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This is a very exciting. 
Thing for our church, we have 10

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people that are getting baptized
on Sunday and a lot of, a lot 

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of, of new Christians, if you 
will, a lot who are, who have 

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really maybe maybe you fit into 
this category too. 

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But a lot of people who have 
never been discipled and who 

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have never had somebody take 
them through the fundamental 

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doctrines of the faith have have
never been taken through the 

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fundamentals of the faith. 
And so once we finish up with 

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Colossians here, we're going to 
start doing that on Wednesday 

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night. 
Some of you will be familiar 

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with this because we did it last
year a little bit on Tuesday 

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nights. 
I think we did some Thursday 

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nights, the 52 discipleship 
lessons. 

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And what I'm, what I think I'm 
going to do is, is just kind of 

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start back at the beginning and 
do that on Wednesday nights and 

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take everybody through that. 
It's always good to have a 

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refresher course on that. 
Many have never been through it.

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The ones who, who may know a lot
of these things will benefit 

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from it as well. 
Because you can take that and go

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teach it to somebody else. 
And that's the whole purpose of 

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it, right? 
We should be getting to the 

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point where we can teach others 
also is what the Bible says. 

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And so very, very exciting. 
We got, we got young people, 

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older people, everybody in 
between that are getting 

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baptized on, on Sunday morning. 
And of course it takes us a 

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little while of, of, you know, 
people getting saved to be able 

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to do it 'cause we don't have it
just sitting out. 

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Otherwise we'd probably do it as
soon as people were ready. 

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But it's a little bit of a setup
process for us and everything 

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else. 
But I got to, I got to mention 

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this. 
So we, we did the baptism class 

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on Wednesday night after church 
or sorry, Sunday night after 

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church just to, you know, a lot 
of, a lot of the ones that are 

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in that class are going through 
the first steps for new 

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Christians. 
And, you know, we're kind of 

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individually discipling 
everybody and, and taking them 

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through that. 
But everybody had gotten to the 

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fifth section, which is about 
baptism. 

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And so rather than going through
that with everybody 

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individually, I just decided to 
do a whole class and, and, and 

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put everybody in there together 
and talk through it. 

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And after we finished up with 
all of that stuff, John and 

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Marlisa came into office and 
just got to talking and, and 

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we're doubting their own 
salvation. 

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And both of them accepted Christ
as their Savior on Wednesday 

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night. 
So they had already been through

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the baptism class, so they're 
going to get baptized on Sunday 

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as well. 
So very, very exciting. 

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And, and actually the reason 
that they had come into the 

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office in the 1st place was 
talking about joining the 

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church. 
So they're going to do that 

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after the service on Wednesday 
as well. 

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So very exciting to be able to 
have them as part. 

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And Josh was already planning to
get baptized, which is why they 

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were in the class in the 1st 
place. 

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So make it a family affair and 
just get them all at the same 

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time. 
So, but very exciting, very 

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exciting and just just excited 
to be a part of what God's 

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doing. 
And you know, God's using you. 

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And I've said this many, many 
times, you know, if God, you 

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know, God called me to pastor 
the church obviously, and start 

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the church and everything else. 
But if it was just me, there 

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wouldn't be much of A church. 
And if it was just me, you know,

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trying to do all the work by 
myself, once we had people 

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coming, there wouldn't be much 
of anything going on. 

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So it takes everybody working 
together and going forward. 

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And, and I believe that's why 
God's blessing is because we 

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have a lot of people who are 
willing to be involved, a lot of

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people who are involved in the 
outreach and in the different 

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ministries of trying to get the 
gospel out. 

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And God blesses it. 
You know, we may not always see 

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results come from the, the 
direct ministry, although we 

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have, you know, especially from 
the Bibles and things we've seen

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people get saved. 
We've seen people come to church

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because of it. 
Certainly the door knocking and 

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things we've had people come 
and, and the visitation and all 

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of those things are, are, are 
things where we have seen people

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come. 
But God just gives the increase 

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when you're doing what he tells 
you to do, and he brings the 

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people here that that maybe you 
never even had a contact with. 

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And we've seen that happen many,
many times. 

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So it's exciting to be a part of
that. 

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But as we come to the end of 
Colossians chapter 4, Paul 

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really has given the Colossians 
everything that they need, the 

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church there at Colossae, 
everything they need to know 

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doctrinally. 
And now he begins this roll call

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of his colleagues, his 
companions in the ministry and 

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really finishes out the whole 
rest of the chapter that way. 

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So let me let me just read the 
rest of the chapter and kind of 

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give everything to you in 
context. 

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By the way. 
In fact, I was just having a 

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conversation with with with 
Frank the other day. 

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And you know, there's a couple 
of things that we have to 

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remember when it comes to 
studying the Bible and 

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understanding doctrine and, and 
not getting pulled away by some 

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of these doctrines. 
OK, perfect example is, is the, 

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is the idea that baptism is 
necessary for salvation. 

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There are verses that if you 
read that one verse makes it 

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sound like baptism is necessary 
for salvation, right? 

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Peter said, repent and be 
baptized, everyone of you in the

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name of Jesus Christ for the 
remission of sins, right? 

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It makes it sound like in order 
to have your sins taken care of,

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to have your sins remitted, you 
have to be baptized. 

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But there's a couple things to 
remember #1 you have to take 

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every verse in context of the 
chapter, You have to take every 

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chapter in context of the book, 
and you have to take every book 

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in context of the entire Bible 
the the context. 

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Of the entire Bible certainly 
does not tell us that we have to

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be baptized in order to be 
saved. 

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In fact, there's a lot of things
that show us that you don't have

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to be baptized in order to be 
saved, but what we have to. 

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Remember that I think a lot of 
people forget is that the 

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chapters and the verses are not 
inspired, right? 

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The word of God is inspired. 
Every word of God is inspired. 

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But the chapters and the verses 
were not added until the 1500s. 

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They were put in there to help 
us find our places in the Bible 

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quicker, right? 
And I think, I think it for the 

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most part, they're, they're put 
in a good place and they help us

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to, to, to read through the 
chapters. 

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And I can say turn to Colossians
chapter 4. 

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And you don't have to open your 
scroll and follow along to try 

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to figure out where I pick up 
reading, right? 

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So it's helpful to have the 
verses and the chapters and 

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everything else, but they're not
inspired. 

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And you have to remember that 
books like this, Colossians was 

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a letter that Paul wrote, right?
Could you imagine if somebody 

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took one sentence out of the 
letter that you wrote to 

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somebody, took it out of context
and made it say something 

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completely different than what 
you intended to say? 

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But that's what a lot of people 
do with the word of God because 

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they find this one verse and 
look, this verse is the verse 

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that I can point to that says 
this. 

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But you're not taken in context 
of the, the, the whole chapter 

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or the whole passage, whole 
paragraph of what the writer was

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intending to say. 
And so we have to remember that 

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as we're studying God's word, 
that you have to take everything

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in context of the passage and 
then obviously of the book and 

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then of the whole word of God. 
But Paul has taken a lot of time

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here throughout the book of 
Colossians to correct this, 

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this, this idea of Gnosticism. 
And he, you know, he kind of 

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ends by just leaving these 
Gnostics to their apostasy. 

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And, and he's embracing the 
people who are of like precious 

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faith. 
And that's what he does here at 

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the end. 
So we pick it up in Colossians 

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chapter 4 and verse #7. 
All my state shall Titicus 

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declare unto you, who is a 
beloved brother, and a faithful 

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minister, and fellow servant in 
the Lord, whom I have sent unto 

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you for the same purpose, that 
he might know your estate and 

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comfort your hearts with 
Onessimus, a faithful and 

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beloved brother, who is one of 
you. 

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They shall make known unto you 
all things which are done here. 

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Aristarchus, my fellow 
prisoners, saluteth you and 

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Marcus, sister son to Barnabas, 
touching whom you received. 

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Commandments, if they come unto 
you, receive him. 

