In your Church

I want you to turn with me to Colossians chapter 4.

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

Colossians chapter 4.

Colossians 4 · chapter mention

And I want to bring the message today on everyday Christianity and your church, how we all play a major part in the work of the church.

And as I was reading through Colossians chapter 4, verses 7 through 18, I really, this paragraph got me so excited because it made me think about what the church really is.

Colossians 4:7–18

And what the church really is is what you just saw.

It is an organization of a group of people that God has given them talents, even though sometimes they don't use those same talents on the mission field.

But he's given us plumbers, he's given us carpenters, he's given us painters, he's given us plumbers, he's given us businessmen, he's given us organizational people, all these different skills and all these different talents, and then he comes along and gives us all different gifts.

All but at the same time, hey, that God uses us together and not separately.

Amen?

Together and not separately.

So today I want us to look at, I think, probably one of the greatest paragraphs about what the church really ought to be.

And let's pick up at verse 7.

All my state shall Ticius, in other words, all my belongings, everything I am and all that I have, Ticius declared unto you, who is a beloved brother.

In other words, I've given it all to you to help me with, 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.

In other words, Paul says, I'm sending Ticius to you to find out about you, as well as tell you all about us, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that he might know your estate.

And then he says, verse 9, with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, they shall make known unto you all things which are done here.

And then we have Aristocus, my fellow prisoner, salute you, and Marcus, who's John Mark, who's the nephew of Barnabas, whom ye receive commandments, if he come unto you, receive him.

And Jesus, which is called justice, who are of the circumcision, these only are my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.

And then he paraphrases, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salute you always, laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, that you may complete the will of God through the church.

For I bear him record that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them that are in Hioperas.

And then Luke, the beloved physician and Demas greet you.

Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea and Nymphus and the church which is in his house.

And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of Laodicea, and that ye likewise read this epistle from Laodicea, and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfill it.

Wow! Powerful, unbelievable, unbelievable information here on the organization of the church.

Now, first of all, let's look at some observations with this passage, if you have your notes.

First of all, Paul was surrounded by helpful people.

You need to put that down.

Folks, Paul was surrounded by helpful people.

Now, the people Paul, hey, surrounded himself were not well-known people, not household names, but they were willing to help.

Actually, this little paragraph in this chapter is probably where these names are mentioned that I just read to you.

It's the only place they were mentioned.

I mean, these were not Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

These were not the Marys.

These were not Joseph.

These were people you very ever seldom hear anything about.

Just like these folks that you saw standing on this platform this morning.

If they didn't come, that's why we want them up here sharing.

That's why we want you to see.

You don't see the, we call them the people that are not in the limelight.

You don't ever see them.

But yet, without them, nothing would be being done.

Nothing.

They're the most important.

I believe that with all my heart.

I really do.

So we see that.

In fact, remember when I spoke a couple of Sundays ago when we started this about equipping the believer?

And we use the word equipping in Ephesians 4, 11, and 12.

He gives pastors to equip the congregation, the believers, to go do the work of the ministry, which you just saw, vividly seen.

What an example.

To do the work of the ministry abroad as well as at home, like we, the people that take the ice cream truck out, and the people behind the scenes that are out there soccer this afternoon, bringing people onto the campus to be able to share the gospel, to love on them, whatever we do.

It's unbelievable because the word there for equipping is the word that means men.

It's k Tartimos.

And it's used in Matthew chapter 4 when Jesus came along beside the disciples when he was calling the disciples, and a couple of the disciples there were mending, mending the nets when Jesus comes along.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

And the word there to mend, that's what the word equipping also means.

It means to mend.

And I got to thinking about that because as they mended those nets, the purpose of those nets were to be used to go where the, hey, the fishermen couldn't go.

They throw those nets and they would go down into the water where the fishermen could not go, but then they would grab the fish and pull them back in.

And I thought to myself, we equipped everybody, the plumbers, the firemen, the policemen, every one of us are equipped with not just our talents, but our gifts that God has given us the moment we get saved.

