Scripture referenced 11 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Colossians 4:7-8 describing Tychicus as beloved brother, faithful minister, and encourager sent by Paul
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,
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Keep this verse
Acts 20:4
listing Tychicus among those who accompanied Paul from Macedonia
4 These accompanied him as far as Asia: Sopater of Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians; Gaius of Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.
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Acts 18:24-26
describing Apollos as eloquent, competent in scripture, taught more precisely by Aquila and Priscilla
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.
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1 Corinthians 1:10-13
Paul's appeal for unity against divisions among those claiming to follow Paul, Apollos, or Cephas
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?
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1 Corinthians 3:5-9
Paul and Apollos described as servants, one plants one waters but God gives 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?
6 I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.
7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.
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Acts 16:1-3
Paul meeting Timothy at Lystra and circumcising him because of the Jews who knew his father was Greek
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.
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Galatians 2:1-5
Titus not forced to be circumcised despite pressure from false brothers seeking to bring believers into slavery to works
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.
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Ephesians 2:8-10
saved by grace through faith not works, created in Christ Jesus for good works God prepared beforehand
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.
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Titus 3:12-15
the closing verses of Titus naming Artemis, Tychicus, Zenas, and Apollos and ending with grace
12 When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me to Nicopolis, for I have determined to winter there.
13 Send Zenas, the lawyer, and Apollos on their journey speedily, that nothing may be lacking for them.
14 Let our people also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful.
15 All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
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Titus 1:1-4
Paul's opening greeting naming himself servant and apostle, addressing Titus as true child in a common faith
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.
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Titus 2:11-12
used as the benediction, grace of God offering salvation and teaching self-controlled godly living
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
12 instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age;
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Nathan closed out the series in Titus by working through the final four verses of the letter, paying close attention to every person Paul names in his sign-off. The through-line of the message was simple: God builds His church through ordinary, obedient people, some well-known and some barely mentioned, and our job is to pay attention to them and to the needs in front of us.
What was said
Paul's closing lines are not just a formality. When he tells Titus he will send either Artemas or Tychicus, he has not decided yet, and Pastor Nathan pointed out that Paul treats that undecided detail plainly rather than wrapping it in spiritual language. He is a real person writing about real places and real plans, and that ordinariness is part of the point.
Each name in the passage got its own moment. Tychicus shows up in other letters as a trusted messenger and encourager. Apollos, well-known from Acts and First Corinthians, was an eloquent preacher who understood scripture and was humble enough to be corrected by Aquila and Priscilla. Zenas the lawyer, mentioned nowhere else in the Bible, was likely an expert in Jewish law. Sent together, Pastor Nathan observed, the two would have made a formidable team for planting in a new place.
Paul's instruction to Titus, to give Zenas and Apollos every resource so they lack nothing on their way, landed as a description of what First B already tries to do with missionaries passing through. The larger command behind it, "let our people learn to devote themselves to good works," was held up not as a path to salvation but as the Spirit-led obedience of people who already belong to Christ.
Pastor Nathan then compared Timothy and Titus as people. Timothy shows up 24 times in scripture including throughout Acts, was empathetic to the point of being vulnerable to manipulation, and needed repeated encouragement to be bold. Titus is absent from Acts entirely, possibly because Luke never names his own relatives, and comes across as naturally direct. Paul's letter to Titus is mostly business; his letters to Timothy are far more tender and take twice as long to make the same points because Paul is continually building Timothy up.
A Princeton study from 1973 came in next. Seminarians were told to prepare a talk on the Good Samaritan and walk from one building to another to deliver it. An actor in obvious distress was placed on the only path between the two buildings. Of those told they were already late, only ten percent stopped to help. The ones with no time pressure stopped far more often. The point was not the study itself but the question it raises about whether busyness has become the normal condition, and what gets walked past as a result.
To close, Pastor Nathan told the story of stopping to help a stranded motorist in Wichita in January 2007, on a long drive home from paying employees at the school for the deaf where he and his family were missionaries in Mexico. The man he helped turned out to be from Rio Bravo, the same town. His wife was a neighbor. The convergence, Pastor Nathan said, is the kind of thing God prepares beforehand, referencing Ephesians 2:10 and the idea that believers are God's workmanship, created for good works He arranged in advance. The caution at the end was honest: he had driven past Judy helping someone broken down the day before and had not stopped. The call was to slow down enough to notice people, the named and the unnamed alike.
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 Jonathan compared Timothy and Titus as two very different people whom Paul trusted for very different assignments. What does it tell you about how God works that He used both a reticent, empathetic man and a bold, direct man to build the same church?
- Paul told Titus to see that Zenas and Apollos lacked nothing as they passed through, and Pastor Jonathan connected that to how First B tries to care for missionaries and people in urgent need. What does it look like practically in your own life to be ready for that kind of giving?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 9,215 words
0:00
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are you? Good. Good. We're gonna sing a man from the vestibule.
0:06
I'm gonna go grab someone. Bring him in from the vestibule. Right, here we go. So, would you stand with us? We're going to sing How Great Thou Art starting off this morning.
0:26
How how great thou art? How often do you think of this song riding around this valley? Hymn number 147, if
0:37
Speaker 2you want your part. Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider my soul my savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art then sings my soul my savior God to thee how great thou
4:45
Speaker 1Amen. One of the things that makes him so great is his faithfulness and here, we're going to sing about it. Great is that faithfulness. One thirty nine. Amen.
