Speaker 1: Thank you, worship team, for leading us so well this morning.
Speaker 1: As we were singing that last song together, I was thinking back in my mind because that song do it again the first student ministry that I had a chance to be part of in the upstate.
Speaker 1: That song became kind of an anthem for us towards the end of our time there and it was a prayer right that God would do it again, that he would move, that he would save youth and that he would build his kingdom through the lives and hearts of young people that were rising up and calling Jesus Lord.
Speaker 1: And then we moved to Somerville in 2018, and we left our families behind my family's from the upstate of South Carolina, tara's family is as well and we came to this new town called Somerville.
Speaker 1: We didn't know anybody, except for the people that we had met in the interview process and the first six months of youth ministry.
Speaker 1: Here we were really rebuilding again from the ground up, and it was hard.
Speaker 1: It was hard and by June of that year I was like this is hard, this is difficult, and it was like we left behind something that was healthy and good, and now we're trying to rebuild something new from the ground up, and I can remember like it was yesterday taking our youth group to summer camp in 2018, we were sitting in Daytona Beach, florida, and the band began to lead that song that we just sang Do it Again.
Speaker 1: And for me, and you know, there are moments where God shows up and it's not an audible voice.
Speaker 1: It's somehow even more impactful than that, and I was sitting in that auditorium hearing the words of that song and it was a reminder that we serve a faithful God.
Speaker 1: He's done it before.
Speaker 1: He can do it again.
Speaker 1: He is continuing to do what he does, and so I love that today, as we embark on a new journey for us as a campus, we're singing the words that remind us we serve a faithful God who sees the end from the beginning and who has the ability to do it again and again and again, and that's good news for us.
Speaker 1: I love that God has the ability to take ordinary people like me and like you and weave our lives together and our stories together with these story for His glory in the earth.
Speaker 1: And today we're gonna look at a passage of scripture in Colossians, chapter four, that, if we're honest, we probably have read before, but we've probably speed read it and just gone ahead to the next section.
Speaker 1: Kind of like when you hit a genealogy in the Bible, like in your personal reading time, and it starts saying like so and so had so and so, whose father was so and so the son was like, and we just like there's so many names we don't know how to pronounce them and we don't know why is this in there.
Speaker 1: Or it's like in Leviticus, when they begin to list out all of the rules and it's like I'm not sure what I'm reading.
Speaker 1: Necessarily there's moments in the reading of scripture where it's like I'm not 100% sure what I'm supposed to get from this and this passage is kind of like that.
Speaker 1: So Colossians, chapter four, with that encouragement, let's read together seven through 18.
Speaker 1: The apostle Paul, closing his letter, says this Titicus will tell you all about my activities.
Speaker 1: He's a beloved brother and a faithful minister and a fellow servant in the Lord.
Speaker 1: I've sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts.
Speaker 1: And with him, anissimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who's one of you.
Speaker 1: They'll tell you of everything that has taken place here.
Speaker 1: Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner he greets you and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you've received instructions.
Speaker 1: If he comes to you, welcome him.
Speaker 1: And Jesus, who's called justice.
Speaker 1: These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they've been a comfort to me.
Speaker 1: Apathras, who's one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, he greets you, always struggling on your behalf, and his prayers 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 Heropolis.
Speaker 1: Luke, the beloved physician, greets you, as does Demus.
Speaker 1: Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha and the church in her house.
Speaker 1: 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 Archipus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you've received in the Lord.
Speaker 1: I, paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
Speaker 1: Remember my chains.
Speaker 1: Grace be with you, father.
Speaker 1: We pray that as we open your word together, god, that you would speak to us.
Speaker 1: We don't need human wisdom or human ideas, father.
Speaker 1: We need the power of your word working in our hearts.
Speaker 1: God, we believe in faith today that that is exactly what's gonna happen over the next few moments.
Speaker 1: Together, in Jesus' name, and everybody says amen.
Speaker 1: You all remember newspapers.
Speaker 1: I can remember growing up we had a newspaper that would come every day the Greenville News throw it out in our driveway.