And that's for the purpose when we have over 200 people or 300 people in this church that leave every Sunday morning and Wednesday night and go back out into the community.

They're going to places that we can't go.

We're throwing out the nets.

We're throwing out the lifelines for the people to share the good news, the gospel.

Oh, folks, how awesome that is.

And that's what we see.

But also, secondly, the second observation, they possess mutual love and commitment.

There was a mutuality, a mutuality of love and commitment that they gave to Paul and Paul gave to them.

You see, to be a friend of a prisoner is pretty bold.

Because chances are, if you're a friend of a prisoner, you're going to end up in prison.

And well, you're going to see that in a minute with Aristocus.

I mean, that's true.

It really is.

So to be staying friends with Paul, a prisoner, their care and commitment were very, very obvious.

And then there's a third observation.

They possessed different backgrounds and gifts.

Different backgrounds and gifts and different temperaments.

They did.

Some were prayer, prayer warriors, and some were givers, some were servants, some were messengers, different background, uh, excuse me, backgrounds, gifts, temperaments.

It's a lot like CCW.

Difference.

Difference.

In fact, I got thinking about that.

We usually do uh what I call the temperament test.

We did that at the uh Mary's retreat that we did, and I thought about that.

You know, there's temperaments right here in this congregation.

You have the melancholy, you have the sanguine, you have the choleric, and you have the phlegmatic.

And how many of you are clerics this morning?

Well, first of all, let me tell you what a cleric is.

Those are the ones that always know what they are and want to tell you what you are.

Then we have the melancholies.

Who's a melancholy?

They're the ones that can hardly let go of their pen because they're taking such meticulous notes.

And if I happen to miss a line and I'm just preaching and keep going and maybe even telling the illustration, they're kind of sitting there and I can tell them.

They're sitting there like, you miss, you miss the line, you miss A, you miss B.

But they gotta have every every little line filled in.

That's the melancholies.

And then, oh boy, then we have not only the melancholies and the cholerics, but then you have the sanguines.

Oh boy, the sanguines.

They're the life of the party.

They don't get a whole lot done, but they have fun.

Hey, well, it's party time.

And then you have the phlegmatics.

Yeah?

Those are the ones who can hardly get their hands up.

They're just, you know, sometimes you wonder if they're alive.

No, I'm joking.

I'm joking.

But but you and I are sitting around different personalities right here.

We're sitting around different people with different talents and different gifts.

But the purpose of us all being here is to come together, hey, and love each other and build each other up and grow in the Lord so that when we leave here, we're casting our nets out into our community to, hey, bring people to Christ.

That's what we do and why we do it.

That's why we do mission work.

It's so exciting.

It really is.

And there's neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for we're all one in Christ Jesus.

And then number four, there's a fourth observation.

Paul publicly affirmed his heippers.

It wasn't about Paul.

It wasn't all about Paul.

Paul, you know, most people say Paul's the superstar.

Paul didn't never think of himself as a superstar.

Paul never thought of himself being better than others.

In fact, if you notice in this paragraph, what Paul wanted was to make sure, and I hate to use the word the little, the little person, or the the better, better rendering of that is the people that are never noticed.

The people that are never noticed.

He wanted to make sure they were noticed.

And he said, don't even do, hey, he said, not just read it out loud at Laodicea, but to all the other churches.

Let everybody know what these are my comrades, my co-laborers that have really done the work of the ministry with me.

The Bible says, let another man praise you and not your own mouth.

That's why I'm constantly trying to praise those who have done so much.

And I know Darren's not here today.

He's sick, and and uh I know that he would have loved to been up here, Matt too, both of them.

But but the work that some of these guys and Darren especially, and I'm not just trying to build Darren up, but on that property and that land, I'll never forget when he came to this church, and I we had just bought the land, and he said, God sent me here to, because my talents are to move dirt and knock down trees.

That's what I'm talking about.