7:57
Y'all can have a seat. Thank you, Scott and Judy. I've got a few announcements. Not many actually today but Monday nights at first B. Nick, before you leave the
8:06
Speaker 2room. Hi.
8:07
Speaker 1There's Nick. Nick is sitting in tomorrow night for the message part of the meal, music, and message of Monday night. Carl ran a triathlon, by the way. Carl ran a triathlon yesterday in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. If you ever hear that I have run a triathlon, send a search party looking for me because that is a lie.
8:25
Alright? But Carl is gonna be out of the pulpit. Nick is gonna be in, and you are talking about? Asking. Asking, seeking, knocking.
8:33
Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Meal, music, and message tomorrow night down the hall in the fellowship hall, 06:00 every Monday night. Monday nights at first b. Hey, and speaking of Monday nights at first B, four weeks from tomorrow night, Awana kicks off.
8:47
So yay, it's starting again. We'll put the big circle, the play circle down on the floor here, and we will start the process again of pouring scripture into the heart or the minds by way of the minds of kids here because kids do matter to God. So, that's starting four weeks. If you'd like to volunteer, let us know. If you are a returning volunteer, I'll just say thank you.
9:08
Cowboy Church, I mentioned this last week. We got a lot of calls about it because it was a little bit odd and out of the ordinary. There was a horse whisperer. He was gonna do a demonstration while breaking a green horse. Apparently, at some point during the week, he he hurt himself.
9:22
I don't know if he's breaking a horse. I don't know what happened exactly, but that horse whispering demonstration has been canceled. So it's not going to happen as it was scheduled to happen next week, but so that's been canceled or at least postponed for a time. We'll we'll bring you back into the loop when we find out about it. We are looking for Bible study leaders and small groups.
9:43
So we're looking for them in the sense that if they exist, we'd like to know where they are, not to control but just to know. So we're looking for that, but we're also looking to have more small groups start up. So if you feel like, you know what, I feel like we ought to be getting together and I'm willing to lead it, or I'm thinking about being a part of a team that's willing to lead, if you'll let Diane know or let Nick know in the office, it helps us kind of gather it all together and we've got tons of resources we can help you with the process. So let us know. Call or contact Nick, assistant at first b jackson dot org.
10:16
You can look in your bulletin if you want to see any information about new Bible studies that we know about like the Hyces have answered this call and there's going to be a study, a marriage study that's starting soon. Information will be in your bulletin about that. Instead of announcing that it's coming, I'm gonna announce that it's been. There was a Lagoon youth trip that happened day before yesterday and yesterday. Everybody came back safe and sound.
10:39
That if you could see the faces in that picture right there, it looks overjoyed. There's a lot of a lot of fun that was had down at Lagoon yesterday and on the road on the way there and back. So that was fun. They're preparing and kinda practicing for the first B family camp out. It is gonna be the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth.
10:58
So this is four nights up there at Coulter Bay. There's plenty of room. If you wanna go, you can be a part of this, okay? They've assured me there's plenty of room at these sites. If you will let us know, if you wanna let us know when you're planning on being there, it might help us with preparing food and stuff like that.
11:15
So if you're thinking, well, I can go up for the evening, eat supper, but I'm not spending the night, or I'd love to go out for two nights but not the other two nights. If you want to let us know, that'd be great and we can try to arrange for that. You can talk to Brian McCooey and there's his phone number and it's also in your bulletin. But that is happening this week, sixteenth through the nineteenth, first big camp up. What's that?
11:42
Prayer request. I I I right now media will get to that some other time. But for all other announcements and for prayer request. I see when I looked out this morning, I saw three people that I thought, I've been praying for them and here they are. Been praying for them and here they are and I'm thankful that we have an ongoing prayer chain that Jane helps, Jane Kranenberg helps with but we have a ongoing list too and it's so nice to be able to put it on your refrigerator, remember people in the morning when you're getting ready to go.
12:08
If you didn't get a bulletin on the way in, you can get one on the way out but right now, would you stand up and just greet one another? We got folks from all over the place here this morning. Find somebody from somewhere else.
12:46
Speaker 2Been born again in Jesus name and in Jesus name I come to you to share
14:26
Speaker 1That's a good song. That fits with almost every message, doesn't it? It's gonna fit with the one today. Remind me to pull this back out in a minute. Lamb of God.
14:36
Hymn number three zero two.
14:48
Speaker 2Only son no sin to hide but you have sent him from your side to walk this guilty sorrow and to become
17:20
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. We'll invite the frontline team to come forward Thank you. Would you all pray with me? Precious lamb of God, I I thank you Lord God that you sent Jesus.
17:39
Thank you, Jesus for for in obedience and in the power of the spirit, walk in that perfect life and being the ultimate sacrifice, the lamb of God. Lord, I thank you for all the provision that you have made spiritually speaking in that sacrificial death and physically speaking, financially speaking, and the resources that you've given to us. Lord, I cannot think about our life without thinking of our life eternal and above but there are so many who still don't know. So, Lord God, would you advance your good gospel through this little fellowship, this congregation right here? As we place our tithes and offerings in these plates, Lord, would you multiply them to do your kingdom's work to the uttermost parts, the ends of the earth.
18:32
Starting right here, but going to the absolute other side of this big blue ball. Lord God, would you do that? Would you do it in our hearts too? Would you use our walk and our words, our resources, our time? In Jesus name, would you advance and build your church through us?
18:50
Amen. Thank you very much. So they attended last week, and she's playing this week. They're just passing through, but I do appreciate that, Linda, using this this goes along with the sermon too, kind of all of it does. Titus three twelve through 15.
