we need to be in Colossians. We should have already
finished Colossians on Sunday morning. And then
Jordan skipped ahead. Can we dial this back just
a little? There we go. Yeah, is that good? Can
you also hear me? Good, good, good. Yeah, so
Jordan skipped ahead because he was supposed
to preach that passage anyways, but not at the
time that he did. And so I'll backtrack on Sunday
and cover what the portion we skipped. So we're
gonna be in Colossians chapter four. And we're
gonna be in verses seven through, we'll see how
far we get. And we're gonna be reading a passage
that both of my interns are really happy they
don't have to read, because if you just look
at how it starts, you'll see why they don't wanna
read this passage. But it's interesting, because
we're coming to this point in Colossians, and
if we're honest with each other here, you get
to this point in Colossians, and if you're reading
Colossians in your own quiet time, your personal
study time, I'm just gonna say it, 99 % of us
are gonna skip these final verses, are we not?
I mean, just look, it's a bunch of names, okay?
How often do y 'all just read through the names
of the Bible, right? I know y 'all well enough
to know. Okay, there you go, yeah. So you don't
wanna skip the names. People do it with genealogies
too, but I've said it before, there are so many
good things in the genealogies. And there's actually
a lot of really good stuff here in these final
names. How ominous. How ominous. There's some
good stuff and some names. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, when you look at the names though, one of
the reasons you shouldn't skip them is because,
and this is on the nose, they're in the Bible.
And the Bible is inspired by God, and He didn't
put any fluff in His Word. So the fact that these
names are included, Means that God wanted them
to be included. They are here for a reason and
I think the whole purpose kind of behind Putting
all these names in here and Paul mentioning all
these various people is the simple fact that
The Bible is telling us that disciples need other
disciples We we were never meant to do life alone.
We need other people in our lives specifically
We need brothers and sisters in Christ to fill
our lives and I'm not just talking about people
that you just go to church with or people that
you see on Sunday morning or on Wednesday, and
you're like, oh yeah, that's my brother and sister
in Christ there, you know, we know each other
from church. I'm talking about living in community
with other Christians, and that is how we are
meant to live our lives. And for me, this is
pretty difficult because I'm the type of person,
even though I'm a pastor, I don't really like
to be around people that much too often. I'm
a bit of an introvert that way. So it's very
difficult for me to be in large groups of people.
I don't like public speaking, which is another
shocker because I'm a pastor, but I don't enjoy
public speaking unless I'm preaching and teaching
God's Word and then I really enjoy it. But I
don't like to just be surrounded by other people.
It kind of drains my energy. It takes a lot.
I kind of feel like I'm having to put on a show
for people. My brother -in -law, Bill, Gene's
son, he is not like that. Bill has never met
a stranger. I don't think Bill knows how to be
alone. It's like there's something in him that's
wrong with him. He just can't be alone. He has
to be around other people. It's how he gets energy.
I mean, he thrives when he's around other people.