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And Jesus, which is called 
justice, who are of the 

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circumcision, these only are my 
fellow workers under the Kingdom

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of God, which have been a 
comfort unto me. 

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A Paffris, who is one of you, a 
servant of Christ, saluteth you 

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always, laboring fervently for 
you in prayers, that you may 

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stand perfect and complete in 
all the will of God. 

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For I bear him record that he 
hath a great zeal for you, and 

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them that are at Laodicea, and 
them in Hierapolis. 

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Luke the beloved physician. 
And Dimas greets you, salute the

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brethren which are in Laodicea 
and Nymphis, and the church 

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which is in his house. 
And when this epistle is read 

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among you, 'cause that it be 
read also in the Church of the 

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Laodiceans, and that she 
likewise read the epistle from 

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Laodicea, and say to Archopus, 
Take heed to the ministry which 

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thou has received in the Lord, 
that thou fulfill it. 

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The salutation by the hand of 
me, Paul, remember my bonds. 

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Grace to be with you. 
Amen. 

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You can tell that this is a 
letter that Paul is writing to 

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this church and he's he's 
greeting these people and he's 

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saying, hey, these other guys 
that are with me want to greet 

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you as well. 
But these men, these are men 

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that stood for the truth, stood 
for the faith that was delivered

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from the apostles. 
And this is by no means all of 

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the people that Paul could have 
included. 

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I'm sure there was probably no 
doubt many more people that were

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part of this ministry that Paul 
could have have put on that 

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list. 
And of course, these men are not

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perfect. 
One of them, we find out later, 

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was a backslider who left Paul 
because he loved the world. 

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The other one that we see here 
later on, Archipus, he had to be

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chastised. 
He had to be rebuked because 

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apparently he just wasn't taking
the ministry seriously or 

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something along those lines. 
But Paul was essentially giving 

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the Colossian church men that he
could point to as examples that 

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they could look up to. 
These were men who had rejected 

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the ideas of, of, of apostasy 
and Gnosticism and all of these 

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other things that were coming 
into the church. 

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And they had chosen the side of 
the truth. 

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They had chosen the side that 
Paul had drawn a line on. 

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And they, and they were on the 
right side of those things. 

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And so, you know, going through 
the Bible and getting acquainted

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with the people in the Bible is 
a huge undertaking. 

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There's a lot of names in the 
word of God, a lot of people in 

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the word of God. 
Christianity was not born and 

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bred in ivory towers. 
It was not, it was not hidden 

200
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behind fancy walls. 
It was not some collection of, 

201
00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:55,320
you know, theological 
propositions and, and people who

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are who, you know, were sitting 
behind a desk all day and just 

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writing for a living and 
everything else. 

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Christianity, especially in 
these in these early days, was, 

205
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was lived out by the men that 
that work to spread the message 

206
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of the gospel. 
And Paul was, was privileged to 

207
00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:12,240
be able to work with them. 
They were privileged to be able 

208
00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:14,520
to work with him. 
But the truths of the word of 

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God and Christianity are lived 
out through the people that we 

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find in the Bible, which is why 
we can say, hey, this is what 

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Paul said. 
Hey, this is what, what Epaphras

212
00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:24,560
did. 
Hey, this is what this man did. 

213
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This is what this man did. 
God put them in the Bible for a 

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reason. 
They were, they were, they were 

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to be an example to us. 
And they're not all men. 

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We have some women in the Bible 
who are great examples as well. 

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But Paul ends his epistle by 
mentioning by name 10 people and

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then adding his own name to the 
list and saying his final 

219
00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:43,360
farewell to this church at 
Colossi. 

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But their names many times just 
seem to be mentioned and then 

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lost to obscurity. 
We don't most of these names, we

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don't even recognize most of 
these names. 

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00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,160
We certainly don't know. 
But these were real people. 

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They, they lived, they loved, 
they sacrificed, they suffered, 

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they sorrowed, they laughed, 
they cried. 

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They were real people. 
And I think sometimes we forget 

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about that. 
Even with the even with the more

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well known ones, even with the 
Apostle Paul, we say Paul said 

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this, Paul did that. 
But but imagine if the apostle 

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Paul was one of you just living 
amongst us. 

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00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:17,880
Imagine if brother Matt was the 
Apostle Paul. 

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I mean, that's that's what Paul 
was like. 

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00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:21,800
He was just a normal person, 
right? 

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00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:23,160
He was doing things for the 
Lord. 

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00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:26,000
He was busy serving the Lord and
and he was writing for the Lord.

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00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:27,760
And of course, he was in a 
little bit different position 

237
00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:30,760
because he was an apostle, but 
he was just a person who labored

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among them, just like all of you
are, just like all of us are 

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together. 
But they had, you know, they had

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their moments of, of excitement.
They had ambitions. 

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00:11:38,680 --> 00:11:41,480
They had, they had aspirations, 
they had hopes, they had dreams,

242
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they had fears. 
These were real people. 

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They were normal people just 
like you and I are. 

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And I want you to realize that. 
But these stories, their, their 

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00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,880
stories, all of the ones that we
have here in Colossians and of 

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00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:54,000
course, all the way through the 
rest of the Bible, their, their 

247
00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:57,120
stories are written and done. 
Our stories are still. 

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00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,760
Being written and we're. 
Going to talk about these men 

249
00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,120
and this is just kind of the 
this is the first of what's 

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00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,560
going to be a couple weeks of of
finishing this book out because 

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00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:09,160
I I want to highlight some of 
these men of example that's what

252
00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,200
they are they're men of example 
that were given to us as 

253
00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:14,840
somebody that we can follow 
things that we can take from 

254
00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:18,200
these men's life and follow them
the way that they followed 

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00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:22,360
Christ and I want to look at 
three of those men tonight, but 

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00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,520
essentially the way that we'll 
describe each of these men is 

257
00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:27,800
probably something that could be
written on their tombstone. 

258
00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:31,280
What? 
What will be written on your? 

259
00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:35,760
Tombstone, when you're gone. 
Oh, you always talk, talk about 

260
00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:38,880
somebody that's dead in glowing 
terms at their funeral, right? 

261
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,600
Oh, he was such a good person. 
Bless his heart. 

262
00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,880
He had a lot of faults, but he 
was such a good person, right? 

263
00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:46,720
That's the way they tell. 
That's what that's why they talk

264
00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,360
about it when you weren't a very
good person, right? 

265
00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:52,120
But but what, what could be 
written on your tombstone? 

266
00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:55,280
What do you want to be written 
on your tombstone? 

267
00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:57,440
Maybe that's a better way to put
it. 

268
00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:02,160
That's something to think about.
And hope you do that as we go 

269
00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,920
through this. 
This, this lesson tonight, this 

270
00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,880
message tonight, and I hope some
of these things will ring true 

271
00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:09,840
with you a little bit as we go 
through them. 

272
00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,560
But let's pray we'll talk about 
three of these men that Paul 

273
00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:15,040
mentions here tonight. 
Father, again, we thank you so 

274
00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:17,160
much for your goodness to us. 
Thank you for an opportunity we 

275
00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:20,960
have to study your word. 
I thank you that we have these 

276
00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:24,520
examples, these men of example 
in the Bible that we can follow.

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00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:27,000
I pray that you'd help us to 
learn from their example. 

278
00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:30,920
God, may we follow their example
as they follow you. 

279
00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:33,920
And of course, all these men 
that we have in the Bible did. 

280
00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,200
God, may we follow you first and
foremost. 

281
00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,360
May this message be a help to us
tonight, but thank you again for

282
00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:42,600
all that you do for us. 
In Jesus name, Amen. 

283
00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,400
The first one that we have 
mentioned here in verse #7 is 

284
00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,280
Tichikas, and I never knew how 
to pronounce his name. 

285
00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:51,600
I was Tichikas. 
Tichikas, how do you say it? 