And then the people in the church uh in the kitchen, those people that fix lunch for you every day.

I mean, every Sunday.

You wished it was every day.

Wouldn't that be nice just come in?

But but the and the people that help put up the chairs and take down the chairs, put up the table.

And by the way, the people that get in there and some of the teenagers in there the other day, and I thank them.

Washing dishes.

The parking lot, the the everybody, those down there working with your children, the nursery workers, taking care of the babies.

I know Deedra Brown's back there today, and she said, I won't hear.

But thank God for those people.

Can I hear an amen, church?

And you need to find somewhere here to get involved.

You say, Well, I can't do anything.

You can wash dishes.

You can do something, you can set up a table, pick up a chair.

Or ask somebody, Pastor, don't ask me what to do.

I don't know.

Ask David, he's the ministrator.

David will put you to work real quick.

But anyway, do you see that?

That's so exciting and it's so fitting for what you just watched.

And then the fifth observation.

Paul considered them part of the team.

Folks, we're a team.

We can't do it without you.

Let me ask you something.

200 people here today.

If we put all them in a net, and in an hour and a half from now, we cast it out.

Cast those people out into the community.

Can you imagine what 200 people can do compared to me, Rick, David, Anita?

There's no comparison.

And at the beginning, and I I hey, church addition means the pastors do it all.

Church multiplication means everyone does it all.

Big difference.

Big difference.

So we see these fantastic, unbelievable examples.

It's not a solo act, it's a team effort.

Now, March Madness is here.

Woo! This is the only time I watch basketball.

I could care less during the year.

Boring.

I mean, let's get let's let's get all the bad teams out and let's get down to business.

Amen.

Now I'm gonna watch the best of the best.

I'll never forget I was in seminary, and we all were so excited about March Madness.

Because it was taking place right up there close to us in Virginia when I was at Liberty.

And 1977, the NCAA playoffs.

That's when Al Maguire, a lot of you young people won't even know him, you weren't even born, uh, was in his last year of coaching at Marquette University.

Been coaching there for years.

In fact, his team went on to win the NCAA championship that year, and he retired.

Now, watch this.

I never forget the article he wrote.

And here's what I remembered about the game.

There was a guy on the team by the name Butch Lee.

Butch Lee went on to play pro ball for several years.

Butch Lee, you see, was the great, the best, the great ball player, all American, leading all during the year.

In fact, he was probably all-American and by far the best player on the team.

But Al realized that Butch Lee had a problem.

Butch Lee had a problem of him being the best player and wanting to ball all the time.

He was a ballcock.

Some of us understand that.

But Al realized that Butch Lee had that problem and he was starstruck.

So he thought that basically, and I love what he said.

He said to Butch, he said, I need to talk to you.

So Al Magui Maguire sat him down his senior year and said, The game of basketball is a simple game.

Butch, let me explain it to you.

Every game is 40 minutes.

One team has it 20 minutes, the other team has it 20 minutes.

He's just making it simple.

Now that we know you can be off some there.

If you divide it into halves, 20-minute halves, they were.

The other team gets the ball 20 minutes, we get the ball 20 minutes.

There are five players on the team.

And of the five players, if we would divide the amount of time among five players, that means each player gets to have the ball.

What?

Four minutes.

Four minutes.

Butch, you're very good.

I know what you can do with your four minutes and what you're gonna do with your four minutes.

But your value, now listen to what he said, to the team, will be what you do with the other 36 minutes.

Wow.

Powerful.

You see, in the area of teamwork, it's not just that we're playing to our gifts or strengths, but that we join ourselves with a team, with somebody else, and realize that there's times to pass the ball, there's times to play defense, there's times to set picks for someone else.

In fact, I saw an ad in a business magazine for some insurance company that put John Wooden.

If you don't know who John Wooden was, he won more NCAA championships.

I can't remember.

I should have seried it before I got up here.

But he was NCAA Division I, I think he still holds the record for UCLA coached years there and won like 15, 16 NCAA championships.