Speaker 1: I had a yellow lab that he wasn't good for much, but he would run to the top of the driveway, get the paper and bring it back.
Speaker 1: That's what he would do every morning.
Speaker 1: And I can remember growing up I would open the sports pages and read the sports page, eating my mini-weets every single morning.
Speaker 1: Growing up that's what I did.
Speaker 1: And you think about a newspaper.
Speaker 1: Newspapers got headlines right, and headlines are still a thing.
Speaker 1: Newspapers still a thing, kind of Headlines definitely still a thing.
Speaker 1: But in the newspaper there's also, like the classifieds right, the ads at the back, the fine print that nobody really reads unless you're looking for something particular, and then you find this sub.
Speaker 1: It's a whole thing.
Speaker 1: Google's significantly easier than newspaper, but that's not the point of today.
Speaker 1: Headlines and classifieds.
Speaker 1: When you think about life, there are names that dominate the headlines right, whether it's the political sphere or the sports world or the business world or whatever arena, career field you're in, there are people's names that dominate the headlines of your world.
Speaker 1: And then there are people that feel like hey, they're just in the classifieds, we're just glad to be listed somewhere in the fine print, right.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's interesting because the story of the Bible is kind of like that Like there is a name that is the headline of the story, right, and that's clear in Colossians Jesus is the name above names, he is the one that this is all about, from beginning to end.
Speaker 1: This is His story, he is the headline of the story.
Speaker 1: But then there are other guys, other names that like there's some big name guys and ladies in the Bible, right.
Speaker 1: I mean you think about guys like Abraham, isaac, jacob how many times did their names show up in the story, the narrative of Scripture?
Speaker 1: David or Solomon, or some of the prophets, or fast forward to the New Testament, I mean Jesus calls out 12 of all the disciples.
Speaker 1: We got 12 that are named.
Speaker 1: We can't name all 12 of them, probably, but we can name three right Peter, james and John, like they're the three of the 12 that even rise to the top of that group and their names kind of get in the headlines from time to time.
Speaker 1: And then you have guys like Paul James, the brother of Jesus, right Names that like you say their name in Bible and it's like, oh yeah, they're in there, they're in the headlines.
Speaker 1: And then you get to something like Colossians, chapter four, and it feels almost like the classifies, like you just get this list of names and some names are like vaguely familiar, like I think I've heard that before somewhere.
Speaker 1: I couldn't put my finger on it if you ask me, but I know he's in there, like, but they're there, they're in the Bible, they're in the scripture, they're there.
Speaker 1: And that brings me to a quick little sidebar.
Speaker 1: This morning, like you all know, when we read the Bible, the Holy Spirit inspired these words.
Speaker 1: Peter says that no prophecy of scripture was produced by humans own will, but men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit wrote down the words of God.
Speaker 1: Paul says to Timothy, second Timothy, that this scripture that we have in front of us is breathed out by God.
Speaker 1: It's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness, so that the man or woman of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.
Speaker 1: This is not just human words and ideas.
Speaker 1: These are God's words and God's ideas.
Speaker 1: It's why when we come to the Bible and we read the Bible, it's like the Bible reads us and we're convicted and we're encouraged and something happens and we begin to change.
Speaker 1: It's the power of the word of God and I love that.
Speaker 1: That's the internal testimony of the Bible.
Speaker 1: Like the Bible, the scripture tells us that this is from God for us.
Speaker 1: There's a place in 2 Peter where Peter is talking about Paul's letters and he says there are some things in Paul's letters this is 2 Peter 3, there are some things in Paul's letters that are hard to understand.
Speaker 1: So if you've ever come to the scripture and been like I'm not sure what this means, you're in good company.
Speaker 1: Even Peter said Paul was confusing.
Speaker 1: I love that Peter's like.
Speaker 1: It's just complicated.
Speaker 1: Paul is a complicated guy, it's confusing.
Speaker 1: And Peter goes on.
Speaker 1: He says people take Paul's words the unstable, and that the unstable people who don't love God don't know God.
Speaker 1: They take Paul's words and they twist them so that people are led astray.
