In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines Colossians 4:7-11 and the first part of the apostle Paul’s final greetings in the letter. Pastor Babij explains how the final four groups of people Paul identifies in the letter serve as instructional examples for Christians, who together are to be going about the gospel mission. The first two groups Pastor Babij discusses are:
1. Two Letter Carriers (Information Squad) (vv. 7-9)
2. Three Jewish Supporters (Encouragement Squad) (vv. 10-11)
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let’s take our Bibles this morning and let’s turn to Colossians I’ll be uh preaching this message and next week in Colossians and then I’ll be finished with Colossians and then I plan on going because Colossians is connected to phiman to do phiman just a few messages there and then my plan is to go to Revelation and do Revelation in a long time I’ve done that but there’s a lot of questions today about it and uh and we notice in our membership applications that people don’t know anything about eschatology and so uh and that’s understandable if you never heard it then how could you know right and so that’s my plan then Pastor Dave will continue to do the Gospel of John uh in and out and uh so both WR by John Revelation and and gospel so let’s let’s pray and we’ll look at Colossians Lord this morning as we get into your word and Lord as we look at what it says in the in the final greetings of uh of Paul to the church at Colossians uh at colosi I pray Lord that you would just uh allow us to see ourselves in some of these people and that we would real realiz that all of us all of us everyone who’s called in the name of Jesus Christ we are all to participate in the Gospel Mission that there’s no one who can sit on the Pew sit in the pews and just fold their arms there’s no one who is in the stands we’re all in in the game and so I pray Lord that you would always make it clear to us where in the part of that mission do we function the best and I pray Lord that you would make us those people that have the character and conduct that can be able to be used by the spirit of God and I pray this this morning asking you to help us and guide us give us Clarity in your word in Jesus name amen so we’re going to look at Colossians chapter 4 verse 7- 11 but let me just back up a little bit I’ve been saying that a Spirit-filled word filled Christian will begin to see that transformational power of the Gospel in each part of their experience as they Journey Through This World With its ups and downs its ins and outs and as they see that transformation they will realize the only reason why they have a transformation is because they have believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ the spirit of God now indwells them and he is gradually making them into Christ he’s gradually making them into the image of Christ and it starts the instant we are Justified and it’s not complete of course until we get the glory so this gospel transformation is revealed in in our conduct it’s revealed in in character it’s revealed in our putting off sin putting on righteousness it shows us that we’re putting off our dirty clothes we’re putting on the clothes of red redeem children and of course it’s revealed in our relationships in our everyday walk in marriages between wives and husbands and families between children and parents and fathers and children in our conduct and in our speech and we notice it in how what we are now devoted to how we use our time and opportunities and how we see and consider one another so this Lord’s Day we will see the transformation of the Gospel in the Christian’s Duty and performance and that is that the faithful group participation of the Saints to the Gospel Mission no one could do this work alone not no one can and that’s really what Paul brings out in these this last section of Colossians he he had to depend on a lot of people to make sure everything got done and but what kind of people there were certain kind of people that he used all right not perfect none of these people are perfect but he used them so we see that the gospel was never meant to stay in one place or to to be confined and it’s because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message that is to be sent out and to be sent out by people so that means the faithfulness of the Gospel the advancement of the Gospel is always maintained that the letter of the Colossians was read publicly in order to have an impact Beyond its immediate audience like it says in verse 16 of chapter 4 when this letter is read among you have it also read in the Church of the leans and for you for your part read my letter that is coming from lead deia so there’s an interaction between churches to advance the message and to advance the growth of those people who participate in the gospel even Paul the Apostle Paul’s chains and imprisonment which he’s writing this epistle from he’s in jail for the gospel he’s doing it all for the sake of the Gospel as he says in chapter 1 verse 24 now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake so Paul is doing this for the sake of the advancement of the gospel and then he of course ends the epistle in verse 18 chapter 4 he says remember my imprisonment so remember that the Apostle Paul was apprehended in Jerusalem and brought to Rome while he was imprisoned in Rome he was allowed to live by himself with minimal soldiers guarding him in fact Paul was able to receive visitors while he was in Rome he was able to teach and preach the gospel while he was in Rome and in jail and he wrote four letters to the churches while in Rome Ephesians Philippians Colossians philimon so Rome is also of course where Paul’s Mission ended and he was beheaded as a martyr in Rome when God was done with him that was it right but he used Paul to the fullest right and we would