And I think there's probably a good balance between
that, between being Bill and being me, because
you don't want to be me, you might want to be
Bill, but there's probably a healthy balance
somewhere in the middle where we need to be reminded
that we need other Christians in our lives to
live life with. And so in these verses, I think
what Paul is doing here, as he's mentioning his
ministry partners and his friends, he's going
to show the type of disciples that we need to
fill our lives with. really the type of disciples
that we need to strive to be as well. I want
you to look at this first one here in verses
seven through eight. Tychicus will tell you all
about my activities. He is a beloved brother
and faithful minister and fellow servant in the
Lord and I have sent him to you for this purpose
that you may know how we are and that he may
encourage your hearts. Now you might not be familiar
with this name but Tychicus seems in many ways
to be one of Paul's right -hand men. Paul mentions
him in Acts chapter 20 verse 4 as being among
those who went ahead of Paul and waited for him
in Troas. And actually, if you look at the other
references to him in the Bible, this was often
the person that Paul sent his letters with. So
when Paul was writing to the various churches,
he would give those letters to Tychicus to take
to the churches and be his delivery person. You
see this in Ephesians 6 .21. Paul says, so that
you also may know how I am and what I am doing,
Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister
in the Lord, will tell you everything. And then
in 2nd Timothy 4 .12, he says, Tychicus, I have
sent to Ephesus. And then in Titus 3 .12, when
I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best
to come to me in Nicopolis, for I have decided
to spend the winter there. So when you look at
Paul's relationship with this brother, and you're
asking yourself, well, what is there about him
that we should aspire to? What is it about him
that is so crucial to have in our lives? And
I think what you really see out of him is someone
who is willing and someone who is reliable. Tychicus
seems like the type of brother who was always
ready and willing to do whatever needed to be
done, whether it was travel to the Colossian
church to encourage them and tell them how Paul
was doing. or whether it was to go to Ephesus
to deliver a letter, he was always willing, and
he was always ready, and he was reliable. He
was someone that you could depend on. And I'm
going to be honest with you, this is the type
of person that I like to fill my life with. These
are probably my favorite type of disciples, and
I think you could probably tell by my two interns,
this describes them perfectly. These are the
type of interns I like to have. I mean, this
described Joseph, God bless his heart. That young
man was willing to do anything that needed to
be done. And the same thing is true of Christian
and Mark. I mean, that's what I look for when
I look for an intern. I look for someone who
is going to say, you just put me in and I'm willing,
I'm ready. I'll do whatever you need me to do.
And this is really, a lot of you might not know
this, but probably a month or two back when there
was a lot of sickness going around and my family
had the flu and there was the stomach bug and
pretty much everyone in the church got the stomach
bug. I was so certain that I was going to get
sick that I was writing my sermon and as soon
as I finished it I was emailing it to Christian
and Mark and I said all right guys here's my
sermon for this week in the off chance that I
do get sick I need one of you to preach this
sermon on Sunday and without fail they both messaged
me back and said yeah not a problem we got you
now if you don't know why that's pretty astonishing
and amazing I want you to know that Mark has
never preached a sermon in his life, ever. Christian
has never preached a Sunday morning sermon, he's
going to later this year, but Mark has never
preached a sermon and yet Mark was like, all
right, yeah, sure, if I've gotta read your sermon
and preach it, I'll do it. This is the type of
person you want in your life, someone who's gonna
say, whatever needs to be done, I'm gonna be
there and I'm gonna do it. And I think our church
is particularly blessed, because we've got so
many of these type of people in our church. I
mean, it describes so many. If I were to go to
Lowell Caldwell, Michael Stevenson, or Gene McKinney,
and I say, hey, I need you to teach gospel group
or Sunday school this morning, they would do
it in a heartbeat. If I call Brian Hufstedtler
and ask him for literally anything, Brian is
gonna be there, and he's gonna do it. Or if you
need something done around the church, all you
have to do is call Tommy or Gene, they're probably
already here, and they're gonna do it. I mean,
this is just the type of disciple that you really
want to have in your life. And honestly, this
is the type of disciple that we should strive
to be. It's one thing to be good every now and
then for something and say, yeah, if there's
a certain circumstance and the situation is right,
then I'll maybe help out. But it's another thing
entirely to say, I see what God is doing. I want
to be part of that work. And no matter what is
needed of me, I'm there for God. Whatever he's
asking of me, I want to be the type of person
who gets involved. and does what he needs me
to do. I want you to look at verse 9 because
we see another one here. It says, Now, if you
don't know who this is, we learn a lot about
him from the book of Philemon. So if you're looking
for baby names, a lot of good options in this
passage in particular. haven't heard Onesimus
in a while, but if you remember the book of Philemon,
basically Onesimus was a slave of Philemon who
ran away, and so he runs away, and this is just
the sovereignty of God at work. Onesimus crosses
paths with Paul, and Paul shares the gospel with
him and tells him about Jesus, and God saves
Onesimus, and so he's converted under Paul's
ministry, and then Paul sends him back to Philemon.
