 Here we are Colossians chapter 4. I'm going to take you through verses 7 through 11 today as we continue as We have through the book of Colossians, and so we've arrived here in chapter 4 and I'll read verse 7 read to verse 11 and we'll get into our study Colossians chapter 4 beginning at verse 7 Now the way this name is pronounced is ticacus, but I usually say ticica. So let's see what happens here We'll just call him Bill a beloved brother faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord will tell you all the news about me I'm sending him to you for this very purpose that he may know your circumstances and Comfort your hearts with an esimus a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you They will make known to you all things which are happening here Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you With Mark the cousin of Barnabas about whom you received instructions If he comes to you welcome him and Jesus Who is called justice These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision They have proved to be a comfort to me and So Paul is closing his his letter and as he does so he makes mention of several people that the Colossians Would know he mentions 11 people He also mentions churches. He mentions the church in Leodicea as well as a church in Hierapolis Now when you look at a map both Leodicea and Hierapolis were within 12 miles or so of The church there the city of Colossi So as we begin I want to share some things fundamental things some foundational things And I'd like to point something out that is very obvious, but it's so obvious. It might be missed I want you to think about how Paul mentions so many people by name He speaks of Ticacus an esimus Aristarchus he speaks of Mark and Barnabas and justus He speaks of Epaphorus Luke Demus nymphus and archipis So why is that worth? Noting why is that something significant? It's significant because it reveals something about what the church actually is See we're living in a time where people speak about going to church They they think of churches being a building and so they belong to the church. They go to the church They think of it as a denomination But the church was designed differently than that The church is designed to be a community the church the body of Christ Believers are actually a community that God has brought together through the power of the Holy Spirit It isn't some place that we just go it's not the building because some people will go to church They'll say well, I'm going to church and in in a way. I mean that's that's proper to say of course We know what you mean by that. You're gonna go to a church Facility and you're gonna attend church services I'm not saying that's a bad thing what I'm saying is is sometimes that that doesn't give to us a full understanding of what a church is a Church isn't just a building a church isn't just a place that we go to meet a church isn't a denomination a church is more than that a Church is a community. It's a community of believers in Jesus Christ in First Corinthians 12 verses 12 and 13 Paul said as the body is one and has many members But all the members of that one body being many are one body So also as Christ for by one spirit We were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks whether slaves are free and have all been made to drink into one Spirit there's one body. We are that one body the community of believers in Jesus Christ When I first was saved that idea was was really new to me the idea of of being the church was very new to me and the idea of Needing other people was also a new concept. I was very self-sufficient like everybody else But I later began to learn that fellowship is essential if I'm going to mature in Jesus Christ And and I had to come to understand that the church is a living organism that's been designed by God to work together So with this in mind, I find it instructive that Paul would be able to mention so many people by name This is not the only place Paul mentions church members by name if you read the book of Romans and you conclude at chapter 16 Roman 16 records 27 people by name First Corinthians chapter 16 mentions eight people by name Second Timothy chapter 4 mentions 11 Titus chapter 3 mentions 4 and Philemon mentions 6 all by name Paul got to know these people and people knew these people and that's because they were serving alongside of him God designed us to serve God designed us to work together to fellowship with other people in Ephesians 4 16 it says from whom the whole body joined in it together by what every joint supplies according to the effect of working Like which every part does it share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love The body of Christ was designed to work within itself amongst itself to do the works of ministry and As you begin to serve with other people as you begin to serve the Lord and you do so in your fellowship will say That's an opportunity for you to begin to know people by name To know who they are to know things about them to have relationship with them But there's anything that we are today in society. It's amazing how many opportunities We have to gain information through the various media sources We have and all of that the Facebook Instagram and all the other things that people use There's still a very very great amount of lonely people and many of those lonely people are also church attendees We don't really get to know one another We know things about each other or things that are said on Instagram or whatever But we really don't know one another and the one of the ways and most basic and easiest way to get to know Somebody is to in church is to serve alongside of them and Paul knew these people Many years ago I Was an assisting pastor and another