think that someone in jail couldn’t do anything but not not the case matter of fact in that prison cell in that jail cell he was protected by guards all right he was given food he was giv visitors every it was like a it was almost like a a uh not not an apartment like we would see today but a place where he can do his work and he could Minister and use his gifts to advance the gospel and that’s what God has intended right remember when Paul went before some of the people and he was tried they said listen if he didn’t heal to Caesar and Caesar and Rome he’d be a free man but it was God’s will that he would go to Rome and the reason why is because Paul would do his most important work there and so in the closing greetings here in Colossians Paul mentions 10 people who were in their own right faithful participants to the Gospel Mission and this means that the church the body of Christ each individual believer who is who is indwell by the holy spirit of God is called to carry out the unfinished work of Jesus Christ the lord Jesus didn’t finish the work Paul didn’t finish the work in fact today this work is still not done people are still getting saved the gospel is still going out all over the world so Believers are continuers of Christ work now there’s a there’s a lot of material available on motivation to get started creative ways to spark initiative but what about the material about continuing and sticking with something until it’s done you know hanging tough when the excitement and fun has faded into discipline and guts that’s the kind of Believers we actually need not losing heart even though the project lost some of its appeal and people dropped off that you originally started with it was a a book that was written by Eugene Peterson who the name of the book was obedience in the in the same direction he he he commented in that book our attention span has been conditioned by 30 second soundbites that our sense of reality has been flattened to 30 page AB rements it’s not difficult in such a world to get a person interested in the message of the Gospel it is terribly difficult to sustain that interest millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ but there is a dreadful attrition rate in our kind of culture anything even news about God can be sold uh and packaged in the right in a fresh way but when it loses its novelty it goes on the garbage heap just like everything else there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue little inclination to sign up for the long apprenticeship in what earlier generational uh Christians called holiness godliness takes a long time for the spirit of God to make us holy it is a long distance R it it run it’s not a short Sprint that’s the Christian Life right and it’s got its ups and downs so today let’s understand that we are continuers for Christ that all Christians should check their priorities and tighten Down the Hatch for the Long Haul and we do that together Not Alone Together and for sure we can have a lot of meaningful experiences serving the lord Jesus Christ together as we already have in the process of God moving us from uh in levels of spiritual growth and interacting with people sharing the gospel discipling people all those things are very meaningful and very helpful and Advance the church so in this end greeting it shows the interdependence of Believers insufficient in themselves but as a body as the body of Christ they become holy without blemish and blameless before Christ and a formidable steadfast Force for gospel expansion now if you just go back to chapter 1 for a minute look at verse 21-2 2 3 I want to show you something in that passage Colossians 1 vers 21 it says although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind engaged in evil Deeds yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless Beyond reproach then notice verse 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel that you have heard which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I Paul was made a minister so human insufficiency is acknowledged alongside of the all sufficiency of Christ we all participate in the Gospel Mission are you doing that so we’re presented this morning with living examples and these living examples are models for all believers to follow all kinds of different people here and you will see that the the character of these Christians are noteworthy they are people from all walks of life but they should be people that we model ourselves after and the question that we can ask ourselves as we think of these groups of people could such things be said of me that are said about these gospel participants that’s what we want to ask ourselves well let’s let me just give you where I’m going and then we’ll get down to the details here this is what we’re going to see we’re going to see two letter carriers I call them the information Squad then we see two Jewish supporters I call them the encouragement Squad then we’re going to see three Gentile co-workers I call them the war Warrior Squad and then we’re going to see two local Christians and I call them the hosp hospitality future Ministry Squad now today we’re just going to be looking at the first two groups and that of course the first group and is going to be um that of the letter carrying squad or the information Squad and so I want you to notice in chapter 4 verse number s it says this these are this is the first letter carrier and this is uh to kikus now some people have have pronounced it tius but I went to the Greek and I says listen the only way I’m going to figure out how to pronounce this name is how the Greek actually pronounces it and uh and of course it’s kikus and this person was Paul’s partner on his third missionary journey and he was a native of Rome in the province of Asia and when Paul left Ephesus he was accompanied by seven other believers among them