286
00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,680
So I went back and looked it up.
And you know how you can type in

287
00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:58,320
how do you pronounce this word? 
And, and then I listened to a 

288
00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,760
couple different versions, not 
versions of the Bible, it's King

289
00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:04,520
James Version, but a couple 
different people reading, a 

290
00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:07,440
couple different readers who are
reading the King James Version 

291
00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,120
of the Bible and. 
One of them pronounced it 

292
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:12,600
Tikakis. 
One of them said Tikakis. 

293
00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:15,280
And I said, all right, I got to 
get to the bottom of this thing.

294
00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:17,680
I went to YouTube and I said, 
how do you pronounce? 

295
00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:20,840
And that guy said Tikakis and he
sounded like he knew what he was

296
00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:22,880
talking about. 
So I'm going to use, I'm going 

297
00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:24,920
to go with Tichikis. 
But the thing that we find about

298
00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:28,080
Tichikis here is that he was a 
faithful man. 

299
00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,720
And we first actually are 
introduced to Tichikis in Acts 

300
00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,040
chapter 20. 
He's and you can turn over there

301
00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:36,400
if you want to. 
We're going to get to Acts 

302
00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:40,200
chapter 20 in a little bit. 
But he's mentioned briefly as 

303
00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,400
one of Paul's companions on his 
third missionary journey. 

304
00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:45,720
And it's likely that he was 
saved at some point during 

305
00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:49,680
Paul's stay at Ephesus. 
Paul stayed in Ephesus for quite

306
00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,800
some time, and more than likely 
he was from Ephesus. 

307
00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,440
Tichikis was from Ephesus, and 
that's where he was led to 

308
00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:57,360
Christ. 
But Paul had actually been 

309
00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:00,360
forced to leave Ephesus in in 
quite a hurry because of the 

310
00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:03,560
riot that broke out there. 
But he crossed over into Europe 

311
00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:05,560
and they decided that he was 
going to go to Jerusalem because

312
00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:07,480
the Spirit of the Lord was 
leading him to go there. 

313
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,680
He was bound to go to Jerusalem 
as he said it. 

314
00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:13,480
But he was accompanied on this 
trip, and it was quite a long 

315
00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:18,240
trip by a really a remarkable 
group of friends, mostly from 

316
00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:19,480
the churches that he had 
founded. 

317
00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,440
But these men were bringing 
financial aid to the church at 

318
00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:24,080
Jerusalem. 
It was impoverished by that 

319
00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:27,320
point because of all the 
persecution and because of all 

320
00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,920
the really the persecution of 
other Christians there. 

321
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,120
It wasn't just physical. 
A lot of it was physical. 

322
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,640
But in many cases, if they found
out that somebody was a 

323
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:37,560
Christian, they wouldn't shop at
their businesses. 

324
00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:39,880
They were just, they were doing 
everything they could to to just

325
00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,400
completely ruin them. 
And so seven men were named in 

326
00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,160
Acts chapter 20. 
And Titicus is one of those men 

327
00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:48,800
that was with Paul. 
And during that long journey to 

328
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:53,040
Jerusalem, no doubt Paul came to
know Titicus very well as they 

329
00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,320
work together, no doubt he they 
came to know each other very 

330
00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:58,240
well. 
And he marked him down as a man 

331
00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:03,840
of promise in the things of God.
And then Paul's arrest comes. 

332
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,800
When he gets to Jerusalem, he 
has a long detention at Caesarea

333
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,520
Maritimo, which is right there 
on the Mediterranean coast. 

334
00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,280
That's where Paul actually wrote
a lot of his letters. 

335
00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:16,400
The prison epistles were written
from that that point, or some of

336
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,880
them were but his witness before
governors and kings. 

337
00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:21,840
Eventually he makes his way to 
Rome as a prisoner. 

338
00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,520
He's in house arrest there, and 
he wrote more books when he was 

339
00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:26,440
in prison there. 
But we don't know whether 

340
00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:28,560
Tichikas was with Paul that 
entire time. 

341
00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,360
But we do know that he was with 
him for at least part of that 

342
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:36,240
captivity, and he gave Paul 
devoted service at that time. 

343
00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,400
So Paul then sends him off to 
Colossi to tell the believers 

344
00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,120
there what's going on. 
This is what he's saying. 

345
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:47,280
All my state shall Titicus 
declare unto you, who is a 

346
00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:51,040
beloved brother and a faithful 
minister and a fellow servant in

347
00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:54,400
the Lord, whom I have sent unto 
you for the same purpose, that 

348
00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:56,800
he might know your estate and 
comfort your hearts. 

349
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,480
Paul is saying, Hey, you go 
there, Titicus. 

350
00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:02,560
You know that area well. 
You know them, they know you. 

351
00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:06,839
You go there and find out what 
their estate is. 

352
00:17:06,839 --> 00:17:08,880
Paul hadn't really heard from 
them since he had been in 

353
00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:10,319
prison. 
And you tell them what's 

354
00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:13,680
happening with me. 
Paul knew that he could trust 

355
00:17:13,839 --> 00:17:16,800
Titicus to do that job. 
So Paul really gives us a kind 

356
00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:20,760
of a two things about this man 
Titicus. 

357
00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:23,160
And first thing is that he gives
us a look at his character. 

358
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:25,520
He gives us a look at his 
character. 

359
00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,680
He was a beloved brother. 
The Bible says he was a faithful

360
00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:31,600
minister, the Bible says, and he
was a fellow servant of the 

361
00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:33,320
Lord. 
And I believe that Paul really 

362
00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:36,280
valued the friendship of this 
man. 

363
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,400
And I don't know, there's, 
there's probably, there's a few 

364
00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:40,920
things that you can say about 
somebody that would be more 

365
00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:45,400
enduring in the New Testament 
than that He was a beloved 

366
00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:47,960
brother. 
You think about that, a beloved 

367
00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:49,240
brother. 
When you say that about 

368
00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:52,240
somebody, you're, you're pretty 
close to that person, right? 

369
00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:54,920
You call somebody a brother or 
you call him a friend. 

370
00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:56,560
Well, you call somebody a 
beloved brother. 

371
00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,320
That's a pretty tight bond. 
That's a pretty close 

372
00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:01,920
friendship. 
And, and I think it speaks of a 

373
00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,600
kinship that's that closer than 
any earthly tie. 

374
00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:09,760
He wasn't the only one that 
earned Paul's commendation in 

375
00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:11,080
this way, but he was one of 
them. 

376
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:13,520
He earned the Lord's 
commendation as well. 

377
00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,360
Matthew chapter 25. 
And if you want to turn over 

378
00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:18,000
there and just look at this 
passage, I'm not going to read 

379
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:21,680
the entire thing, but Matthew 
chapter 25, verse 34 through 

380
00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:23,440
verse 40 talks about some of the
things. 

381
00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:27,320
And Jesus is, is, is saying 
this, but you know, whosoever 

382
00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,480
give it, give it somebody that 
needs a drink, a drink or 

383
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:32,640
whoever clothes, somebody that 
needs clothes. 

384
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:35,840
He said I was in prison and you 
came unto me. 

385
00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,440
And and then he says is is 
blessed to everybody who does 

386
00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:43,400
that. 
I was in prison and you came 

387
00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:47,240
unto me, that Jesus said that 
man was blessed of my father. 

388
00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:50,000
And he also said that he was to 
inherit the Kingdom prepared for

389
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,640
you from the foundation of the 
world. 

390
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:54,640
Paul had a way of attracting 
those kind of people to himself.

391
00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:57,760
But Titicus did that very thing 
that the Lord blessed. 

392
00:18:57,760 --> 00:18:59,720
He visited Paul when he was in 
prison. 

393
00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:01,720
He stood by Paul in the face of 
danger. 

394
00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:03,960
He stood by Paul in the face of 
death. 

395
00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,240
You think about this. 
Paul was a political prisoner. 