Speaker 1: And then Peter says this, as they do the other scriptures.
Speaker 1: So I bring that up to say Peter in the first century saw the writings of Paul as the authoritative word of God and that matters.
Speaker 1: That's significant because when we come to something like Colossians, chapter four, verses seven through 18, when you get this list of names that aren't headline names these are like classified ad names we know beyond the shadow of a doubt if it is in this book, it's there for a reason, it's inspired, breathed out by God, and if you wanna hear more about how we got to what we have here, you need to sign up for source.
Speaker 1: How to understand the Bible.
Speaker 1: Starting on August 23rd, taylor Lethco is gonna dive into all of this and it's gonna be exceptional.
Speaker 1: So I encourage you if that's interesting to you and you wanna know how he went from the first century to what we have today and how to make sense of what we have today.
Speaker 1: Source how to understand the Bible gonna be phenomenal.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, today, what we can say is simply this if it's in here, it matters to us.
Speaker 1: It's there for a reason.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit didn't just let something sneak on through that should have been cut out in the process.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: So then the question becomes okay, well, why?
Speaker 1: Why are these names in the story?
Speaker 1: And today, what I wanna do, just for a few minutes to gather, is.
Speaker 1: I just wanna tell you the stories that go along with the names in Colossians, chapter four.
Speaker 1: I wanna tell you the stories of some men and women who were called out by God and whose lives were transformed by their yes to Jesus.
Speaker 1: The first name that we come to here is Titicus and, by the way, when you're reading a list of names like this in public, just say them quickly and confidently, because nobody else knows how to pronounce them either.
Speaker 1: So just act like you do and everybody else will be like amazing Titicus.
Speaker 1: Paul is named Titicus and he says Titicus is gonna do something, he's gonna tell you about all my activities.
Speaker 1: We know that Titicus is an Asian.
Speaker 1: We know this from Acts, chapter 20.
Speaker 1: We know that Titicus was with Paul in Ephesus and he delivered Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus.
Speaker 1: We know that Titicus delivered Paul's letter to the church at Colossae.
Speaker 1: We also know that Titicus went through some stuff with Paul.
Speaker 1: He persevered with Paul through some hardship, through some difficulty.
Speaker 1: He had been with Paul on the journey and I love Paul's description of Titicus.
Speaker 1: He is a beloved brother, a faithful minister and a fellow servant in the Lord, and Titicus appears to be the kind of guy that when he walks in the room he just lights up a room.
Speaker 1: Paul says, titicus, he's coming to you for this purpose, that he will tell you how Paul and his companions are and that he may encourage your hearts.
Speaker 1: Do you have a friend that when they walk in the room you know things are about to be uplifting and encouraging Like?
Speaker 1: We all need people like that, we all know people like that.
Speaker 1: I hope we all aspire to be people like that.
Speaker 1: But Titicus just seems to be the guy that when he walks in a room, someone's getting encouraged that day.
Speaker 1: And with Titicus is a guy named Onissimus.
Speaker 1: Paul also says that he is a faithful and beloved brother.
Speaker 1: Paul says he's one of you, he's Colossian, he's a Colossian man and we know from the letter of Philemon that Onissimus was actually a slave that was freed or ran away and later freed.
Speaker 1: But Onissimus was a new believer in Christ.
Speaker 1: He was with Paul, somehow encountered Paul in Ephesus and gives his life to Jesus in Ephesus.
Speaker 1: And what I love about Onissimus is that he's the guy that he gives his life to Jesus.
Speaker 1: He encounters the grace of God and he jumps in with no hesitation.
Speaker 1: He's like, hey, if Jesus has saved me and set me free and called me out and moved me from darkness to light, and he's moved me from dead to alive.
Speaker 1: I am all in and in a short time Onissimus has gone from stranger to beloved brother and fellow servant.
Speaker 1: Faithful fellow servant.
Speaker 1: Isn't that good?
Speaker 1: And that's the power of the gospel.
Speaker 1: In a story.
Speaker 1: Paul says these two guys, they're coming together, they're gonna deliver the letter and they're gonna encourage your hearts.