And based on what we read in Philemon, we see
the situation was Onesimus owed a great debt
to Philemon. We don't know what happened to incur
that debt, but we just know that he owed a great
debt to him. And it was one that he was unable
to pay and he was unwilling to work off that
debt. And so what he did is he ran away, which
was illegal. And so his past is marred by sin
and wrong decisions. And so what's amazing is
after he's converted to faith in Christ, He comes
up to Paul and Paul's like, all right, happy
to have you be a Christian now. Here's what I
need you to do. I need you to go back to Philemon.
If you're onesimus, this is not what you expect
to hear, right? If you're onesimus, this is actually
the last thing you want to hear. You want to
hear Paul say, and you can stay with me and I'll
teach you and I'll train you and you can see
how we do things. But instead he says, brother,
I need you to go back to Philemon. I need you.
to be a faithful servant in his household. But
then Paul tells him, any debt that you have,
I'll pay it myself. I just want you to go back
and do what's right. And clearly, he didn't just
go back to be a slave because we see here in
Colossians that he is actively serving with Paul.
And Paul is sending him to the Colossian church
as a messenger. And I want you to notice these
beautiful words that it says here. It's very
easy to look over. But everyone in the Colossian
Church knew about Onesimus' past. They had talked
with Philemon. They knew the situation. The rumor
mill started going around. Everybody knew about
the runaway slave. And so when they thought of
him, they thought of someone who illegally ran
away, who was unable to pay a debt, and who was
a wandering slave. And Paul, notice what he says
here. He says, I'm sending him to you, and he
is one of you. Did you notice those words? It's
so easy to miss. Paul sends them back and he
says, he is one of you. And so when we look at
Onesimus, we get the beautiful truth that the
sins of our past do not prevent us from being
used by God in the present. And that's an amazing
truth, is it not? That the sins of our past do
not prevent God from using us in the present.
I think there are a few things more beautiful
than seeing a notorious sinner with a bad past
be redeemed by God and saved by God and used
by God to do great things and you have to just
imagine how hard this would have been for Onesimus
to go to a place where everyone knows his past
everyone knows what he did and yet he's living
in the freedom in Christ and he's going to live
for God's purposes and I know I've already mentioned
it, but I can't help but think of our brother,
Brian Huffstetler, again, because many of you
have heard Brian's testimony, and it's an amazing
testimony, is it not? I mean, you look at his
past, and he's got a marred past. I've got a
marred past. I've got a messed up past. And I'm
sure, because of conversations I've had with
Brian, that there are certain places where if
he were to go there, people would start talking.
And they say, oh, you... You're talking about
Huff? Oh yeah, I know Huff. I know all about
Huff. I know the things that he's done. But the
amazing thing is, if you mention his name at
this church, no one says, oh I know about Huff.
They say, are you talking about Brian? One of
the deacons of George's Creek Baptist Church,
that's the Brian you're talking about. You're
talking about the man who checks on his families
and calls them every single week. You're talking
about the man who would literally give you the
shirt off his back if you said you needed it,
who would do anything for anyone. Are you talking
about Brian because that's the only Brian that
I know? Isn't that an amazing truth that your
past sins do not get to define you? Your past
mistakes do not get to define you and your past
mistakes do not prevent God from using you in
the present. I'm personally thankful for that
because I live in my own hometown and there are
people all across this town who know all about
Alex Chapman and all the things that I've done.
And I'm always thankful to get to encounter those
people and say, you know who I was, let me tell
you who I am because of what Jesus has done in
my life. You need people like this in your life
to remind you of the amazing grace of God, and
the mercy of God, and the power of God, and the
transforming power of God, to take a sinner,
to redeem them, to make them clean, and then
use them for His purposes. That's the type of
person that we want to have in our lives. I want
you to look at another one here in verse 10.
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you.
And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning
whom you have received instructions if he comes
to you, welcome him. Now, Aristarchus seems to
have been one of Paul's most faithful companions.
He typically traveled with Paul wherever he went.