396
00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:13,400
And to go to Paul and associate 
yourself with Paul when Nero 

397
00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:17,880
more than likely had very close 
eyes on Paul and and the others 

398
00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:21,080
who were moving around him. 
He probably had spies among 

399
00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:25,160
Paul's prison guards, maybe even
among Paul's prisoners, fellow 

400
00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,880
prisoners. 
But no wonder Paul called 

401
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:33,280
Tichikas A beloved brother. 
But Paul valued this man's 

402
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,080
fellowship as well. 
He was a beloved brother. 

403
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:38,680
He valued his friendship, but he
valued his fellowship. 

404
00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:43,080
The Bible says in Colossians 
chapter 4 and verse #7 not only 

405
00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:47,560
is he a beloved brother, but he 
was a faithful fellow servant, a

406
00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:51,160
fellow servant. 
Literally, it's a fellow slave. 

407
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:55,480
It's somebody who is sold out 
out to the same master. 

408
00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,120
And then he says he was a 
faithful minister. 

409
00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:01,720
Paul knew that he could that 
that he would he could trust him

410
00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:06,480
to follow diligently that that 
plow all the way to the end of 

411
00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:08,000
the row. 
He was not going to quit. 

412
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,200
He was not going to back down. 
He was going to he was going to 

413
00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:12,560
continue plowing all the way 
through to the end. 

414
00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:15,800
And he mentioned a fact turn 
over to Ephesians chapter 6. 

415
00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:18,880
Titicus obviously is mentioned 
here in Colossians. 

416
00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:20,280
He's mentioned in. 
Acts. 

417
00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,720
A name that really we we skip 
over many times. 

418
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,160
But he's also mentioned in 
Ephesians, and I think this is 

419
00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:32,080
really interesting. 
Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 

420
00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:37,400
#21 Now this is written to the 
church at Ephesus, obviously a 

421
00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:40,720
very different church than the 
church at Colossae, but that ye 

422
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:44,880
also may know my affairs and how
I do Titicus. 

423
00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:49,160
Here it is again. 
A beloved brother and faithful 

424
00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,920
minister in the Lord shall make 
known to you all things whom I 

425
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:56,000
have sent unto you for the same 
purpose, that you might know our

426
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,200
affairs and that he might 
comfort your heart. 

427
00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,600
He's doing the exact same thing 
for the church at Colossae as 

428
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:03,680
he's doing for the church here 
in Ephesus. 

429
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:09,160
But but, but Paul uses the same 
phrases in the same term for 

430
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,680
him, fellow servant, faithful 
minister. 

431
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,120
He's also named in connection 
with Trophemus in Acts chapter 

432
00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:25,120
#20 that I think if gives us the
indication that Tichicus and 

433
00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:28,840
Trophemus were both Ephesians 
and came from the same place. 

434
00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:32,520
Acts chapter 20 and verse #4 And
there accompanied him into Asia,

435
00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:36,320
Sopater of Berea and of the 
Thessalonians, Thessalonians, 

436
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,760
Aristarchus and Sekundus, and 
Gaius of Derby and Timotheus, 

437
00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:43,200
and of Asia, Titicus and 
Trophemus. 

438
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:45,720
So he was with Paul too, later 
on during his second 

439
00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:48,280
imprisonment when the danger was
very great. 

440
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:50,240
Fact, turn over to Second 
Timothy, chapter 4. 

441
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:56,200
Paul, I, I think, appreciated 
this, the fact that Tichikas was

442
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,960
willing to put his life on the 
line for Paul and they sent him 

443
00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:02,760
back to Ephesus, I think, to get
him out of harm's way. 

444
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,840
He knew that that that Tichikas 
his life was in danger the same 

445
00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:10,320
way that his was and the longer 
he stayed around the the the the

446
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:14,080
the more danger his life was in.
But in Second Timothy chapter 4 

447
00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,880
and verse #10 here's yet another
passage where he's mentioned. 

448
00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,040
And of course Demas is mentioned
in Colossians chapter 4. 

449
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,840
And sadly the story of Demas 
didn't end well. 

450
00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:28,280
For Demas hath forsaken me, 
having loved this present world,

451
00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:31,680
and is departed into 
Thessalonica creations to the to

452
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:35,640
Galatia Titus unto Dalmatia. 
Only Luke is with me. 

453
00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:38,480
Take Mark and bring him with 
thee, for he is profitable to 

454
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,200
me. 
For the ministry and Titicus 

455
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,800
have I sent to. 
That was a later time. 

456
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:47,000
This was the second 
imprisonment. 

457
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:52,080
But Paul now gives us a look at 
the Commission that he gave to 

458
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,400
Tichikas at the time of his 
first imprisonment. 

459
00:22:54,600 --> 00:23:00,040
And if you go back over to 
Colossians chapter 4, he's 

460
00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,840
saying whom I have sent verse #8
unto you for the same purpose, 

461
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,640
that he might know your estate 
and comfort your hearts. 

462
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:11,600
But Paul sends his faithful 
partner to Colossi to F 

463
00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:14,600
physician, then on to Colossi. 
But the other thing that's very 

464
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,640
interesting, we know about 
Onessimus from from the book of 

465
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:21,480
Philemon, but Titicus and 
Onessimus were together on this 

466
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,000
trip Verse number. 
Nine, with Onessimus, a faithful

467
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,160
and beloved brother, who is one 
of you, they shall make known 

468
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:30,040
unto you all things which are 
done here. 

469
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,640
Paul knew that he could trust 
Titicus. 

470
00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,080
He seemed to, I think, carried 
both the Ephesian and the 

471
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,920
Colossian letter with him. 
Of course, Oneessimus had the 

472
00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:42,000
the letter to Philemon that he 
was carrying back with him, 

473
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:43,760
which we'll talk about that in 
just a little bit. 

474
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,160
But the the letter to the 
Ephesians was actually supposed 

475
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:48,240
to be a circular. 
Letter. 

476
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:50,160
It wasn't written. 
It was written to the church at 

477
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,040
Ephesus, but it was supposed to 
be read by all the other 

478
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,560
churches around there as well. 
And as soon as he had delivered 

479
00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:56,920
it to that church, no doubt he 
took copies to all the other 

480
00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:59,680
churches in the area as well. 
So you you think about this, 

481
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:04,320
it's not it's not hard to 
picture Tichikas just going from

482
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:10,240
church to church 1 area to the 
next at Ephesus in in danger of 

483
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:15,360
losing their first love and 
Smyrna about to face the fiery 

484
00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:17,840
persecution they didn't even 
know was coming yet. 

485
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,680
Maybe they maybe they thought 
there was something that was on 

486
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,600
the horizon, but about to face 
fiery persecution from 

487
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:27,640
everything we know about them. 
He goes to Pergamus, where the 

488
00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:31,560
the heresy of Balaam would 
eventually take root. 

489
00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:35,040
He goes to Thyatira, where the 
Bible says that woman Jezebel 

490
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,040
would soon make her evil 
presence felt. 

491
00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,680
Sardis, a church that was 
boastful of the reputation that 

492
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:43,720
they had. 
He made his way more than likely

493
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:47,160
to Philadelphia, where the 
revival fires burned, and then 

494
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,240
on to Laodicea, where where love
of money was already becoming 

495
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,760
the root of all evil. 
All of these churches that, 

496
00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:57,440
that, that that Titicus is 
visiting and carrying these 

497
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:00,320
letters with him as that letter 
is circulating throughout the 

498
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:02,120
throughout Asia and throughout 
that area. 

499
00:25:02,120 --> 00:25:06,240
But doubtless he went to Colossi
where Titicus began that circuit

500
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:10,680
from Ephesus and everywhere 
Paul's friends and converts and 

501
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:12,800
supporters. 
You, you just can imagine would 

502
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:14,840
be full of questions. 
How is Paul doing? 

503
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,120
Is is, is his life going to be 
spared? 

504
00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:18,960
Are they going to kill him? 
What's going to happen? 

505
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:20,400
Is he going to be able to come 
visit us? 

506
00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:21,840
I mean, all of those were 
questions. 

