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Friends-Make-Life-More-Fun-Msg-7-14 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: I think it's impossible for us to put any kind
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Speaker 1: of price tay on friendships. I'm sure you agree. Some
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Speaker 1: people's lives and relationships are so noteworthy that they've been
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Speaker 1: recorded to serve as examples of courage, leadership, humility, and friendship.
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Speaker 1: That kind of friendship is what I'm referring to, and
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Speaker 1: we shouldn't be surprised, then, to discover that the Bible
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Speaker 1: is full of biographies. In my message today, I'll be
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Speaker 1: looking with you into the lives of two men who
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Speaker 1: became very close friends to Paul, very close I would
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Speaker 1: call them intimate friends. We will see that, next to
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Speaker 1: our relationships with God and with our family, there are
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Speaker 1: no relationships greater than those that we cultivate with our friends.
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Speaker 1: So let's learn of that together. I want to read
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Speaker 1: for you verses nineteen through thirty of Philippians Chapter two.
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Speaker 1: I'll begin reading at Philippians two, verse nineteen. But I
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Speaker 1: hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly,
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Speaker 1: so that I also may be encouraged when I learn
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Speaker 1: of your condition, for I have no one else of
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Speaker 1: kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare,
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Speaker 1: for they all seek after their own interests, not those
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Speaker 1: of Christ Jesus. But you know of his proven worth,
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Speaker 1: that he served with me in the furtherance of the Gospel,
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Speaker 1: like a child serving his father. Therefore, I hope to
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Speaker 1: send him immediately as soon as I see how things
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Speaker 1: go with me, and I trust in the Lord that
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Speaker 1: I myself also will be coming shortly. But I thought
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Speaker 1: it necessary to send to you epaphroditis my brother and
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Speaker 1: fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger
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Speaker 1: and minister to my need, because he was longing for
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Speaker 1: you all, and was distressed because you had heard that
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Speaker 1: he was sick. For indeed he was sick to the
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Speaker 1: point of death. But God had mercy on him, and
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Speaker 1: not on him only, but also on me, so that
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Speaker 1: I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I have
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Speaker 1: sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you
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Speaker 1: see him again, you may rejoice, and I may be
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Speaker 1: less concerned about you. Receive him then in the Lord
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Speaker 1: with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard,
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Speaker 1: because he came close to death for the work of Christ,
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Speaker 1: risking his life to complete what was deficient in your
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Speaker 1: service to me among my favorite category of books would
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Speaker 1: have to be biographies. I don't know of books that
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Speaker 1: I enjoy reading more than books about men and women
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Speaker 1: who helped shape their world, and in many ways my world,
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Speaker 1: your world. Great men and women. I've discovered that as
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Speaker 1: I study biography, most of those great men and women
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Speaker 1: were also students of other men and women, sort of
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Speaker 1: students of human nature. In fact, the flow of history
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Speaker 1: revolves more and more. It seems to me around people's
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Speaker 1: lives rather than trends or events or data that's more
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Speaker 1: of a technical nature. Fact, two quotes come to mind,
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Speaker 1: for one from Thomas Carlyle, the Scottish essayist and historian,
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Speaker 1: and the other from the American born Ralph Waldo Emerson,
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Speaker 1: another essayist and poet. Carlisle wrote, history is the essence
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Speaker 1: of innumerable biographies, and Emerson writes, there is properly no history,
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Speaker 1: only biography. That's true. We are living in a day
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Speaker 1: where advanced education is turning more toward a Marxist mentality,
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Speaker 1: where we focus on trends, We focus on series of
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Speaker 1: events that set in motion these trends, rather than people
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Speaker 1: and unique individuals. I stand against that style of teaching.
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Speaker 1: In fact, I'm so old fashioned. I still like people watching.
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Speaker 1: Are you like that? If you ever get your Christmas
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Speaker 1: shopping done early? You like to sit on a bench
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Speaker 1: in the mall and watch panic occur right in front
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Speaker 1: of your eyes. You watch a dad going this direction,
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Speaker 1: and a mom going another, and kids shaking their heads
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Speaker 1: going in all different directions. Watching people is a fascinating experience.
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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I can't imagine a world
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Speaker 1: without people. Think of the emptiness of a place of
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Speaker 1: worship where there are people absent from the gathering. Believe me,
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Speaker 1: I have been in this worship center where there are
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Speaker 1: no people, and I have even stood and looked out
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Speaker 1: on a row of empty pews. It isn't at all fun.