22:31
This is the last four verses in the book of Titus three, chapter three twelve through 15, and you think this is the end of a letter. It's just gonna be the sign off, that's it. And and that may be, But today, I titled the sermon, Paying Attention to People, and that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna pay attention to people in this last little blurb from Titus. We've been going in this chronological study and we're going in the order that they were written.
22:57
Titus now, first Peter will be the next book that we go to, but in Titus three twelve through 15, it starts off like this. When I send, that's Paul, right? The apostle Paul writing from somewhere probably in Greece, not quite yet to where he was going, but he was writing to Titus on the island of Crete and he says, when I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, I'm a stop right there and pay attention to people, Tychicus. Do we know Tychicus? Have we heard of him before?
23:25
Yeah. We've heard of him before. In our study here over the last five and a half years, we have seen Tychicus before. We saw him in Colossians most recently. Tychicus will tell you about all about my activities.
23:36
He is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. So, that's how Paul describes Tychicus. If we're paying attention to the names and who they are, this is the guy. I've sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your heart. So, he's an encourager too.
23:53
He understands what's going on where Paul is and he's going to spread that love that he may encourage your hearts and with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you, they will tell you of everything that's taken place here. Titchicus is kind of a messenger for Paul. He delivers a couple of the letters. We see him in Acts 20 listed in the list of a bunch of people starting with when it tells about Paul's travel plans. After an uproar, he departs from Macedonia, and then Sopeter the Berean son of Pyrrhus accompanied him, and of the Thessalonians Aristarchus and Secundus and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.
24:34
So we know that he's from Asia. Tychicus and Trophimus are. Tichicus is listed right there. They went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. This is from Acts 20.
24:45
We see Tichicus. We also see he was the bearer of the letter to the Ephesians so that you may also know how I am and what I'm doing. Tichicus, the beloved brother in faithful ministry says it again, and the Lord will tell you everything. He is a messenger. For Paul, I'll have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your heart.
25:05
So, he's an encourager. Tichicus, we know Tichicus. How about Artemis? Do you know Artemis? If you hear Artemis out loud, you might be tempted to think of the Greek God Artemis, but Artemis, the Greek God is female and the same thing as Diana, okay?
25:19
Artemis of the Ephesians, but that's one thing you might think. You might think Artemis Ward if you're a revolutionary war buff. You know anything about the revolutionary war? That's an Artemis Ward. Humor guy with a u, Artemis Ward, kinda preceded Mark Twain.
25:36
Mark Twain thought this was one of the funniest guys ever, and he took a little bit of his affect and his look from him. Artemis Ward, but that's not the guy we're talking about in the Bible. My first thought when I thought of Artemis is this, Artemis Pyle. He was the drummer for Lynyrd Skynyrd. I have to be honest, that's that's that's what I thought of immediately.
25:56
And does he not look like a biblical character? He does, doesn't he? So that's Artemis Pyle. Well, his picture can stay up there for right now because we don't know what Artemis looked like. We actually don't know anything more about Artemis at all.
26:09
We do know that it his name actually is a shortened form of gift of Artemis. So that speaks to having pagan parents, right, Greek background, so does the name actually, but Artemis and Tychicus, Paul says, when I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, Paul had not decided yet who he's gonna send. He just was ending this letter to Titus. Hey, when I send one of these guys to you, do your best, Titus, to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. So he's got two decisions already that he's mentioning right off the bat.
26:46
He's like, I'm gonna send either Artemis or Titus because I'm not sure who I'm gonna send yet. Do your best to come to me at Nicopolis. I decided. It's not over spiritualizing things to say, the Holy Spirit hasn't revealed it to me yet or I'm praying about this. He's just saying, I'm gonna send one of these guys, Anne.
27:01
I think I'm gonna spend the winter over here in Nicopolis. It's a real person talking about real places. I like I like that. I like to feel like it's not hyper everything's not hyper spiritual. There is an island.
27:13
It's called Crete. Titus was the guy that Paul left there in order to make sure that everything that was not orderly was brought into order. He was supposed to appoint elders that had certain qualifications, and that's what the first chapter, second part of the second was too. So on Crete is where Titus is, and Paul is saying he's gonna winter in Nicopolis. I actually said in the first service that, you know, it's not a long way up through here, and somebody who has been on a boat in this area said you'd never go on this West Coast.
27:47
Go this way. You go this way, you're protected the whole way, and then you make the last little bit by land. But it's not a terrible you can't swim there, but it's not a terrible journey from Creek to Nicopolis. He was gonna send one of those guys kind to relieve Titus and then have him come out, maybe spend the winter with him at Nicopolis. Nicopolis is, you know Nike, the word Nike for shoes, it's victory.
28:10
That's what it means. And Polis means city, so it's the city of victory. And it was named that or made up by this guy. This is Octavius. He was celebrating a victory that he had won over Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and he, this guy, Octavius, won this victory at Actium, and he made three years later in commemoration of that event, he made Nicopolis the name of this place, city of victory, Victoryville, and it's in honor of Octavius who we know now, all of y'all have read this in the book of Luke, and who made forth a decree that all the world should be taxed?
28:52
Caesar Augustus. Defining moment in Rome's history, it had been a republic, and it had had some tyrants, but it was a republic. It had a senate. It had a way of dealing with tyrants, but at this point, the Battle of Actium, when he won that, really Octavius became Caesar Augustus. Caesar Augustus, '20 seven.