507
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,000
You, you couldn't just hop 
online and find out what was 

508
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:25,840
happening. 
It's not like you can just go 

509
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,640
get a, a copy of the newspaper 
and read it and figure out what 

510
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:30,200
was going on with the Apostle 
Paul. 

511
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,440
Nobody knew, but these were all 
churches that he had been to and

512
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,960
churches that he had helped 
start and converts that he had 

513
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:38,600
won to Christ who went back to 
some of these places and started

514
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,480
these churches. 
They had a lot of a lot that was

515
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,640
invested in knowing what was 
happening with the Apostle Paul.

516
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,680
And here at Tichikas, he he he 
can trust him to take not only 

517
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,800
these letters back to them, but 
also to tell them of what's 

518
00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:54,600
going on with Paul and then find
out what's happening with them 

519
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:58,080
so he can report it back to Paul
when he comes back to where Paul

520
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,280
was in prison. 
And basically Tichikas was given

521
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,120
A2 fold Commission. 
First he was get information 

522
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,800
about the Colossians. 
Paul probably hadn't heard 

523
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:08,840
anything else from the church in
Colossae. 

524
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,840
Just a little market town. 
Wasn't a big town at all. 

525
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,280
In fact, if if we didn't have 
the book written to the 

526
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,040
Colossians, you probably never 
would have heard of Colossae. 

527
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,360
It's well known to us. 
But it was a tiny little town. 

528
00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:23,240
And it wasn't long after the 
book was written to Colossae 

529
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:25,960
that the town kind of fizzled 
down to pretty much nothing. 

530
00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:28,480
But Paul would have been eager 
For more information. 

531
00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:29,240
How? 
How? 

532
00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,240
How great had the inroads of the
cults been? 

533
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,880
How, how much heresy had entered
the church, which families had 

534
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,400
sided with the heretics in and 
which ones had had chosen the 

535
00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:41,320
side of the truth? 
Who's who's still there? 

536
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:43,200
Who's left? 
Who's giving up the faith? 

537
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:45,800
Who's kept the faith? 
How what's the what's the church

538
00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:47,680
look like? 
Are more people being added or 

539
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,040
people being saved? 
Paul was interested in these 

540
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,000
things. 
You remember he said this many, 

541
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,080
many times. 
I'm praying for you and I'm 

542
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,080
praying fervently for you. 
Could you imagine doing all of 

543
00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:59,240
that praying and not knowing 
what was happening with the 

544
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:01,080
church? 
That's why he was sending 

545
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:04,120
Titicus to go see how this 
church was doing. 

546
00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:06,040
He wanted information. 
It wasn't just that he was 

547
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,680
looking for gossip. 
He wanted to know, is it 

548
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:10,160
working? 
Is it helping? 

549
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,480
Are they, are they still going 
on for the Lord even with it, 

550
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:15,360
without me? 
Being there and without others 

551
00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:18,760
being there. 
But I think also Paul would want

552
00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:20,800
to know what the response had 
been to his letter. 

553
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,560
And not only that, but he had 
tucked this little note away in 

554
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,200
Oneessimus's bag that he was on 
his way to carry 2 Philemon 

555
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,240
there as well. 
But the second thing that Paul 

556
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,160
wanted Tichikas to do was to 
give inspiration to those 

557
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:36,840
Colossians. 
Obviously, he had a letter to 

558
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:39,560
him to to them that he was 
supposed to deliver. 

559
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:42,360
And a lot of things in that 
letter, as we've already talked 

560
00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:45,160
about, are encouraging things, 
but it's also some things of a 

561
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,440
very strong warning. 
I mean, he said he said many 

562
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:50,640
good things about them, but he 
was trying to comfort their 

563
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:52,760
hearts. 
The, the problem is that heresy 

564
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,880
was going to leave its scars and
it wasn't long. 

565
00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:59,040
It didn't take long before the 
heresy started to sneak in. 

566
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,760
By the way, you know, you have a
lot of these people today who 

567
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:05,200
say, well, why can't we just why
do we have to have 

568
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,960
denominations? 
Why can't we just be non 

569
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:10,280
denominational? 
Why can't we just all be the way

570
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:12,560
it was in 1st century 
Christianity? 

571
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:14,640
There were no denominations in 
Christ's day. 

572
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,560
It was just Jesus and they 
followed Jesus and that was it. 

573
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:19,800
There was no, none, There was no
denominations. 

574
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:21,120
Why do we have to have all these
things? 

575
00:28:21,360 --> 00:28:26,200
Well, look, in the first 
generation after Christ died and

576
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,200
rose from the dead, already 
there were things that were 

577
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,600
sneaking into these churches 
that were that, that, that were 

578
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:35,400
trying to, to turn them away 
from Christ. 

579
00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,200
And the problem is some of those
churches latched on to that 

580
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:41,880
heresy. 
And the churches who latched on 

581
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:45,360
to the heresy were not the same 
as the ones who held true to 

582
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,760
the, the, the faith that was 
first delivered to them by the 

583
00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,560
apostles. 
And so there is a need for 

584
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:53,760
separation. 
There is a need for 

585
00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:56,560
denominations. 
Now, we're Baptist not because 

586
00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,640
that makes you that, that that 
sends you to heaven, right? 

587
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:01,760
But I say, why not go to heaven 
first class? 

588
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,360
But we're Baptist because of 
what the Bible says. 

589
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,040
And and we believe that the 
Baptist doctrine is the closest 

590
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:10,040
to the word of God. 
That's why I'm a Baptist. 

591
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:11,840
It's not because that's what I 
grew up in. 

592
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,720
It's not because that's what I 
just happened to land in. 

593
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:17,720
No, I'm a Baptist because that's
the closest to the Word of God, 

594
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,480
and I'm a Baptist because I want
to make a distinction between 

595
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:23,920
the other denominations that are
out there that are preaching 

596
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:25,560
things that are not in God's 
Word. 

597
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:28,720
And that's exactly what Paul was
doing. 

598
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,880
Hey, you've got to understand 
there is error that's creeping 

599
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,000
in, and you need to separate 
from that error. 

600
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:35,920
The problem is some of them 
didn't separate from it. 

601
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:41,040
Some of them kept it and I don't
think it stayed in the church, 

602
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,080
but I don't think many of them 
left the church completely. 

603
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:47,000
I think some of them went off 
and started their own churches 

604
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:49,000
and, and, and took that heresy 
with them. 

605
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:52,640
And even in the 1st century 
Christianity, we see 

606
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,200
denominations already. 
We didn't call them by those 

607
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,720
different denominations, but 
you, you can see a separation, 

608
00:29:57,720 --> 00:29:59,320
you can see a distinction 
between them. 

609
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:01,840
But you think about this, I 
mean, I'm sure there was 

610
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,560
families that were divided in 
those churches. 

611
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,240
I'm sure they were friends who 
were divided in those churches. 

612
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,560
Loved ones would become traitors
to the cause of Christ. 

613
00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:13,000
Paul knew enough about Tichikas 
to know that his very presence 

614
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,200
in colossi when that epistle was
delivered and read would be a 

615
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:19,240
blessing to the believers. 
They knew Tichikas, they knew 

616
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:20,480
that he had spent time with 
Paul. 

617
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,920
They knew his reputation. 
And Paul said he was a faithful 

618
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:28,080
minister. 
Titicus was an old campaigner. 

619
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:31,080
He would he would stiffen the 
resistance of the church to the 

620
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,120
cults that were trying to snake 
their way in. 

621
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:34,920
But that's the man that Titicus 
was. 

622
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:38,840
He represented some 10 years of 
faithful service, part of it 

623
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:43,000
during the the time that Paul 
was was in detention at Rome. 

624
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:47,120
Much of it spent in in dangerous
and even wearisome journeys that

625
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:48,880
he was along with the apostle 
Paul. 

626
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,920
But Paul regarded this man 
Tichikas as his fellow slave. 