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Speaker 1: There is nothing to be gained in the preaching of
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Speaker 1: a sermon to a series of empty pews. And think
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Speaker 1: of a Christian conference center nestled away in the mountains,
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Speaker 1: high up in the hillside, or perhaps down by the
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Speaker 1: crashing seashore, where there are no people. There's no laughter,
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Speaker 1: there's not the sound of dishes and glasses in the
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Speaker 1: dining room. You don't hear you don't hear the message
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Speaker 1: of Christ being proclaimed. It's a lonely. It's even a
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Speaker 1: depressing place without people, and a home of a home
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Speaker 1: without people is just a house, it's just a residential address.
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Speaker 1: And some of you who have people crawling all over
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Speaker 1: you these days, are thinking, that's not a bad idea.
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Speaker 1: I wouldn't mind having our place quiet again. But if
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Speaker 1: you have raised a large family, or you have been
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Speaker 1: raised in a big family and there was harmony and
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Speaker 1: fun and laughter and love, you know the sounds of
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Speaker 1: silence and they're not anything as satisfying as the sound
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Speaker 1: of people. People are incredibly significant to God. I mean,
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Speaker 1: that's why he said his son, That's why his son died,
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Speaker 1: That's why his son is returning to this earth having
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Speaker 1: departed from us back in the first century. People, and
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Speaker 1: as strong as our theology may be around the invents
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Speaker 1: and the solitude and the sovereignty of God, believe me,
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Speaker 1: believe the scriptures. People are important to God. Were the
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Speaker 1: only things eternal left on this earth except his word.
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Speaker 1: You realize that everything else will be burnt up, church buildings,
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Speaker 1: Christian conference centers, houses and homes, that'll all be taken
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Speaker 1: off this earth by fire. But people, the eternal soul
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Speaker 1: of individuals will be here, will be in existence forever.
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Speaker 1: Let me show you a verse or two of scripture
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Speaker 1: in Romans, chapter ten, verse fourteen. There is a statement
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Speaker 1: that I think says it better than you or I
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Speaker 1: ever could. It's a series of questions, How then, shall
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Speaker 1: they call upon him and whom they have not believed?
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Speaker 1: And how shall they believe in Him whom they have
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Speaker 1: not heard? And having asked that question, how shall they
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Speaker 1: hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless
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Speaker 1: they are sent? You know, those questions have to do
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Speaker 1: with people. God has a message that he wants proclaimed
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Speaker 1: not to empty buildings and to vast vacant sanctuaries, but
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Speaker 1: to hearts and lives, to souls, to people who will
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Speaker 1: respond positively to the claims of Christ. See the proclamation
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Speaker 1: of the good News and the presence of people go
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Speaker 1: hand in hand, like gears maching together. God finds no
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Speaker 1: delight in the message of Christ being proclaimed to empty
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Speaker 1: spaces across vacant mountain sides, because inanimate objects cannot respond.
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Speaker 1: People respond. So let me see if I can put
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Speaker 1: it in simple terms, significant people in God's plan. Let's
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Speaker 1: think about that first. Why are people significant to God? Well,
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Speaker 1: I've mentioned one reason. Because we are eternal, we face
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Speaker 1: eternal destinations heaven or hell, depending on how we have
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Speaker 1: responded to the message of Jesus Christ. No one will
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Speaker 1: just dissolve into oblivion, no matter what poet you may
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Speaker 1: have read, no matter what statesman may have been significant
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Speaker 1: in your life, who was himself or herself an atheist.
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Speaker 1: The scriptures teach that we have an eternal home that
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Speaker 1: we will one day occupy. That's why we're significant. Secondly,
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Speaker 1: were significant because God normally works through people. He normally
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Speaker 1: works through people. I'm going to ask you a question
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Speaker 1: I've never asked you, and I have no idea what
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Speaker 1: your response will be. But let me illustrate in this
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Speaker 1: unrehearsed moment how important people are. How many of you
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Speaker 1: could lift your hand and say, my salvation was absolutely
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Speaker 1: independent of any other person. Wasn't a mother, wasn't a father,
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Speaker 1: wasn't a teacher. It wasn't some other influence. It wasn't
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Speaker 1: something somebody wrote or somebody sang. It wasn't a track
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Speaker 1: somebody gave me. It was absolutely and undeniably independent. Just
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Speaker 1: a vision appeared and I received Christ. Hands up. H
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Speaker 1: I thought we might have two or three miracles, but
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Speaker 1: we don't. People minister to people, and we respond to
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Speaker 1: the message. God uses us like hands in a glove
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Speaker 1: to carry out his work. We are the glove. His
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Speaker 1: hand is in the glove, and as he moves among us,
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Speaker 1: he uses individuals in our lives. I love the story
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Speaker 1: of the preacher who bought a small piece of acreage
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Speaker 1: that he decided he would redevelop. Had an old, beat
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Speaker 1: up ranch shack on it and rusty implements of farming
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Speaker 1: from years gone by, and stumps that were just left
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Speaker 1: along with debris, and had no fence around the property.