29:12
He reigns from about '27 or so AD up until after Christ's birth, but when we hear about him in the book of Luke, it's Caesar Augustus declared and he was the king. He was the guy. So that was a major point, but he names it Nicopolis. So he's asking for Titus to come after he sends a replacement, you know, after he sends somebody that he knows that he can trust, Artemis or Tychicus, then come on up and spend the winter with me here in Nicopolis. Do your best to get here.
29:44
Do your best to speed Zenas. Zenas actually that first Artemis was a gift of Artemis, and then Zenas is gift of Zeus, if you had to track it down. That's what it means. Both of these are pagan background people or Gentile background people. It appears, we're paying attention to people.
30:01
Do your best to speed Zenas. Now you might think of Zena, the warrior princess, but this is not Zena. That's spelled with an x. This is not that one. It's Zenith the Lawyer.
30:10
So Zenith the Lawyer is who he's talking about. Do you know anything about Zenith the Lawyer? Me neither. Nobody else knows anything about Zenith the Lawyer. He's like Artemis.
30:22
He's only mentioned one time. Artemis mentioned just that once. Zenith is mentioned in the Bible just this once, but he still was a part of what God was doing. The lawyer tradition tells us that he was an expert in the Jewish law, Torah. He was an expert in Jewish law, not necessarily like a civil lawyer.
30:43
Might have been that too, but do your best to speed on their way Zenith the lawyer and Apollos. Now, do we know about Apollos? We're stopping at every name here. Do we know about Apollos? Yeah.
30:55
If you read the New Testament, you run into the name Apollos quite a few times actually, 10 times that I count, and one of them is right here. Now a Jew named Apollos, this is Acts 18, a native of Alexandria. We know where he's from. He came to Ephesus. We know where he ministered.
31:10
He was an eloquent man. We know what he did. He was an orator, really, really good speaker apparently. He was competent in the scriptures, so he understood what the Bible had to say and he had been instructed in the way of the Lord. He was a Christian.
31:25
Being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus. That's high praise, right? Though he only knew of the baptism of John. That tells us a lot about him right there, about Apollos. What I like about Apollos is Aquila and Priscilla explained the way to him more precisely, and he humbly accepted it.
31:49
I like that. So he's a humble guy. And while it happened while Apollos was at Corinth, he ministered there. First Corinthians one, if you look at the bottom part right there. I appeal to you.
32:01
This is that great appeal for unity in the very beginning of first Corinthians. I appeal to you brothers and sisters by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree that you come together, that there be no divisions among you but that you be united in the same mind and of the same judgment for it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, well, I follow Paul or I follow Apollos or I follow Cephas. Now, in that list, Paul and Cephas is Peter and Apollos is listed right there among him. He's a pretty good speaker, wouldn't you say?
32:37
I I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Cephas or I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?
32:44
Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? No. He's saying, come together. All of us are servants. Paul, Apollos, Cephas, right?
32:53
We're all servants of Christ. First Corinthians three five to nine, he makes it even more explicit. What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants.
33:03
We're both servants. He's saying they're equal. Through whom you have believed. Yes, you came to know Jesus by either Paul's ministry or Apollos' ministry but that is as the Lord assigned to each. There are some good works that God has established for each of us to walk in.
33:19
Do you do you believe that? You agree? I planted, Paul says, Apollos watered. He was effective speaker, a minister that understood the scriptures. I planted, Paul says, Apollos water, but God gave the growth.
33:35
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we're God's fellow workers. He's linking himself together. Do you get this?
33:50
Paul was not high and mighty. He was seeing himself as a humble servant and he also saw Apollos that way But you are God's field. You are God's building. God is building up. Christ is building his church, and he's using his obedient servants to do that.
34:07
And Paul list Apollos that way. So do your best, Titus, to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way. And think about that. So Apollos is an incredibly eloquent speaker that understands scripture pretty well, but Zenas is a lawyer that knows it down to the very last little jot and tittle. You understand?
34:25
Wouldn't that be an effective team to send them to a new place, a new tribe, a new place that has a synagogue and go in and teach and preach from the Old Testament? Pretty effective team. So he's saying to Titus, do your best, everything that you've got, all the resources that your churches there have, do your best to spin Zenith, theologian, and Apollos on their way. Now we don't know where they were headed. Doesn't matter where they're headed.
34:52
He had given Zenas and Apollos instructions to go somewhere, and when they left Paul's side, they were going to Crete first, and then from there, who knows where they were going? We're not sure. It could have been Jerusalem, could've been over here, could've been Antioch, could've been pretty much anywhere. But he said, while they're here, you do your best to see that they lack nothing. Take care of these missionaries.
35:17
Now in in this church, we we really, really, really try to take care of missionaries. We try to take care of them. If we know about a need, we try to meet the need. When they're passing through where we don't even know where it is that God is sending them next, we try to take care of em while they're here and speed them on the way to wherever it is that God has called them to. Do you all agree with that?
35:35
That's what we try to do. So I love that. I love to hear what we're trying our best to do echoed in scripture. I I like to hear it in scripture first and then try to do it, but it's nice that it's confirming when you're doing it. See that they lack nothing.
35:49
And and I love this, let our people, that's let our people, the people in the churches that have accepted Christ, let the church folk learn to devote themselves to good works. Now are good works gonna get you to heaven? No. Are good works something you can produce and muster on your own? No.
36:09
But they are things that you can obediently do. Does that make sense? Do you get that? It is it's a fine line right there. You can't produce goodness just because you just want to but you do have within you, if you are a believer in Christ, a still small voice, the Holy Spirit speaking and saying, do this And when you do that, in obedience, God blesses.
