, okay?

But just imagine with me for a second.

That you're you're hosting this party, and the way that y'all have planned this party is people are just gonna bring stuff.

It's gonna be potluck.

So people are just gonna bring things.

Here's the problem.

You didn't have anybody sign up for what they're gonna bring.

So you have no idea what they're bringing.

So what can you do?

What are you gonna do to prepare for this party?

Well, here's what you're gonna do: you're gonna do the things that you know to do.

You're probably gonna take some time and clean up your house.

You're probably gonna take some time and go into your kitchen and make sure that there are places for people to set their food.

You're probably gonna look and make sure that you have utensils to serve food with.

You're probably gonna go in and look for chairs to make sure that there's places for people not just to set their food, but for people to sit and watch the game.

You're probably gonna even, if you have a streaming service, you're probably gonna make sure you can stream the game that it's gonna come on.

And you're gonna do the things that you know to do, the things that you have control over, so that when people arrive, guess what?

When they bring the food, at least they have a place to sit it.

At least they have a place to sit and eat and and watch the game.

You're gonna do those things and just do the things that you know to do.

You might even at least get food that you know that you and your family will eat, so at least you know you can eat.

There are things that you're gonna do.

Listen, I have people come to me all the time and say, Grant, I want to serve God, but I don't know how, and I don't know what he wants me to do.

Hey, like Timothy, begin with the things that you know to do.

Trust in God.

If you want God to use you, the first thing you gotta do is trust him.

And then you can do the other things that you know you're supposed to do.

God has revealed to himself to us through his word.

So guess what?

If I want God to speak to me, he's spoken, so maybe I need to get into his word.

Maybe what we can do if we want God to use us, we know that he's called us to get in his word.

We know he's called us to pray.

So maybe I should start making time to pray.

God has given us the gift of the church that we talk about every week.

That that we don't have to go through this along.

And it since he's given us the gift of the church, what he's at least called us to do is serve in our church.

So, so one thing that you know that God's called you to do, he's called you to read and study his word.

He's called you to pray, he has called you to find a church and get involved and serve.

Hey, let's first do the things that we know he wants us to do.

If we want to hear from God, maybe we need to be in the places where he's speaking.

Let's do the things.

It's what Timothy did.

He he knew that God had called him to be above reproach, to be a person that was a believer that was well spoken of.

So you know what he did?

He lived his life that way.

He lived his life in such a way when Paul saw, and Paul said, That's a young man.

I see something in him, I see potential in him.

Hey, come on, Timothy, let's go.

And he was ready to go.

He didn't have to wait and go and figure things out because he had put himself in places where God already was speaking.

So when God spoke, he heard.

If we want to be willing servants, let's put ourselves in the places where God we know God is speaking.

Let's do the things that God is.

Called us to do where he is speaking.

So when he speaks, we hear.

Timothy was a willing servant because he was a disciple.

Because Paul wanted him.

Third, we see that he was a willing servant because he was circumcised.

Now, you're going to pause.

Surely.

I'll pause there.

Here's why, though.

Just last chapter, just chapter 15, in the Jerusalem Council, the elders of the church at Jerusalem, Paul, Barnabas, the apostles, they were brought this question.

Basically, the Gentiles have to become Jews first before they can become Christians?

Do they need to be circumcised?

And basically the Jerusalem Council says, no, you don't.

So what's happening here is they said Gentiles don't have to be Jews first.

They don't have to be circumcised.

But now Paul is coming and saying, Timothy, you need to be circumcised.

Why?

Well, there's some things to see.

First of all, Timothy really has a Jewish heritage.

It tells us, if you read, that his father was Greek, but his mother was Jewish.

That being said, because his mother was Jewish, many of the Jews, even the staunchest of Jews, would have considered Timothy to be Jewish.

But they knew he probably had not been circumcised because his father was Greek.

And so Paul tells him he needs to be circumcised.

And again, it sounds like Paul might be a little hypocritical here because later Paul's going to travel with another guy named Titus, who is all Greek, and he doesn't cause Titus.

He doesn't tell Titus to be circumcised.

Actually, he fights against Titus' circumcision.

What's going on?

Why would he do that here to Timothy?

Why would he go with that?

Well, again, let's go back to Acts 15 and see what they actually say.

Here's what they tell the Gentiles.

Look, we're not going to make you be circumcised, but there are some things that you need to observe.

You need to abstain from meat with the blood in it.

There's some things that you need to abstain from.

And basically the idea is this just because you're free to do some things doesn't mean you should do those things.

And Paul really carries that throughout his ministry.

Paul carries and is willing to so often set his freedoms to the side for the sake of the gospel.

We see it in 1 Corinthians.

Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

What's happening in this passage in 1 Corinthians 9 is the Gentiles and the Jews and even some weaker Gentile believers are having an issue with meat that has been offered to idols.

Here's what would happen: people would sacrifice an animal to an idol.

And of course, because the idol wasn't real, the meat would be left over.

So then they would take that meat and they would sell it in the market.

And people would buy it and eat it.

And some people, Jews, and some of the other Gentiles, they viewed this as an abomination.

Because it was meat that had been sacrificed to an idol.

So there was no way that you could eat that.

Now, there were other Gentiles who had a different point of view.

Their view was this: that's a piece of wood.

It's not a God.

It's a piece of wood.

The reason the meat is still there is because it's a piece of wood.

What does it hurt if we can buy that meat for cheaper and eat it?

What does it hurt if it's been killed in front of a piece of wood?

It matters nothing.

It's not even real worship because it's a piece of wood.

And while Paul agreed with that, here's basically where he comes down.

But you still don't need to eat it.

Listen to what he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

If we start reading in verse 19, he says, For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them.

To the Jews I became as a Jew in order to win Jews.