Unbelievable.

The greatest NCAA Division I basketball coach ever.

And he wrote a great book on leadership.

And the quote beside the great basketball coach's name, and here's what he said the man who puts the ball through the hoop has ten hands.

Think about that.

It's not a one-man show.

It's a five-man show.

Think about that for a moment.

The man who scores the basket doesn't have two hands, he has five hands.

So that's the key.

And they did, and Butch Lee understood that and went on.

Not only was he all-American that year, but he I think he got a lot of acclamation acclamations, excuse me, for defense that year, too.

I mean, he just was unbelievable.

And they won the NCAA championship.

I remember when Yokey Bear was asked when he was coaching the New York Yankees and having those great years and win independent several times.

He said, What makes a great team, Yokey?

He said, Oh, that's simple.

Great players.

Think about that.

It's a team.

And then number six.

The sixth observation.

Not all of them were qualified.

Now that's beautiful.

In fact, do you realize that some of the people listed in this group that I just read never made it, would never make it in our circles?

For example, one fella had been a total reject as a missionary.

Total reject.

John Mark.

Another fellow was a runaway slave.

Onesimus.

Some just didn't fit the ministry.

You see, I run into people all the time and says, as Paul said, I don't think I can do that.

I'm not qualified to do that.

Neither, how many times have you heard that when you've asked people to go on a mission trip with you?

I can't die.

I couldn't do anything.

I don't have any talents.

You know my background.

I don't know what to do.

Well, let me read you a statement from a guy that got saved that made excuses after excuses.

Here's what he said God does not use me because I am flawless, nor does he reject me because I am flawed.

As I willingly obey him and allow myself to be used, God accomplishes his work through me.

Me.

Is that not Jeremiah?

Hey, is that not Jeremiah 29, 11?

God does not think bad of you, but God thinks great things of you, and He's got a great hope and a great future for you.

He wants to make you successful.

He's not interested in your past, and we're not interested in your past, but he's interested in your future, and God's got a fantastic future for you.

And remember this: if, hey, the past is past and gone.

And Paul put it this way: forgiving those things which are behind, but reaching forth for those things which are before me, I press on toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in and through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3, 13 to 14.

Folks, don't ever think that you can't be used because of your past.

Now Satan will try to make you think that.

Oh, he's good at that.

He used to work me over.

Because I didn't come up the average PK preacher's kid.

I came up a hoodlum.

You did too, Lenny.

Hey, but think about that.

Aren't you glad for if what everybody ought to memorize this verse?

Now, Susan had a little bit different raising.

She came up in a dynamic Christian home.

I did not, I came up in a fractured home.

It was terrible.

Kicked out of my house when I was going into the seventh grade and moved in with my grandparents.

Greatest thing ever happened to me.

My grandparents were godly.

But think about that.

She grew up in a godly home.

Big difference.

All of us here have different backgrounds.

Some of us were raised in a fractured home.

Some of us were raised with no home.

Some of us were raised in a good home, a godly home.

All different backgrounds.

But let me tell you something.

When you come to Jesus and receive Christ as Lord and Savior, you become a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

When I got saved, I promised myself that I was going to have a home, if God ever let me have a home and children that I didn't have.

And God allowed me to do that.

God allowed me to do that.

I changed that curse.

I changed that whole curse.

And what a joy.

What a joy that was to see that.

So remember, not all of us are qualified.

We don't have to be qualified.

All we have to do is trust Christ and let Him lead us.

Can I get an amen?

So, now let's look at the people.

What kind of people?

This is gonna be awesome.

I'm gonna go pretty quick.

So get ready.

You phlegmatics, get your pen ready.

What kind of people did Paul choose to minister with him?

Number one, Ticius.

Verse 7 and 8.

I've already read them.

A trustworthy man.

Now, trust is the emotional glue that has to happen between the followers and leaders.

It has to happen.

That's what you saw, the trust and the love up here among these folks, and that it's grown and grown because they go every year together and it's getting stronger.

