Good morning. Would you all stand with us, please? I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this morning and those of you who are joining us online. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity, Lord, to worship in song this morning and to study your word. As we corporately together sing as unto you and study your word, be glorified, Lord.

Strengthen us, Lord. May people recognize that we've spent time with you, Lord. May we make a difference wherever you are, wherever we are in concerning the things of you. Oh, we praise you, Lord Jesus.

I think I said ask you to stand, but if I didn't, please do. You know, these mornings sometimes we've got to get our heads on straight, clear and all this and, you know. But isn't it neat that God's in control and in spite of us, he does his work. Amen? God's good. All the time. All the time, God is good. Yes.

You may be seated. We're on topside. This earth, you're not finished with us yet. Whatever it may be for us, you're not finished. And we thank you for that, Lord. Give us the strength to keep just walking with you, Lord, and serving you, trusting you. We give you praise, Lord, for what you've done for us, Lord. The way you love us.

Forsake us again. Sing that again.

Forsake us. Fullness to you, God, who forgives our sins. As we fail. On topside this earth, Lord, you're faithful and just when we sin. If we confess, agree with you, you're faithful and just to cleanse us from all our sin. We thank you, Lord. We give you praise for that. You are everything, Lord, without you we're nothing. Oh, I wouldn't want to face this world without you, Lord Jesus, our precious Lord.

We thank you, Jesus. We love you this morning. It is so. It is so. We thank you for that assurance, that word hope we know in the Scripture speaks of assurance. It's not, oh, man, I hope it's going to rain, maybe it will, maybe it won't. Those old weather folks, they're just predicting. But, oh, God, the hope we have in you is the assurance, Lord. And the things you allow us to go through, the tribulation, the little trials, the things,

that's that which is building endurance, which builds character in our life, that experiential knowledge of knowing you, which then encourages us in the hope and the assurance we have in you. And we thank you for that, Lord Jesus. We thank you for that. The saints adore and follow Jesus. Heaven and unconfessed you, Lord Jesus, as Lord God. We praise you, Lord.

The universe, the creator of the cross for us, and Father God sending him, your son, to die on that cross for us. And then he raised from the dead. He was seen by all of those some 500, I don't know, bunches of them. We'll look there in 1 Corinthians 15. It talks about that. And those 40 days before he ascended up in glory at the right hand of the Father, he was seen by those folks.

And now he's up there at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. He's, well, he's actually ascending. Well, he's actually sitting because the work is done, you see. Problems of sin as we do. Satan wants to accuse and condemn us. We have that advocate up there with the Father, Jesus Christ. Amen? Amen. Oh, and we're so thankful. Oh, that we just would remember to just that we are his.

We can abide him. Would you all stand? A little stretch before you sit again. Yeah? Yes, sir. Thank you, Lord Jesus. And we do know, Lord, that as you bring us through these lives, as we're allowed to go through different things, those are tools that are used to teach us to abide. We thank you for that, Lord. And again, Lord, may people see that we spend time with you,

whether they're being negative about it or positive. May they see we spend time with Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. We ask for your blessing when Pastor Ryan comes up and teaches your word, that you're anointed by the power of your Holy Spirit. And we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Let's have some fellowship. Good morning. If you could begin the process of locating your seats.

Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of in your bulletin. As always, the things on the left-hand side of the bulletin that go on throughout the week. Over in the middle section, the only few things we're going to talk about today are the things

that we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about the Bible. We're going to talk about the Bible. We're going to talk about the Bible. We're going to talk about the Bible. We're going to talk about the Bible. And then also, since September starts next Sunday, a reminder that the new Our Daily Breads. Okay. are uh are out in the lobby so take note of that and then one thing that is not in your bulletin

is that there is a movie uh that is showing at the cali cinema 8 how long is it staying going at cali cinema 8 okay okay it's it's called the forge it's put out by the same guys that did like the the war room and a couple movies like that uh kendrick brothers uh is who it is and we weren't even sure if it was going to be at cali cinema 8 but they did bring it and so i think it would be great if we could get as many people to go uh see that movie as possible over these next few days um full disclosure i've only watched the trailer i haven't seen the movie yet but it does look fantastic so there's a poster hanging up in the uh in the lobby there that's a little advertisement for it so go check that out and i'm sure the people at cali cinema 8 are

loving that i am telling you to go spend money at their place uh those are the things that are going on if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our responsive reading this morning we are going to be in psalm 85 psalm 85 as always looking at the new american standard so that we sound the same if you need a copy there should be one around you and as you're turning to psalm 85 if you are able please stand in the honor of the reading of god's word i will read the odd verses if you will follow along with pastor allen and the even verses psalm 85 for the choir director a psalm of the sons of korah oh lord you showed favor to your land

you restored the captivity of jacob you forgave the iniquity of your people you covered all their sin say la you withdrew all your fury you turned away from your burning anger restore us oh god of our salvation and cause your indignation toward us to cease will you be angry with us for the forgiveness of the TEfilled desert whoever offers acceptable purgatory will that show salt fully равств father to the earth forever forever will you prolong your anger to all generations will you not yourself revive us again that your people may rejoice in you show us your loving kindness o lord and grant us your salvation i will hear what god the lord will say for he will speak peace to his people to his godly ones but then let him turn back to folly surely his