fellowship Calvary Chapel in Claremont and part of my Ministry duties at that time Included working in the nursery what a joy and And and Marie and I my wife and I would work in the nursery and we'd serve on Sunday We had rotating basis and all we'd serve there on Sunday and and there was a little boy inside the nursery was being we cared for he was I'd say around a year or less and his name was Adam and Adams Adam was one of these kids that he didn't go with anybody But he would come to me and I think part of it is because I had a beard and glasses in his dad had beard and glasses and and I think he just kind of like And it came to me because it felt comfortable so I would hold him I'd hold him the whole you know hour and a half church service and He would cling to me and I couldn't put him down and my son David's a few months younger than he and my son David was a You know crawling baby at that time and he would crawl up and he would grab my my leg and hold on to me and look Up at Adam. He already hated Adam You know Because Adam was taking my time and my attention from little David and but with that I got to know Adams dad and mom and as I got to know Dan and Debbie Eventually and that came through serving in a simple way They became dear to us as a matter of fact when I went to begin this church Dan Came along with me and he was my first assistant and and it started it started in a nursery It started by taking care of somebody's child and that connected us and caused us to have Opportunity to know each other which ultimately led to the place where we're then and and Debbie were part of our fellowship They were here the second week that we began our church and and we remained with us for for some time until he went off and Planted his own church and it's a blessing even as I'm saying it to say that they're sitting right here in in front of me right now You know and I've been worried about them because I know they're backsliders and it's good to see them You know and so that's how it works You know you never realize how God will connect hearts and he wants to He wants to he wants you to have relationship He wants you to know people and to be known by them and and it isn't good that a man should be alone even as you know and For us I I feel what happens with men very often is as a young man We have we have our whole our whole upbringing Most of us not all but many of us if not if not almost all we have Adventures that we had its kids and it was always with you know with our buddies You know we had groups of guys we hung around with and and for me that was true You know from things like just neighborhood friends, you know and to to sports and Ultimately into the military. I always had buddies. We always had friendships You know we we would take a long drive at night and we'd go somewhere and stop at some diner on the side of the road at Four in the morning and have some coffee and talk and speak and share and open up and that was my life That's that's what we did we had Relationship and it was with guys and then we we we get a girlfriend We fall in love with her we get married to her and for a guy a lot of times He stops having buddies anymore. He he now has his wife. He has his job He has his family now the wife on the other hand she has us, but she has her friends too and she has Relationships of their friends because women have that social ability whereas men we have a tendency of kind of like limiting those things to certain things And and what happens is we become lonely as men. We don't have friendships anymore. We'd have relationship anymore We don't have anybody to bear our soul to anymore. We don't have anybody that we talked to we don't confess our faults Want to another we don't have any of that we kind of like just keep those things to ourself and we become kind of alone Where the wives well they're entirely different men and women we know that there's such a difference I mean we know that and the and the social scientists are trying to say no men and women are the same That's not true at all. Just go to a restaurant and Sit there and your wife says to one of the girls there. I'm going to the bathroom. You want to come And off you go in a parade. I mean three or four women off they go to the bathroom Well, what would happen if I said that I'm there and my buddy said there. Hey, man, I'm going to the head you want to go I Doesn't work it doesn't work. I mean Women will speak to one another. You know through the stalls They'll be in the stall to say hey nice shoes men don't do that Men don't do that. We walk into the bathroom and we stop talking even if you've got a best friend you're walking and talking to If there's some another guy or two guys in there. Do you guys keep talking? No, I usually get kind of quiet and take care of business come out Then we continue our conversation not women We're entirely different and we have to begin to be aware of those differences and one of the ways that we can Actually have relationship is in our service to God How did Paul know all these people he knew him because they worked alongside of them He knew him by name and he called him out by name and he would speak to them Because they cared about he they cared about him and he cared about them And that's what we're looking at here when he begins to name these people Ticacus verse 7 a beloved brother a faithful minister a fellow servant in the Lord will tell you all the news About me so he begins with Ticacus Now he's mentioned various other times in the New Testament. We know that he's a Gentile believer We know he's from the province of Asia and he traveled with Paul according to Acts chapter 20 We know that he often served as a messenger for the Apostle Paul Because you see him in that regard in Ephesians 