But what's amazing is when Paul faced some of
the harshest trials of his life, Aristarchus
wasn't just there for him. He was there with
him in the midst of those trials. I mean, for
instance, we all remember that Paul had a famous
shipwreck at sea. You all remember that? Paul's
traveling on the sea, he's on a boat, and there's
a shipwreck. You might not remember that Aristarchus
was actually on that boat with him. We read in
Acts 27 .2, an embarking in a ship of Adramidium,
which was about to sail to the ports along the
coast of Asia, we put to see, accompanied by
Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.
And so we also learn from Paul's letter to Philemon,
and here in Colossians, that Aristarchus was
a prisoner with Paul. So he wasn't someone who
just kind of hung around Paul, and he wasn't
someone who just said, Paul, if you need me,
I'll be there, just give me a call, you know,
send a letter. He was someone who says, Paul,
whatever you're doing, I'm going to be there
with you. Whatever you're going through, I'm
going to submit myself to the same thing. If
you're going to jail, I'm going to jail. I'm
in this with you. And so here was a man who was
not just content to be there for Paul if he needed
him, but someone who insisted on being there
with Paul in the midst of his trials and sufferings.
And these are the type of disciples that you
want to have in your life, is it not? I mean,
it's one thing for people to say they're there
if you need them or call them if something happens,
but it's another thing for a person to come to
you in times of trouble and say, I'm going to
be here with you in the midst of this trial,
and I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere.
We are going to bear this burden together. I'm
very thankful to have people like this in my
life. I'll just be very candid with you. Maybe
last year or two years ago. I was having a really
really bad day and My depression and my anxiety
was just at an all -time high I guess for anxiety
depression was all -time low Inversive that was
a bad place a very very bad place. I even started
having Suicidal thoughts again. It was it was
just not not good and I came here to the office
starting the work day, and that was the place
I was in, and I didn't know how I was gonna make
it through the day. And then Jessica and Jordan
came into my office unannounced, uninvited, because
Anna had called them and told them what was going
on with me, and said, I don't trust him to be
alone right now, I need you to be there for him.
And so Jessica and Jordan stopped whatever they
were doing, gave Daniel to someone, and they
came into my office and I said, hey guys, I really
don't want to be around people right now. So
if y 'all could just Leave and they said yeah,
that's cool. We're gonna stay here Until you're
ready to be alone. It's like well, I really don't
want company. They said yeah, we got you We're
gonna sit here and they did and they sat there
right across from my desk and they gave up hours
of their day and I was in tears and we were talking
And they eventually did leave, but they didn't
leave until I was in a place where they felt
like they could leave. And it was a reminder
to me of how thankful I am for people who aren't
just saying, hey, give me a call if you need
me, but who will walk into your office and they're
like, I'm just gonna sit here until I know that
you're okay. That's the type of people that not
only do we need in our lives, but that's the
type of disciple that we need to be in the lives
of others. We don't want to have our brothers
and sisters in Christ suffer alone the Bible
says when one suffers We all suffer when they
are mourning we mourn when they rejoice we rejoice
we are called to bear with one another No one
is meant to carry their load alone And so it's
not sufficient to just say, hey, give me a call,
or if you need something, let me know. If you
know someone's going through something, if you
know that they are hurting, if you know that
they're struggling, you need to be with them
in the midst of their struggle, just as Aristarchus
was for Paul. I want you to notice he mentions
another one here in verse 10. He mentions Mark,
the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you've
received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome
him. Now who was Mark? Anybody have any guesses?
Yeah, he wrote one of the Gospels. He was actually
a disciple of Peter, so if you're reading Mark's
Gospel, it's actually Peter's account of his
story with Jesus, which is really interesting
when you compare it to the other accounts, because
some of the times when Peter looks the worst...