36:33
He blesses you and he blesses other people. Let our people to learn to devote themselves to consciously be looking for opportunities for spirit led good works so as to help in cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. So as to help in cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. One of my favorite things about being here, and I like a lot of my job. I didn't think I'd like preaching, but I end up that I do.
37:03
It's good because there's a lot of this. One of the things I really like is that we'd have a benevolence fund that y'all fill during the old bills time, and that's coming up. I didn't plan this. We're just going in order. But during old bills, y'all give to old bills and we use all the funds that come out of that old bills fund run fund to go to benevolence, local benevolence.
37:24
So when someone comes in and says, I just got here, my car broke down, I don't have a place for the night, I wasn't planning on staying somewhere this expensive, I believe how much a hotel room costs for one night. Can you help? Usually we can, you know? When somebody has a situation where they have trouble medically or they have trouble mechanically, they have trouble. However, when they come in and say this is what's going on, can you help?
37:51
I can say yes, Diane can say yes, because y'all have learned to devote yourself to good works and to be ready in cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. It's so I think of when you have to send somebody away, James says, you know, somebody comes to you hungry and cold and you say, go be well fed and warmed. No. Yes, here's a blanket, here's a jacket, and here's some food. We can help you while you're here in cases of urgent need.
38:19
Let our people learn. Let first be, and the visitors, learn to devote themselves to good works. All of those who are with me, send greetings to you. I think at this point, Artemis and Tychicus are still with him and he's deciding which one to send but he says, all of em who are with me, send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith.
38:41
Zenith, the lawyer, and Apollos probably carried this letter from Paul to these people. So, those who love us in the faith and then he ends with just this simple sentence and it's simple but it is profound. Grace be with all of y'all. Grace be with you all. Now, grace is God's riches at Christ expense.
39:00
That little acrostic, my brother loves that. He says it all the time. God's riches at Christ expense. It is the unmerited favor of God. All of us have sinned, fall short of the glory of God.
39:10
Yet, he gives. Yet, he still gives. He gave Christ. Grace be with you all. Paul always ends with grace and I would say in any interaction that we have with people, it is best if we can start with grace and end with grace.
39:26
It's always a point at the beginning of a letter and the end of a letter. I don't think it's just a salutation. It's just a meaningless little form. I think it's real. It's not the normal way that they would have ended a letter at this time.
39:39
Paul changes the way that you end instead of greetings. He says grace, unmerited favor to you. He started off this way. Paul, a servant of God. So, he introduces himself, an apostle of Jesus Christ who he is for the sake.
39:58
This is why I'm sending it. For the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness and hope of eternal life which God who never lies promised before the ages began and at the proper time, he made it known, manifested it in his word through the proclamation or preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our savior to Titus. That's his recipient, my true child in a common faith. There he's dear to him and he starts off grace. Grace and peace from God the father and Christ Jesus our savior.
40:31
He starts with it. He ends with it and throughout, it's a very gracious, gracious, gracious book. Okay, now's a pop quiz. Pull out one clean sheet of paper. No, I'm just kidding.
40:40
You don't have to pull out the paper, but we're going to compare and contrast. Now, a lot of y'all are visiting and I know that, but we've been through the book of first Timothy, and then we've been through the book of Titus in the past eight or nine weeks probably. So if you had to compare and contrast Timothy and Titus, could you do it? You feel like you could? Based on the New Testament, compare these two guys.
41:03
So Timothy and Titus. Timothy is mentioned 24 times. A lot of those are in Acts where he is going or coming from somewhere to somewhere else. It seems odd, but Titus is not mentioned at all in the book of Acts, but he's mentioned 14 times throughout scripture. I'll get to that in a minute.
41:20
They're called, Timothy is called his true child in the faith and Titus is called a true child in a common faith. So, they were dear like a son. They were younger, both of them younger than Paul and they were like children to him in the faith. Some people believe and I think that it's probably true that Timothy was probably converted on Paul's first missionary journey and then picked up to go along with him on the second. Titus was probably someone he led to the Lord although we can't be certain of that.
41:49
They were considered to be like like adopted children though. Timothy had a Greek father and Jewish mother. Let me see. I'll get to that in a minute too. Timothy, the trusted co laborer.
42:02
Titus is listed as a trusted co laborer. Timothy was sent as a personal representative to Ephesus, so he was carrying Paul's authority with him with a seal, no doubt about it. Really, really high commendation, and Titus was sent as a personal representative, kingdom representative too, but to Crete, the whole island. Timothy was responsible for the churches in that city that they be guarded and warned against false teaching. So he was directed to combat false teaching specifically in Ephesus, and Titus was responsible for churches on the whole island of Crete directed to combat false teaching, and both of them were like that.
42:43
Timothy's almost twice as long as Titus. First Timothy's almost twice as long. It's contrasting these guys though. Look at this. Timothy plays a major role in the historical narrative of Acts.
42:56
We see him all over the place. He's Paul's running buddy and we see it. But Titus is not mentioned in the historical narrative of Acts at all. Now with Timothy being mentioned 10 times in the book of Acts and and him not at all, some people have come to speculate, and it is speculation, that Titus was probably Luke's brother. He may have been a close family relation to Luke because Luke never mentions himself in the book of Acts either.
43:19
The closest that he gets is saying we. Maybe. It's hard to say. Not mentioned in the book of Acts at all, but he was definitely in there doing these things because it's described in other books. Timothy had a Greek father and a Jewish mother.
