Others Focused Colossians 4:2-18 (May 8th 2016)

Amen, amen.

Hey, if you would turn in your Bibles to uh Colossians chapter four, hey, can you believe it?

We're actually um in the last uh passage, the last message of Colossians, so the first book I've had the privilege of going through with you.

And uh, hey, only 65 more to go, right, before we uh cover this entire thing.

So, anyways, get over there, get to uh Colossians chapter four.

We're gonna be reading and uh kind of looking at uh verses two uh to eighteen as you're getting kind of turned over there and getting yourself situated.

Um you ever had uh road rage before?

Never, right?

Like never in this crowd would we ever have anything like that.

No, of course.

Like we've we've all had that.

We've all had the, you know, we've all had the meltdown, right?

We've all had the freakout where we've snapped and we've lost our cool uh somebody, and I see a couple of shaking heads, like, no, never, never me.

No, I understand that for sure.

Um, well, hey, at the end of the day, I think, I think if you're really to kind of dig deep into the mentality, the psyche, the attitude of road rage, I think you can really chalk it up um to anger that things aren't going my way.

Right?

Things aren't going uh my way.

Like, yes, absolutely people can be legitimately horrendous drivers.

Uh, I think we've seen uh that for sure.

Um, but but I think road rage still kind of comes down to this attitude of um, you know, I I'm furious, right?

I am furious that people don't recognize that their purpose in life is to make sure that my life goes amazingly.

Right?

I think that's that's kind of that's kind of it.

And you know, why don't they why don't they make my life better?

How dare they?

How do they how do they not realize that that I'm on the throne and their job is to uh to worship me?

Right?

I think that is really kind of sums up um what road rage is down at its core.

But hey, road rage is just really one example of how how selfish we can be uh deep down.

And uh for some of us, not so deep down, right?

We can be that very much so on the surface.

Um but really what we do is we care about ourselves more than anything else, don't we?

We care about ourselves uh first and foremost.

And it's this kind of attitude that Christ followers uh will continue to wrestle with and battle with and grind through uh kind of on a daily basis as we learn what it means to walk and grow in Jesus, uh in Jesus Christ.

Now, uh the opposite of having kind of this selfish attitude, this me first mentality, uh is to be focused on others, to be focused on the well-being and the good of other people, caring about their needs, people around us, serving others as Christ did.

Right?

That's really the opposite of all of that.

And so as we go through this passage here today, because it's it's it's driving at sort of all of this, I want us to think about you know, how am I doing at this, kind of on a personal and individual level, but then kind of outside of all of that, on a broader level, how are we doing as a church, okay, here as Harvest Bible Chapel New Market, how are we doing at having an other's focus or a people uh focus?

Okay, are we kind of in two different areas here?

Are we reaching the lost?

Right?

Are we reaching out to a world that needs Christ as Savior?

Are we doing that?

Are we focused on that?

Are we thinking about that?

Do we have strategies in place?

Are we going for it?

Are we stepping up our game in that area?

And then another way of kind of looking at this, are we doing a good job of caring for each other?

Right?

Those of us with within these walls and the family that God has given us uh here as a church.

Okay, well, we're gonna work through this passage, um, but first, before we do that, we're gonna come to the Lord uh in prayer.

So why don't you join me as we do that?

God, we do uh come before you uh this morning, recognizing, Lord, hopefully recognizing, having in a spirit of humility that the Lord, we do care about ourselves first and foremost, Lord.

We want what we want.

We want ourselves to be worshipped, we want ourselves to be the center of the universe.

That's kind of what we want.

But Lord, you call us to something greater.

Lord, you call us to think outside of ourselves and outside of our selfishness to the good of others, Lord.

That was your heart, that was your intention in coming to earth and saving us from sin, Lord.

That's that's why you did it, because you cared about us and and and not just about yourself.

And so, Lord, would you help us in this?

Lord, we recognize that we are um we are helpless on our own to change our hearts and to change even our thinking about all of this.

Lord, we need your spirit to move and work.

Lord, I pray that you would use our church powerfully in this, Lord.

I pray that our church would become uh known as, characterized as a church that loves other people.

Lord, and all of it as a way, not to pat ourselves on the back, but all of it as a way uh to give glory to you.

So Lord, would you help us in all of this?

We pray it all in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right.

Well, in um Colossians chapter three, I mean, we've been going over that uh in the last couple of weeks or so, but Paul has been really kind of teaching us, talking to the church and and really talking to us on an individual and personal level, and making sure that we as individuals we're putting sin to death in our lives.

Right?

You remember that whole passage through through uh Colossians chapter three, put to death, therefore, what is what is earthly inside you, um, making sure that we're instead bearing fruit as we grow and as we change and as uh we are transformed uh in all of that.