to kikus and it says back in uh Acts chapter 20 and he was accompanied by um saer aristarchus scus gaas Timothy teus and then one other man so these men what they were doing back then is they were helping Paul deliver the love offering from the Gentile churches to the poor Saints in Judea eventually teus shared Paul’s imprisonment and was a great help to him in many ways now if somebody’s going to bring information to you especially es during these days now information today we know we have overload information and the information how do you know the information you get when you read here and there on different media sites is actually true it’s very hard to actually find out is this true or not because people don’t even document what they even say today so when information is going to come to somebody you have to have someone who has a great character someone who is strong who’s a leader who’s going to carry out the mission and this is the mission that Paul gave to him that was to carry this letter to the church at Ephesus and the church at colassi all right and but notice what it says here about his character Colossians chapter 4 verse number s it says as to all my Affairs now that’s Paul’s Affairs to kikus our beloved brother and faithful servant and fellow bonder servant of the Lord will bring you in information so that’s what he that what that’s what his job is is to bring information but why would you pile up the character qualities well because the people who are receiving what he has the information that he has they have to know it’s not disinformation right that it’s not fake news but it’s accurate truth about Paul’s Ministry so the people know how to pray for him and meet his needs that’s why the information is so important but look what it says about him his character our beloved brother now why is he a beloved brother because he was connected to this new family because of his faith in Jesus Christ he was the kind of brother in Christ who was willing to stay with Paul even in his difficult situation it’s not easy to be associated with a jail bird because Paul had a lot of enemies and a lot of enemies who wanted to kill him if you link yourself to him you’re a Target too and so he didn’t really care about that he just went on and he did what he had to do so this kind of brother you want in your family this is the kind of brother you want in your I’m calling it our family Foxhole when the bullets start flying you want teus with you because he’s the kind of brother that’s not going to run when the times get tough how encouraging to have a Christian at your side when everything seems to be against you and he did not take the easy way but he did take the right way and the right way is usually the hard way and it’s usually the way many times that you may walk alone so he is a a beloved brother and then secondly it says he’s a faithful servant meaning that he was a worker he rendered Dependable help wherever it was needed and then it says also he was a fellow Bond servant or slave in the Lord a minister in other words who related in service together under the lordship of Jesus Christ and remember if you remember back when we were looking And discussing about bondslaves Bond slaves were they were willing to give up their rights they were willing to be defrauded they were willing to endure hardship they were willing to have no rank or titles they were willing even to lose their life and isn’t that what happens when we become real Christians we move from being slaves to sin to being slaves slaves to righteousness because we are now enslaved to God who is our good and loving master so if we consider ourselves willing Bond slaves of Jesus Christ no matter what we are to do or wherever we are go going to end up there is certain behavior and demeanor for our Earthly Mission and I we already learned that Colossians gave three things important things about Bond slaves number one B bom Bond slaves of Christ are to do their work with obedience in Colossians chter 3:22 slaves in all things obey and then Bond slaves in Christ are to do their work from a single and a sincere heart as it says in Chapter 3 of Colossians verse 23 whatever you do do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men and then a bondslave of Christ has an inheritance slaves really don’t have an inheritance neither are they in the place to receive an inheritance that is true however unless you are Christ slaves then it says in chapter 3: 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of The Inheritance is the Lord Christ whom you serve so that means means that as you go out and serve as you go out and you become a bond slave it is the inheritance that Believers will receive a fair recompense for their faithful service that the slave of Christ has an unceasing line of thought that looks past this Earthly life with all its difficulties and looks beyond their immediate circumstances to the Lord and his reward as Paul told the Galatians therefore you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son then an heir through God so the promise of an inheritance for slaves transforms their status to those who are legitimate heirs in the household of God that’s a great motivation to keep going to know that this life is not the end and the Lord has something for us not only in this life but in the Life to Come an inheritance that we are to receive and then back in Colossians chapter 4 notice his mission his mission it says in verse 8 for I have sent him to kikus to you for this very purpose that you may [Music] know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts so the message that was coming back from Paul was to encourage them to lift them up to comfort them and so they were functioning as mailmen to the letter bring the letter to the Ephesian church and the colossian church so teus was this strong faithful Dependable