43:38
So, the way that the Jews count your lineage is through your mom and so he was considered to be Jewish but having that Greek father was kind of to the Jews, the real real Orthodox Jews seeing that would be like, ugh. He's kind of a half breed. Really? Titus is a full pagan, gentile, Greek, whatever. He may have believed in his family may have believed in the Greek gods.
44:08
Actually, this is an interesting quirk of history that the guy who helped decisively win the the battle of Actium was also named Titus. Greek father, Jewish mother for Timothy, full Gentile heritage for Titus. Timothy was circumcised by Paul. So, was not circumcised until his teens, probably his late teens, not at all and then, you know, his Greek father may not have allowed it. We don't know but when it came time to minister, here it is.
44:36
Acts 16, Paul came also to Derby. This is the second missionary journey and to Lystra and a disciple was there. It was a guy who had accepted Christ and was following named Timothy, son of a Jewish woman and was a believer but his father was a Greek. So, Jewish background, Christian, mother, father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium and Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him.
45:02
He needed that youth and vigor and he wanted for someone to go with him and help. Paul wanted Timothy to come with him and he took him and he circumcised him and why? It says why? Because of the Jews who were in those places for they all knew that his father was a Greek. So he had the mark already against him, right?
45:21
His father's a Greek. He's not a real Jew. And so coming into the synagogue would have already been a little problematic and put him on edge, but Paul decided as a matter of ministry to people who were not believers that they would circumcise Timothy so that he would be a more effective minister to people outside. To the Jew, I became as a Jew to win the Jews. Okay?
45:42
Are you with me? It is hot in here, and y'all are sluggish. I'll just have to say. It's hotter up here. I promise.
45:51
Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him as they went on the because of the Jews who were in those places, they all knew his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decision that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the face and they increased in numbers daily. So when Paul was taking Timothy into these places, he was trying to minister to people who were not yet believers. Now, Titus was not circumcised and it was very much a subject that mattered in this life.
46:20
We see in Galatians two, then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem and bar with Barnabas taking Titus along with me. I went up because of the revelation and set before them, though privately before those who seemed influential, the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure I was not running or had not run-in vain. But even Titus who was with me was not forced to be circumcised though he was a Greek. Now he was not, and he didn't ever do that. He never did do that.
46:49
We see why in the next verse. Yet because of the false brothers, there were folks who were claiming to be Christians. They were Jewish background Christians, no doubt. Might call them Judaizers because of false brothers who secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus so that they might bring us into slavery, works, works, works. To them, we did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
47:19
It is not by works that you're saved. It cannot be by works. It doesn't matter how holy or consecrated that work may have been in antiquity. It is not by works that you're saved. So if you look at Timothy, I've added the last three over here and the last three over here at the same time.
47:37
Timid, sickly, maybe even mousy. Do you get that from reading Timothy? Oh, don't be afraid. You're gonna be fine. Take a little wine for your stomach.
47:50
When you receive Timothy in other books it says, when you receive Timothy, don't don't don't be ugly to him, alright? Treat him well. He's my representative. He's a good guy. He's he gets these great commendations that are long.
48:02
I could give you chapter and verse, but trust me, he does. He doesn't do that for Titus. Generally, Timothy was a bit reticent. He says, be bold. Don't don't be afraid.
48:14
He hasn't given you a spirit of fear. You have the authority. You're right. Your thinking is right on this. Your heart is right on this.
48:21
Declare it as gospel and hold on to gospel. He was a bit reticent naturally, and he was extremely empathetic and merciful, which may have left him subject to manipulation. In the in the early service day, I said, I am a mercy guy. I I probably am more like Timothy than I am Titus. Might look bold up here, but if you give me a sad story, I will believe it.
48:42
Alright? Generally, Titus was pretty bold with no real real indication that somebody might manipulate him. He was a pretty strong witness, and when Paul says, alright, this is the way it's gotta be. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, just like that. Half the distance takes Timothy takes twice as long to tell Timothy because he's gotta soften everything and build him up the whole time.
49:07
He sent two letters to Timothy, Paul, over the last couple of years of his life. One of them we have read was first Timothy, and it was mainly instructive. And then the second Timothy is really personal. It's an older man calling out to somebody that he knows loves him, true child in the faith. It's really personal.
49:26
That's actually not the next book we're going to. We're going to First Peter next in our chronology. But he wrote two letters to Timothy, very tender letters. And then there's just this one short letter to tie it. It's mostly business.
49:39
It's business, the business of the gospel. There were issues that were happening in Ephesus that were not happening as far as we can tell, in Crete. So some of the issues with ladies in Ephesus, it was a deal. It was an issue. Merciful Timothy, he tells, and this was a hard one for me when I got to the only thing that I've skipped since we've been doing this straightforward, straight through study is when I got to have nothing to do with the younger widows.
50:07
I could not work on that in my mind. I could not get there and figure out why Paul would tell Timothy, have nothing to do with the younger widows. And I think that it was because, and I'm not positive, but this is what I've kind of settled on, I think that it was because he knew that Timothy would be drawn into a place away from the work that God had for him and drawn into a relationship that was not going to profit the king. And so when he said, have nothing to do with him. Some of them have already been drawn away to Satan.
50:40
What they're looking for is not for God and for his kingdom to come. They're looking for a husband. Don't deal with that. Now Titus probably could've just walked right on past him. No problem.