Those aren't actually in Mark's gospel. They're
in Matthew's. You might be wondering why. Well,
Peter's telling the story there. But he was a
disciple of Peter, and he was a traveling companion
of Paul. And you might not remember this, but
the book of Acts tells us that Paul and Mark
had a falling out. It says that when Paul and
Barnabas set sail to Pamphylia, Mark abandoned
them, and Paul took this personally. He viewed
this as Mark being unwilling to do what needed
to be done for the kingdom of God. He viewed
it as Mark basically copping out and not being
fit for the ministry and so they had this huge
falling out and it led to an even greater dispute.
In Acts 15 verse 36 through 40 it says, and after
some days Paul said to Barnabas, let us return
to visit the brothers in every city where we
proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they
are. Now, Barnabas wanted to take with them John,
called Mark, but Paul thought best not to take
with them one who had withdrawn from them in
Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.
So notice the connection. He didn't go with them
to the work. He was copying out, he wasn't fit,
and there arose a sharp disagreement so that
they actually separated from each other. And
Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to
Cyprus. but Paul chose Silas and departed, having
been commended by the brothers to the grace of
the Lord. And so, that's what happened, but now
we get to see something very beautiful here,
where Mark, who had a falling out with Paul,
and this huge disagreement, and Paul said he's
not even fit for the ministry, Mark's now been
restored. And he's now working with Paul again.
And I think it's even more beautiful to read
in 2 Timothy. If you remember 2nd Timothy, Paul,
that's his last letter that he wrote. He is about
to die as he wrote 2nd Timothy. He knows that
he is about to be put to death. He knows the
end is coming. In his last request, in 2nd Timothy
411, he says, Luke alone is with me. Get Mark
and bring him with you, for he is very useful
to me in the ministry. How amazing is that? I
mean, again, that's one of those things that
we just kind of read over like, oh, he's saying
a name. But here was this guy that Paul said,
he's not fit for the ministry. He's not cut out
for the work. I don't want anything to do with
him anymore. And then at the very end of his
life, Paul's last request is bring Mark, because
he's very useful to me in the ministry. And so
I think there's a really beautiful reminder here
when we look at Mark, and it's that if God hasn't
given up on someone, we don't need to give up
on them either. If God hasn't given up on someone,
we don't need to give up on them either. Because
where a person currently is, isn't necessarily
where they're always gonna be. And I've seen
too many times in my life and in my ministry,
where we've almost written someone off and dismissed
them and given up on them, and God has restored
them and brought them back. I mean, you can talk
to any of the deacons about this. On our deacon
list, we have an inactive list of people who
haven't been here in a while. If they haven't
been here after a certain amount of time, we
move them from inactive to no longer members.
And there have been so many times where we've
said, you know, so -and -so hasn't been here
for a long time. Should we move them away? Should
we move them to no longer members? Should we
revoke their membership? And we say, no, let's
just keep praying for them. Let's keep asking
God to do something. and I kid you not we've
had times where we've had a person or a couple
on that list for over a year nearly two years
and we thought there's no way they're ever coming
back give up on them and sure enough they're
back with us today it's a good reminder that
if God doesn't give up on people we don't need
to give up on them either so if you have someone
in your life right now that you're frustrated
with if you're dealing with someone that you
think is immature in their faith or Maybe someone
who's acting un -Christ -like or you've had a
falling out with them and you think, well, that's
it. They're no good to me anymore. They can't
possibly help me or nurture my faith or be any
use to me. I just want you to remember those
are the same things that Paul thought about Mark.
And then at the end of his life, he was requesting
him to be by his side. You never know what God
is going to do in someone's heart and in someone's
life. You never know how God is going to transform
someone and make them useful in His service.
Now you look at verse 11, he says, in Jesus who
is called justice, these are the only men of
the circumcision among my fellow workers for
the kingdom of God and they have been a comfort
to me. So this is the only place in the Bible
where justice is mentioned, so we don't really
have a lot to say about him other than the fact
that he seemed to be a great comfort to Paul.
But we do know a lot more about the next guy.