And you'll notice here in chapter four that he starts to make this shift.

Right?

He starts to make this shift, like like thinking about what's going on in your life, in your heart, that's still good.

We still need to be thinking about all of that, but now I want you to think about other people.

And so he makes this, again, he makes this shift as he starts to, as he brings this letter uh to a close.

And so we want to make sure that we're looking outwards and and we love others because that is the sign, that is one of the signs of a healthy and growing uh church.

Okay, so here's the first thing.

If you were handed a bulletin on your way in, there's a there's a set of uh sermon notes inside there, and you can take some notes however you want.

It can be helpful for you as you kind of go back over this this week and study.

But we've got two points here, um, a lot of verses to have two points, but you'll see there's a lot here.

Okay, the first thing, okay, our church displays an other's focus when we reach out to a lost world.

Okay, when we reach out to a lost world, take a look at verse two here as we start to read this.

Take a look.

It says, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door, open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

Walk in wisdom towards outsiders, making the best use of time.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so you may know uh so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Okay, you know, there's no doubt here that Paul, he has a he has this huge burden for the world to know Jesus Christ as Savior.

Right?

His heart like aches for that.

Right?

He he wants that.

He's continually encouraging his churches all throughout his letters in the New Testament to share this burden.

Right?

To have a heart for the lost, and then on top of that, have an effective outreach to them.

He's like, we need to make sure that we're reaching out to them.

And so that's a good question for us now as we pause to consider this.

Do we have this heart?

Okay, we'll get to the outreach part in a minute, but it all starts with having the right heart and the right attitude and the right desires.

Do we have this heart?

Do we have a heart for the lost?

Or are we just too concerned with ourselves?

You know, and then on top of that, of course, are we reaching out to them?

Okay, well, there's a number of things here that we can pull out of these verses that help us develop a proper approach.

And so there's a couple of things you can jot down here.

The first thing is prayer.

Okay, prayer.

Okay, notice verse 2 again, take a look.

He says, continue steadfastly in prayer, okay, being watchful in it with thanksgiving, and at the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word.

Okay, listen, every great work begins with prayer.

Do you realize that?

Every great work of God begins with prayer.

Okay, there's nothing that fires me up more than when one of you comes up to me and you're like, hey, I just want you to know that I've been praying for our church this week that, you know, whatever, fill in the blank.

Because I'm always like, yes, right?

Like the Lord can work with that.

That's the kind of thing that he's gonna use to do great things.

I love it.

There's no question that the more that we pray, okay, the more that God gives us a passion to humble ourselves and to cry out to him and ask him to do great things, the more that he's gonna do.

Right?

It's not rocket science.

We pray, the Lord moves, the Lord works.

We stop praying, less things are gonna happen.

Right?

We we have to pray.

We have to have this profound realization, this this deep conviction, okay, that it all starts with prayer.

Do you have that?

Now, now the cool thing uh about this church, okay, the great thing about it is that we've started because of prayer.

Do you realize that?

We started because of prayer.

And I like I was just thinking about it this week and and thinking about how you know a group of people like 10 years ago now, uh, started with the McClenny's and a couple of others, got together and started praying, Lord, would you do a work here in Newmarket?

Lord, would you start a church here?

And they were even thinking harvest back then.

And hey, would you would you do an amazing thing?

Right, it just started with prayer, gathering together a bunch of people in a living room for 10 years praying, praying and praying and praying some more.

Right?

That's that's how things like this get started.

Pretty incredible.

Okay, hey, but get but get this, and I've shared this with a few of you, and some of you know it, but but not everybody understands this.

Okay, a few months ago, I think it was, I think it was probably in January or so, it was uh it was on a Sunday, and we were we were setting up and we were getting things ready and everyone was starting to come in.

It was about 9.45 or so, and I remember there was this guy, he came in just out there in the foyer, and and uh somebody introduced uh him to me, and I remember he was looking around, he's kind of like he had this kind of like wow kind of expression on his face.

And uh I I introduced myself and he said, Hey, I just want you to know.

Um, and he and he and he proceeded to tell me his story.

He said, I'm a teacher at this high school.

And he said, he said, you have no idea, okay?

He's like, I I I'm a follower of Jesus Christ.

He's like, there's a bunch of other teachers here, the the principal here, we're we're all we're all Christ followers, and and we've been praying that a church would start here.

And I was just like, right?

Like Jaw hit the floor, and he's like, no, no, he's like, and he was blown away.

Because he was looking around at what we've been doing here to kind of transform this.

He's like, you have no idea, man.