Speaker 1: The third name that we have here in verse 10 is Aristarchus, and Paul says he's actually a prisoner, like Paul is.
Speaker 1: He greets you Aristarchus.
Speaker 1: We know from Acts that he's a Jewish man from Macedonia.
Speaker 1: We know that he journeyed with Paul on Paul's missionary journeys.
Speaker 1: He was with Paul at the riot in Ephesus when Paul and his companions were dragged to the center of the city and accused of turning the city into an uproar.
Speaker 1: Like Aristarchus Aristarchus, aristarchus I don't know how you say his name, neither do you.
Speaker 1: He was with Paul.
Speaker 1: That guy was right there in the middle with Paul and he wouldn't leave him To the point where now, in Colossae, he is Paul's fellow prisoner.
Speaker 1: He was with Paul when Paul sailed to Rome in Acts 27.
Speaker 1: He was shipwrecked with Paul.
Speaker 1: He went through the storm with Paul.
Speaker 1: He was a faithful friend a faithful friend we all need friends like Aristarchus.
Speaker 1: And with him was Mark, the cousin of Barnabas.
Speaker 1: Then Paul gives some kind of cryptic instruction that we don't have access to.
Speaker 1: He says, hey, but you know, you've received instructions about what to do.
Speaker 1: If Mark comes to you, you welcome him.
Speaker 1: And I love Mark's story.
Speaker 1: Mark was a young Jewish man from Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: He journeyed with Paul on Paul's first missionary journey.
Speaker 1: But there came a moment in Paul's journey where he and his companions were moving on to a city called Antioch.
Speaker 1: They were going ahead, forging ahead with the mission, the message of Jesus, and Mark, for whatever reason, turns back and goes back home to Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: He deserts Paul, as the language that Paul uses in Acts 15.
Speaker 1: And Mark turns back and he goes back home.
Speaker 1: And so the next time, when Paul's ready to set out on his next journey, barnabas, marks cousin, says, hey, let's get my cousin Mark, like he'll come with us, he'll help us on this journey.
Speaker 1: And Paul's like nope, we brought him the first time.
Speaker 1: And when it got rough and the future got uncertain, mark turned back and he went home.
Speaker 1: I don't want Mark with me on the journey.
Speaker 1: A little bit harsh by Paul.
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know, but we might've done the same thing, you know.
Speaker 1: So, hey, somebody turns their back on you and leaves you in a bind and kind of hangs you out to dry.
Speaker 1: You're on your own.
Speaker 1: It's like it's hard to trust that person again, right?
Speaker 1: And so Paul and Barnabas actually part ways, and Barnabas takes Mark and they go in one direction and Paul and Silas go another.
Speaker 1: And so Mark not only deserts Paul, but he ultimately becomes the reason that Paul and Barnabas break fellowship for a season.
Speaker 1: But here's what's fascinating about Mark that's not where his story ends.
Speaker 1: Second Timothy, chapter four.
Speaker 1: Paul knows that his time is short.
Speaker 1: He is at the end of his life and he tells Timothy my life's been poured out as a drink offering to God, like I'm at the end of my time here.
Speaker 1: He says Luke alone is with me.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about Luke in a moment.
Speaker 1: He says but, timothy, I want you to send Mark to me because he's been faithful and useful in the ministry.
Speaker 1: Guys, that's a beautiful picture of God's grace and reconciliation at work.
Speaker 1: Acts, chapter 15, paul's like Mark is not coming anywhere with me, he's abandoned me, he's deserted me.
Speaker 1: But at some point in time Mark made the decision that his failure was not going to define his future, that he was gonna trust the grace of God and he was going to say yes again to Jesus and get back in the game.
Speaker 1: And by the end of Paul's life, paul says Mark, that guy, he's been faithful and he's been useful in the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: There's failure in your story today.
Speaker 1: That is not the end of the journey.
Speaker 1: Say yes to Jesus, get back up and keep on pressing on.
Speaker 1: And then verse 11, I love this guy too, jesus, who's called justice, as you would be called too if your name was Jesus in the first century.