If you look in verse 12, it says, Apaphras, who
is one of you, servant of Christ Jesus greets
you always struggling on your behalf and his
prayers and that you may stand mature and fully
assured in all the will of God for I bear him
witness that he has worked hard for you and for
those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Now if you
remember Epaphras was the man who planted the
church in Colossae. Paul didn't start that church.
It was started by Epaphras. He's the one who
planted it. He's the one who nurtured them and
taught them. And I want you to notice this about
him. He was a prayer warrior. Notice how the
Bible describes his prayers here. It says that
he was struggling in prayer on their behalf and
working hard in prayer on their behalf. So this
was not your typical church guy where when you
or sharing a request, what does every Christian
say? Oh, I'll pray about that. Or I'm praying
for you. But then 95 % of them never actually
pray about it. It's just the church answer. Oh
yeah, we'll pray about that. Or I'm praying for
you. And then we don't actually do it. Well,
this was a brother who labored in prayer to the
point that the Bible literally describes it as
hard work. And I'm just going to tell you, you
need people like this in your life. People, when
you share a request with them, They're not just
going to dismiss it, but they're actually going
to dedicate themselves to praying for you and
praying for your request and laboring in prayer.
I'm thankful to have a mom who is a prayer warrior
like that. I consider my mom a great prayer warrior
because I know if I ask my mom to pray for something,
she's going to pray for it. And she's not going
to stop praying for it until I tell her that
she can stop praying for that particular request.
I've said it to you so many times now, you know
it by heart. She prayed for my salvation for
18 years. I do not have that kind of patience,
okay? I don't know that I could consistently
pray that long for something for 18 years, and
yet my mom dedicated herself to praying for my
salvation for that long. We need to be the kind
of disciples who devote ourselves to prayer.
And honestly, if we are to be truly biblical,
And we're to do what Christ tells us to do. We
need to commit ourselves to prayer and fasting.
Now, I don't have time to go into all of that
this evening. I have heard that there is a pretty
good podcast episode recently released on that.
So if you want to learn more about fasting and
what biblical fasting is and how to fast and
why Christians are supposed to fast, then check
out a podcast that answers questions on that.
But the point is we need to take prayer seriously.
And we need to be the type of people who actually
pray for things and trust that God is able to
do far more and abundantly than all we can even
think or imagine. How silly is it for Christians
to say there's no point praying for that because
there's no way it's ever going to happen. What
kind of God do we serve? That we wouldn't entrust
everything to him and trust that he is able to
do that. I mean we've got this situation with
the parsonage right now, right? We didn't see
that one coming. We didn't know it was going
to be that bad. And when you had told us at the
beginning of this year, none of us would have
said, hey, we're going to get a $45 ,000 bill,
and that's not even going to cover everything
for a parsonage that we didn't know how we're
going to fix. We don't just have that laying
around. We're not that kind of church that just
has $45 ,000 in the bank ready to say, hey, there
you go. But there's nothing too big for our God,
is there? And I don't think a parsonage with
some mold is too big for our God. If God owns
the cattle on a thousand hills, I do not think
$45 ,000 is too much for our God. And so what
if we were actually, rather than stress about
this situation, and fight about this situation,
and get anxious about this situation, what if,
novel idea, what if we prayed about it? And we
committed it to God. and say, God, we don't know
the way. We don't know how it's going to happen.
We don't know how you're going to provide, but
we are trusting that you were able to do for
us what we cannot do for ourselves. What if we
prayed, church, and trusted God? I could go on,
but we've already not even made it to Luke yet.
I really thought I'd be able to get through the
names. Look at verse 14 with me very quickly
because I'm about to run out of time. Luke the
beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.
Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea
and to Nympha and the church in her house. And
when this letter has been read among you, have
it also read in the church of the Laodiceans.
And see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.
It would have been nice if that letter had been
preserved, but it was not. So we all know who
Luke is, right? Luke was the famous doctor and
the historian. He's the one who wrote the book
of Luke and Acts, and possibly Hebrews. Probably
Hebrews. I can't prove it with certainty, but
maybe. But what's interesting about Luke is that
he never actually gave up his profession as a
doctor in order to pursue ministry. And we know
that because look how Paul refers to him here.