salvation is near to those who fear him That glory may dwell on one another forever and whenever we hear his voice hear his voice for the good, in our land loving kindness and truth have met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other truth springs from the earth and righteousness looks down from heaven indeed the lord will give what is good and our land will yield its produce and read verse 13 with me righteousness will go before him and will make his footsteps into a way and father we do call out to you just like the psalmist does here restore us oh god father i lift up our nation as it seems like we have gone through a time of of uh seeing your hand removed from us because of the things that we

have done your hand of blessing and so lord we ask for that restoration again lord we ask for your spirit to move throughout this city throughout our state and throughout our nation and lord we lift up jerusalem and pray for the peace of jerusalem and we lift up those that are fighting in israel right now and just pray that you would move in the way that only you can lord defend your people and make your name known so father we thank you and we praise you in jesus name amen you may be seated and if you would open up in your bibles to the book of colossians chapter 4 colossians chapter 4 today we will wrap up our study in the book of colossians as a matter of fact i have entitled

this simply in conclusion but i've added a subtitle to it a little help from my friends because what paul is going to do in this last section of uh of the book of colossians is he is both going to give some endorsements of those that are carrying the letter and greetings from all of the friends that he has with him all of the spiritual brothers that he has with him and so it's kind of an interesting thing because it really puts flesh and bone on on a letter that was sent it reminds us that paul was not just some standalone individual that what he did he did with the help of the brothers and sisters that were around him because he was not just a lone wolf christian or an island christian he was a man who was supported by the body of christ and by the

body of believers that were around him and so i want to give a quick recap of the book of of colossians just as a reminder we've learned so much i feel like in this book i i really enjoy the book of colossians because of everything that's in it but you know we started off by talking about the incomparable christ because the issue that they were having is that false doctrine was bringing other teachings in that were diminishing who jesus is as the very deity himself as as god who is creator of the heavens and the earth and so paul in that first chapter took us through and taught us about the incomparable christ and then he warned us he said don't be deceived don't be deceived by the philosophies of the world by the legalism of

the world by the wisdom of the world don't be deceived by those things instead what we are to do is we are to seek the things that are above and he spent a lot of time telling us to seek those things that are above to uh to to seek what god has for us and then he taught us about godly relationships about godly relationships in the home with marriage godly relationships in the home with our children and godly relations relationships in the workplace between employers and employees and then he gave us that final set of instructions that we talked about last week and now as we come to this final section he will give us these endorsements and greetings from his friends and so we pick up

in verse 7 of chapter 4 and this is what it says as to all my affairs taichicus our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond servant in the lord will bring you information for i have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts and with him onesimus our faithful and beloved brother who was one of your number they will inform you about the whole situation here aristarchus my fellow prisoner sends you his greetings and also barnabas's cousin mark about whom you received instructions if he comes to you welcome him and also jesus who is called justice these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom

of god who are from the circumcision of the holy spirit and who are the only fellow workers for the circumcision and they have proved to be an encouragement to me epaphras who is one of your number a bond slave of jesus christ sends you his greetings always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers that you may stand perfect and fully assured in the will of god for i testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in laodicea and hierapolis luke the beloved physician sends you his greetings and also demas greet the brethren who are in laodicea and also nympha in the church that is in her house when this letter is read among you have it also read in the church of the laodiceans and

you for your part read my letter that is coming from laodicea say to archippus take heed to the ministry which you have received in the lord that you may fulfill it i paul write this greeting with my own hand remember my imprisonment grace be with you it's really just a long list of names and if we're not careful in our reading of god's word that's exactly how we view that as a long list of names that really don't seem to have a whole lot of interest to them but when you start to look at who each of these names are you actually find stories of grace you find stories of restoration you find stories of god's work knowing that these letters that were written to us were not written to nameless faceless people they were written to

real people in real time they were written to people who were not written to nameless faceless people real situations who got to know a very real jesus who really changed their lives and so he starts off by saying this he starts off by telling us about the first brother ty chicas he says all my affairs ty chicas our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bond servant in the lord will bring uh will bring you information for i have sent him for this very purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your heart the that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your heart ty chicas and i've heard it so you decide which one sounds best to you

it felt the most normal for ty chicas to be what comes out of my mouth but but this guy was a companion of paul and he was a messenger for paul as a matter of fact he's going to carry not only this letter but he'll carry the letter to the ephesians and he is one who seemed to just kind of always be with paul he was with him in a lot of ways and he was a messanger for paul and he was of different situations, and he was one that Paul really trusted to carry letters with him. Now, this fellow is going to carry a letter for Paul, not only this one, the letter to the Colossians, but also the letter to the Ephesians at the exact same time, and he's going to carry them a very

long way. He's going to carry them all the way from Rome, where Paul is imprisoned, to the cities of Colossae and Ephesus, almost 1,300 miles. Now, we don't always think about how far he would have carried those letters, but that's a pretty serious job that was given to him, to carry with him these letters that would, at some point in time, be put into the canon of Scripture that we would consider sacred Scripture, because they are directly from the mouth of God, through the pen of Paul, given not only to the local church, but also to us. And so, this fellow is an important individual. As a matter of fact, he was so important to Paul that Paul used three things

to describe him. Did you pay attention to those? First of all, he is a beloved brother. He's a beloved brother. And I think that there's something really tender-hearted about the way that Paul speaks of Tychicus here, that he speaks of him as an individual who's not just a messenger, he's not just a guy that he works with, he's not just a guy that he goes to church with,

he is a beloved brother. And can I say in the body of Christ, that ultimately is kind of what we're supposed to become with each other. We are supposed to become beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, because we have a deeper body of Christ, and we have a deeper body of Christ, than most other people have. We have a deeper bond than even family has, because while family is bound by physical blood, you and I are bound by the blood of Jesus Christ. And we share in common