They trust each other, they believe in each other.

That's what's happened since we started this church seven and a half years ago.

The foundation group of a people right here that's been with me and Susan since the very beginning and joined up with us within that first year.

There's a glue and a trust and a love with all of us that we know that we got each other's back.

We're not gonna walk out on each other.

Do we disagree with each other sometimes?

Yes.

Do you agree with your husband and wife on everything?

Don't say yes because you're a liar.

But we love each other so much and we trust each other and we know that our hearts are pure.

I don't want everybody to agree with me.

Trust me.

My wife doesn't.

But it's the best thing that could happen because we we we strengthen each other, we challenge each other, and most of the time we come out with the best answer.

I've always asked her opinion.

I've learned to ask her opinion.

Because if I don't, I'm gonna get it anyway.

But she she's but let me tell you, she's not doing that because she wants to be a smart aleck.

She's doing that because she wants to help me.

There's a difference, and I know that.

Sometimes I don't like it because I don't want to hear it, because I know what it's gonna say, and I don't want to hear that.

But nobody else is like that.

I understand.

But he was trustworthy.

In fact, look at what he said in verse 7.

As to all my affairs, Paul says, in other words, everything I have, ticky's handles.

Thank God for people that uh Paul's handling.

I don't even I don't even know what we're doing in the building program, to be honest with you.

I just say somebody said, Well, blah, blah, blah.

I say, ask Paul.

Why?

I trust him with my life.

I trust him with everything we're doing.

Now that David's our ministrator, all I tell David is, is if you have any concern or you need some feedback or anything, talk to me.

If not, get her done.

Same way with Rick.

I trust them.

I love them.

They're part of my family, they're part of the team.

I'm gonna do what I'm supposed to do, and I know they're gonna do it.

I trust them to do what they're supposed to do.

And we work together.

We meet once a week, we talk through stuff, and or during the week if we need to, or when they're visiting with me, we we we know what's going on.

Paul calls me, he knows he can call me anytime.

I call him, you know, if there's a problem, and we work through some good problems, and we've got some great results on that too, did we not?

And that it took us about three months, but between him and I and finally just sitting down with the mayor, and everything's just been fantastic ever since.

So that's what we do.

We we we we're if you can't trust someone, how can you work with them?

Hello?

Secondly, and by the way, look at what he said in verse 8.

He says that he may encourage your hearts.

Not only was Ticius, hey, a friend that could be trusted, but he was an encourager.

You need encouragers around you.

Paul calls me sometimes over the last six months and through this stuff, and I'm sure he'll call me again.

He he takes the beating sometimes from the building inspector, and you know he'll call me to, and I know what he's doing.

He's calling me to really, you know, he's oh, let me tell you that no.

You know why he's really calling me?

And I've never told him this, but I know what that's why I try to answer immediately.

Or somebody else that's in our leadership team when they call me.

You know what I know they need?

They need a listening ear.

I want to hear all the problems we got.

But you know what he wants?

Then he wants me to encourage him.

And I do.

Because that's my gift.

I'm an encourager.

Let's go.

All right, what we need to do next.

He'll always tell you, okay, here.

And then sometimes he'll say, Whoa, preacher, that's throwing a pretty hard punch.

I say, Yeah, you're right.

Let me think about it again.

But you know what I'm doing?

I'm ready to go punch for him.

I'm an encourager.

I got you back.

Not only I got you back, I'll go whoop them.

I'd be good with the preacher going whoop somebody.

That wouldn't be a good testimony, would it?

But anyway, here's what we're saying.

Men that can be trusted and women that can be trusted.

Number two, Anesimus.

Uh-oh, a man with a bad background.

You know about Anesimus?

Verse 9.

He had a bad background.

You know what he had done?

Right here in this church at Colossae, he was a slave.

He stole his master's money, ran away, just gonna stole everything, a lot of money, took off, gonna live it up against, and guess what happened?