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Speaker 1: And for the next number of months he just rolled
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Speaker 1: up his sleeves and spent his day off there, and
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Speaker 1: a week of his two or three week vacation he
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Speaker 1: would go there and pull stumps and haul off the debris.
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Speaker 1: And he finally rebuilt the shack into a nice log
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Speaker 1: cabin and a new roof and nice warm lights on
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Speaker 1: the inside, and landscaped the place. And as he was
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Speaker 1: putting a fits around it finishing it up, a neighbor
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Speaker 1: from several acres away had been sort of watching out
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Speaker 1: of a suspicious eye, not sure how he would take
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Speaker 1: to this man, and he finally worked up the courage
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Speaker 1: one day to walk over and said the preacher, Preacher,
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Speaker 1: looks like you and the Lord have done a pretty
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Speaker 1: good job at this old place. Preacher smiled back as
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Speaker 1: he wiped the sweat off his brow and said, well,
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Speaker 1: I'll tell your neighbor. You should have seen it when
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Speaker 1: the Lord had it all to himself. When the Lord
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Speaker 1: has it all to himself, believe me, Trish collects in
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Speaker 1: this place of worship, there is no sound system to
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Speaker 1: amplify the message. When the Lord has it all to himself,
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Speaker 1: you don't hear of Christ. And that is not said
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Speaker 1: to take away anything from his power. It's simply said
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Speaker 1: to emphasize how he uses people. He blesses our lives
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Speaker 1: through someone else's voice, pen model, and mess. Matter of fact,
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Speaker 1: when I think about people, I think there's sort of
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Speaker 1: a general survey of how we can work our way
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Speaker 1: through the Bible. I want to do that for the
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Speaker 1: next few minutes. Good. You can outline Genesis through revelation
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Speaker 1: by just dealing with people, not events, not even great truths.
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Speaker 1: Genesis revolves around Adam and Eve, their son Cain, and Abel.
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Speaker 1: Abel was slain by Cain and another son, Seth, who
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Speaker 1: came into the family. And if we hit for higher
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Speaker 1: points along the way, you'd have to deal with Noah
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Speaker 1: and the great Flood, and history sons Shamham and Jafeth,
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Speaker 1: which leads us to Abraham, the father of the Hebrews,
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Speaker 1: and Sarah his wife, and Isaac their son, and Jacob
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Speaker 1: and Esau the twins, and Jacob's twelve boys who became
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Speaker 1: the Twelve the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel.
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Speaker 1: And the younger one's Joseph, who wraps up the Book
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Speaker 1: of Genesis, the biography of the life of Joseph from
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Speaker 1: Adam to Joseph, the Book of Genesis. When you step
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Speaker 1: into Exodus, the people are in a foreign land under
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Speaker 1: a foreign pharaoh who doesn't know Joseph. And it takes
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Speaker 1: a man named Moses who comes from two people, Amram
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Speaker 1: and Jacobin his dad and mom. And Moses and Aaron
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Speaker 1: his brother are in the highlights of Exodus and Leviticus
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Speaker 1: and numbers. And then Joshua comes on the scene as
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Speaker 1: Moses' successor, and Joshua bears a book on his own,
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Speaker 1: a book of Conquest. Joshua's life ends with the beginning
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Speaker 1: of the judges, and a book bears that name, and
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Speaker 1: the judges continue until the last judge, Samuel. And from
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Speaker 1: Samuel come the kings. We're introduced to Saul and then
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Speaker 1: David and then Solomon, and then the kingdom split and
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Speaker 1: there's a civil war in Hebrew history, and ten of
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Speaker 1: those tribes go to the north and two to the south.