the fact that we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. And because of that, we have a bond that goes deeper. And because the love of God is shed abroad in our heart, we end up becoming beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. This fellow meant a lot to Paul. He wasn't just a guy that was going to kill him. He was a guy that was going to kill him. He was a

guy that was going to carry a letter. He was his beloved brother. But the second thing that he refers to him as is a faithful servant, a faithful servant, one who is trustworthy. And I appreciate that because again, he's going to have to carry these letters a really long way. And you would think at some point in time, he might kind of go, gosh, this, this is pretty far. I mean,

this is a whole lot of work to go to, to simply deliver a couple of pieces of parchment, right? Just to put a little bit of perspective on it this morning, I looked up a couple of different distances and, and from where we are right now to San Diego, California is 1127 miles. So imagine if you will, going a little further South of San Diego, California, that's how far you have to carry that letter. Only you don't have a car. You may not even have

a donkey to ride. You may be walking most of the journey, not to mention that you have to cross at least one body of water to get there. And so this is an intense trip that he's going to have to take. And so in order for him to do this, he's going to have to be a faithful servant. But he had proved himself to be faithful. One of my favorite little kids books, and I do enjoy a

little kids book because it puts things on a, on a level that I can understand. One of my favorite little kids book is called Horton hatches the egg. Anybody ever read Horton hatches the egg? Most people know Horton for his greater work Horton. Here's who, uh, but, but my favorite one is Horton hatches the egg. And I remember reading this to my oldest daughter when she was

just a tiny baby. And as I'm reading it, I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is exactly what we're supposed to write. Right now, Dr. Seuss was a little crazy in some of his political ideas. He was, he was pretty far left in most things, but this one, he got right. If you've never read Horton hatches the egg, this is kind of the story. Horton has a friend who's a dodo bird that has an egg that needs to

be hatched. And she just simply can't do it anymore. She's a little stressed out and she needs to go on vacation. And so she asks Horton, can you sit on this egg until I return? And Horton is an elephant. And so Horton sits on the egg and all kinds of opportunities come up for Horton to not sit on the egg any longer. Friends come by and want him to go places. People come by and want

him to do things. The weather gets bad and starts to blow them around and all kinds of things happen. But there's one statement that's made over and over again throughout the book. I've meant what I said, and I said what I meant and elephants faithful 100%. Well, you know, that's kind of an interesting thought because that's sort of what Tychicus was right here.

You can imagine as he's carrying this letter, he might go, gosh, that's really far stopping would to do right now. Man, I'm kind of facing some enemies. It would have been a treacherous trip that he would have taken. And at any point in time, he could have decided this just isn't worth it and he would stop, but he wouldn't do that. You know why? Because he meant what he said

and he said what he meant. And he's a faithful servant, 100%. What a beautiful thing to have said about you. I hope that one day someone is able to say about me, I'm going to send Ryan to you with a little bit of a message and you can trust him because I consider him not only a beloved brother, but also a faithful servant. The third thing that he's referred to as is his fellow bond servant. In other words,

he's not just a beloved brother. He's not just a faithful servant. He's somebody that I've worked alongside. And there's just something about working alongside somebody through thick and thin that lets you know, you can trust them. You can trust them to get the job done. And quite frankly, you've seen it all together. So this fella Tychicus is going to bring the

letter. He said, he's going to tell you everything that you need to know about him. The second name that's mentioned, that's coming with Tychicus with this letter, it says in verse nine and with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of your number. They will inform you about the whole situation here. Now this Onesimus again, is kind of an

interesting character. If we were to go to the right, just a little bit, we would come across a little book called Philemon. Philemon is just one page, one chapter, but Philemon is written to a member of the church. He's a member of the church. He's a member of the church. He's a member of the of the Colossian church named Philemon. Philemon had a slave whose name was Onesimus. And Onesimus,

as an unborn again slave, ran from Philemon. And when he ran from Philemon, he found himself in Rome. And as he found himself in Rome, just by happenstance, which we all know is God's divine providence, just by happenstance, he ends up coming across Paul. And Paul leads Onesimus to the Lord. As a matter of fact, Paul says, I have led him to the Lord. I have led him to the Lord.

And he says, he was at one point in time your slave, but now he's your brother. Well, as Onesimus receives the Lord, Paul tells him, you need to go back to Philemon, and you need to make things right with him. And so as he sends Tychicus with the letters to both Ephesus and Colossae, he sends Onesimus with a letter to the guy named Philemon, where he tells him some very interesting things. As a matter of fact, turn over to Philemon real quick, because I want you to notice what he says. It's right after Titus, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon. Look down at

verse 10, in this little book of Philemon. It says, I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, who formerly, listen, was your son, and I have begotten him. I have begotten him, and I have begotten him. He was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf

he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel. But without your consent, I didn't want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be in effect by compulsion or out of free will. For perhaps he was, for this reason, separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever. Pay attention to verse 16. No longer is a slave, but more than a slave, as a beloved

brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. You see, this slave had run away from Philemon. He didn't want to be in bondage any longer, and so he ran away. And when he ran away, he thought he would find freedom from slavery, but what he really found was freedom from the slavery to sin. And he realized that it was his