He ran into the apostle Paul and got saved.

He got saved, and then everything changed.

In fact, after he stole his master's money under Paul, though he got saved, and notice what happened.

And now in verse 9, Paul describes this person on his team and he talks about Onesimus as a faithful and beloved brother.

Notice the next phrase.

Who is one of your numbers?

You see, Onesimus, a runaway slave who stole his master's money, was converted, and God beautifully changed his life and sent him back to his own area to make things right.

And then not only did he make things right with the master and everything, he became one of the best workers in the church.

And became one of Paul's closest friends.

Wow.

So next time you think you've done something.

And by the way, you know, you know what I think he, I know how he got saved.

I know how he got saved, Deedra.

He ran into Paul and he was telling Paul he had stole his master's money.

He couldn't go, but he was terrible.

Paul said, So, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

You ain't done squat.

I killed Christians.

And Paul started telling his testimony.

And I believe about halfway through that.

Oh, and that's the man said, My soul, if he did all that and get saved, bless God, I know I can get saved.

And he did.

And he did.

And he did.

God uses lowly people all the way through the Bible.

Can I get an amen?

All the way through the Bible.

Samson, Gideon, all of them.

You say, Pastor, I'm not sure God can use me.

You don't know, hey, hey, where I've been.

Well, think about that.

What I've thought, Pastor, what I've done, Pastor.

No, I don't.

But it's okay.

It's okay.

Here's what you need to realize.

But God has the great ability to take you right where you are.

Now listen, change your thought, huh?

Change your actions through the grace of God.

Right there.

Right now.

Now's the day of salvation.

And give you a second chance.

Aren't you glad for the second chances?

Can I get an amen?

Then number three, look who he uses in verse 10.

Aristicus.

Aristicus was a burden bearer.

He was always with Paul.

Ticius was never, hey, except for the first missionary journey, Ticius was always with Paul.

Aristicus, he's another person that was always with Paul.

He's the one, Aristicus, he was taken prisoner at Ephesus when they were coming after Paul.

But instead, hey, Aristocus helped Paul get away and he got arrested.

Now that's, hey, that's laying down your life for your brother.

Amen.

He was definitely Proverbs 17, 17.

A brother's, hey, sticks with you through thick and thin.

In fact, a friend, Proverbs 17, 17 says, a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born to help in need.

That's what Proverbs 17, 17 says.

Are you a friend?

Hey, let me tell you, you can probably count on one hand those kind of friends.

Do you have friends that when you know you're, hey, you're in the, you're the you're in the fire.

You're in you're in the midst of a major battle, problems, trouble.

You may have caused them, you may not have caused them, you end up, it doesn't, it doesn't matter, but that friend that Proverbs 1770 talks about, he's going to be there when everybody else walks out.

Now that's the kind of friends you want around you.

That's the kind of friends Paul had.

Not only, hey, were they with him when he was in the midst of ready to be arrested and stoned to death or shipwrecked and all those times, but hey, they went to jail for him.

Never hear that about Aristicus, do you?

Wow.

A burden bearer.

Richard Nixon in his book in the arena.

Talks about when he was in the hospital after surgery, after his resignation from the presidency, probably the lowest time in his life.

With the curtains closed, he told his wife, he was laying on bed, and he said, Honey, I just want to die.

I just want to die.

He was at the lowest point of his life.

Then a nurse walks in and she says, Miss Nixon, would you please open the curtains?

And she drew the curtains open.

And there was her airplane circling.

Shrimp here, here to eat.

Know what I'm talking about?

You with me?

And that sign said, God loves you.

And so do we.

And Richard Nixon turned to his wife and he said, I can do this.

We can do this.

We can overcome this.

Days later he found out it was Ruth Graham and Billy Graham who sent the airplane up with the sign.

Mr.

President, we God loves you and we do too.

Folks, there is nothing you've done that God can't restore you, save you, or bring you back as a prodigal son, and restore you and use you in ways you have no conception.