leader that made sure the mission was accomplished that’s the kind of person you want to dispel such important information like the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how the gospel was doing things all over the place not just in your local area it was doing things all over the known world at that time and that was very important information to know that the Colossians their little Community Church and the Ephesians little Community Church they weren’t alone in this there this was happening all over the place God was doing something he was building his church and he was using people like to Kus to do it and then a second letter carrier we notice in our text in verse number nine chapter 4 is onimus now onimus who is he he was a runaway slave it says in verse number nine and with him onimus our faithful and beloved brother who is one of your number they will inform you of about the whole situation here so this the past character of onimus was dubious he was unfaithful to his master and bolted to get his freedom and he ends up where does he end up he ends up in prison right by Paul what a place to be right if you’re going to end up in jail be end up in jail in a PL in a place with somebody like Paul the Apostle Paul so that’s where he ends up so he has a runaway slave who belonged to phiman and who had been one to Christ through Paul’s Ministry in Rome I guess that’s one place that um when I was on an aircraft carrier and I became a Christian in road to Spain one thing that you know is there’s not many places to go when you’re at Sea you know and so when you have a Bible study you really get locked in and you you spend a lot of your time studying the word of God and I thank the Lord for that it was kind of like being in prison uh there was nowhere to go and but I really got established in the basics of the faith there and that that always helped me just to continue to build on that and so here we see onimus who has a dubious past meets Paul and what does Paul say about him he only could say this about him if there was a change in his character and demeanor that Paul recognized after coming to Christ it says he’s a faithful he says here a faithful and beloved brother so that means that he was trustworthy he was another way to say that he was full of faith and that he was very much loved by the Apostle Paul and then he says this he’s one of your number meaning that at one time none of us were part of the number of the chrisan body right we were outside that number now we’re in the number and so Paul says he wasn’t one of your number but now he’s one of us he’s one of us and so he not necessarily delivers the same information that to Kus was delivering he was delivering his own letter to his former owner and so their mission together was to distribute information that encourages encourages its recipients and as it says in uh the passage that I just read and they will inform you about my whole situation here now what was that whole situation that whole situation was how he met F how he met onimus and how he discovered where onimus was and that he was a runaway slave and that now he was incarcerated with Paul and the whole thing had to be done and put together so Paul sent onimus back to his master with a letter to phiman and what was that letter what did that letter say phiman please receive him as I did please forgive him as I have please forgive him as God has all right now that could have been a very touchy situation but if you would like to turn to philimon which is first 1 2 Thessalonians 1 2 Timothy Titus phiman all right look there in philimon chap of course there’s only one chapter but it says in chapter one verse number 10 a philimon he says I appeal to you for my child onimus whom I have begotten in my imprisonment now that’s of course language that Paul is saying I’m the father spiritual father of onimus I Shar the gospel with him and I begot him as a spiritual child that’s what he is saying to him and he he said that happened in my imprisonment then in phimon verse 11 it says who formerly was useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me and then look at verse 16 of the same chapter it says no longer a slave but more than a slave a beloved brother especially to me but how much more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord that’s very interest interesting how he puts it like that and we’ll look at that when I get to fiman but today we see that this is the situation and fimon is delivering the letter to his own P saying listen this is what Paul says about me this is what happened to me and here’s all the evidence so of course that becomes a very important thing and in a very real re real way we all understand what it means to be a Slave at least a slave to sin right where you are in bondage to your sin nature that you people say free will know your Will’s in bondage to what your sinful nature dictates and so to be set free not only physically but spiritually is a important part of the Christian walk so those are the ones that we see this morning who were mail carriers and they were reliable loving Brothers in the Lord the second thing that we’ll notice this morning back in Colossians 4: 10 and 11 three Jewish supporters three Jewish supporters I call them the encouragement Squad not only could takus and fimian be part of that Squad but we have here first of all in verse number 10 aristarchus aristarchus was Paul’s traveling companion he was a also a fellow prisoner most likely he was a prisoner with Paul in Ephesus and also so in Rome and he was definitely someone who was willing to suffer that with Paul and it says in verse number uh 10 aristarchus my fellow prisoners sends you greetings so he was with Paul during the riot in Ephesus and if you remember in that particular Riot as is recorded in the book of Acts uh it says that the whole area was