627
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:57,560
As if to say, I've I've composed
this epistle, Tichikas, but 

628
00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:59,440
you're the one that's going to 
have to deliver this thing. 

629
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:02,600
We're in this together. 
You start delivering this letter

630
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,200
and it's intercepted and they 
find that you're in trouble too.

631
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,040
Not just me, it's you. 
We're both. 

632
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,480
Willing to be captives for our 
Lord. 

633
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,680
I think of how astonished 
Tichikas would be. 

634
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:20,000
I found the day when he boarded 
that boat to make his trip over 

635
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:24,240
to Colossi and he had Onessimus 
with him, who also had a little 

636
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,680
letter stuffed in his bag that 
he was taking back to his 

637
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:31,680
master. 
If Tichikas could have actually 

638
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:36,200
known, how many people over the 
centuries would read that letter

639
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:37,480
that he was carrying in that 
bag? 

640
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:40,120
And how many? 
People would be encouraged by 

641
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,800
the letter that he had in that 
bag, the millions and millions 

642
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,480
and millions of Christians in 
the 2000 years that followed 

643
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:50,040
that would be reading that 
letter that he had that he was 

644
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:51,640
about to deliver to the 
Colossians. 

645
00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:55,960
He was just, he was a real 
person and he was delivering it 

646
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,800
to a real church. 
He was delivering it to people 

647
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:00,920
who had real struggles, just 
like you and I have when it 

648
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:05,200
comes to our faith and people 
who go through ups and downs in 

649
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:09,520
their spiritual life. 
But that letter that he had, 

650
00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:12,920
that he was carrying, what, 
outlast the Roman Empire? 

651
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:17,080
Empire, it'll be translated into
thousands of languages. 

652
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:21,160
Could you imagine if Tichikas 
knew that that's the letter that

653
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:22,680
he was carrying in his bag that 
day? 

654
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,120
He didn't. 
But he was faithful and he 

655
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:29,920
delivered that message. 
And millions and millions of 

656
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,760
people not only read the message
that he delivered, but they're 

657
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:36,320
reading about him. 
And he's a man of example for us

658
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,000
because the Bible says he was a 
faithful man. 

659
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:43,720
He was a faithful minister back 
in Colossians chapter 4, verse 

660
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:48,040
#9 Obviously we have Titicus 
that is going and delivering 

661
00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:51,400
these things. 
But it says with Onessimus, a 

662
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:55,720
faithful and beloved brother. 
Who is one of you? 

663
00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:59,800
They shall make known unto you 
all things which are done here. 

664
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,000
Well, I think the thing that we 
can say about Onessimus is he 

665
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,920
was the fugitive man, but it's 
not just that he was a runaway 

666
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:08,120
slave. 
I think this is very 

667
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,200
interesting. 
Onessimus was a runaway slave 

668
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:13,720
with a price on his head and 
probably the shadow of death by 

669
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:15,400
crucifixion laying on top of 
him. 

670
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,400
Crucifixion was a common method 
of. 

671
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:21,040
Death for a slave who? 
Had run away. 

672
00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:25,600
If he was brought back to his 
master, his master, it was very 

673
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:29,360
commonly accepted in that day, 
would would devise some serious 

674
00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:33,440
torture methods and ultimately 
usually would would put him to 

675
00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:36,840
death by crucifixion. 
He was trying to make an example

676
00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:38,840
out of that slave. 
You better not run away or this 

677
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,760
is going to happen to you too. 
And that was commonly accepted 

678
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:43,680
in that day. 
Slave owners just assumed that 

679
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,520
any master that recovered a 
runaway slave would be very 

680
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,840
harsh and and ultimately put 
that slave to death. 

681
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:54,480
Onessimus though, had one hope. 
Philemon, his master was a 

682
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:57,880
Christian. 
And now Onessimus was a 

683
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,960
Christian as well. 
Could you imagine what must have

684
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:02,200
been going through Onessimus? 
His mind? 

685
00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:03,720
He had spent time around the 
Apostle Paul. 

686
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:05,600
He had been around Tichikas. 
He had been around all these 

687
00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:09,239
other men, faithful men, and 
obviously they treated him just 

688
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:11,320
like one of them. 
He was no different before the 

689
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,800
Lord. 
But just because you get saved 

690
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,080
does not mean that all of your 
problems go away. 

691
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:24,880
Both he and his master owed 
their conversion to Paul, and in

692
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:28,120
his bag on estimates was 
carrying a letter from Paul to 

693
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:31,239
Philemon, which was the master 
that he had run away from. 

694
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,920
He was a free man in Christ, but
he was still a runaway slave, 

695
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,600
and now he is carrying 
essentially the possibility of 

696
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:42,639
his own death sentence back to 
his master. 

697
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:46,719
He'd been pardoned by God for 
all of his sin, but he still had

698
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:48,840
to face the consequences of the 
wrong that he had done. 

699
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:54,360
And conversion, as I mentioned, 
does not cancel moral, 

700
00:34:54,960 --> 00:35:00,560
financial, even social debts. 
People who get saved still have 

701
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:04,240
to deal with the consequences of
the life that they chose before 

702
00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:08,520
they got saved. 
And I believe God in his mercy 

703
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:13,400
will allow the consequences of 
those things to not necessarily 

704
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,320
be as bad as what they could 
have been. 

705
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,800
But, you know, somebody who 
smokes their entire life before 

706
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:19,800
they get saved doesn't 
automatically get healed of 

707
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:23,480
their lung cancer. 
Somebody who drank and drank and

708
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,440
drank before they got saved does
not mean that their liver is 

709
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:28,800
just going to automatically be 
healed because they got saved. 

710
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:31,600
There are consequences and there
are things that we have to deal 

711
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,240
with. 
Somebody who had poor financial 

712
00:35:34,240 --> 00:35:38,480
habits and just lived a life of 
debauchery and everything else 

713
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:41,720
does not mean that all of their 
money problems go away because 

714
00:35:41,720 --> 00:35:44,040
they got saved. 
There's still some consequences 

715
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:45,400
of those things that we have to 
deal with. 

716
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:49,960
But like Tichikis Onessimus, 
Paul said, is a beloved brother,

717
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:52,760
which is such a wonderful thing 
when you think about it. 

718
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,800
Here's this man who in society 
was just considered a slave, 

719
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,880
kind of the lowest of the low. 
Paul leads this man to Christ 

720
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:03,240
and he treats him like a 
brother. 

721
00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:05,400
And not just a brother, but a 
beloved brother. 

722
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:09,480
We're on the same level here. 
There is no difference between 

723
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:12,440
the Jew or the Greek, the bond 
or the free. 

724
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:15,280
There is no difference between 
us in Christ Jesus. 

725
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:19,240
And so he's a fellow member of 
the body of Christ by the by the

726
00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:23,720
virtue of the fact that he has 
been converted, but unfaithful, 

727
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,560
however unfaithful he might have
been before he got saved. 

728
00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:29,960
But Paul says now he is faithful
and Paul had put him to the 

729
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:31,280
test. 
The fact that he's now on his 

730
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:35,640
way back to Philemon to face the
music, as we say, is an 

731
00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:38,480
indication of that new 
trustworthiness, the new, the 

732
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:40,520
new life that he found in Jesus 
Christ. 

733
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:42,760
And that's a great example of 
how we ought to come to Christ. 

734
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:46,240
When we get things right with 
God, we ought to be willing to 

735
00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:47,920
make it right with whoever we 
wronged. 

736
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:51,960
Think about Zacchaeus. 
Zacchaeus came to know Christ as

737
00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:55,520
his savior, and he realized that
he had wronged a lot of people. 

738
00:36:56,720 --> 00:36:58,960
But what did Zacchaeus do? 
Well, I'm a Christian now. 

739
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:01,880
All my debts are gone. 
Don't worry about that. 

740
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:04,360
It's under the blood. 
He said no, I've wronged these 

741
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:05,600
people. 
I need to make it right. 