Speaker 1: What do we know about Jesus called justice?
Speaker 1: We know that he was called Jesus and he changed his name to justice.
Speaker 1: That's all we know about Jesus.
Speaker 1: And he changed his name to justice and he changed his name to justice and he changed his name to justice and he changed his name to justice.
Speaker 1: That's all we know about Jesus called justice, except for Paul says he's Jewish and he's been a comfort to me.
Speaker 1: And I wanna say today about Jesus called justice that there are no small roles in the kingdom and the story of God, whether you're leading worship from the front of the room or running a computer at the back of the room, or watching kids in the nursery, or living out your faith in your office through the week, or raising your family or taking care of parents, or whether you're single and called to the mission, to feel like it doesn't matter what your role is in the kingdom story of God.
Speaker 1: There is no such thing as a small role in the kingdom of God, I wonder.
Speaker 1: Part of me, wonders like did Jesus call justice?
Speaker 1: Read Colossians and be like, oh, I didn't think my name was gonna get in the story Because I'm not like Mark, I haven't been that kind of guy.
Speaker 1: I'm not like Aristarchus, I'm not like Titicus, I'm not like Apaphis, I'm not like Luke.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to be helpful to Paul behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: I love that in the economy of God, the kingdom of God, he sees and knows everything that we do, which on one hand it's a little bit disconcerting at times.
Speaker 1: Is it not To know that he knows every thought, every motive of the heart?
Speaker 1: But it's another thing to understand that the stuff that nobody else sees and celebrates, the faithfulness in the dark that nobody else notices, god sees and God notices.
Speaker 1: And Jesus called justice gets his name in Colossians, chapter four, for what maybe many people would have seen as behind the scenes work, the dirty work that nobody else wanted to do, paul says no, he's been.
Speaker 1: He's been a comfort to me.
Speaker 1: The next name in verse 12 is Apaphrys.
Speaker 1: Apaphrys is a Colossian man.
Speaker 1: If you remember, back to earlier in this series, we learned that Apaphrys is actually the guy who came to faith in Christ in Ephesus, went back home to his city, began to live the gospel and share the gospel and actually helped to form and raise up the church at Colossae.
Speaker 1: That Paul's writing to Apaphrys is a phenomenal picture of someone whose life is transformed by the gospel and he just can't stop talking about it.
Speaker 1: He goes back to his home, back to his job, back to his city and the city's transformed because an ordinary man had an encounter with an extraordinary Jesus and he just began to talk about who Jesus is and what Jesus had done.
Speaker 1: And the next thing, you know, a church brings up in Colossae.
Speaker 1: And then Apaphrys apparently travels on to Laodicea and to Heropilus and he does the same thing there and this ordinary man who had an encounter with Jesus starts three different churches in three different cities that grow and that flourish to the glory of God because he was faithful to tell the story of what Jesus had done in his life.
Speaker 1: And Paul says Apaphrys struggles on behalf of those churches in his prayers, and I'm grateful that phrase is in there.
Speaker 1: Y'all, you ever feel like prayer's hard?
Speaker 1: Yeah, like, I'll be honest, like for me, prayer is difficult.
Speaker 1: I'll be praying.
Speaker 1: Next thing I know I wake up, it's the next morning.
Speaker 1: I'll be praying.
Speaker 1: But what was I praying about?
Speaker 1: Like I'm thinking about ice cream or dinner or breakfast in the morning, or like you know, it's like you're driving down the road and you're praying and the next thing you know, it's like I've driven two miles and I literally Terrell say what are you thinking about?
Speaker 1: And I say nothing.
Speaker 1: And, it is true, there is not a single thought in my head.
Speaker 1: And that happens sometimes when I try to pray.
Speaker 1: And so I'm so grateful that Paul says Apaphrys struggles on people's behalf in his prayers.
Speaker 1: See, here's the thing, y'all.
Speaker 1: For followers of Jesus, prayer is natural, but it's not easy.
Speaker 1: It's natural Like, yeah, we're connected to God, and that's amazing, and His Spirit is within us and we know that Jesus is interceding on our behalf and the Holy Spirit's praying for us.