He says he is the beloved physician. Instead,
Luke continued to serve as a doctor while also
participating in ministry. And I think this is
really important for us to consider because it's
one of those phrases that we can just read over.
But I can't tell you how many people I've met
who say, I want to do something great for God.
I want to serve God. I want to do something for
God. And so they think they have to quit their
job and find a job at a church or move overseas
and go to a third world country. in order to
be used by God to do something great. But Luke
reminds us that God can use us right where we're
at to make a difference in this world and for
his kingdom. I've told you all before, some of
the most fruitful conversations and ministry
I've ever been a part of was in the flooring
section at Lowe's. I've had some of the best
ministry conversations I've ever had in my life,
not in a church building, but on a tile aisle.
Talking about mortar and grout and leading people
to Jesus in that place. You can turn every conversation
and every opportunity into a ministry if you
are ministry minded. You do not have to quit
your job and get paid by a church in order to
be in ministry. I think one of the best examples
of this is William Wilberforce, great man from
history. And there's a famous story where early
on in his life he wanted to leave politics and
quit politics because he said, I want to do something
for God. I want to serve God. And so he thought
that meant he needed to quit politics and become
a pastor. And it was my favorite pastor of all
time, John Newton, who told him not to do that.
and told him that he should stay in politics,
and Newton said to him that he could serve God
just as faithfully in Parliament as he could
in the pulpit. And so he took Newton's advice,
and guided by his faith in God, he dedicated
his life to abolishing the slave trade. Every
step of the way he was seeking to serve God and
bring about biblical justice in a world that
needed it and God blessed his efforts and brought
about the complete abolition of slavery in the
British Empire in 1833 under the direction of
William Wilberforce. So you don't have to buy
this lie that you have to be employed by a church
to make a difference in the kingdom of God. God's
will is accomplished by ordinary Christians leveraging
every single opportunity God gives them to be
useful in His service. Whether that's on a tile
aisle, whether that's in a bank, whether it's
at the grocery store, whatever your job is, view
it as a ministry, because that is your ministry.
That is your sphere of influence that God has
given you to tell people about Jesus, to spread
the news of the gospel. And you might say, well,
I work from home, or I don't work at all. Well,
you know what? You can talk to people in the
grocery store. You can talk to people when you're
out around town. I remember I was going to get
my tires changed one time, and I normally would
take a book, and I had a book, and this guy wanted
to strike up a conversation. I said, all right,
this might be an opportunity. So I put down my
book, and I ended up having about an hour and
a half conversation with the man about Jesus
in the waiting room while we're getting our tires
changed. You can use these opportunities. Take
the earbuds out. Put the book down and be aware
of who God has put in your life and around you
so that you can actually have gospel conversations
and seek to make the most of the opportunities
that God gives you. I think the best way to end
this would be to read Paul's words to Archippus.
If you look at Colossians 4 .17, he says and
say to Archippus, see that you fulfill the ministry
that you have received in the Lord. I don't think
there's a better way to end it than that. Because
every single person in this room, even though
I think Mazan and I are the only people paid
by this church in this room, every single person
in this room has a ministry that has been given
to you by God. And you are to make the most of
that ministry. When you die, it will not matter
if you were employed by a church, if you ever
preached a sermon, if you ever taught a Sunday
School lesson or a Bible study. Because I promise
you, people don't remember what I preached last
month. They're not going to remember it when
I'm dead. But you won't, when your time comes,
for people to be able to look back at your life
and say, they served the Lord all the days of
their life. they took up the ministry that God
had given them and they seized every opportunity
that God put in front of them and they lived
to the glory of God alone and they have died
and now they are at rest with the Lord. That's
the testimony that we get to have because of
what Jesus has done for us. Fulfill the ministry
that you have received in the Lord. We probably
still have some work to do on Colossians, but
that's as far as we're getting tonight. Gene,
you have a word of wisdom for us?