He's like, he's like, we've been praying.

I've been a I've been a teacher here for 25 years, and we've been praying for that long that a church would start here.

And I was just like, right?

Put it in put it into perspective here.

I was 10 years old.

Okay, what do a bit of the math, you know how old I am, right?

I was 10 years old when somebody started praying that a church would start in this room.

How amazing is that! Right?

That should that should blow our minds.

That should fire us up.

It should give us a greater desire, a greater energy, a greater drive to pray more.

Right?

Who knows what the Lord is going to do with this?

Who knows how the Lord wants to use you, not just here on Sundays, but outside in the world, outside in Newmarket as well.

Right?

It all starts with prayer.

I mean, last week, that's why we got together Sunday night for our first Sunday, praying in the holiday inn.

Lord, would you use us?

Would you take us?

Would you would you use us in the world, in Newmarket, to do great things?

And that's what we were praying.

That we would have a greater outreach, that we would have a greater impact on our community.

And a couple of other things here to note about prayer in these verses.

He says there, take a look, he says, uh continue steadfastly in prayer.

Steadfastly, that's a pretty key word.

I think what that shows us is that it's really easy to not be dedicated in prayer.

Right?

It's really easy.

We tend to be pretty hit or miss about it, don't we?

Or we just neglect it.

Like, wow, like it's been months, months since I've really prayed, since I've really thought about uh all of that.

Now listen, for most of us, for most of us here, prayer it's always gonna be the hardest thing that we do in our Christian walk.

Right?

It just is.

It's gonna be tough.

It's not the flashiest thing, uh, no question about it.

But Paul encourages us, he can, he pushes us uh to keep at it.

Right?

It's gonna be tough, but but the Lord blesses our efforts.

So let's pray.

And he says there, he says, be watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Okay, continually monitor your prayer life is another way of kind of putting that.

You know, are you noticing in in your attitude, in your approach to prayer, sort of this self-sufficient mindset starting to creep in?

We're like, I don't really need to pray, and I feel like I can kind of do this on my own.

You'd never admit that.

Right?

You'd never admit that, but is that kind of the kind of the angle of your heart uh there?

You never say it out loud, anyways, but would you admit it?

Yeah, how about this?

Does a spirit of thanksgiving characterize your prayers?

The word there is thanksgiving in the text.

You know, as you think about all that the Lord has done, right?

Do you think back on how he has answered prayer?

Are you thankful as you're praying for new things, knowing that he is faithful, knowing that he will do what he promises to do?

Thanksgiving should be lining and permeating all of our prayers.

Okay, reaching out to a lost world effectively will only be done when we first pray.

I hope we understand that as a church.

Okay, another thing that characterizes a church that reaches out to the lost is uh a willingness to speak up.

Okay, a willingness to speak up.

He says there in verse 3, part way through, take a look.

He says that God may open to us a door to the word, uh, for the word, to declare is the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it, take a look, clear, which is how I ought to speak.

Okay, now some may find this obvious, but but I know that there are others who do not.

Um, but to have an effective outreach means that we actually need to talk about Jesus.

We actually need to talk about Jesus.

Do you understand that?

We need to declare, as the text says, declare the mystery of Christ, which is the gospel.

The word mystery there just refers to something that was once unknown.

Okay, people don't really didn't really have it all together that Christ was coming and what he was about to do, but something that was unknown, but has now been made known.

It's now been made revealed.

Okay, and that's that's the good news that Jesus Christ came to rescue humanity from the curse of sin.

He died for the sins of the world.

And Paul says here, this is the thing that we're supposed to, that we ought to speak, he says there.

We cannot keep quiet about this.

We can't keep quiet about this.

And I think a lot of Christians, far too many Christians, have this have this kind of this mentality that it's enough to let our actions do the talking.

Right?

Do you think about that sometimes?

Do you have that kind of an approach?

You know, to to allow our good deeds and and maybe our kindness to win unbelievers over.

Now listen, those things are very, very important.

Okay, they will know that we are Christians by our love, absolutely.

But time and time again, the Bible commands us to speak, right?

That's the word in the text.

Speak.

To share the gospel, to talk about Jesus Christ, to open our mouths and use our words.

We need to be on the front lines of this.

Okay, behaving well and being morally upright around unbelievers is not enough to lead them into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

That on its own is not enough.

We have to explain it.

Explain the gospel.

And then here's, I love that this word is in here.

We need to make it clear.

Verse 4, underline that.

We need to make it clear.

So we need to help the world understand their their need for a savior.

Do you do that?

Are you willing to talk about sin with those who do not know Jesus Christ?

Sin is the whole reason why people don't know him.