Speaker 1: But for us to pray.
Speaker 1: It's natural because we're connected to God, but it is not easy because when we pray we are engaging in a battle against the powers of darkness.
Speaker 1: And Paul says in the path for us his prayers are for people to be built up in their faith.
Speaker 1: They're for people to move from death to life.
Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, he is working hard on your behalf in your prayers that you would stand mature and fully assured in all the Like he's praying big prayers and big prayers push back the darkness with the power of the gospel.
Speaker 1: So, y'all, when we pray, we should be ready for our prayers to cost us something.
Speaker 1: Natural, yes, absolutely Easy.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 1: Are we struggling in prayer for people who are far from God, for people to be maturing in their faith?
Speaker 1: Are we struggling in our prayers, begging God to work, desperate for God to show up and for God to move?
Speaker 1: Y'all, even as I say that, I'm convicted there's stories about Billy Graham, before he went out to speak, people be looking for him, but hey, he's got like five minutes to get on stage and they'd find him face down in his study, praying, desperate for God to move.
Speaker 1: May our community, our church, be marked by that holy desperation, that sense of God.
Speaker 1: If you don't show up, we are wasting our time.
Speaker 1: God, if you don't move, we might make each other feel better for a moment.
Speaker 1: We might be able to, like you know, smile and encourage and wave and shake a hand, hug a neck.
Speaker 1: But if God doesn't move, nobody moves from death to life.
Speaker 1: If God doesn't move, families aren't transformed.
Speaker 1: If God doesn't move, things don't change.
Speaker 1: We'd be desperate in our prayers because we want to see people built up in their faith, lives, hearts transformed by the power of the gospel.
Speaker 1: Verse 14, paul says Luke the beloved doctor, he greets you.
Speaker 1: Luke is probably the only Gentile author of Scripture.
Speaker 1: He's the only non-Jewish person that wrote a book in the Bible.
Speaker 1: He wrote Luke and Acts and we know that Luke journeyed with Paul.
Speaker 1: Luke figured out a way to leverage his calling, leverage his gifting as a doctor for the glory of God.
Speaker 1: He was detailed, he took great notes.
Speaker 1: He became Luke and Acts.
Speaker 1: He was a physician, a doctor.
Speaker 1: He cared for Paul along the journey.
Speaker 1: I think you can make the case that without Luke's investment in Paul's life, paul might have died multiple times, because Paul went through some stuff and when he did, I guess he was there to fix him up.
Speaker 1: It was Luke.
Speaker 1: Paul says not only Luke, demus also greets you.
Speaker 1: Demus is another interesting story.
Speaker 1: He shows up here in Colossians, he shows up in Philemon and he's called there a fellow worker in the gospel.
Speaker 1: But then he also shows up in 2 Timothy, chapter 4.
Speaker 1: And Paul says you know, luke's with me at the end of my life, luke's with me.
Speaker 1: I want you to send John Mark to me.
Speaker 1: Paul says.
Speaker 1: But in 2 Timothy 4, demus has deserted me.
Speaker 1: He's gone after the things of the world and he's gone back to Thessalonica.
Speaker 1: I think the language Paul uses.
Speaker 1: He says that the love of the world is too much in him.
Speaker 1: And Demus, I think, is in this list as a warning to us today that, hey, there's a call on your life to follow Jesus, but there's also going to be a very real pull back to the old self, back to the things of the world, back to the stuff everybody else chases for comfort, the stuff everybody else puts at the forefront of their life and their pursuit.
Speaker 1: Paul says we want to be like Demus.
Speaker 1: I think it's what Paul would tell us today.
Speaker 1: Let's make sure our hearts are in line with God's heart, that our affection is fixed on Jesus.
Speaker 1: That love for God is squeezing the love of the world out of us.
Speaker 1: And Paul says give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, to Nympha, to the church in her house.
Speaker 1: I love that Nympha's in the list.
Speaker 1: She's a lady that's opened up her home so that a church can meet and grow.