filling with confusion and they rushed with one Accord into the theater dragging along gais and aristarchus Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia so he got dragged into this uh situation in which people were rioting and uh of course that was in Ephesians that that happened Ephesus that that happens in the Ephesian area and and so what happened here that this this particular man was willing uh to experience with Paul the most most difficult times of ministry when you preach the gospel and hostility breaks out and you don’t run for the hills you end up getting dragged in uh to jail and of course that all that worked out and Paul was even held back from getting involved with that because they knew they would just probably just kill him and he wasn’t ready to be killed and then back in Colossians chapter 4 verse number 10 we see another person well if you go down to verse number 11 I’m going to look at the next one first Justice and come back to mark because I want to spend some time with Mark and let you know who he is but in verse 11 of chapter 4 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 here it again is is again an encouragement to me so again the these individuals have this demeanor of encouraging people now not just by their words but by who they are by their conduct and so Justice uh is the Greek form of his Jewish name Jesus and his Latin name Justice also means a soothing medicine and so the the word that we have encouragement in the passage here actually means to bring Comfort or to bring a soothing environment so it’s a blessing to have Christians who have a proven comforting effect on people and not for the purpose of self gratification but for the purpose as it says here for the growth of the kingdom of God that means that that this person must know what they believe they must know what the mission is and they must be faithful to that mission and they also come into a group of people and they Comfort them they encourage them they prod them on to love and good works so you have this whole Squad of encouragement coming from aristarchus and Justice uh into the church at Colossians and Ephesians and then we go back to verse number 10 and we see this in verse number 10 aristarchus my fellow prisoner sends you his greetings also barnabas’ cousin Mark about whom you received instructions if he comes to you welcome him now all of us from time to time have experienced painful incidents incidences right that in some ways changed us and for some of us it even altered the direction of our lives but often for Christians it has been it has in the end at least say it like that a time of serious spiritual growth and maturity in christlikeness I don’t know about you but those events come into your life and you start taking things way more seriously than you ever have and you begin to realize this is no game uh this is something to be this is the most serious life that anyone could ever live on this Earth and not only that but I am actually responsible for other people not just as an elder or as a deacon but just as somebody who is parti has participated in the gospel you’re responsible for the person next to you you and the person in front of you and behind you how you live how your character and conduct comes forth so this painful incident that I’m going to mention from acts chap chapter 15 that we read this morning shows us that all of us need much more work to be done on us in order for us to grow in christlikeness in order for us to respond properly to things and within the particular Twisted twists and turns of life and at the same time while we’re dealing with that Desiring to live in a manner which is pleasing to the Lord both things going on at the same time well if you just take your Bibles for a minute turn back to the book of Acts and I want you to notice some things that happened concerning mark because Mark is an interesting character I put him in the squad of encouragement but I say this about Mark delayed encouragement because he had to learn a lot of things before he actually can encourage people back in Acts chapter 15 notice in verse number 34 it says but it seemed good to Silas to remain there and then acts 15:35 but Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch teaching and preaching with many others also the word of the Lord after some days Paul and Barnabas said let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are so Paul just and Barnabas want to go back to the other churches that they’ve already ministered in and see how they’re how they’re doing all right now notice in verse number 37 of Acts 15 it says but and Barnabas wanted to take John called Mark along with them also and then in verse 38 but Paul insisted that he did not want to take John marcus’ but Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who why because he deserted them in panila and had not gone back with them to the work now I don’t know about you but that is very discouraging when something like that happens and Paul because really past performance reveals character right it serves as a basis for judging stability for f future service so so Paul did not want to risk a reoccurrence of this failure to hang tough for the sake of the most important work on Earth of preaching the gospel and going back and strengthening the churches so he decided that at this time John Mark was not fit for the difficult task he proved to be a quitter now let me refresh your your memory concerning this past incident it took place on Paul’s and Barnabas first missionary journey and in Chapter 13 you don’t have to turn there it says now Paul and his companions put out the sea from papos and came to perga and in panila and John left them and returned to Jerusalem but going on from perga they arrived at pidia an anoch so Paul Barnabas and John Mark had good Ministry together on the island of