It's because that's in the way, that's blocking them from being in a relationship with God.

Is it fun to talk about sin?

No, it's not.

Does it offend?

Yes, it does.

Right?

Jesus draws a line in the sand with that.

He says, it's your sin that's getting in the way, and we got to deal with that.

He says, we need to talk about it.

We need to be open about this.

Do you tell people that that sin is in the way?

Do you do you tell them that the wrath of God is aimed in their direction if they don't get this sin dealt with?

Do you tell them that nothing that they can do can clear out the sin, can clear out the wrongdoing?

That it that it's Jesus Christ who went to the cross for them on their behalf.

He had the wrath of God poured out on him so that he didn't have to do it to them later.

Do you tell them that God loves them?

And that's the whole reason he sent his son to the cross.

Because he wants them to be forgiven.

He wants to show them his love.

He wants to invite them into a relationship with them.

Do you explain to them about repentance, about confessing sin and asking Christ to be their Savior?

Do you tell them about how awesome it is that we have eternity promised to us where in someday we're gonna go and be with God forever in heaven?

There's no more sickness, there's no more dying, there's no more pain, there's no more tears, there's no more sorrow, there's only joy and life forevermore.

We gotta share the gospel.

That's what that is.

We gotta do it clearly.

Hey, are you are are we willing as a church?

Are we willing to step outside of our comfort zone a little bit?

Are we willing to do that?

I think a lot of us here, if if we're really honest, uh, we would admit deep down that no, I'm not willing to do that.

I'm not.

I want my comfort.

I want people to like me, I want people to approve of me.

I don't want the headache of having people argue with me and and reject me as a person and maybe do worse.

I don't I don't want that.

Well, hey, are you willing to ask the Lord to help you with this?

Are you willing to ask the Lord to give to give you boldness, to give you courage, to make you willing, to make you a force?

He wants to do it.

He doesn't want you to be kicking and screaming, and he doesn't want it to necessarily be this miserable experience and existence for the rest of your life.

But hey, I guess I'm gonna tell people about Jesus.

I'm gonna hate every second of it.

Well, no, he wants to change your heart.

He wants to give you a joy, he wants to give you a heart for the lost.

We need to ask him for it, and then we need to be willing to move.

Another thing that we see out of these verses that we need, well we see here that it requires wisdom.

It requires wisdom.

It says, walk in wisdom towards outsiders.

This is in verse 5, uh, making the best use of the time.

Okay, you ever interacted with somebody who doesn't know Jesus and wondered, like, man, what am I doing right now?

Of course, right?

We've all been in there.

We've all been in that position.

Like, I don't know what I'm supposed to be saying.

Right?

I have no idea what's coming next.

Why am I in this position?

Right?

You've been it just shows we need wisdom.

Right?

We need wisdom.

We need God Himself to lead us.

We need Him to give us the words to say, we need Him to give us the courage that overcomes our fear.

We need Him to know kind of what questions to ask them, how to draw them out.

We need wisdom for when to just be quiet and when to listen to them.

We need wisdom for, you know, how should I be praying for this person?

Lord, give us wisdom as we interact with people.

And hey, I love James 1, verse 5.

James 1:5

Write that down.

It's all about how if we need wisdom, just ask.

Just ask, the Lord's there, He wants to give it to you.

He's this never-ending well of wisdom.

He's like, just come, just ask.

I'll give you buckets of it.

Right?

Ask Him for wisdom.

Here's another key component that we the church desperately need if we're going to reach a lost world.

Gracious words.

Gracious words.

Okay, verse 6.

Verse 6 says, Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Gracious words.

Now here's the bottom line.

Okay, we will speak gracious words to others only when our hearts have absorbed the grace of God towards us.

You understand that?

You will speak graciously, you will think graciously towards other people when your heart understands the grace that God has poured out to you in your life.

Right?

People that are hard on people, those churches that you think about in the States that always pop up on Twitter, the crazies who are out there like marching with signs, rallying against other churches and other Christians and the world who are harsh and awful towards people.

They don't have a clue about grace.

They don't know what it's about.

They don't understand that they, the depths of their sin, and how God's grace has been so unendingly amazing towards them.

Do you get that?

Do you understand again that you deserve God's wrath?

You deserved it.

But that he spared you of it.

Because he's already poured it out on Jesus.

It is finished, Christ said.

I don't need to pour it out on anybody else anymore.

And you've received Christ as Savior.

And hey, he continues to work in you.

He continues to deal with you in all of your prickly areas.

All the areas that need lots of work.

I got tons.

He is gracious.

So hey, be gracious to other people when you speak to them.

Be gracious when you think about them and what you think about them.

We're not better than anybody else.

