Scripture referenced 11 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
-
John 3:16-17 quoted during opening worship to declare God's love and salvation
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
Colossians 4
cited to identify Tychicus as a beloved brother and faithful minister
1 Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving;
3 praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;
4 that I may reveal it as I ought to speak.
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
7 All my affairs will be made known to you by Tychicus, the beloved brother, faithful servant, and fellow bondservant in the Lord.
8 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts,
9 together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you everything that is going on here.
10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you received commandments, “if he comes to you, receive him”),
11 and Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for God’s Kingdom who are of the circumcision, men who have been a comfort to me.
12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
13 For I testify about him, that he has great zeal for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis.
14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.
15 Greet the brothers who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the assembly that is in his house.
16 When this letter has been read among you, cause it to be read also in the assembly of the Laodiceans; and that you also read the letter from Laodicea.
17 Tell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.”
18 The salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand: remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Acts 16
cited to describe Paul picking up Timothy and circumcising him because of his Greek father
1 He came to Derbe and Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess who believed; but his father was a Greek.
2 The brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium gave a good testimony about him.
3 Paul wanted to have him go out with him, and he took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts; for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered the decrees to them to keep which had been ordained by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.
5 So the assemblies were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
6 When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them.
8 Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
9 A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.”
10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them.
11 Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis;
12 and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.
13 On the Sabbath day we went outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together.
14 A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul.
15 When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and stay.” So she persuaded us.
16 As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling.
17 Following Paul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!”
18 She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour.
19 But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
20 When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city,
21 and advocate customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
22 The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes from them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods.
23 When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely,
24 who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened.
27 The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!”
29 He called for lights, sprang in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas,
30 brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.
33 He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household.
34 He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God.
35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Let those men go.”
36 The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out, and go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!”
38 The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans,
39 and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city.
40 They went out of the prison, and entered into Lydia’s house. When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, and departed.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Acts 18
cited to introduce Apollos as an eloquent, scripture-competent Jew from Alexandria
1 After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth.
2 He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,
3 and because he practiced the same trade, he lived with them and worked, for by trade they were tent makers.
4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded Jews and Greeks.
5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
6 When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles!”
7 He departed there, and went into the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.
8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.
9 The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent;
10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”
11 He lived there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,
13 saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”
14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Jews, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you;
15 but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.”
16 So he drove them from the judgment seat.
17 Then all the Greeks laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things.
18 Paul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the brothers, and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow.
19 He came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.
20 When they asked him to stay with them a longer time, he declined;
21 but taking his leave of them, he said, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the assembly, and went down to Antioch.
23 Having spent some time there, he departed, and went through the region of Galatia, and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples.
24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures.
25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John.
26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
27 When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;
28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Acts 19
referenced as the setting when Apollos was at Corinth
1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples.
2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They said to him, “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 He said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”
4 Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with other languages and prophesied.
7 They were about twelve men in all.
8 He entered into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for a period of three months, reasoning and persuading about the things concerning God’s Kingdom.
9 But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
10 This continued for two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
11 God worked special miracles by the hands of Paul,
12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out.
13 But some of the itinerant Jews, exorcists, took on themselves to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
14 There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did this.
15 The evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?”
16 The man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17 This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. Fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
18 Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds.
19 Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted their price, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.
20 So the word of the Lord was growing and becoming mighty.
21 Now after these things had ended, Paul determined in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
22 Having sent into Macedonia two of those who served him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.
23 About that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way.
24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen,
25 whom he gathered together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, “Sirs, you know that by this business we have our wealth.
26 You see and hear, that not at Ephesus alone, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods, that are made with hands.
27 Not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be counted as nothing, and her majesty destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worships.”
28 When they heard this they were filled with anger, and cried out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
29 The whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel.
30 When Paul wanted to enter in to the people, the disciples didn’t allow him.
31 Certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent to him and begged him not to venture into the theater.
32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was in confusion. Most of them didn’t know why they had come together.
33 They brought Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. Alexander beckoned with his hand, and would have made a defense to the people.
34 But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all with one voice for a time of about two hours cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35 When the town clerk had quieted the multitude, he said, “You men of Ephesus, what man is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great goddess Artemis, and of the image which fell down from Zeus?
36 Seeing then that these things can’t be denied, you ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rash.
37 For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess.
38 If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a matter against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them press charges against one another.
39 But if you seek anything about other matters, it will be settled in the regular assembly.
40 For indeed we are in danger of being accused concerning today’s riot, there being no cause. Concerning it, we wouldn’t be able to give an account of this commotion.”