To those under the law, I became as one under the law, although not bl being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law.

To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law, but but under but the law of outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law.

To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak.

I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

I do it for the sake of the gospel that I might share with them in its blessings.

Here's what he's saying.

Just because I'm free to eat meat offered to idols, doesn't mean I should, so that I can reach the weak.

What he's gonna come and understand with Timothy is because Timothy is Jewish and they view him as Jewish.

When they go into the synagogues, which is where Paul went, every town that he went to, the first place he would go is to the synagogues.

And Paul knew he was gonna go into the synagogues to try to reach people for Christ.

And he knew the moment Timothy entered the synagogue, the issue would not be the gospel.

It would be that Timothy is uncircumcised.

So instead of doing that, what he says is Timothy, get circumcised, so we've crossed that bridge and we can go straight to the gospel.

We don't have to defend anything else.

You know what Timothy did?

Because he was a willing servant.

He was circumcised.

He was willing to set aside freedoms that he had to reach people for the gospel.

He counted costs.

He followed Christ.

So how was Timothy willing?

We see first that he was willing because he was a disciple, believer, who was well spoken of.

We see that he was willing because Paul wanted him to come along.

We see that he was willing because he was circumcised.

But finally this morning, we see that he was willing because he didn't just travel with Paul, he participated in the gospel.

He participated in what Paul was doing.

You see it in verse 4 as they went on their way through the cities.

They, they, not just Paul, not he, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

Participated.

Listen, verse 2, to Timothy, my true child in the faith.

Timothy didn't just travel, he participated to the point that Paul called him his child and brought him up and carried him along.

But not only was he just a child who followed and received teaching and things like that.

And in Paul's letter to the church at Rome, when he was closing his letter in chapter 16 in verse 21, here's what he says about Timothy there.

Timothy, my fellow worker.

Not Timothy, my child, who I'm teaching, not Timothy, the disciple who is just sitting under my tutelage.

Timothy, not just a worker, Timothy, my fellow worker, who was right beside for Paul in the ministry.

Timothy didn't just travel along, he was a willing servant, and we see that through his participation that he got in and he got his hands dirty with Paul.

So what does this mean for us?

We see how Timothy was a willing servant.

What do we do with that?

How do we become willing servants?

Well, first of all, we need to understand this.

You cannot be a servant of God if you have never trusted God.

God came and he sent his son Jesus to come and live and die on the cross and arise so that we could trust and follow him, so that we could be in relationship with him.

So that we could do the very thing that we were created to do.

Glorify God.

Be a willing servant this morning and come follow him.

If you have, where you where do we begin in being a willing servant?

Again, we begin by doing the things we know we're supposed to do.

Here in Acts, what He's called us to do is be witnesses to the kingdom of God, to bear witness about the kingdom of God, to be witnesses to watch and witness the kingdom of God, to follow the kingdom of God.

And so we need to be witnesses of the kingdom of God.

Well, grant, how do I do that?

Begin with the things you know you're called to do.

Get in the word every day.

This is how God has chosen to reveal himself to us.

He has spoken to us through his word.

You say, Grant, I just want to hear from God.

He has spoken through his word.

If you want to hear from God, go to where you know that he has spoken.

Get in it.

Get in it.

Study it, engage it.

Pray.

God has told us to pray to him, be in communion with him, to talk to him, to allow opportunity for the spirit to move in us.

Just start serving somewhere.

I don't know my spiritual gift.

Just start serving somewhere.

Find a place in the church and start serving.

And if you get there and say, this is not what I'm called to do, okay, find somewhere else to start serving.

You want to hear from God.

Start at the places you know he's speaking.

Go to those places to be a willing servant.

Just go where you know he's already working.

Plug in, get involved, see him working, and you never know what's probably gonna happen.

God's gonna speak to you even more and reveal himself to you even more, and you're gonna see even more specifically where he wants you to go and where he wants you to be.

But sometimes he doesn't do that until we first just show that we're willing.

Get to where you know he's already moving and get plugged in.

Get in the word, start praying, start serving.

Just do what we know.

You know what happens when we do that?

You know what happens as we do that?

Even if you don't know exactly, I'm gonna start doing this.

And if everybody in this place started doing that, started doing those things that I just said, if everybody in those places, this place starts doing that, even if you don't have the grand picture of what God wants you to do, you know what's gonna happen?

The same thing that happened to the churches that Paul and Timothy and Silas went to, look at verse 5 of chapter 16.

So the churches were strengthened in faith.

And they increased in numbers daily.

They didn't just increase in numbers because Paul and Silas and Timothy showed up and said, We're here, and everybody flooded the tent.

The church grew because they were willing servants of God, and God grew it.

Church, hear me.

Hear me.

We need to be willing servants.

As we stand and sing, here's what we are inviting you to do.

If you have never trusted in Christ, if you are outside of fellowship with him, we are inviting you to come and join him.

Trust in Christ today.

He died on the cross and arose to save you.

Trust in him today.

As we sing, we invite you to come.

We'll pray with you.

There are counselors who will take you out and counsel with you.

Second, if you have, if you've trusted him, but you are not that willing servant at this point, decide today.

We invite you to come and make that commitment.

Kneel at this on these steps.

Make them your altar and kneel and talk to God and do business with him.

Come down and talk to me.

I would love to pray with you.

Or just in the quietness of your seat right where you are.

Commit yourself to doing the things you know he's already called you to do.

To see where else he is calling you to go.

Become willing in the little things first.

Let me pray for us.

God, we love you.

We thank you for this day.

We thank you for how you love us.

We thank you for all you've done for us.

God, we do ask you this morning to move as only you can.

To work as only you can work.

And God, may we commit ourselves to being willing servants who trust and follow you.

We love you.

Jesus, it's in your wonderful name that we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSotoHills.com.