Did you ever catch yourself thinking that?

You're not.

You're not better.

You're not at a higher level of awesomeness or anything like that.

It's not how it works.

The only difference between Christians and non is that we've been forgiven.

We've been forgiven.

God has opened our eyes to see where we really stand, to understand what our sin has caused.

We've been forgiven.

So again, how are we as individuals?

How are we as a church doing it all this?

Being others focused?

Do we have a heart for the world around us?

Okay, do we do we care about people's eternity?

Do we care about it?

Now I understand, like we're all we're all at different stages with all of this.

Some of us are like chomping at the bit.

Like, I just want to go talk to the guy at Tim Hortons on the way home today and like convert this guy.

Like some of us are there.

Others are just like, I don't ever want to go talk to anybody.

We're at different places in all of this.

Again, are you willing to kind of pray your heart to the right spot and ask that the Lord would lead you and teach you and continue to progress you and move you towards this?

Having the heart for the lost, praying for them, sharing the gospel with them.

Here's the second thing in your notes.

Okay, our church displays another's focus on when we take care of our own.

When we take care of our own.

Take a look at verse 7 now, and uh we'll read down to the end a couple of interesting names here.

The first one's Tichicus.

Okay, I don't know if I'm gonna butcher these or not.

Have mercy on me.

Gracious words and thoughts, right?

Okay, Tichicus will tell you about my activities.

He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.

And with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you.

They will tell you everything that has taken place here.

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.

And Jesus, who is called justice, different Jesus, okay, different guy, 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.

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may be 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 Herapolis.

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, and say to Archipus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.

I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.

Remember my chains.

Grace be with you.

Alright, so you see the transition that he's made here as he closes out his letter.

The first six verses were, you know, all about being focused on people outside of the church.

You know, the lost, the unsaved, all of that, uh, which is so key.

But now he he kind of shifts again and he talks about how we should be caring for people inside the church.

We need to be taking care of our own here.

Now, um, Galatians 6, verse 10, you might want to write that down.

Galatians 6:10

Um pretty key verse that popped to my mind this week, but this is what uh Paul says there.

He says, So then, as we have uh opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and then especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Especially to those who are of the household of faith.

And so he's what he's showing us here is that there is to be kind of a uniqueness to the depth of love, uh, a special relationship that we have with each other here as the church.

A special love, a special kind of a focus here, because God put us together, right?

He brought us all together for the purpose of uh of growth and some other things.

Ephesians 4.11, you can jot that one down too.

He says this, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, and then there's this, for building up the body of Christ.

For building up the body of Christ.

So we build each other up.

That's what God has put us together for.

We're to take care of our own.

We're to help each other out along the journey.

Okay, and our text, of course, shows us some different ways here.

We're gonna draw these out of it, um, some ways that we can do that.

Okay, first off, we're to encourage and comfort each other.

We're to encourage and comfort each other.

Take a look at verse 7 again.

He says, Titicus, let's just call him Ty, that's easier for me.

Uh, Ty will tell you all about my activities.

He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.

I've sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may, that he may encourage your hearts.

He may encourage you.

And so you you first of all you see the type of love that Paul had for Ty.

Right?

He calls him, he calls him a beloved brother.

And then, of course, he sends them back to the Colossian church.

He wants to give them some news, that he wants to, he wants them to know, hey, here's how I'm doing.

I'm in prison right now, but I'm actually doing pretty well.

I want you to know that uh that your gifts have helped me a lot, your prayers have been awesome, and I want I want Titicus to encourage you.

Now I I wonder sometimes, um, I wonder, you know, do we do a good job of encouraging and comforting each other?

Do we do a good job of that?

I'm not saying we are or aren't.

I'm just I'm just wondering.

I'm asking the question.

Okay, verse 11 mentions the word comfort, kind of a similar idea.

Okay, because the more I get to know people, the more I find out kind of how where people are at and how they're doing in the walk with the Lord and the different challenges and struggles and and all of that, I realize that encouragement and comfort, that's one of our greatest needs.

It really is.

On a week-to-week basis, it's so easy to feel beat down and kind of pressed and burdened with the weight of life, and it's on our shoulders, and we can almost feel it, and and it's like this this constant sense of right, constantly.

We need encouragement.

So, ladies, ladies, do you encourage each other?

Do you allow yourselves to get beyond sometimes the personality differences among you?

Right?

Or the the first impressions that you often have, and then the sizing each other up that happens, right?

I hear a bit of nervous laughter there.

Right?

It happens.

But do you get beyond it?

To the point where you're like, hey, we're all in the same boat at the end of the day.

Do you encourage each other?