6 2nd Timothy 4 as well as Titus chapter 3 Here he's identified as a beloved brother a faithful minister and notice a fellow servant Now Paul described him in a similar way to the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 21 and 22 This is what he writes. He says that you that you also may know my affairs and how I'm doing Ticacus a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will make all things known to you Whom I have sent to you for this very purpose that you may know our affairs and that he may comfort your hearts So notice he recommends Ticacus to them He ensures that they can trust him and look notice how he is he is described He's a beloved brother a faithful minister and a fellow servant in the Lord First he is a beloved brother He was a Christian he became a Christian because he heard the gospel He heard the gospel of Jesus Christ the gospel that called him to salvation a gospel That spoke concerning his separation from God due to his sin a Gospel that spoke of the grace of God in sending a son to take upon himself the sins that Ticacus had and He heard that message and he believed that message he embraced that message and he came to faith in Christ And that's why he can be called a brother. He's a brother not because he's of the human family He's a brother because he has a relationship with Jesus Christ and his father is God Which makes him a brother of the Apostle Paul. He's a brother in the faith So Jesus said to him you must be born again and when he heard that message he repented and he trusted in Christ and That resulted in his entering into the family of God He became a brother it's like what Jesus said in Mark 3 verse 35 where he said whoever does the will of God is my brother And my sister and my mother so we become family We are baptized by one spirit into one body We become family and we have relationship and that's why he can speak of him as his brother in the Lord But he also refers to him as a faithful minister He was filled with faith faithful. He was filled with faith He was trustworthy. It was a genuine servant of Jesus Christ in Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 2 Paul said it like this He said the things that you've heard from me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men Who will be able to teach others also so not only is he a brother in the Lord, but he's also faithful He's somebody that Paul could trust who could go with a message from Paul and come back with a response and Paul could trust him Somebody said he showed himself to be worthy of this calling by a faithful discharge of his ministry and by laboring fervently and Pressing them forward that they might stand complete in all the will of God So he speaks of him as a beloved brother He speaks of him as a faithful minister and he also speaks to him as a fellow servant He didn't hold the same office. He wasn't an apostle, but he was entrusted with the same message And he was a humble servant of the Lord He understood that he was saved to serve and he was to do so faithfully and that qualified him that qualified him to bring Messages and to return with news. He was trustworthy He was mature in the faith and he was somebody that Paul could say take this and Tell them this and then come back with their response And so Paul was there in prison and Ticacus was to tell them news about Paul These people were concerned for Paul and so in verse 8 he said I'm sending him to you for this very purpose that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts So Ticacus is bringing news to them about Paul But he also wants to hear about how they are Listen as a pastor Paul would be concerned for them In 1st Thessalonians 3 verse 5 Paul said to the church there For this reason when I could no longer endure it. I sent to know your faith Less by some means the tempter had tempted you and our labor might be in vain So Paul wanted to know how they were. Are you being steadfast? Are you being blessed? Do you have any needs? Are you preaching the gospel? Are you remaining faithful to Jesus? Are you loving one another our enemies of the cross entering in? Are they undermining your faith? Are you okay? That's the heart of a pastor and so that's what he's doing He also came to comfort their hearts with encouragement from the Lord He was going to do that by revealing how powerfully Paul was being upheld in all his afflictions and how God had turned his Imprisonment to the advancing of the gospel What you have here is a picture of brotherhood You have a picture of relationships a Picture of men who needed one another Who confided in one another and cared about one another who trusted one another? Who loved one another? God knows we need that today God knows we need that today the Lord has been good to us. He's been good to me. You know in the ministry It's been said that sometimes that the minister is the loneliest person in the church and in some ways that can be true and So I need friends and I need relationships. I need people who help to bear my burdens. I need that like you do You know when my father when my father died I can still remember the sudden suddenness of it and and how difficult it was for me to To grapple with that to grasp the fact that he died he died so suddenly it was difficult And I can still remember a phone call I I tease about my friendship with raw reason all of you guys are aware of raw probably all of you are and and I tease on occasion about them because I enjoy doing that, but I'll tell you this I can remember how when my father died I I Just It just hit me so hard and my wife Marie walks into to where I was seated and she said Rawls on the phone And I remember taking the phone and just answering the phone and and saying hi, Raul. How you doing? And he said