742
00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:09,920
And I think as as much as we 
possibly can after we get saved,

743
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:13,440
we ought to make things right. 
Some things maybe you just 

744
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:15,160
can't. 
Some things you don't remember. 

745
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:18,760
Some things are things that are 
just under the blood, but if you

746
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,240
can make it right, you ought to 
make it right when you come to 

747
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,240
Jesus Christ. 
But Paul says, They shall make 

748
00:37:24,240 --> 00:37:27,560
known unto you all things which 
are done here. 

749
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,360
Winning souls like Oneessimus to
Christ was one of those things. 

750
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:35,760
Great things were going. 
On and I don't have time to read

751
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:39,400
through Philippians chapter 1, 
but Paul in Philippians chapter 

752
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:42,320
1 is telling all of the people 
there in Philippi about the 

753
00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:44,960
things that are happening great 
things were going. 

754
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:48,880
On and obviously he gets back. 
Onessimus gets back and Philemon

755
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:52,040
does accept him the way that a 
Christian should accept him. 

756
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:55,920
But Paul says about Onessimus, 
he was a fugitive man, but he 

757
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:57,960
was faithful. 
He was faithful. 

758
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:03,320
Number 3IN Colossians chapter 4.
And very quickly as we close 

759
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:09,320
here, we read about another man 
in verse #10 Aristarchus, my 

760
00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:12,960
fellow prisoner, saluteth you. 
Now that's interesting. 

761
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:18,360
My fellow prisoner Aristarchus. 
We don't read about Aristarchus 

762
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:20,520
being captured and put in 
prison. 

763
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,240
We don't read about him 
preaching the gospel and being 

764
00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:26,160
captured for the sake of 
preaching. 

765
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:28,800
He's not necessarily. 
We don't read about him being 

766
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:31,520
alongside the Apostle Paul in 
one of these places where they 

767
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:33,600
drag him out of the city and 
stone him. 

768
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:36,840
Doesn't mean that he wasn't, but
we don't read about that. 

769
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:38,600
In fact, turn over to Acts 
Chapter 19. 

770
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:43,600
Aristarchus was actually from 
Thessalonica, and he was a 

771
00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:45,440
faithful companion of the 
apostle Paul. 

772
00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,960
He became a companion of Paul's 
On his third missionary journey.

773
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:53,760
He accompanied him to Ephesus. 
He was captured and killed, 

774
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:57,800
almost killed by the mob in the 
riot that was raised by 

775
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,120
Demetrius and the silversmiths. 
And we read this in Acts chapter

776
00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:06,280
19 and verse #29 The whole city 
was filled with confusion, and 

777
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:10,480
having caught Gaius and 
Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, 

778
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,640
Paul's companions in travel, 
they rushed with 1 accord into 

779
00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:19,920
the theater. 
Now, if you've never been in one

780
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:21,840
of these places, never been to 
Israel, never been. 

781
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:24,120
I haven't been to Ephesus or 
some of these other places. 

782
00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:25,320
I've seen a lot of pictures of 
it. 

783
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:28,400
I know some of you have been in 
those places and seen it, but if

784
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,800
you never actually seen one of 
these theaters, it's hard to. 

785
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:32,240
It's hard to get this in your 
mind. 

786
00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:35,360
But some of those theaters were 
very, very big and they would 

787
00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:38,200
fit a lot of people. 
And it's not like the people, 

788
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:40,360
you know, a lot of people. 
And there's, I don't, I don't 

789
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:41,800
really feel like going to the 
theater tonight. 

790
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:44,280
I'm just going to sit home and 
watch TV or I'm going to sit 

791
00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:46,480
home and read the newspaper. 
I'm going to sit home and, you 

792
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:48,880
know, scroll through YouTube or 
Facebook or there was nothing 

793
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:51,320
else to do. 
So when they had things like 

794
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:54,200
that that were going on in the 
town, almost the entire town was

795
00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,760
there. 
And you get all of these people 

796
00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:01,560
riled up at just a couple men 
and these, you know, Demetrius 

797
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,560
and the silversmiths and, and 
obviously, you know, Diana of 

798
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:07,600
the Ephesians and, and they had 
been making all of these statues

799
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,480
and, and they had been bowing 
down to these statues forever 

800
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:13,080
and ever. 
And now here's these two guys, 

801
00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:15,000
they're coming in and they're 
trying to upset that. 

802
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:17,080
And you think that it's OK. 
That's not OK. 

803
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:22,080
And Demetrius, probably a, a, a 
silver tongued silversmith, got 

804
00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:25,800
up there and got all the people 
riled up against these men and 

805
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:29,040
they almost killed him. 
But then he accompanied Paul to 

806
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,120
Greece and from there back to 
Asia Minor. 

807
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:34,400
In fact, if you turn just maybe 
a page over to Acts chapter 20 

808
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:37,240
and verse #4 and they're 
accompanied him into Asia. 

809
00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:41,960
So Pedro, Berea and of the 
Thessalonians, Aristarchus and 

810
00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:44,560
Sekundis. 
Then he accompanied Paul back to

811
00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:50,240
Rome in Acts chapter 27, Acts 
chapter 27 and verse #2 and 

812
00:40:50,240 --> 00:40:55,680
entering into a ship of Adriam 
Mightiam, we launched meaning to

813
00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:59,680
sail by the coast of Asia, one 
Aristarchus, a Macedonian of 

814
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:04,000
Thessalonica, being with us. 
So here he's sharing in the. 

815
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:07,840
Shipwreck with the Apostle Paul.
Remember, they were shipwrecked 

816
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:11,200
during that voyage. 
We don't know at what point 

817
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:13,840
Aristarchus was made a prisoner 
because the Bible doesn't say 

818
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:16,520
that, but evidently that was the
price he paid for his allegiance

819
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:20,000
to the Apostle Paul. 
Paul is writing and Paul 

820
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:24,280
obviously is, is, is kind of the
focus of many of these things. 

821
00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:26,680
Not necessarily that he's 
putting that focus on himself, 

822
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:30,440
but we're given the story of the
apostle Paul in a lot of places.

823
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,600
And we know a lot of the things 
that Paul suffered and a lot of 

824
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,240
things that he went through, but
he had a lot of men that were 

825
00:41:35,240 --> 00:41:37,760
with him. 
Some of these men, like 

826
00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:40,640
Aristarchus, were caught up in 
all of those things. 

827
00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,400
Tradition has it, the Bible 
doesn't say this, but tradition 

828
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:45,600
has it that he was martyred by 
Nero. 

829
00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:47,880
It's very likely that's a 
possibility. 

830
00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:50,600
But one suggestion is that 
Paul's friends took turns in 

831
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:52,880
keeping Paul company while he 
was in prison. 

832
00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:55,600
But in order to actually be 
there in prison with the apostle

833
00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:58,400
Paul, they had to offer 
themselves as a prisoner. 

834
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:02,360
And maybe that's where you get 
this idea where Paul says 

835
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:04,920
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner,
saluteth you. 

836
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:07,000
I don't know, the Bible doesn't 
say that. 

837
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:10,080
But more than likely he became a
prisoner himself just so he 

838
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:14,920
could keep Paul company and keep
Paul encouraged Aristarchus, my 

839
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:17,600
fellow prisoner, the fearless 
man. 

840
00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:23,480
The name of a loyalist such as 
Aristarchus included in this 

841
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,160
letter would have been another 
nail in the coffin coffin to the

842
00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:29,320
cultists there at Colossae. 
It would have helped strengthen 

843
00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:33,080
the hands of those who are 
fighting against those cultists 

844
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:36,200
in against that cult. 
Aristarchus was bold in 

845
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:38,640
proclaiming the gospel. 
He was willing to do what needed

846
00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:40,960
to be done to be an 
encouragement and a friend to 

847
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:44,920
Paul as well. 
What you think back in the Old 

848
00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,680
Testament with Aaron and her 
holding up the hands of Moses, 

849
00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:52,480
Moses was the one who 
essentially was front and 

850
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:54,120
center. 
Moses was the one who 

851
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:56,480
essentially. 
Got the credit if if credit's 

852
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:59,320
going to be given to anybody for
the victory that day. 