I promise, you're looking at one.

Just like you did, David.

Wow.

Let me tell you what a false friend is.

I found this.

This is a nugget.

I wished I'd found it before I did my outline.

I'd put it on there.

Listen to what it says.

False friends are like our shadow.

Keeping close to us while we're walking the sunshine, but leaving us when we cross into the shade.

Wow.

They're with you as long as everything's going well.

But when times get tough, they're not there.

Number four, John Mark.

A man with a second chance.

John Mark was with Barnabas and Paul on the first missionary journey, and I don't know what happened.

I don't know if John Mark got sick or he got homesick or whatever.

He left.

He left and went home.

Made Paul very upset to the point that when they got ready, he and Barnabas to go on the second missionary journey.

And Barnabas wanted to take his nephew.

Paul said, No, he's not going with me.

And because of that, they parted ways, Barnabas and Paul.

And Barnabas took John Mark and went the other way, and Paul went on his way.

And that was a good thing.

Because ultimately, now when Paul's on his dying bed writing 2 Timothy and the prison epistles, which is Twicen, hey, hey, watch this.

Hey, he says, Bring John Mark to me, who's been very valuable to me.

So they mended their ways.

God restored John Mark and he became a great man of God.

Yes, he did.

Wow, is that not good?

Number five, Jesus Justice.

He was a man with a name for greatness.

A lot of people back during that day would name their children Jesus because they were looking for the Messiah and they were hoping their son would be the Messiah.

That's why you hear because you read and you see a lot of names, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, you know, even.

Because it's such a, you know, Jesus the Messiah.

But here, I couldn't help but think about a person that thinks they maybe are too good to do the little things.

No, I can't wash dishes.

No, I can't take up chairs.

I can't, I can't, you know, do the background stuff.

I can't set up the microphones and stuff and all that.

But hey, preacher, when you really need some great things, you need somebody to speak, you need somebody to sing, you need somebody to get up in the spotlight and do the, you know, the, I call them the glory gifts, the speaking gifts or whatever, where everybody can see you so you can get your pat on the shoulder, I'll be ready.

I got a Greek word for that.

Baloney.

You might be ready, but that's not what I want.

I'd rather have somebody.

They couldn't sing a note, but it's got the right heart.

I'd like to have the heart and the note.

Do you get it?

Do you get it?

This guy, it's the only place he's mentioned.

He decided he'd rather be a part of a great thing than try to do his own thing.

That's good.

Gets back to the ball game, doesn't it?

Your four minutes.

I'd rather, I'd rather have four minutes that I'm used greatly, but win the NCAA championship instead of be a ball high and never win anything.

Except self-glory.

Hello.

Somebody say that's good.

I miss an evil.

That is good.

And then, number six, Epaphoros.

He was a man of prayer.

We all need our prayer warriors.

We all need people to pray for us.

I hope so.

I think a lot of y'all are praying for our pastors, me, and uh praying for each other.

Uh the Lord's laid on my heart to get us all a picture so I can pray for you just not just pray for you generally, but pray for you personally.

Somebody's gonna, we're gonna put that together.

We pray too often for God to make everything right and too infrequently that we will be right.

Whew.

Let me repeat that.

We pray too much for everything to be right when we ought to be praying, make us right.

And then number seven, you got Luke, a gifted man.

Luke was a physician.

Hey, Digger, let me tell you what I thought about.

I've always wondered about Luke, why he was with Paul so much.

In fact, after the first missionary journey, Luke was with Paul almost all the time.

And by the way, Luke was the last one with Paul.

Remember when Paul wrote the last letter and said as he was getting ready to die, he said, only Luke is with me.

And uh and I thought about that.

And he said that in 2 Timothy, I think, 4 11.

But I thought about it.

You know what I thought?

And first of all, you think a doctor ought to be making a lot of money.

He may have.

We don't know.

We don't know.

Let me tell you what God laid on my heart.

I was thinking about this morning after knowing y'all were coming.