hi David. How are you? And I just started sharing I still remember saying, you know, my dad died Raul didn't say a word he just Just listened and I needed that I needed someone to just hear how I was feeling at that moment And he provided that for me. I love the man very deeply Years ago right around when my father died I lost my memory. I was hospitalized and it was pretty serious I had lost my memory and Raul heard about it and Raul calls me up and he says Dave. How you doing? I heard you lost your memory and I said, yeah, he says does that mean you you forgot that you still owe me $500 now, that's it. That's the jerk that he can be to you know, so But I need that I need friends. I need people that I can laugh with I need people that that that Know me I I have friends in this church I have one friend in this fellowship who has known me since I was 14 years old I meet with him and two other friends that I've known one since I was five and the other since I was 14 and I meet with them monthly and We'll kind of laugh and remember things that we did in high school and and tease each other and I enjoy that I need that So do you so do you you need somebody in your life that that that that contributes to it That encourages you that that loves you and that you love and and you can enjoy your time with them And there are plenty of opportunities if you want here in this fellowship to have that To serve alongside of one another to be involved in a study together to go on retreats and things There are plenty of opportunities if you desire them and you need them and they ought to be things that you you take advantage of Because it's a brotherhood. It's more than just a club It's more than just arriving in the same location at the same time listening to the same thing and then leaving at the Same time. It's much deeper than that and that's why Paul could speak in the way that he did he cared about these people He wanted them to be walking together to have relationship together and to know what was going on He they wanted to know how he was and he wants to know how they are and that's how it works He wanted to encourage them He wanted them to know that he's okay, but he wanted to know that they were too and So he moves on into verse 9 and he speaks of another one named onesimus He says he's a faithful and beloved brother Who is one of you? He was from Colossi and they will make known to you all things which are happening here So he speaks of onesimus the word onesimus literally is translated profitable And he's a faithful and beloved brother and he says he's one of you. He's from Colossi. He's a Colossian This is the man who was mentioned in another letter the letter of Philemon and we know that that onesimus is A run was a runaway slave. This is a runaway slave who was brought to faith in Christ by Paul He had been saved under Paul's ministry returned to Philemon as a believer and Had become very dear to the apostle Paul and Philemon and in verses 10 through 13 Paul writes to to to him and says I appeal to you for my son onesimus whom I have begotten while in my chains who once was Unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. I'm sending him back You therefore receive him that is my own heart whom I wish to keep with me that on your behalf He might minister to me in my chains for the gospel So he speaks of anesimus a runaway slave who has whose name means profitable and it's interesting that when you read this In Philemon he says he was once unprofitable is now profitable He was not living up to his name But now he is and I'm sending him back to you because he's profitable to me and that shows us how God takes that which is Unprofitable and makes it profitable You may have had a reputation there are people who knew you when you were younger and they would say he's no good Unprofitable. She's no good. She's unprofitable. That's what that means To be unprofitable is to be no good and and they could say that of you. They could say they know good They're lazy. They don't work. They don't go to school. They're not faithful. They're a liar. They're a thief They're a drunk. They're a druggy. They're violent. They could have said all kinds of things about you But you know what God did God grabbed holding you God changed you God by the power of the Holy Spirit and the direction of his word Changed you and to become somebody unrecognizable To those who knew you best because God is a God who transforms the sinners into the likeness of his son And you have become profitable even though at one time you were unprofitable And that's how it works and he can change you so much that those who knew you best don't recognize you anymore My friend that I mentioned earlier his name is art art was in this church She's here still but art was in this church for a year for a year And I would come out and teach and he told his wife. I used to know a guy named David Rosales That's not him that couldn't be him because we used to hang around together And he knew me when I was young and it took him a year and his wife finally wrote and said you know my friend I might my husband art knew somebody named David Rosales went to high school you and she was asking Are you that man and I wrote back and I said yeah, and and we connected that way But that's how God can change you it isn't just my age has something to do with it, but it's still it's my reputation It's how I was transformed. I was once unprofitable You were once unprofitable But now you're profitable because God has a way of working in people's lives to take what you were Barrier and bring up a new life and it's called the new you you have been born again And that's how God works in our lives and that's why we bless the Lord and that's why as we look at him We're seeing a man