41 When he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
1 Corinthians 1
cited for Paul's plea for unity against factions following Paul or Apollos
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 to the assembly of God which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
5 that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;
6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;
8 who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
10 Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.
12 Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius,
15 so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name.
16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.)
17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void.
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.
22 For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;
27 but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;
28 and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are:
29 that no flesh should boast before God.
30 Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
31 that, according as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
1 Corinthians 3:5
cited to show Paul calling himself and Apollos servants, with God giving the growth
5 Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him?
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Galatians 2
cited to show that Titus was not forced to be circumcised despite pressure from false brothers
1 Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
2 I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.
3 But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
4 This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage;
5 to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you.
6 But from those who were reputed to be important (whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man)—they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me,
7 but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised
8 (for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles);
9 and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision.
10 They only asked us to remember the poor—which very thing I was also zealous to do.
11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned.
12 For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy; so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they didn’t walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do?
15 “We, being Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners,
16 yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.
17 But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not!
18 For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker.
19 For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
21 I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Ephesians 2:8-10
cited to contrast salvation by grace through faith with good works as God's prepared purpose for believers
8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, that no one would boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Titus 1:1-4
cited to show Paul opening the letter with grace and identifying himself as servant and apostle
1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s chosen ones, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,
2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began;
3 but in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior;
4 to Titus, my true child according to a common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Titus 3:14
cited calling the church people to devote themselves to good works for urgent needs
14 Let our people also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor A closed out the letter to Titus by paying attention to the real people named in its final verses, and what those people show us about how the church actually works. The message moved from a handful of first-century names to a Princeton Seminary study to a roadside breakdown in Wichita, all in service of one idea: that devoting yourself to good works means leaving room to see the person in front of you.
What was said
Paul ends his letter to Titus by naming names. Tychicus, a faithful and beloved brother who carried letters and encouragement across the ancient world. Artemis, mentioned only this once, unknown to history. Zenas, a lawyer, one verse. Apollos, the eloquent orator from Alexandria who watered what Paul had planted, and whom some in Corinth were following a little too closely. Paul names them all without ranking them. He calls himself and Apollos both servants, equally assigned, equally dependent on God for any growth that came from their work.
Paul tells Titus to speed Zenas and Apollos on their way and to see that they lack nothing. That is Christian hospitality in its plainest form. He is not asking Titus to vet them or quiz them. He is asking the church on Crete to fund them, feed them, and send them well. First Baptist tries to do the same for the missionaries and travelers who pass through, because the people doing that work should not be left short on account of the people they are serving.
He also tells the church to let their people learn to devote themselves to good works, not to earn anything, but to help in cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. The good works were prepared beforehand, as Ephesians 2:10 puts it. We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The question is whether we will walk in them when they appear.
The Princeton Seminary study from 1973 made the point plainly. Seminarians were sent across a campus to deliver a talk on the Good Samaritan. On the way, they passed a person in obvious distress. Only ten percent of those who felt they were running late stopped to help. The people who felt unhurried stopped far more often. The hurry itself was the obstacle, not the intention.
Comparing Timothy and Titus along the way, Pastor A noted that the two men were similar in their faithfulness and their closeness to Paul, but different in temperament. Timothy seemed to need a good deal of encouragement. Paul warned him against fear, told him to receive no more grief about his age, advised him on his health, and steered him away from situations where his empathy might be used against him. Titus seemed to need none of that. One short letter, and he was good to go. Neither one is more important in the story. The church spread, as one historian put it, through the anonymous and unchronicled witness.
The sermon closed with a story from January 2007. Pastor A and Tanya were driving from Mexico to Jackson Hole when they stopped at a gas station in Wichita. A man approached speaking Spanish, his truck broken down, lights on, temperature climbing. It turned out to be a failed idler pulley on a Chevrolet 1500, a nine-dollar part. As they worked on it, the conversation turned to where each of them was from, and it emerged that the man and his family lived in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, the same town. His wife already knew Tanya. None of that connection would have happened if they had decided they had somewhere to be. The point was not the repair. The point was the room left in the day to do it.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor A pointed out that Paul simply says 'I've decided to spend the winter at Nicopolis' without saying he waited for a specific word from the Holy Spirit about it. What does that tell us about how God guides ordinary decisions, and how does that compare to the way you tend to approach planning?
- Paul describes Tychicus as a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and an encourager, while Apollos is known as an eloquent speaker, and Zenas as a lawyer with deep knowledge of the law. What does it say about how the church works that Paul treats all three as equally valuable servants?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 8,078 words
Share this message
Every word on these came out of the message. Download one and post it anywhere.