50:50
Alright. Contrasting these guys. I'm gonna get to this. Let our people learn to devote themselves to good work so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. This study this study is famous.
51:07
It was from 1973. It's from the Journal of Princeton. It was a study that was on human behavior, a study of situational and dispositional variables in helping behavior. And I skipped the two. It's From a City to Another City, a study of situational and dispositional Variables.
51:22
I was reminded of this study this week at the Presbyterian Church at the Global Leadership Summit, but I've read it before. It's interesting because they told a group of students, they told this group of students that, and it was one at a time, they told each of them individually, that you have a task that needs to be done. It's in a different building. You're going to leave this building and go to that other building. You're going to prepare a teaching, a fifteen minute teaching on this subject, and then you need to go from here to there to do it.
51:52
You know the story already. You just need to prepare to present impromptu speech. Go over there. And so they told them to prepare the talk, and then they gave them three different intensity levels here. One of them is you're already late.
52:07
You need to be over there right now. The people are waiting on you. The other one is the your assistant is already there, but they're waiting on you. It's not that big a deal. You you should probably go.
52:20
And that's less hurry. And then the last one was, you'll probably be the first one over there, no big deal, but go ahead when you get a chance. So no hurry. Hurry, somewhat hurry, but not hurry at all. Those were the three.
52:34
And on the way from this building to that building where they were supposed to do their task, there was a person who was in obvious distress, whether he was drunk or hurt or sick, we don't know, but he was a good actor and he was there and you had to walk right past him. There's no way to get from this building to that building except for going past this guy, and he was to cough and be in distress when you passed by. How many people you think stopped to help the guy? Now the three groups, there were intensity levels for how fast people stopped, how fast they were to get there. Of the ones who were in a hurry, only how many do you think?
53:12
How many percentage was? 10% stopped. Now I'm gonna back up and tell you. The blanks are from Jericho to from Jerusalem to Jericho, and this talk that they had to do was on the Good Samaritan. Okay.
53:31
So they're preparing to talk on the Good Samaritan, and then they have to go give this talk and they have to walk past a hurting man. How many of them stopped? The ones who were in a hurry, only 10% stopped. They did it with a different subject and it was less than 10%. They did it with the ones who had less hurry, they were more apt to stop, and the ones who were had all the time in the world, a lot more of them stopped because they were prepared to talk on the Good Samaritan, right, and they're walking past this guy.
54:05
Anyway, I think how many of y'all have had just all the time in the world this week where you feel like you don't have anything going on? Are you in a hurry most of the time? Are you in a hurry most of the time? I think we're mostly in a hurry most of the time. I've got a quick story.
54:21
In early January two thousand and seven, Tanya and I had been, and Pascal, had been to Georgia. We were missionaries in Mexico right there, right here. We were living in Rio Bravo, Mexico, but we had been to Georgia for Christmas, and the school for the deaf where we worked was closed for the holidays, and so we went to Georgia for Christmas. In early January, we're coming back home, and as we're driving from Georgia, Montgomery, Mobile, coming across 10, New Orleans, hit Houston. And when we hit Houston, we got a phone call just on the you know, coming from Beaumont, just before you get to Houston.
54:59
Got a phone call from Jackson, Wyoming. It was my wife's sister that called, and when she called, well actually it was the family. It wasn't her who called. She had just had a baby. She had Palmer, Pascal's first cousin Palmer.
55:17
And Pascal was about nine months old. We're riding in the car, nineteen hour drive home, and we got this call about twelve hours in. And we had a choice to make. Should we turn right and go to Jackson, or should we turn left and go to Mexico? I needed to pay the employees at the school.
55:33
It was their first paycheck after the New Year. Tanya did the books. I did the signing the checks for them, and when we got down, we said we gotta go do that. We can't just skip paying them. We gotta go do that.
55:45
So we went on to Rio Bravo, Mexico, and we didn't even spend the night. We stopped right there. We paid, you know, did the checks, took them to the employees at school, and then got right back on the road and we started driving. And we drove to Wichita, drove to Wichita, Kansas. And when we stopped in Wichita, we were about halfway here.
56:08
This fifteen and a half hours, we had fourteen and a half hours left on the journey. No offense to Doyle or Ryan Block or anybody else, but we had been through West Texas once and we decided not to do that again. So we were in Wichita, and while we were there, we just stopped to use the bathroom. We pulled off the turnpike and we were going in to use the restroom. We get, you know, Pascal out of her car seat, and we're going in, and when I walked past this man, he had a long tan coat with a fur collar, and when I walked past him he said, And I said, that means do you have tools?
56:44
And I said, yes. And he goes, and I said, So why would you speak to me in Spanish? And he goes, I don't speak English. So that's good. But anyway, he so I said, yes, I've got tools.
57:05
What's the problem? So you know, Tanya goes, Pascal goes, we're we're settling there. I said, what's the deal? What's what's going on? He goes, well we were driving along, all of the instruments came on on the on the dashboard, all of a sudden it started heating up, there's no power steering, all this.
57:19
It's it's we just pulled off the road and barely made it into right here. And I said, is that your truck right there? Yeah. Said, oh, cool. I know that engine.
57:28
I know that truck. I've had several of them. The ministry had two of them at the time. It's a long lasting engine, but there's one little issue, and the one little issue is this idler pulley, and I said, I bet I know what's wrong with it before popping the hood on it. I said, probably the idler pulley that's broken off.