job now to go back, not as a slave, but as a brother. And I want you to notice how Paul addresses Onesimus when he gives his endorsement of him. And with him I am sending Onesimus. Notice what he refers to him as, a faithful and beloved brother. Now that seems really odd, because Onesimus was a runaway slave, which would seem like anything but faithful. But because of the

work of Jesus Christ in his life, he who at one point in time ran from his responsibility is now considered a faithful. brother. But not only that, he does not refer to Onesimus as a slave any longer. What does he refer to him as? A brother and one of your own number. In other words, you need to look at this guy a little bit differently. What you do with your working

relationship, that's one thing. But what you need to realize in Christ is that he's your brother, and he's just simply a member of the church of Colossae. You see, this is what the gospel does. The gospel takes us from being flaky, runaway, run from responsibility individuals, and turns us into people who are faithful and can be trusted. It changes us from those who are slaves, and it

makes us into those who are free. It changes us from those who are at one point in time considered the off-scouring of society, and now considered brothers with anyone who is of the faith. And that's what the gospel was able to do. And you can only imagine what it was like when Onesimus arrives. Now, remember, this letter would have been read out loud to the entire church. And Onesimus is

standing there, and you can imagine the scene, right? Philemon's standing there, and all he sees is Tychicus. He's a beloved brother, and the whole letter's been read. And remember, what was one of the sections about relationships that we learned that we are to forgive one another? And this letter's being read, and you can imagine Philemon having maybe a little bit of a hard heart. A couple

of things have gotten to him, maybe even especially about forgiveness. But as he has this hard heart, he goes, he goes through this thing, and it says, And Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother. And you can imagine Onesimus sort of going, this is from Paul. He wanted you to have this. And everything changes. Why? Because the gospel changes people. That's what it's able to do. Sometimes I think we've got to quit trying to

defend the gospel and just start unleashing the gospel. Sometimes I think we've got to quit worrying about whether or not we can answer all the questions. And I think we've got to quit worrying about whether or not we can answer all the questions. And just start giving them all of the answers. Because all of the answers are found in Jesus. Because the gospel is able to set people

free, and the gospel is able to restore relationships. And that's exactly what we see happen in this beautiful section about Onesimus, who is our faithful and beloved brother. The next one that we come to is Aristarchus. Notice how he refers to Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, and he sends you his greeting. As a matter of fact, Aristarchus was always Paul's fellow prisoner.

In Acts chapter 19, Aristarchus was the one that when Paul escaped from being beaten by a lot of guys, Aristarchus was the guy that they took and they beat for him. In Acts chapter 20, he continued on with Paul and ended up being in prison with Paul in Rome. Aristarchus just kind of always seemed to be there, right? He just kind of looked at Paul and was like, I'm your huckleberry, right?

I'll be there for you. I'm down for whatever you've got. And so Aristarchus was just kind of always there. And man, what a beautiful thing to know that if you're about to go into battle, you've got a guy like Aristarchus right beside you, who no matter what happens, dude's going to be there. He's not running. He's not going to abandon you. He's just going to be there. He's going to stand there and take

whatever you're going to take, and he's going to be 100% on your side. You see, I believe that Paul would not be the man that he was. I believe that Paul would not have been the witness that he was. I believe that Paul would not have been the, the force for the gospel that he was if it weren't for guys like Aristarchus. You see, you don't always read their names and everything. It pops up a few times. As a matter of fact,

he'll come up in Ephesus as he was a Thessalonican. And so he pops up quite a bit, but every time Paul was in trouble, he was there. And I still just don't think Paul would be the man that he was if it weren't for an Aristarchus. What about you? Are you willing to stand alongside somebody, even if it might mean a lot? A little bit of difficulty? Are you willing to stand alongside somebody, even if it might cause

a little bit of trouble? Because brothers and sisters, as we stand firm for the gospel, we have to stand firm together. Remember how Paul in this letter talked about the fact that we have to be linked together like those Roman shields were? That's the way that we have to be. And that's who Aristarchus was for Paul. He says, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his

greeting. The next person that we come across is Mark. Notice what it says. And also, Barnabas's cousin, Mark, about whom you received instructions. If he comes to you, welcome him. Mark has quite the story. This is the same Mark that wrote the gospel of Mark. And this is the same Mark that first embarked upon a missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas. And by the way, this is the one place

where we know that Mark is the one who first embarked upon a missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas. Mark also referred to as John Mark, if you're reading the book of Acts, the place where we know that he was related to Barnabas, which explains why Barnabas had such a soft place in his heart for Mark. But the story is like this. It was Paul and Barnabas's first missionary journey.

God had called them. As a matter of fact, they had been praying and fasting there in the city of Antioch. And as they were praying and fasting, God said, separate unto me Saul and Barnabas for the work that I will send them to do. And so they embarked upon a missionary journey and were given just this little tagline on that first missionary journey that says, and John Mark went with them. Well, that first missionary

journey started off kind of rough. It started off getting kicked out of places. It started off with them being beaten. It started off with Paul being kind of sick for a little while and them having to kind of slow down a little bit because of a sickness that Paul went through. And somewhere early on in that missionary journey, the difficulties began to take place. It was just too much for Mark. And he said, guys,