Speaker 1: I just want to say today that the church throughout history has flourished because of the investment of women like Nympha, who are courageous in the face of great obstacles.
Speaker 1: And I think about even in today's world.
Speaker 1: There are areas in the Middle East where, by all metrics and accounts, revival is happening.
Speaker 1: And in large part it's happening because of faithful women who have come to faith in Jesus and who, even at risk of death, are rising up and leading the charge towards Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: And, ladies, can I just say to you today you've got a role in the kingdom of God, you've got a place, you've got a plan, a purpose.
Speaker 1: God's called you, god's equipped you, you've got a mission in front of you.
Speaker 1: You're no second hand, second class citizens in the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1: Verse 17, paul names a guy named Archipus, probably the son of Philemon, maybe pastoring the church in Philemon's house.
Speaker 1: He's in ministry, but it appears that Archipus is a little bit discouraged because Paul says hey, archipus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you've received in the Lord.
Speaker 1: And aren't you grateful that we serve the God of encouragement who, when we get discouraged because anybody ever get discouraged?
Speaker 1: Every now and then you look at the headlines, you look at the classifieds, you look at the world and it's like this is not good, a lot of bad.
Speaker 1: I think Paul's words to Archipus are relevant for us.
Speaker 1: See that you fulfill the ministry that you've received from God.
Speaker 1: See that you fulfill the calling that's on your life.
Speaker 1: Be encouraged, god is with you, god is for you.
Speaker 1: His spirit is alive in you by grace, through faith.
Speaker 1: If you're a follower of Jesus, you've been moved from death to life.
Speaker 1: God will see you through.
Speaker 1: Fulfill the ministry.
Speaker 1: And then Paul says this I write this greeting in my own hand.
Speaker 1: Remember my chains.
Speaker 1: Grace be with you.
Speaker 1: You flash back to Colossians, chapter one.
Speaker 1: Paul opens his introduction by saying to the church grace be with you.
Speaker 1: And he closes his letter the same way Grace be with you.
Speaker 1: You see the journey of following Jesus.
Speaker 1: It starts and it ends with grace.
Speaker 1: Every step along the way, god's grace sustains us.
Speaker 1: Colossians, chapter four.
Speaker 1: It just reminds me that God sees your story, god knows your name.
Speaker 1: So maybe you're here in this room this morning and you're like I don't know that my story can fit with God's story, I don't know that my past can be redeemed, I don't know that God could use me.
Speaker 1: These are ordinary people who said yes to Jesus and whose name was added to the list of people throughout history who God has used for his glory.
Speaker 1: And what's amazing, y'all, is that at one point in time or another, every single person whose story we talked about today, they were outside of the plans and the purposes of God, they didn't know Jesus as savior, they didn't have a relationship with God and at some point in time, god broke in on their life and they said yes to Jesus and they encountered a faithful God and they were sustained by a faithful God through it all.
Speaker 1: And so today, that's the invitation on the table for us.
Speaker 1: Do you know Jesus?
Speaker 1: If you said yes to Jesus as Lord and as savior?
Speaker 1: Because when you do, your name gets added to a list.
Speaker 1: God writes your story into his story and he weaves your life into the life of Jesus so that in the earth, your life can be used by God for the glory of God.
Speaker 1: So if you don't know Jesus as your Lord and savior, today is your moment.
Speaker 1: Today's your day.
Speaker 1: If you do know Jesus, if you have been a follower of Christ or you are a follower of Christ, here's what I also know that for every single one of us in the room there's a next step of faith.
Speaker 1: There's another yes in front of us, and so what I want to do as we close today is I'm going to go through some yeses that might be in front of us this morning.
Speaker 1: It's a little strange way to close.
Speaker 1: We're going to try it together today.
Speaker 1: If today, as we go through this list of next steps of yeses to Jesus, if one of these resonates with you, I want you to stay into your feet, right where you are.
Speaker 1: That's my next step.
Speaker 1: That's my response to the story of God intersecting with my story.
Speaker 1: That's my next yes to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're a follower of Christ, but your next yes is baptism.
Speaker 1: You've never taken that step of faith and publicly declared Jesus.