57:45
He goes, Well, we were traveling from Central California going to Virginia. So the full US, right? I'm going from south of this border to Jackson, and he's going from Central California to Virginia, and time hits where we are both in Wichita, as he calls it, Wichita, Wichita, Kansas at the same time, and he's in need. Now I'm on my way somewhere. We're on our way to get to you know, Palmer was born with underdeveloped lungs at 6,300 feet above sea level.
58:17
But I'm not a doctor. Tanya's not a doctor. She's got more training in that than I do. She was, We're on our way, and we see that. Know what the problem is.
58:29
When I popped the hood it was confirmed that's what the problem is. I said, I'll be right back. Tonya and Pascal hung out there, talked to them, or did you go with me? I don't remember. We went went to O'Reilly Auto Parts, came back, and when I got there, it's a $9 part, no big deal.
58:42
It takes taking off one bolt and getting a new serpentine belt. Put that back on. And as I was working on the car there, he goes, Suicento, your accent. It sounds familiar. Where are you from?
58:57
I said, well I'm from Georgia. And he goes, but you don't speak like that in Georgia. I said, no, I learned from a bunch of people in Georgia. He goes, but you've I said, well we live in Mexico. We're coming from a little town between Red Oaks and Matamoros.
59:12
Which one? I said, well, Rio Bravo. He and he goes, okay. He said, we're going, like I said, and he's going there. This is the town of Rio Bravo.
59:27
And so as we talked, he said, Do you know anybody there that owns a lumber yard? You said you were building a school. I said, Yeah, I do. I know several of them actually. He goes, Do you know my dad's Mexico?
59:40
I said, I do. And he said, that is something else. He had a Nextel phone, and he clicked the Nextel phone. He said, Norma, gringo grande? Do you know a big gringo?
59:55
And she said, Ramon? She I knew his wife. I knew his daughters. I knew the whole family. This is Rio Bravo.
1:00:08
This is where we lived in Rio Bravo, and that is where his wife now he was away working and sending money back home, of course, but that's where we lived. And it's just a few blocks. That's where she lived. I mean, I didn't say this in the first service. I did take the opportunity to share what we were doing.
1:00:24
We were building a school for the deaf and it was for cross purposes, you know, for the message of the cross, the gospel. I did share it. He didn't get down on his knees and accept Christ right there. But man, that story has been a blessing to me for years. There's the guy and that's Pascal, 9.5 old.
1:00:46
There I am buried in the hood of his truck. Yep. Yep. What a blessing that is. And I could have very easily just walked right on past that guy.
1:01:01
Don't look like I speak Spanish. And I had somewhere to be. Now I will say this, I'm not saying that to build myself up or ring a bell when I did something nice, because yesterday I passed Judy and Mary, and she was helping somebody who was broken down on the side of the road. I thought that they were looking at the trumpeter swans. I waved as I went by, but I did not I did not stop the health.
1:01:28
So anyway, that verse the verse we come up with it all the time in the Baptist Church. We say it all the time. It's by grace that you're saved through faith, and that is absolutely true. And we come back to it over and over. By grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing.
1:01:50
It is not by works that you're saved. Cannot be, will not be, it is not. It's the gift of God, grace, God's riches, Christ expense. God gives freely unmerited favor. It's the gift of God, and it's not a result of your work so that no one may boast.
1:02:10
But this next verse we don't spend as much time on. For we are his workmanship. We are his poem. We are his poem, his love song, his masterpiece. We are his workmanship that was created in Christ Jesus unto our four good works which God prepared for us beforehand so that we should walk in them.
1:02:35
So may you see the opportunities. I could not help Palmer's lungs. Tanya could not help Palmer's lungs. But we could do what we could do. And God has blessed tremendously for us at least.
1:02:51
And I think for them too. I mean, he got a truck fixed up, you know. I believe that God prepares them beforehand, and I think that we should walk in them. And I don't think we should be so busy that we don't pay attention to people, pay attention to people. Some people might be mentioned more often or have a role that is more obvious, but there are a whole lot of people that are behind the scenes that are never mentioned.
1:03:15
One of the church historians called them, the way that Christ builds his church is through the anonymous and unchronicled witness of ordinary obedient believers. Amen. Freely, freely. That's the way that song says to be. Would you stand and what are we singing?
1:03:37
The Doxology. Perfect. That's what I was going to do anyway. So, sounds, yeah, go right ahead. Eight fourteen.
1:03:43
Eight fifteen. Would you sing the doxology with us? And think about this, God is the one who blesses.
1:03:53
Speaker 2Praise God from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here below
1:04:24
Speaker 1Amen. And now Gift shop store? What is that? What's that? Gift shop store?
1:04:29
Look at Diana. Gift shop store. Yes, that is a good one. So I went into a store this week, and there was a fellow who was in there. Frequently, and I went in, and he said, that'll be $18.
1:04:50
And he goes, woah. Hold on a second. And he clicked on his computer a little bit, and he goes, I wanna go to heaven. That'll be $13.95. And I said, well, you know that's not how that works.
1:05:03
Right? And he goes, well, what should I have said? I said I said, the only thing that works is I accept Christ for what he has done for me. It's not through your works. It is by trusting in what God has done.
1:05:17
Amen. This is our benediction. Thank you for reminding me that. It wasn't a gift shop. It was actually a lumberyard, but I thought Scott was trying to sell books at the bar j there for a second.
1:05:32
Heard from our sponsor. So here we go. This is from Titus, and this is a good one. For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It's an offer.
1:05:43
It's a real offer to all people. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness, ungodliness, and worldly passions, and to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. May God bless this week as you pay attention to people in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
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