I can't do it anymore. I'm out. And we're given one little sentence that says, and John went home. You see, it got a little bit too hard for him and he decided I can't do this anymore. And so I'm just going to go back home where I know that I'm safe. My home church where I know nobody's going to try to beat me up. Someplace where everybody knows my name. You know, something a little bit easier. And maybe you have experienced that in your own life

too. Maybe you've embarked on doing something for the Lord. And as you embarked on doing something for the Lord, you're like, that's way harder than I thought it was going to be. I'm going to leave that to somebody else. And I'm just going to go and do what's a little bit easy. So Mark goes back home and they finish off their missionary journey and they make their report back to Jerusalem

about their missionary journey. And they come back and, and Paul looks at Barney and he says, Hey, when he say you and I, we do a little return to her. We'll go back to all the churches that we started. We'll see how they're doing. We'll encourage him. And who knows, maybe we'll start a few more along the way as well. Barnabas goes, that's great. Let me shoot Mark a text and he can

go with us. Right. And Paul goes, no, no, he's not going with us. I'll trust him once, but you burned me once game over. I'm not doing it anymore. I'm not taking him with me. And you can imagine how the situation goes. No, you don't. Paul, he's grown a lot. I've been watching him grow. I know he feels bad about what took place there. And I trust him. I'm, I'm willing to give him another chance. Remember I was willing to give

you a chance when no one else was willing to give you a chance. Well, I'm willing to give him another chance too. And Paul goes, no, this work is too important. This work is too difficult. I can't take the chance of getting strung out again because some kid doesn't want to work. Some kid doesn't want to do what needs to be done. I'm not willing to do it. And there was such a strong division between Paul and Barnabas that they had to go two different

ways, which may have been God's plan all along, but it's what took place. And so Barnabas took Mark and Paul took Silas on that second missionary journey. And it appeared as though that two of the great pillars of the early church, Paul and Barnabas were never going to be friends again. And perhaps Paul would never be able to trust somebody like Mark ever again.

Well, what we find is that time and the Lord takes care of all things. Because if you are truly seeking the Lord, if you are truly pursuing God and surrendering to him, you cannot hold on to a heart of bitterness. And if you are truly pursuing God, and if you are truly seeking him and surrender to him, you cannot continue to be lazy in your walk. You cannot continue to shun what God is calling you to do.

Because if you do, you will be living in a backslidden life and you will no longer truly seek the Lord. The two are mutually exclusive. Well, both Paul and Mark were truly continually seeking the Lord. And ultimately there was a healing that took place between Paul and Mark. And it's kind of fascinating. So Paul writes this letter from prison. And in this letter from prison,

he says, and if Mark, Barnabas, cousin comes to you about whom you've already received some instructions, receive him. You can tell the healing has taken place, but you know, God did an even greater work in the life of Paul and Mark. As a matter of fact, go over with me to the book of second Timothy, just a couple, few pages to your right. Look at chapter four. Well, I've lost the verse.

He says, make every effort to come to me soon. Oh, there it is. Verse 11 and verse 11. This is the very last letter that Paul writes again from prison, not long before his death. And I want you to know what he writes. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark, bring him with you for he's useful to me for service. Not only in Colossians does he say, Hey, if Mark comes, you should accept him. He's

a pretty good dude. I think you're really going to like him. But at the very end of his life, one of the very last pieces of, of content that we have from, from Paul, he says, and when you come, could you bring Mark with you? Man, he's become really important to me. He's become really useful to me because listen, brothers and sisters, that's what the gospel does. The gospel brings

such complete restoration in the lives of people. It does not just restore our walk with Jesus Christ. It restores our relationships with others. And this work of healing that took place in the life of Paul and Mark was so precious. And it was so sweet to the point where the very last person to make sure comes to see him is Mark because he is so useful to him. And so I have two quick words

for everybody sitting in here today. I don't know who needs to hear these words, but I think somebody needs to hear them. First of all, some of you need to be reminded that God's not done with you. God's not done with you. Maybe you're the person that ran. Maybe you're the person that let somebody else down. You fell into sin and couldn't serve any longer and you had to step out. And so you

can't continue on. You couldn't continue on for a time. You couldn't continue on for a time. You couldn't continue on for a time in the ministry. Maybe the work got too hard for you and you ran away from it. Maybe things got to be a little bit too difficult and you ran and you abandoned and you're going, I don't know if God can ever use me again because I abandoned the work of the

ministry and I'm not sure I can ever be brought back in. God wants you to know he's not done with you yet. It's time to let go of yesterday. It's time to ask for some forgiveness and it's time to get back into what God has called for you to do. But then I have a word for some of you. Somebody else in here this morning. And the word is some of you need to be reminded to forgive

because you're the one that was hurt by somebody. You're the one that was hurt because somebody abandoned you because somebody failed you. You feel like somebody didn't serve the way that you thought they should have. You feel like somebody didn't reach out to you the way that you thought you should have you. Maybe you were even abandoned by somebody that you cared about

and it's time to forgive. It's time to let that go. To put that in the past. And it's time to move on. Knowing that that person can go from the person who hurt you the most to the one who is the most useful to you. So it's a beautiful message about John Mark where God did such an amazing work. The next one that we come to after John Mark is it says, and also Jesus who is called justice.

These are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision and they have proved to be an encouragement to me. First thing you need to know is Jesus was a pretty common name at that point in time. It's kind of like for us using the name Joshua. Matter of fact, Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Joshua. And so it was a pretty common

name. Just means Yahweh is salvation. But because he didn't want to have the same name as his savior, he went by justice. Now, interestingly, this is the only time we learn of this particular guy in all of scripture. There's another justice that's mentioned in the book of Acts, but this is a different guy than him. This is the only mention of him in all of scripture, right? I

remember when I was a kid, we used to do these plays in school, these little musicals. They were called Salty, Salty the Singing Songbook. Anybody ever, I'm just going to go ahead and tell you right now, if you've never looked up anything by Salty the Singing Songbook, you should absolutely do so. Your life will be changed, probably for the better. But we used to do these plays,

these salty plays. And one time we did one about all of these characters in the Bible throughout history. And then there was one song that we sang. It was called The No Names. And as a matter of fact, at second service, when a couple of people that I went to school with are here, they will probably start singing The No Names, right? Because we all had to memorize that song.