You know what I think he did?

I think he did medical missions.

I think they'd go into a community, and here's the doctor, and he'd set up a tent or whatever they'd set up and say, free care.

We got a doctor here.

And then guess who was there, too?

Paul.

Not only are you gonna get treated by the Luke, one of the great doctors, then you're gonna hear the gospel! I believe it with all my heart.

I can't wait to ask him.

Both of them when we get there.

That's medical mission.

That's it.

Hey, that's it.

There it is.

There it is.

That's why they're so effective.

Woo! Yes! That's good.

Awesome.

Amen.

Old preaching.

I've done that before.

I've had to come down.

I've been in churches that are so cold.

I've come off the platform and turned around and say, That's good preaching, preacher.

Keep preaching.

And come back up.

I have, asked Susan.

Have I not?

I'm at dinner's doornail.

Oh my goodness.

The lady said, Well, we don't like you.

You're too excited.

You get loud.

We just like it quiet around here.

I said, Yeah, they like it quiet in the cemetery, too.

I shouldn't have said it.

I shouldn't have said it, but I did.

She said, Well, we just won't ask you back.

I said, I don't plan to come back.

That goes both ways.

Amen.

Preacher.

Well, I said I apologized.

I did.

To my wife after.

I just wanted to get out of there.

And then the last one, Demas, and I'm through.

Demas.

Verse 14.

Interesting.

Of all the people in the passage, Demas is the only one where there's no praise or affirmation.

None.

None.

He just says, look.

And also Demas.

That's it.

Now that's an interesting transition in Demas' life here.

Because if you read him by Leman, you'll see that Demas was called a fellow laborer.

Now notice he wasn't called a brother, but a fellow laborer.

Here Paul just mentions his name.

But in Timothy, he said in verse 10, 2 Timothy 4.10, he said, Watch this.

You know what Paul would say about Demas.

Here's what he would say.

He would say, Demas has forsaken me.

With the team that God chooses, different gifts, backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses.

I guess I'm saying that God wants to use you and me, and there's no such thing as one that's more significant than the other.

We just have to submit ourselves to Him.

But what says, write it down, quitting is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

If you quit, you hey, quitters never win and winners never quit.

And if you quit now, you'll quit again and again.

It's easy to quit.

It's easy to quit.

That's why when our kids started ball and athletics and they'd start playing, and if it got tough or they weren't getting to play enough, or blah, blah, blah, they were going to quit.

I said, no, you're not.

You're not quitting.

Not the season.

You signed up, you hey, you're gonna complete the season.

Now you don't have to play again, but you're gonna you're gonna do this.

You're not gonna quit.

You're not gonna quit.

You make a commitment, you don't quit.

You make a commitment, and I'm not fussing, I'm not fussing, but I I know what goes on in the church.

I've been doing this 40 plus years.

I know what goes on.

You make a commitment in the church and then you don't show up.

You gotta work, you say, I'm gonna work in the nursery, I'm gonna work here, I'm gonna work there.

And you don't show up.

Okay, I know there's circumstances, something happens, but can't you help get somebody to take your place instead of throwing it back on Anita or somebody else?

Or if I can't do something, I'm gonna make sure it's done one way or the other.

If I've made a commitment, I'm not gonna leave my brother or sister hanging.

And I know my wife's the same.

We made a that's just been my whole life.

You know what?

Let me tell you why.

And I don't know if I've ever said this.

Because I had a lot of people promised me things when I was growing up, and they never did them.

It let me down time and time again.

I said, Lord, when I got saved, I don't want to ever be a quitter.

Folks, I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a quitter.

My wife would tell you, I don't quit.

And it's okay to go down, just don't stay down.

The righteous fall seven times, but they get back up, church.

Can I get an amen?

Can I get an amen?

There's some of you here this morning, you're down.

And it's time to get back up.

Can I get an amen?

It's time to get back up.

We're here to help you get back up.

We're here to help you in any way we can, and we will.

We will.