by the name of onesimus and he's described as faithful and beloved He's one of you and this is someone I can trust and I'm and and and he's going to be able to bring a Report back to me. He goes on into verse 10 and says Erestarchus Erestarchus my fellow prisoner greets you with mark the cousin of Barnabas About whom you received instructions if he comes to you welcome him and so he moves on Erestarchus my fellow prisoner Paul had mentioned Gentile believers, but now he's mentioning three Jewish believers These three that we're going to be looking at were all Jewish who had come to faith in Jesus Christ as Messiah He begins with Erestarchus Erestarchus is a believer mentioned several times in the New Testament. He was a courageous believer He was a native of Thessalonica according to Acts 19 in chapter 20 When Paul was in Ephesus a silversmith named Demetrius had stirred up a riot a Large group of idol worshippers had seized Erestarchus and a man named Gaius, but they let him go Ultimately he accompanied Paul to Jerusalem. He went with Paul to Rome notice how it says though in verse 10 He is a fellow prisoner that could speak either in a physical sense or perhaps that he is spiritually in chains with him It would seem that when Paul was in prison in Rome Erestarchus remained with him Now according to tradition, he was martyred during the persecution of Nero, but Erestarchus for us is a model of commitment He wasn't ashamed of identifying with the gospel and he wasn't ashamed of identifying with the apostle Paul There are a lot of Christians today who are ashamed of admitting they're Christians Because the spirit of this age is so anti Christ They keep quiet. They don't say anything. It's not like we're supposed to go and pick fight spiritually But they do hide that that light under a basket. They don't want to be identified with the Nazarene But the bottom line is Erestarchus wasn't that way and he wasn't ashamed of Paul the prisoner of the Lord and He spent time with him and ministered to him and visited him Visiting a prisoner could be dangerous. A prison visitor was no longer one of the anonymous crowds and Someone might associate the visitor with the alleged crimes of the accused When early Christians obeyed their Lord and visited those who were in prison They did more than perform an inconvenient act Let down into the prison by rope. They left only at the pleasure of the guards This is a man who was not ashamed of Paul his chains are visiting or being identified with him This is a man who was committed to Christ He was a man who was a follower and it's been said when Christ calls a man. He bids him come and die Erestarchus was a genuine follower of the Lord and he took discipleship seriously You see we when we really follow the Lord with our heart we we cease living for ourselves We begin to seek first the kingdom of God Somebody said every day each of us invests our time money gifts talents energies Relationships and resources in the pursuit of something is your life invested in pursuing life Doesn't have a higher goal than your own personal wants and needs Do you find it hard to say no to you? Do you find yourself struggling with irritation? Impatience and anger when others unwittingly get in the way of what you want Are you still holding tightly on to your life as if it really did belong to you? It's been said he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that what you cannot lose and Erestarchus understood this completely So you have Erestarchus then you move on to Mark notice in verse 10 mark the cousin of Barnabas and he says about whom you received instructions if he comes to you welcome him Mark was brought to faith through the ministry of the Apostle Peter in 1st Peter 5 13 According to Acts 12 verse 12 the early church met in his mother Mary's house Mark is an example of restoration I want to share with you a little bit a little bit about him Mark as a young believer went on a ministry journey with Paul and Barnabas Acts 12 25 says Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry And they also took with them John whose surname was Mark in Acts 13 verse 5. It said When they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews They also had John John Mark as their assistant Now it seems that Mark was not prepared for such a difficult way of life Because while on an island called Paphos a sorcerer named Alamos tried to stop the gospel There was a Roman governor named Sergius Paulus and he had sent for Paul and Barnabas because he wanted to hear the message of the gospel But the Bible says that Alamos the sorcerer withstood them Seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith and in Acts 13 verses 9 through 11 it says Saul Who also is called Paul Filled with the Holy Spirit looked intently at him and said oh Full of all deceit and all fraud you son of the devil Wasn't he nice? You enemy of all righteousness Will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord and now indeed the hand of the Lord is upon you You shall be blind not seeing the sun for a time and Immediately a dark mist fell on him and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand Well after this it happened Mark decided he'd had enough of ministry Acts 13 13 says John departed and returned to Jerusalem The reason is not stated it could have been fatigue it could have been fear it could have been that he was homesick But he deserted and when he deserted the mission Paul did not want to take him on another journey In the book of Acts again in chapter 15 verses 36 through 39 it says this After some days Paul said to Barnabas Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work The contention became so sharp that they parted from one another and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed the Cyprus But Paul chose Silas and departed being commended by the brethren to the grace of God And he went through Syria and Silicia strengthening the churches. Now what a contrast Paul was an apostle a teacher a preacher a fearless evangelist And in some ways it seems he didn't seem to have the time for people who were not sold out This is where people who are gifted like Barnabas come in the name Barnabas means son of comfort Barnabas had the spiritual gifts of sex or exhortation in mercy And he was willing and able to take Mark under his spiritual wing and to nurture him While Paul went about preaching and evangelizing Barnabas gently encouraged Mark And it would seem that under the care of Barnabas Mark was brought to maturity Because Paul is now able to say when he comes to you Welcome him. So I want to make a point here application failure Does not have to be forever Thank God for Barnabas and thank God for the Barnabas is that we have in the body of Christ When somebody repents and seeks forgiveness God's response is immediate The minute a second the instant you say God be merciful and to me You are forgiven your fellowship with God is restored and you can move forward with him When it comes to ministers who have struggled in their faith the restoration is a different process in Mark's case it would not seem that it was a sin issue that had led him to return home He needed someone next to him to help him understand what it meant to serve the Lord Barnabas obviously loved him and Barnabas obviously helped him and in 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 8 It says above all things have fervent love for one another love will cover a multitude of sin We need Barnabas is in our life. Perhaps you are Barnabas, and I thank God for you We need Barnabas is in our life We need people who may understand the situation may not even agree with it But are able to comfort encourage us so that we can find the right path and move along There are some who know how to criticize But not many know how to comfort there are some who know how to tell you what you should be doing But don't know how to help you to get to do those things that you should be doing Sometimes we can look at people and know exactly what the answer is But sometimes the answer in that situation isn't me telling you what to do It's me listening to you as you tell me how you failed So that I can listen to you as you share with me and and I can weep with you when I need you I'll rejoice with you too But weep with you when you need someone to weep with you There are times that I have not needed a Bible answer. I've needed a Bible friend I have needed somebody who's next to me who can say listen God's with you. It'll be okay. You're not a failure You'll be all right I've needed that you've needed that forgive me I Get emotional because it's true You want to do right and sometimes you don't and you know what you did wrong. I Don't need a lecture at that moment. I need an armor on my shoulder. I need someone who says to me You may not be strong, but I'll stand with you and together We're gonna make it because my God is able to supply all that you need You simply need to turn back to him and instead of bringing that criticism We bring that encouragement We need barnabas in our life. We need men and women Who can actually share with us in our burden who can have compassion feeling the same thing and Empathy understanding the pain. We need that You see mark was a man who was had great promise But mark was a young man who had little experience Paul was a fiery evangelist. We got to reach the world for Jesus Christ Barnabas was a man who understood that but he also knew that broken vessels need healing and Sometimes and that vessel is broken. There needs to be some time for it to mend a Bone that breaks in your hand your foot your arm You can't walk on it the way that you used to it has to heal It will heal, but it needs time and in ministry There are times when I have needed just to sit down One of the biggest mistakes I have ever made in ministry was I didn't give myself a chance to mourn the death of my father I didn't take time off. I just kept my hand on the plow I kept working that field and I wept and I would weep in the pulpit because I didn't give myself any time To just deal with it. I never did one of the biggest mistakes I ever made I should have taken time off, but I told my wife I'm gonna keep my hand to the plow. I'm gonna keep on serving God. God is my portion He is my strength at the same time I failed to realize I was broken and I needed healing and from there I began to learn By going through that to give other people Compassionate understanding when they're broken, too That's how I learned some of the ministry that I now have that's how I was changed because this vessel was broken And I needed people in my life who could say it's okay. I'm with you I'm praying for you even though they didn't understand and some of the things you've gone through Haven't you been grateful when you've had a Barnabas in your life somebody who's there with you not judging you God knows you're judging yourself already But somebody who's there saying you know what I have great hope in the Lord and I have hope for you And I know God will do something in you. I know he will he will let's hold on together Thank God for the Barnabas is in the family of Christ We have so many who are armchair Quarterbacks so many who are watching the game from the comfort of their own home They sit in their armchair they turn on the TV and then they yell because the coach of the team isn't doing a good job And the wife gets to hear you say what an idiot shouldn't have done this he should have done that But see you're not I'm not in that game. I'm