And it's about all of the people that are used in scripture that you just almost know nothing about. And yet, God used them powerfully. And sometimes we think, well, I'm not like Paul. I'm not some big, bold guy that goes out there. I'm not like Peter, who's able to just go and preach messages to thousands of people. I'm not like David, where I can go slay giants. I'm not like any of these

people. I'm just an average guy. I'm just an average person. And probably nobody's ever going to know my name. God does. And he still wants you to serve. Because the only thing that we know about justice is this. Notice what it says, that he is a, fellow worker, and he is an encouragement to me. He's a fellow worker, and he is an encouragement. He didn't need to be the guy in the limelight. He didn't need to be the guy that everybody knew.

He knew that his one job in life was to keep Paul going. My job in life is just to continue to tell him, keep up the good work. I'm here for whatever you need. Keep up the good work, because I'm here to support anything that you have going on. Because again, we are only as good as the people that we surround ourselves with. We are only as strong as the people

that we surround ourselves with. And you need to surround yourself with people who don't necessarily need recognition. They just want to be an encouragement. So I want to tell you this morning, if you feel like you're a no-name, nobody knows who you are, nobody sees what you do. I want you to know, first of all, that God does. And second of all, the work that you do is powerful.

And while it may not be written in any history books that anyone's going to read here, it's written in the books of heaven. Because just like justice, who all we know is that the guy was an encouragement, and the guy was a fellow worker, if that's what you are, then you too will stand before the Lord and he will say, well done, good and faithful servant. I know your name. And so the next guy that we come to, is this guy named Epaphras. It says, Epaphras, who is one of your number,

a bond slave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. For I testify for him that he is a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea Hierapolis. This guy, Epaphras, is thought to be the one that started the church in Colossae, and who originally came to Paul to bring up the fact that there were some issues that were arising. There was some false doctrine that was taking place. And could you speak to this? Could

you somehow give me some instruction to know how to address my people with this false doctrine that is going on? And so Epaphras is going to stay with Paul for a little while, but I want you to notice what he says. He sends you greetings. But he refers to Epaphras in a couple of different ways. First of all, he's one of your number, meaning he's a part of the church. But the second thing I'll point out to you is that he's referred

to as a bond slave. Now, earlier he referred to Tychicus as a bond servant. That's a different word in the Greek. The word that's used here in the Greek is the word doulos. Now, you need to understand something. That word, Paul does not throw around very lightly. There's only three people in all of scripture that Paul refers to as a doulos. Himself, Timothy,

and Epaphras. So when Paul says this guy is a bond slave, one who has completely laid aside his own will for the will of his master, this is a powerful statement he makes about this man. I always wonder if Epaphras got to read this first. You know, like Paul dictated this. Who wrote it down? Not totally sure, but someone was writing it down as Paul was dictating it. So was Epaphras sitting

there? And he says, and Epaphras, my fellow, bond slave. And he went, that's quite a title to be bestowed upon you by somebody like Paul that I am a doulos because that's all I've ever wanted to be. So he bestows this, this powerful title upon him because of what he had exemplified. And I want you to know why he bestows this title upon him because he is a bond slave of Jesus Christ. And he sends his greeting because he is

always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers. That word laboring is the Greek word. I'm not even gonna try to say it. It's where we get our word agonized from. It's like agonismai or something like that. It's where we get our Greek word agonized from. It's also where we get the word wrestling from. The idea is to wrestle or to agonize in prayer. So let's put this as it truly is in here. He sends his greetings and he

is always agonizing in a struggle. For you and his prayers. Now that paints a little bit of a different picture than sometimes we think of with prayer, right? This is why he calls him a bond slave because he knows that his heart is so tied to his master and his master's people that he agonizes over them in prayer, but he agonizes over them and the things that he does. He doesn't just throw up a couple of quick prayers. The guy

is on his hands and knees before the Lord, pouring out his heart and prayer and pouring out his desire for the people in prayer. He's not just throwing up a couple of quick prayers. He's I am convinced that we have no idea how powerful our prayers are. I'm convinced that we do not take it seriously enough. I'm convinced that there's not enough agonizing, laboring in prayer.

God's doing a work in this community. I want you to know that. I want you to know that God is, God is moving in this, in this community right now. It's moving in this area right now. We're starting to see it. We've seen it take place here in this church, but we're also seeing it take place in this area right now. I'm convinced that we have no idea how powerful our prayers are.

take place in the high school here. As a matter of fact, I'm very active with helping with the FCA and the high school, and they had their club signups the other day. 101 kids signed up to be a part of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Now, listen, we need people that are going to agonize in prayer over that. We need people who are going to agonize and wrestle in prayer because, listen,

I need you to know the enemy wants the heart of every kid. The enemy wants the soul of this nation, and he wants the heart of our kids. And the only thing that's going to change that is if we are going before the Lord in battle in prayer. And the only thing that's going to work on the hearts of these kids, yes, you could put somebody out there that gives the best testimony ever and has some emotional experience, but that won't really change the heart.