Do you comfort each other where you're down and where you're weak and where you're hurting, where you're discouraged?

Do we cheer each other on?

Do we do that as a church?

Men, guys in the room.

Same, same question.

Do we encourage?

Do we get beyond our natural tendencies, which are to keep things kind of surfacey?

Right?

Let's not get beyond talking about sports, weather, work, right?

Work's a big one.

I don't know, fishing, I don't know, things like that.

Those things are great.

But do we get beyond that kind of stuff?

To the point where we're finding out, hey, what's really going on in this guy's life?

And how can I how can I encourage this guy and build him up?

And push him on to greater Christ-likeness and pump his tires a little bit and push him.

Do we get beyond that kind of stuff to encourage?

I see lots of people chatting around here, which is amazing, right?

We've been encouraging that.

And we want you to talk, and we want you to get connected.

Again, are you getting below the surface?

Are you starting to talk about uh what really matters in each other's lives and comforting each other?

Because, hey, people are desperate for it.

People are desperate.

Listen, be that person that steps up.

And you're you're part of that solution.

I dare you.

I dare you to be that.

To encourage, pray.

Send the person a note later in the week.

Encourage them, give them a call, find out how they're doing, send them a verse.

Let's encourage, let's comfort.

How else do we take care of our own?

How do we do that?

Okay, well, God's people are restorative.

That's another way.

Restorative.

Take a look at verse 9 now.

Verse 9 says, and with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, they will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, uh, concerning whom you have received instructions, if he comes to you, welcome him.

Now you might think these are just kind of arbitrary verses with random guys mentioned and all of that, but I find this kind of interesting.

Okay, Onesimus, he was the guy that Paul wrote the letter of Philemon about.

Right?

He was the guy.

And you remember the book uh the letter of Philemon?

How Philemon had a slave um leave.

Right?

He just bailed a guy that was in a working relationship with him.

Well, that guy was Onesimus.

And Onesimus left his responsibility and he ran into Paul, and through Paul's ministry, he got converted.

And so Paul wrote a letter back to Philemon encouraging him: hey, receive this guy back.

Okay, don't treat him terribly, receive him back and restore the relationship.

Okay, restore the relationship.

And so we see that there.

That's pretty cool.

How about this guy, Mark?

I love how there's like a normal name in this passage.

That's helpful for me.

Okay, Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, that's verse 10.

Okay, this is the same guy as John Mark.

Okay, John Mark, he's the guy who Paul and Barnabas, you remember this in Acts chapter 13, they had the sharp disagreement about, right?

Acts 13 · chapter mention

And there was that there was kind of a blowing apart of the relationship there.

Well, this shows us, and we learn in other places in scripture too, that there was some restoration that happened in those relationships, and fruitful ministry was able to take place again because these relationships came back together.

Awesome.

That's so cool.

Listen, in any church, there's gonna be friction.

In any church, in any relationship, there's gonna be friction.

In a church like ours, with a like a sinful person like me pastoring and sinful people like you sitting here, we're gonna have issues at some point if we haven't already.

Okay, there's gonna be disagreements, there's gonna be hurt feelings, there's gonna be disappointments.

And I, like some of you, maybe many of you, have seen the ugly side of church.

Right?

You've seen that, and you've seen the church splits, and you've seen the people who won't talk to each other, and you've seen families fracture.

But hey, I've also seen the amazing effects of restoration and what happens when people humble themselves, admit their sins, and go to the person and make the relationship right.

It's incredible what can happen in all of that.

I've seen ministries get stronger, I've seen relationships get stronger.

It's incredible.

Now, because we're a you know a super young church, we don't really have all that much spilled milk yet.

Okay, but it's gonna come, unfortunately.

I think it's easy sometimes when we're when we're in a new church, people kind of come, and maybe you've come from a situation that wasn't ideal, you know, and you were kind of tired of it and it was difficult, and the Lord even led you out of that, and it's a good thing that you're here.

But know that it's not always gonna be easy.

Right?

It's it's not, but the Lord will work through it, and he'll make us stronger through it if we let him.

And do we realize all of that?

And do we do we have the expectation that we're gonna do everything within our power to humble ourselves and ask the Lord to lead it and go to people and fix situations when they're messed up, and again, be restorative.

Because that's what an others-focused church does.

Here's another way that we take care of our own.

We pray for each other.

I know that we've talked about prayer a lot already, we'll go through this one quickly, but verse 12 says this Epaphoros, back to the tough names.

Okay, Epaphoras is uh who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers.

That's so cool.

That you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

Okay, but on top of praying for the lost and needy, we need to be praying for each other.

All right, do we do that?

I think we do.

I think that's a huge component of what our small groups are all about.