Cyprus and the Holy Spirit was directing them North toward pran an Antioch which is really modern day turkey and about 150 miles by boat to the coast of Asia Minor and then once they got off a boat they were to travel through the most dangerous rugged mountains of that region where it was known that notorious ambushes and bandits and robbers were there constantly now scripture tells us that the young assistant John Mark deserted Paul and went back home to Jerusalem now it was clear well other considerations could uh have caused him to leave the great work but the word of God does not really tell us why he left some have speculated as to the reasons why he took off and went running running home Mark was young his mother’s house seemed to have been the center of the Jerusalem Church Paul and Barnabas took him with him on on their first missionary journey and Mark was a relative of Barnabas and in the middle of the journey he turned in hight tail at home now it was one uh commentator who ventured off into some speculation and and he he said well why why did he take off well he says perhaps he was afraid of the proposed Journey up into the pl toe of Antioch for it was one of the hardest most dangerous roads in the world and he knew it all right also perhaps because he came from Jerusalem he had his doubts about preaching to the Gentiles also perhaps at the this stage he was one of those who are better beginning things than finishing things or actually historically the church father christum said long ago he wanted the lad wanted to go home to Mommy but whatever the reason was he deserted he deserted and so what happened Paul and Barnabas had a sharp disagreement right back in Acts 15 verse number 39 right a sharp disagreement now remember these were not Paul and Barnabas were not cheap men with hot tempers and razor tongues that easily spewed insults and bitter words towards each other that’s not what took place here these are men who were controlled by the Holy Spirit and filled with wisdom wisdom and passion for the work of God to see the church expand and grow and be strengthened and yes both Paul and Barnabas were men of strong characters and convictions in fact Barnabas was known as to be the son of encouragement only this time their convictions were opposite and proved to be incompatible and the only solution was separation from each other that is what they agreed to do but it also gives us a bit of a lesson here it is possible for Christians to disagree with one another on certain things and to do it in a way that is Honorable and that keeps the relationship intact so it tells us in Acts 15:39 and they separated from one another Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed to Cyprus and Paul chose silus and left so God doubled the workforce through this separation Paul and Silas uh Silas took the place of Barnabas not John Mark Silas was faithful proven to be a leader in the church he was also a dispenser of divine revelation known to be a prophet and he knew how to handle the word of God Barnabas because he was the relative of John Mark and the man of uh encouragement son of I think he was he’s mentioned in scripture as to be the son of Thunder too they split company with each other Paul uh and over good at least um over this event and it’s possible again to agree and disagree without losing your testimony or your usefulness so past history could disqualify you for present opportunities but it doesn’t need to be like that it is possible to overcome the stigma of past sins by living a holy life in the power of the holy spirit of God so all of us are rescuable there’s no Christian needs to stay the way they are it is not easy to overcome the title of deserter someone who leaves his post for no good reason in fact if it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit of God’s work of sanctifying each and every one of us we could never be able to remove the stigma of our past present and future sins only God can do that and and keep you a testimony and keep you a significant participant in the Gospel Mission so whatever happened uh to Mark and Paul we really don’t know uh what happened to Mark during this separation he did go to Barnabas now now what we do know is that the holy spirit of God never stopped working on both of them all of them and he continues to sanctify and grow his children to Bear the image of Jesus Christ and even though flawed and weak and inconsistent vessels of baked dirt like we all are with remaining corruption God continues to advance this church so there is hope that each one of us are needed and useful for our master and Savior Jesus Christ tradition tells us that after this event Mark kind of vanishes off the scene at least we don’t hear anything about him for some 20 years it’s a long time some sources say that he found at the church a church in Alexandria and in Egypt um and there’s one thing that that is for sure that the holy spirit of God moved from him from being a child to a mature Christian from being someone who was useless to someone who was very useful so that’s why I say delayed encouragement because you know what that’s a lot like us I think Paul I think Mark is a lot like us we have those ups and downs and all arounds in the Christian Life right and sometimes we back off and we’re kind of like want to want to be invisible and we don’t want to be involved anymore you ever feel that way you want to kind of just be left alone all right there’s times that I’ve went through those times I know you do too but the spirit of God don’t leave you alone he says no no you need to get back into the race there brother you need to Sister you need to get back in there all right and use your gifts because you are part of this group of people that are going to encourage other people to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ now if you look