What will really change the heart is a work of the Spirit of God as God's people pray. As a matter of fact, you know, I can't help it, we're Calvary Chapel, so we talk about the movement. Do you know how the movement started? It started because Chuck and Kay would go down and they would pray. And they would pray. And they would pray. And they would pray. And they would

pray. And they would pray. And they would pray over those kids that were so lost. And that's what we need right now. The work that was going on in Colossae took place because Epaphras was agonizing in prayer. The work that's going on right now in this church, I know, is because we have people that are agonizing in prayer, but we need more of it to take place because God wants to move in this

community, but he will not move if we don't seek that move. So we need to do so in prayer. And so we need to agonize. Just like Epaphras. And what did he agonize in prayer for? That they would stand perfect and fully assured in the will of God. In other words, that they would be mature and able to stand fast. Why? Because he knew that winds of doctrine were coming in. He knew the new waves of doctrine were

coming in. And what they were going to have to do as the church, with all the new waves of philosophy, all the waves of doctrine, all the waves of false teaching, when those came in, they had to stand. And in order to stand fast, they needed someone who was holding them up. And that's exactly what Epaphras was doing. He was holding them up in prayer. Why? Notice what it says. Because I testify

of him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis. Do you have a deep concern for people? Do you care deeply about the culture that's around us today? I've been doing something. I've been going around talking. I've been talking to adults and kids alike, and I've talked to people in their 70s down to kids that are about 14, 15 years old. I've been asking them all the same question. If you could just

describe this generation in one word, what word would you use? And lots of words have been thrown out. And it's been interesting to me to see that the words are pretty much the same, no matter how old you are. I've heard the words hopeless. I've heard the words loss. I let them hyphenate. So I've heard the words identity crisis. I've heard the words self-centered.

I've heard the words broken. But what got me the most came from a young lady at the high school when I met with a group at the coffee shop a couple of weeks ago to talk about FCA. And I said, how would you guys describe it? This little 15-year-old girl said, destroyed. You see, that's somebody who has a care and concern for her friends. She has a care and concern for her generation. Do you have that? Or are you just irritated?

You just irritated because nothing's the way that it used to be. Because it's not 1957 anymore. It's not 1972 anymore. And you're just like, kids just aren't the way they used to be. Yeah, they are. They're doing whatever their parents let them do. And they're sinning. That's exactly the way kids have always been. But do you have a deep concern? Because a deep concern will take you from

complaining about the generation to praying for the generation. From complaining about what's going on to doing something about what's going on. You see, Epaphras knew what was happening. And he could have said, you know, back in my day, nobody gave in to these winds of doctrine. Matter of fact, some of these false doctrines weren't even around. Back when I started the church in Colossae. But he

didn't do that. He saw that it was coming. And he said, I don't want to see this happen. And so he hit his knees in prayer. And he agonized over what was taking place because of his deep concern for the people. What a guy. I can't wait to meet him. I think he's going to be a fascinating character to me. And then we come to Luke, the beloved physician. He sends you his greetings. Luke, man, the guy that's just again with Paul all the time,

right? Luke, of course, wrote the gospel of Luke. And he also wrote the book of Acts. It's kind of fascinating to watch in the book of Acts because Luke was with Paul on the boat that went to Rome. He was with him. Matter of fact, at some point in time, it switches from Paul did and it turned into Luke. He was with Paul and all of those journeys, but just as beloved physician. It's

interesting. If you actually just take the simple verses of the Paul wrote the most books in the New Testament, Luke wrote the most content in the New Testament. Luke and Acts actually take up most of the most content of any writer in the New Testament as far as number of verses, number of words written. And so Luke was quite a character. Matter of fact, a lot of people think Luke wrote

Luke and Acts as what we would call a friend of the court brief because Paul was about to stand trial before the judgment day. And so Luke wrote Luke and Acts as what we would call a friend of the court brief because Paul was about to stand trial before the judgment day. before участ. But he actually wrote these as like, this is kind of the explanation of all of the things that have gone on May, as we'll start with Jesus and care you all the way through what polls doing right now and so he says Luke the beloved physician and he says, he says, hey guys, what's up to. And then there's

another name that's kind of interesting. He says, and also Demas you know, read it out about Demas. Matter of fact is really about 2 places. You read about this guy. One of them's here shows, that he's right there with Paul. right there alongside him, one of his friends, and he sends his greetings. And when you read that, you're like, hey, that's pretty cool.

But go over to 2 Timothy, same place, 2 Timothy chapter 4.

Look in verse 9. It says, make every effort to come to me soon. For Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me. And he's gone to Thessalonica. What a tragic thought. That this Demas went from somebody who was with Paul while he was in his imprisonment, encouraging Paul while he was in his imprisonment, and he became one who loved this present world and abandoned him.

What happened? What happened between the books? What happened between the passages? Well, I can tell you what happened. Life got hard. Other things looked better. He quit focusing on his walk with Jesus, and he started focusing on what made him more comfortable. And so he slowly but surely started ebbing, away. The world started ebbing away at his faith. Possessions of the world started pulling him away.

Distractions of the world started pulling him away. And pretty soon, he kind of found himself going, you know, I just don't think this is for me anymore. Maybe I have a little broader mind than I used to. Maybe I just don't want to deal with this anymore. Whatever it was, all we know is, he loved this present world. And so he abandoned his friend. And maybe even abandoned his faith.