We we pray for each other every single week.

You get into a group of brothers and sisters who will pray for you, who will lay it all on the line, who will cry out to the Lord for that he would answer prayer in your life, that he would meet you in your need.

I love that.

We had a group of like 25 people or so out there praying for the service today, praying for all of you.

We have people praying at 6 a.m.

when they open doors before they start setting any of this up here, just praying that God would have his way here in the service.

You need to pray.

And I love it.

I I've been getting, I've been dealing with like sickness and all kinds of junk this week, but I've had people, so many people, texting me this week.

Just like, hey man, praying for you.

A lot of people just this morning alone, hey, praying for your voice and praying this will this will all work out.

The Lord is good.

I love it.

I got tons of people doing that.

Do you guys have people who do that in your life who are praying for you?

Are you the person praying for other people in your small groups, are the people that you've met, taking down cell numbers, just praying throughout the week.

Okay, again, we have prayer time at the end of the service.

And it's an awesome it's an awesome opportunity for you to you to come forward and get prayer.

And listen, this is for every single person here.

I don't know that that's caught on yet here.

I think sometimes we think it's just for new people that come.

No, I it doesn't matter if you were like the first person who was starting the core group.

That that time is for you too.

Come forward, ask for prayer.

It's for everybody.

Hey, pray for people when you're out in the foyer, when you're talking, when you first come in, in the parking lot.

I love it.

Pray.

Just pray.

It doesn't matter where you are.

Allow the Lord to stir up this passion and this desire and this understanding.

Hey, we need prayer.

We need to do it.

Okay, we're another's focused church who takes care of our own.

And when we work hard, that's another thing that we see here.

Verse 13.

Uh talking about a paper again, Paul says this for I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you.

He's worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Heropolis.

Okay, there's nothing quite like that godly friend, right, who goes the extra mile for you.

Who you know they're there for you through thick or thin, no matter what.

They're the person like taking your call at 2 a.m.

when things go sideways.

They're the person who will come to the hospital where when things aren't going well, you you know.

They're the person that you can lean on.

They bear your burdens, they they celebrate your victories.

It's amazing when we have those kind of people.

And hey, it's also hard work.

Right?

It's hard work.

I think we would all love our relationships, we would all love discipleship to come easy.

And sometimes it does.

We have those seasons.

But more often than not, it's it's challenging.

And there are times where it just kind of seems brutal and we question is this, is it worth it?

Is it worth it?

I feel like giving up, I feel like like quitting, or this person isn't getting it.

Listen, we don't get it.

The Lord keeps working with us too, doesn't he?

We need to keep going, we need to we need to dig in, we need to trust the Lord more, we need to ask for greater capacity and work hard for each other.

Yeah, it's tough.

It's hard, it requires our all.

But it's worth it.

It's worth it.

When you see the Lord changing lives, when you see the Lord punching through and the per the person's eyes light up and you see prayers answered, awesome.

Awesome.

Here's another one here, last one.

Okay, we take care of our own when we fulfill the ministry.

We fulfill the ministry.

Okay, Paul says in verse 17 there, take a look.

He says, and say to Archipus, uh, see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.

Hey, do you realize?

Do you realize that the Lord has given each one of you a gift, maybe more than one gift, to serve the church?

Do you realize that?

Maybe you don't understand or know yet or quite recognize what that gift is, but he has done it and he will do it, and over time he may even give you more.

And it's all for the purpose of building up, for encouraging the church, for helping take care of our own, and for seeing these people grow and to fulfill the ministry, to bring it to completion.

Okay, for this church to grow, numerically for sure, but in depth, absolutely, for all of that to happen, we all need to be doing our part.

We need to be doing our part in serving and blessing each other and all of those things.

And I think what we need to really work hard at, and some of us struggle with this more than others, but we need to really work hard at ridding ourselves of that North American consumerist mentality of church.

Of like, you know, what can the church do for me?

Right?

And I come in here and I'm like, I don't know if I like the way that that sign is leaning, right?

And we're critical and we're like, you know, the church could have done a better job of this for me and for my life.

You know, let's get rid of that and instead ask the question what can I do for the church?

What can I do to help out?

What can I do to bless?

How can the Lord uh use me?

How can I carry water around here and get this mission moving forward?

How can I help these people that God has entrusted to me and see?

This ministry that God has given all of us, all of us here.

Not pastor, not elders, not just them, all of us.

How can we get this thing fulfilled?

How can we get this thing accomplished?

You know, I want to see this through to the end.

I don't want to take it like partway.

I want to see it all the way through to the end.

See it fulfilled.

So again, church, kind of bring it all back here.