853
00:43:00,200 --> 00:43:02,120
But it was Aaron and her who 
stood there and held up his 

854
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:05,640
hands, and had Aaron and her not
been there to hold up the hands 

855
00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:07,760
of Moses, there would have been 
no victory that day. 

856
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:10,400
And I believe it's the same 
thing that we find with all of 

857
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:11,840
these people that Paul is 
mentioning. 

858
00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:14,600
Paul is mentioning these people 
because he's saying, hey, these 

859
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:16,560
men are here holding up my 
hands. 

860
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:18,480
They're here. 
They're fellow prisoners. 

861
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:21,040
They're faithful men. 
They're faithful servants. 

862
00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:24,080
They're they're fellow servants.
They're they're, they're beloved

863
00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:26,720
brothers. 
If it wasn't for them, I don't 

864
00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:28,520
know if I could have made it 
through what I've made it 

865
00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:30,600
through. 
If they weren't there to 

866
00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:32,720
encourage me, if they weren't 
there to help me, I don't know 

867
00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:35,000
if you would be getting these 
letters that you're getting to 

868
00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:38,480
the Colossians and to the 
Ephesians and to Timothy and to 

869
00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:41,080
these others that were, that 
were written in a time when 

870
00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:43,600
Paul's. 
Future and when his life was at 

871
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:46,640
stake. 
But here Paul is mentioning 

872
00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:48,840
these men, men of example, one 
by one. 

873
00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:55,080
Hey, Tichakis, he's just a man 
like you and me, but he's a 

874
00:43:55,080 --> 00:44:00,360
faithful man. 
Oh, Onassimus, he's a fugitive 

875
00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:03,360
man, but he's faithful. 
He's a beloved brother, too. 

876
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,520
And oh, Aristarchus, he's been 
with me on a lot of these 

877
00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:09,640
journeys. 
He's been through a lot of the 

878
00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:11,000
same things that I've been 
through. 

879
00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:13,800
He's almost lost his life a 
couple times as well. 

880
00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:17,960
But he's a fearless man. 
He's bold and speaking the 

881
00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:20,040
truth. 
He's bold to help me. 

882
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:25,080
He's a dear fellow servant. 
God put them in the Bible for a 

883
00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:29,920
reason. 
Every single word we would say 

884
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,000
this, every single word in the 
Bible is there for a reason, 

885
00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:37,680
would we not? 
You think about all the, all the

886
00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:41,920
things, the, the history of the 
entire world is wrapped up in 

887
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:45,440
this book right here. 
Think about all the things that 

888
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:50,120
could have been written. 
Think about the the volumes and 

889
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:53,920
volumes and volumes and volumes 
of books that have been written 

890
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:59,000
about world history. 
There's not a lot when it comes 

891
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:02,800
to all of those things. 
So God, for a very specific 

892
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:07,600
reason, picked who and what He 
wanted in His Word, and He 

893
00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:12,360
inspired the men to write the 
things that He wanted to not 

894
00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:16,880
just last till the end of time. 
But guess where this book is 

895
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:19,360
going to be a million years from
now? 

896
00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:25,280
It's going to be there in 
eternity with us, and these men 

897
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:31,600
that He gave us as examples are 
men whose names are going to be 

898
00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:34,760
spoken throughout all of 
eternity when it's associated 

899
00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:37,400
with God's Word. 
He put them in there for a 

900
00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:40,600
reason. 
He put them in there for a 

901
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:43,200
reason, and it was because He 
wanted us to follow their 

902
00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:45,960
example. 
There's seven more men in here. 

903
00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:49,080
We're going to talk about those 
men, maybe not as in as much 

904
00:45:49,080 --> 00:45:53,640
detail as we did with his first 
few, but there's seven more men 

905
00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:55,320
that are in there as examples to
us. 

906
00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:58,160
I think we do well to follow 
their example. 

907
00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:03,120
Titricus, he's a faithful man. 
Onessimus, he's a fugitive man, 

908
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:06,040
but he's faithful as well. 
He's a beloved brother. 

909
00:46:07,720 --> 00:46:10,560
And Aristarchus, he's a fearless
man. 

910
00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:16,640
He's not afraid to stand next to
God's man when God's man was in 

911
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:19,760
prison. 
He's not afraid to speak the 

912
00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:23,000
truth of the gospel. 
When his life was on the line, 

913
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:26,480
he was fearless. 
He's a fellow prisoner. 

914
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:31,320
What a great example from some 
of these men that we have that 

915
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:33,200
we can follow. 
And we'll talk some more talk 

916
00:46:33,200 --> 00:46:37,000
about more of them later. 
But I think we'd do well if we 

917
00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:39,680
just get these three down. 
But what if that was on their 

918
00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:46,440
their tombstones? 
Tichikas a faithful man. 

919
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:50,880
What about if that was on your 
tombstone? 

920
00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:52,400
Would you want to see that on 
your tombstone? 

921
00:46:53,800 --> 00:47:00,320
Aristarchus, fearless man for 
the gospel sake, what do you 

922
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:03,400
want on your tombstone? 
What would you want to have said

923
00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:06,400
about you? 
Because look, you might have 

924
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:08,320
some accomplishments, you might 
have some things that you've 

925
00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:10,720
done, you might have a lot of 
money, but those are not the 

926
00:47:10,720 --> 00:47:12,120
things that are going on your 
tombstone. 

927
00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:17,920
More than likely, if you had one
phrase that you could put on 

928
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:22,160
your tombstone that would wrap 
up your entire life, what would 

929
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:25,840
it be? 
What would you want it to be? 

930
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:31,960
And if what it would be is not 
what you want it to be and you 

931
00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:34,280
need to make some changes so 
that what you want it to be is 

932
00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:38,960
what will be when you die. 
Because usually you don't get to

933
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:40,320
pick what you want on your 
tombstone. 

934
00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:44,200
You're not there to chisel it. 
Somebody else does that for you.

935
00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:52,200
You can't just make stuff up 
these guys that that's I don't. 

936
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:54,040
I'm sure there's no. 
Tombstones where these guys are 

937
00:47:54,040 --> 00:47:57,280
buried. 
But that's what would be on it. 

938
00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:03,640
Faithful, fearless, beloved 
brother, fellow soldiers, fellow

939
00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:10,160
slaves, fellow prisoners. 
What do you want on your 

940
00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:13,960
tombstone? 
What do you want on your 

941
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:18,040
tombstone? 
Hopefully what you want is what 

942
00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:20,200
will be put because it's the way
you lived. 

943
00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:22,680
Let's pray. 
Father, again, we thank you so 

944
00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:27,400
much for your goodness to us and
we thank you for the opportunity

945
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:30,040
that we have to be here tonight 
and study for just a few minutes

946
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:32,560
out of your word may be a help 
to us. 

947
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:38,480
God, may we consider our lives 
and if our lives will be summed 

948
00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:41,600
up in just a short simple 
phrase, I wonder what would be 

949
00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:45,800
said about us. 
He loved money. 

950
00:48:46,960 --> 00:48:53,240
He loved things. 
We had an impact in the world in

951
00:48:53,240 --> 00:48:57,640
a physical way. 
God, may every one of us live in

952
00:48:57,640 --> 00:49:02,000
such a way for you that our 
tombstones will be marked the 

953
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:07,880
same way these men are marked. 
Faithful, beloved brother, 

954
00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:14,520
fellow servant, fellow prisoner.
May those be things that could 

955
00:49:14,520 --> 00:49:17,240
be said about us because we 
lived in a way that's pleasing 

956
00:49:17,240 --> 00:49:19,400
to you. 
Thank you again for all you do 

957
00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:21,760
for us. 
Jesus name Amen. 

958
00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:22,400
If you would stand at.