not in that box there I'm not there seeing what's going on. I'm not here the crowd, you know, I'm not I'm not seeing what's going on on the field I'm not seeing that I'm just sitting in the comfort of my home and have a kind of a look from a camera angle But that coach that manager is going through something entirely different and the church is very similar to that because sometimes the pastor is the Manager or the coach and he's going through things and he's trying to sort things out and be fair to everybody and do the right thing And you've got somebody you ought to been doing this and why didn't you do that? You should have done that He's just let's go we got to go someplace and you don't understand that sometimes the best thing you could have done is just write a letter saying I support you. I love you. May God give you wisdom as you go through this trial Those are Barnabas's we don't have enough of those in the church today We have people who are so quick to point out something wrong and so few to encourage people to do that Which is right and the Lord needs more Barnabas's I believe I think there are some But I think the the Lord would have more Barnabas's to stand up and say look it I understand Paul's a man. He's out there doing God's work. That's his call, but you know what I'll do I'll take you aside for a little while. I'll help you to heal and you're gonna be useful in the ministry later on and that's What took place? History didn't end there Ultimately Paul grew to have great regard for him It's been said the last thing somebody says about you is the most important thing they ever say about you and The last thing Paul ever said about Mark is found in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 11 Where he said get Mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for ministry Ultimately Mark was used by the Lord to write the gospel of Mark And then finally in verse 11 We see Jesus who is called justice He says these are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision They have proved to be a comfort to me Now this man here Jesus called justice is an unknown Outside of this passage He is one who is unknown to many But he's known to the one who matters The great majority of believers are not well known to others But they're known to God think about it for a minute. If I say name some prominent Christians I don't know who you'd name But I'll just go with the general one that always was one of the best known. Oh Billy Graham Or you may mention somebody like that. There aren't that many Billy Graham's are there They're not that many Chuck Smiths They're not that many that that are well known to everybody and we're amongst those who are unknowns We are unknowns One of the worst things a Christian can do is seek to be known You need to know that the only one who knows you the one who knows you is the one that counts and that's the Lord You need to realize that you can be unknown like Paul said he said this he said to the Corinthians as unknown and yet well known I'm unknown to many but well known to him and if we understand that then that helps us in our pursuit of Serving God when we get caught up wanting our names to be known to be notorious of free people to be able to mention Oh, yeah, I know him. Oh, I go to that church and for pastors. It's one of those hazards you have to avoid To be known The only one that matters is the one who's going to call you by name The one who's going to look at you and say ultimately well done my good and my faithful servant enter into the joy Come on in this is place prepare for you That's what we need to know and yet a lot of us are caught up wanting to be known Listen, it doesn't matter if somebody doesn't know you as long as he knows you if he knows you that Matters if he knows you serve him with all your heart because one day you're gonna look at him And he'll look back at you and he's gonna say welcome in and you're never gonna say but but nobody knew me doesn't matter I know you And so I look at this and I see this man. Jesus called justice He's only mentioned here in scripture But he's one of those many unknowns That was known by god Keep that in mind. It keeps you humble But he goes on and he finally says these are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of god Who are jewish? These are the only jews working alongside of me paul obviously felt abandoned by his jewish brethren and yet These have been of great comfort to me They have proved to be a comfort to me. Thank god for those who have proven to be a great comfort to us In closing i've been asked i've been in ministry for a long time. I've been asked How do you remain faithful for so many years? I've been a christian 40 48 years I've been in ministry for 45 Pastor in this church for 38 How have you remained faithful for so long? It's not me being faithful. It's he is faithful He loves me And when you're grateful to what god has done in your life when you're thankful for those who have been of good influence in you well, you just You can just keep serving the lord with joy Because he's always faithful and he's never let me down God has always been faithful. He is a faithful god And though there are friends that have Moved on and gone other places God has always remained right at the center God has always been there He always will be And one of these days and it's not that long from now We all are going to have an opportunity to look him Square in the Face if you will to see him as he is And to say to him thank you for your goodness to us Thank you for your goodness to me For you have been a blessing god You have been a blessing god And i love you lord with all of my heart Because that's what god has called us to do is to love him. Why because he first loved you