How are we doing at having this other's focus?

This other's focus.

When it comes to uh reaching out to the lost world, one of the things that I really want to encourage you on and push you towards is uh is inviting people to church.

Inviting people to church.

Do you do that?

Do you have uh people uh in your in your mind um that you're inviting out to this place?

I mean, sometimes we think about evangelism as this huge mountain that we've got to climb.

And I've got to walk a person from never heard of Jesus into like a disciple, and it's huge.

And that is part of it.

But but evangelism can be as simple as inviting someone to church.

Right?

That's part of it.

I love what uh what Philip uh says to Nathaniel uh in John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

Remember, Nathaniel's like, can anything good come from Nazareth?

You know, talking about Jesus.

Can anything good come from Nazareth?

And Philip says to him, come and see.

Come and see.

That's as simple as it needs to be for us.

Hey, come and see what God's doing in our church.

You don't need to explain the hypostatic union and like all kinds of crazy theology to somebody.

Invite them to church.

Come on out.

Come see what the Lord is doing here.

He's alive, he's at work, he's transforming people.

Come on out.

See that when you're talking to somebody, I always try and bring up um at some point that, yeah, I'm a pastor of a church.

I was at a walk-in clinic um just on Friday night.

And uh I was like, yeah, it just kind of came up.

I'm a pastor at a church, and I love to see what a person's reaction is because I love what to see whether or not I have an opportunity to invite them to church.

Right?

I love doing that.

Do you do that just in conversations?

Might be with somebody at the grocery store, might be somebody when you're pumping gas, it doesn't matter.

Right?

Hey, you should come check out my church sometime.

Right?

We all need to have that mentality.

I would encourage you to take to take ownership over that.

Own it and drive it forward.

That's how we can reach out to the lost.

And then on top of that, when it comes to taking care of our own, I really want to encourage you to have an eye for people here.

You know, where are people at?

Where are people at spiritually?

Where are they at?

Are they struggling?

Are they down?

How can you be used by God to encourage them?

You'd be surprised at how how something so small as just say, hey, I'm praying, I've been praying for you this week, or or dropping like a meal off at their house will just blow their minds, right?

It blesses them because the Lord uses that in a spiritual way to encourage them.

How can you be used?

You know, and I know there's all kinds of amazing stories.

I've heard so many of them of how you guys are doing that.

And so I want to continue to encourage you and affirm that and put keep pushing you towards doing it.

That's what having an others' focus is all about.

And then I love verse 12.

It's kind of in the middle of our passage there, um, but it kind of shows like what we're going for here.

It's so that we're helping others to stand mature in Christ.

We're going for maturity.

We want to grow, we want to be more like Jesus Christ, as individuals for sure, but as the church, as Harvest New Market.

He's gonna do it.

He's gonna do it bit by bit.

He's gonna do it in my heart, he's gonna do it in your heart, he's gonna do it in us as a whole.

So I want to pray for you now, I want to pray for us now.

Pray that the Lord will continue to move and do this.

Would you join me in prayer?

God, we do come before you recognizing the enormity of the task at hand, Lord, to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people who are maybe antagonistic towards it, who maybe want and have no interest in it.

Lord, I pray that you would give us wisdom as the text explains, Lord.

There are times where we should speak, and there are times where we should be quiet.

Lord, help us to know when.

Lord, would you give us opportunities?

Again, would you give us a heart that cares for people who are perishing, Lord, people who are lost.

Lord, I pray that you would come through in a strong way in those different moments, God.

Lord, I pray that as we think about what it means, Lord, to encourage each other here, to take care of each other and to have a special kind of a focus and emphasis on Christian brothers and sisters, Lord.

I pray that you would give us a love for each other, Lord.

I pray that the typical things that tear churches apart, Lord, gossip and rivalries and undealt with sin and hurt and pain.

Lord, I pray that that would have no place here in this church.

Lord, I pray that we would confess it when we see it in our hearts.

I pray that we would go to people and repent and apologize when we have hurt them.

I pray that we would apologize when we have done them wrong.

Lord, would you keep the enemy at bay who wants to continue to chip away and throw darts at us and discourage us and break us down, Lord?

Protect us as your church.

Lord, I pray that we'd be a great and bright light in the city of Newmarket, Lord, in our uh in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our own homes, Lord, as we disciple our kids, Lord, would you do this?

Lord, would we focus on others as a way to glorify you, Lord?

Lord, would you do this, Lord?

We know again, we've said it a few times, we know that we were we were at your mercy, Lord.

Would you accomplish this in our hearts?

Would you do it, Lord?

We give you permission.

We cry out for it.

We pray all this in Christ's name.

Amen.