Speaker 1: As Lord said to the church hey, I want to follow Jesus for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: Maybe your next yes is baptism.
Speaker 1: Maybe your next jest is to be intentional about the discipleship process.
Speaker 1: And you say you know what I Right now I'm kind of walking through life alone.
Speaker 1: I'm following Jesus, but I don't have a group.
Speaker 1: I need to be part of a group.
Speaker 1: My next step is to join a community, to come around some people who will pray for me and encourage me and speak the truth Of the scriptures into me.
Speaker 1: I need to join.
Speaker 1: Maybe your next step is to begin to serve in some capacity.
Speaker 1: You know God's giving you a gift and he wants to use it for his glory.
Speaker 1: And you say my next step is I need to step up and serve in some area.
Speaker 1: Maybe your next step is forgiveness.
Speaker 1: You need to forgive someone in your life.
Speaker 1: You're hanging on to some bitterness, you're holding on to something from the past and the next step is To let that go and to forgive.
Speaker 1: Maybe your next step is To be intentional in your marriage.
Speaker 1: Say, hey, I maybe haven't loved my husband or loved my wife the way that God is encouraging me to have a Grounded my family in the scriptures, but I want to be intentional in my marriage, maybe it's.
Speaker 1: I want to be intentional in my family.
Speaker 1: I want to raise my kids and pray with my kids and encourage my kids and be the kind of father or mother that God is calling me to be.
Speaker 1: Maybe.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's to pursue a relationship with a mentor or to be a mentor to someone else.
Speaker 1: Say, hey, I need help along the journey, or I know there's someone in my life that I can encourage on the journey.
Speaker 1: That's my next yes.
Speaker 1: Maybe the next yes is to share the gospel with someone you see every single day.
Speaker 1: You know they don't know Jesus and they know that you know Jesus before whatever reason.
Speaker 1: Those two things have an intersect and you're like I need to tell them about what's changed my life.
Speaker 1: Maybe the next yes is Simply a personal time with Jesus.
Speaker 1: That needs to be moved up the list of priorities.
Speaker 1: That's daily.
Speaker 1: To do this, you're like I need to seek the face of God and the pages of God's work.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's an area in your life where you know you're a follower of Christ, but there's a stronghold.
Speaker 1: There's an area of sin or temptation.
Speaker 1: It's like you just keep circling back and then you know there's a call of God on your life, but you know the world is real and your next step is to say I'm gonna cut that off.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna replace a lesser desire with something better.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna confess that to someone in my life so there can be some healing and there can be growth.
Speaker 1: Amazing, there's a yes in front of every single one of us.
Speaker 1: Maybe your next yes is God's redefining what it looks like to follow him in your life, in your career, and maybe that yes is like I'm not a hundred percent sure what this yes looks like yet, but I know God's doing something and I just want to be open-handed on board for whatever that is.
Speaker 1: So, father, my prayer this morning, god, is that by the power of your grace, we would be in church full of people who simply say yes to you.
Speaker 1: You simply see our lives not as our own father but as the gift of your grace.
Speaker 1: Who simply see our names not as something to build ups that people see us.
Speaker 1: But, father, may we see our stories as belonging to you.
Speaker 1: His father, when we surrender and we give you our lives and we surrender our, our pride, and we surrender our sin, we surrender to your grace, father.
Speaker 1: You weave our lives together with the life of Christ and you use us in ways beyond anything that we could imagine.
Speaker 1: Father, what we find is that you're faithful and you're good.
Speaker 1: Father, you're exactly who you say you are.
Speaker 1: You're worthy.
Speaker 1: So, father, may our lives be found in you.
Speaker 1: May our names be written in your story, jesus name.
Speaker 1: Everybody says amen.
Speaker 1: Let's stand through our feet.
Speaker 1: We're gonna sing in response this morning as we say you need to pray.
Speaker 1: Pray where you are.
Speaker 1: You can pray at the front, you can grab somebody and pray with somebody if you want to join the church or give your life to Jesus.
Speaker 1: This is a moment for you to respond as we worship Jesus together.