Brothers and sisters, we can't live off the victories of yesterday. Every day has to be a new decision to pursue God with all of your heart. Because I'm here to tell you right now, falling away from the Lord doesn't happen in one day. It happens slowly but surely as you neglect your walk with Christ and start putting the things of the world in the place where only he belongs.

He says, Demas. He sends his greetings. If only he had stayed strong in the Lord. Then he goes on in verse 15 to say, greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that's in her house. When this letter is read, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans. And you, for your part, read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. He says, once you guys have read it, pass that thing on.

Let some other people read it because I think that's going to be really important for other people to read as well. Matter of fact, it got passed on so well, that it got put into the canon of scripture and now we're reading it today. He said, and you guys read the letter to the Laodiceans. Now we don't really know for sure what this letter to the Laodiceans is.

Some people think it's actually the book of Ephesians because Ephesians may have actually just been a circular letter that was sent to that area of Laodicea. But other than that, we're not really sure what this letter to the Laodiceans was. But we do see that there was some cooperation between the churches at that point in time and that it was important that they all read these letters because while they were, local in nature, they were global in spectrum, right? Because they carried ideas that needed to be brought to everyone.

Part of the reason why it was included in the canon. And then he closes the greetings with this. Notice what he says. Say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it. I love this because again, this is being read out loud and you can only imagine being Archippus. Kind of reading along, that's good stuff.

I really like that. That's important stuff. And then say to Archippus, come again, right? Like, read that one more time. Say to Archippus, fulfill the ministry that you've been given from the Lord. Do what God told you to do. And I think this is probably just like a little word of knowledge that God had given to Paul that you need to make sure he knows this.

You need to make sure that he knows to take heed to that ministry that was given to you by the Lord. You should fulfill. Fulfill it. Now, who was this guy? We have no idea. Was he the one who was pastoring the church while Epaphras was gone? Maybe. Was he somebody that God was calling into missions work or ministry work and he was kind of fighting against that a little bit

because he knew the sacrifice that it was going to cost him? Maybe. But whatever it was, he says, God gave you a ministry, fulfill it. And so I'm here to tell everybody right now, you are Archippus. God has given you a ministry, fulfill it. Do what God has called you to do. You see, I think that in this room and the room that'll be here, second service, I think that there's some Sunday school teachers

in these rooms and God's been telling you to do it and you've been telling him no. And you've been going, that's going to be hard. Kids are hard. I don't know if I'm good with dealing with jam hands all the time. Like I just, I don't know if I can do that. And I'm here to tell you right now, take heed to the ministry that God has given you to fulfill it. Some of you are being called to help out

in the sound and video ministry. And you're going, I don't know if I can ever learn all of that stuff. And God's calling you to do it. And you're going, I just don't think I can. I'm going to have to show up early on a Sunday morning. Me too.

Do it. Quit fighting against God. You're going to be blessed by it. Some of you are being called to be ushers. Some of you are being called to start home fellowships and you're fighting against it. You know, God's telling you to do it and you're fighting him because you go, I don't know enough. Neither do I. The first time I ever taught was when I was in Bible college.

I didn't know, come here from Sikkim, right? And yet I stood up and gave out God's word because God had called me to do it. And you are fighting against what God wants you to do. And I'm telling you, take heed to the ministry that God is giving you to fulfill it. Some of you are being called into missions work to go get outside of these walls and you need to fulfill it.

Whatever it is, quit fighting what God's telling you to do and just do it. Jump into it. God will close the door if you're not supposed to be there. It'll become really evident, but you won't know until you take a step of faith. And then the very last sentence, Paul closes and he gives his own personal greeting. He says in verse 18, I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.

Remember my imprisonment. Grace be with you. Again, because of the issue that Paul had with his eyes, he dictated everything. And so Paul would always sign everything at the end so that they would know it was certified from him. And so he says, I write this with my own hand. Listen, I can appreciate this because when I first started leading college ministry,

I would write down all of the prayer requests and then we would pass this little paper around so that we could pray for the prayer requests. And finally, one day, Aaron, who we hadn't even started dating yet, said, can I write those for you? And I said, yes, because you couldn't read anything that I wrote, right? It's kind of like that. I can appreciate this.

And so if I were to sign, those prayer requests at the end, I would say, this is Ryan. That's Ryan. That's not her. That's Ryan. This did come from him. This is kind of what it is with Paul. He says, I write this with my own hand so that you know that it's from me. And I love that simple little sentence. Remember my imprisonment. I actually prefer the New King James on this

because it says, remember my chains. Remember my chains. Because Paul is in prison right now. And as much as he can write about joy and all of these other things, the reality of the fact that he can hear the clinking of the chains, as he says, I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand is the reality that he lives with. He says, don't forget about me. Don't forget about my chains.

And then he says, grace be with you because his grace has brought us safe this far and his grace will lead us home. Amen. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come before you. And thank you, Lord, that you have given us another opportunity as your body to gather. And so, Lord, I pray that your word would sink deeply into our hearts and do the work that only you can do. And Lord, may we be drawn near to you and may we become the men and women of God that you've created for us to be.

I thank you for these examples. And I thank you for this list of friends. What a beautiful list of grace and sometimes warning. Father, we thank you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Wish what concerns me today is able

much more than what concerns me today.

He's able. He's able. Father, just bless now as we leave here and start into this new week, Lord. May we be sensitive to being your servants, Lord, to make a difference, Lord, where we are. Strengthen us, Lord, to trust. Trust you and serve you because you first love us. We love you and want to do that which is pleasing in your sight. In Jesus' name, amen. Lord bless y'all.