back to Colossians chapter 4 verse number 10 notice what it say here says here that Mark became a serious worker it says aristarchus my fellow prisoners sends you greetings and also barnabas’ cousin Mark about whom you received instruction if he comes to you welcome him now what was that instruction most likely that was instruction was we all everybody heard that Mark deserted me but that’s all changed that’s all changed and the reason why is because nobody can fight a war alone even Mark could not fight this war alone and it’s ridiculous to even think that way as a Christian to fight a battle which you intend to win you need many a a really a multifaceted loyal Workforce who know their mission objectives and have counted the cost and if we look back at Fan Mark became a synergistic worker where it says there in phiman Aus my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus greet you at as do Mark and then it says my fellow workers so it uses the word fellow worker for Mark and that word in in the Greek is really a word that we get synergism from meaning a helper or someone who has learned to work together with other servants in order to get the greater work done which is the gospel so he learned to work together with other people now this could give us a sense on what his problem was he could have been a young man filled with pride thought he knew better and now the spirit of God leveled him off and now he is profitable and then if you’d like to take your Bibles uh turn to Second Timothy chapter 4 this is a very interesting verse about him Mark became a profitable worker in 2 Timothy 4:11 it says only Luke is with me pick up Mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for service so he is not only he not only became useful to Paul in his work but to God and to the greater Church even today it’s because of John Mark who was used by the holy spirit of God to pen the gospel of Mark and you know the overall theme of The Gospel of Marcus Jesus Christ is servant so he learned his lesson about being a servant from the greatest servant of all the Lord Jesus Christ and that’s why he could pen such a verse as Mark 10:45 for even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many so by the grace of God the man who once was a deserter a discourager of Believers became a writer of the gospel and an encourager of Believers and at the end Paul wanted him by his side see that could be any one of us any one of us could have been any of these people and I I hope you saw some of yourself in one of them but he ends his greeting want wanting us to to focus in on who these people were because we’re just like them we’re just like these people and so that means that all of us if you can see yourself in one any one of these characters good or bad because we are to be part of this this group participation to the Gospel Mission you are to do something for the Lord and really the goal is to be an encourager to be an encourager by your manner of life to be an encouragement because it is your desire to please the Lord and become like Christ and you want to allow people to see that and you surely do not want to be a discourager because it’s really easy to discourage people and you know what one way you do it just by being inconsistent you’re you’re not consistent with your coming and being regularly with Believers you’re not consistent in serving the church body in some way with the use of your spiritual gift you’re not participating uh and practicing a Godly holy life lifestyle you’re just not Dependable that’s got to change and I believe the spirit of God’s going to change that because you know what the greatest tool in Satan’s toolbox is discouragement in fact I ran across this story and the story went like this it it was it was titled the devil’s favorite tool and It Go went like this I read once that the devil was having a yard sale and all of his tools were marked with different prices they were a fish lot there was hatred and jealousy deceit lying Pride all at expensive prices but over to the side of the yard on display was a tool more obviously worn than the other tools it was also the most costly it was labeled discouragement when question the devil said it is more useful to me than any other tool when I can’t bring it down bring down my victims with any of the rest of these tools I use discouragement because so few people realize it belongs to me so let’s not discourage each other let’s encourage each other and we do that by our Christian growth our usefulness in the advancement of the gospel and the church and our ability to be able to be a comfort to people and P them on in a good way to keep serving the lord and don’t quit right were in it for the long haul amen those are the first two groups next week the next two let’s pray Lord thank you this morning for the examples that were before us knowing Lord that in in each one of these groups of people we can see ourselves we can see the flaws we can see Lord the time that we wanted to Desert we wanted to step aside or we thought of ourselves as unusable because of something that happened in our life but Lord we know by your spirit that you are making us like you and Lord we want to give ourselves to that sanctifying process we surely don’t want to resist the spirit of God in this manner but we want to be people as Colossians says to learn how to please se you in all things knowing that you are our master and Lord and we want to be servants that are Faithful Servants that are Dependable servants that are encouraging to others by our very conduct our manner of Life by our very speech and how we grow in Christ and I pray that you would do that in every single one of us so Lord the go Gospel Mission is not hindered or left to just just to a few to accomplish and I prayed this this morning in the precious name of Jesus Christ amen let’s Stand Together