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Speaker 1: And you track through the kings and the prophets, and
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Speaker 1: you come to the last prophet, Malachi, introducing us to
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Speaker 1: a four hundred year silent period where no one wrote
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Speaker 1: of scripture, no one wrote scripture. And then you meet
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Speaker 1: a man sent from God whose name is John, a man,
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Speaker 1: not an event, not a trend, but a man, and
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Speaker 1: he becomes the announcer. He prepares the way for Messiah,
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Speaker 1: the greatest man who ever lived, the God Man Christ, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: and Christ calls the twelve. One of the twelve is Peter,
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Speaker 1: and he establishes the Church, and then a replacement for
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Speaker 1: Judas leads to another choice, and then an apostle is
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Speaker 1: called named Paul, and Paul completes the New Testament with
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Speaker 1: James and Jude and John, who completes the Book of
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Speaker 1: Revelation from Genesis to Revelation people people from Romans ten
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Speaker 1: over to Hebrews chapter eleven. I'm gonna show you one
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Speaker 1: more thing before we meet two rather unknown individuals in
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Speaker 1: Philippians chapter two. Look at Hebrews eleven. I've got in
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Speaker 1: my Bible a little line underneath the names in God's
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Speaker 1: Hall of fame. Quickly Verse four Abel, verse five, Enoch,
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Speaker 1: verse seven, Noah eight, Abraham nine, Isaac and Jacob eleven,
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Speaker 1: Sarah twelve of verse twenty Jacob and Esau. We met
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Speaker 1: them earlier in our in our message Verse twenty two,
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Speaker 1: Joseph twenty three, Moses thirty one, Rahab the Harlot. And
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Speaker 1: then the writer becomes like the preacher who runs out
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Speaker 1: of time verse thirty two, What more shall I say?
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Speaker 1: And he gives a whole list of names time wo
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Speaker 1: failed me to tell, of Gideon and Barak, and of Samthon,
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Speaker 1: Jephthan David also and Samuel and the And then he
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Speaker 1: gives a whole list of their wonderful heroic deeds, who
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Speaker 1: through faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, stopped the
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Speaker 1: mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the
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Speaker 1: edge of the sword from weakness were made strong, became
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Speaker 1: mighty in war, and put off foreign armies to flight.
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Speaker 1: Women received their dead raised back to life by resurrection.
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Speaker 1: Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtained
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Speaker 1: a better resurrection. And he describes even further. Some experienced
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Speaker 1: mockings and scourgings, chains and imprisonments. They were stoned, they
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Speaker 1: were sawn into, they were tempted, they were put to
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Speaker 1: death with the sword. He describes a terrible era of
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Speaker 1: persecution which went on beyond the New Testament era. They
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Speaker 1: went about in sheepskins and goat skins, destitute, afflicted, ill treated.
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Speaker 1: And then look at that little parenthesis, men of whom
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Speaker 1: the world was not worthy. You think God doesn't sanction
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Speaker 1: the importance of humanity on this earth. He says, this
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Speaker 1: old world, and all of its cultures, and all of
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Speaker 1: its needs, and all of its heartaches, and all of
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Speaker 1: its sin and depravity, all of its imperfection. Still there
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Speaker 1: were men and women of whom this world was not worthy.
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Speaker 1: And you know there are some living today. Some have
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Speaker 1: graced our lives and will never be the same because
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Speaker 1: of them. I could name, and you could name various
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Speaker 1: individuals whose shadows have crossed our lives and made us
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Speaker 1: better people. I'm not talking about perfect people. I'm talking
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Speaker 1: about people like us. I read recently. If you're looking
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Speaker 1: for perfection, look in the mirror. If you see it
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Speaker 1: there expected elsewhere, just that good. Don't wait for the
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Speaker 1: perfect hero. We're in an era of shredding heroes. Every
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Speaker 1: time a great man or a great woman emerges, the
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Speaker 1: media is there to point out all the flaws and
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Speaker 1: to name all the failures and imperfections, as if the
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Speaker 1: media writers did not have them. Also, God says there
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Speaker 1: are people of whom the world is not word. I
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Speaker 1: want you to meet two of them, two people that
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Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily make the Great Hall of Fame in God's
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Speaker 1: Hebrews section, but they are nevertheless in scripture for us
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Speaker 1: to meet. They are men worth knowing. Really, go back
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Speaker 1: to Philippians chapter two. These are special people that cast
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Speaker 1: shadows on Paul across Paul's lives, and he was a
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Speaker 1: better man for it. It is easy for us to
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Speaker 1: forget that this man we admire so much was surrounded
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Speaker 1: by a circle of people. People who carried his bags,
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Speaker 1: people who healed his are helped in the healing of
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Speaker 1: his wounds. People whose arms went around him in hugs
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Speaker 1: of affirmation, people who wrote when his eyesight became too
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Speaker 1: bad to write. People who medicated when the pain became
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Speaker 1: too intense. People, people, people, And he names two of
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Speaker 1: them in verses nineteen to thirty of this second chapter.
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Speaker 1: Let's kind of set it in its context. Shall we
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Speaker 1: go back in chapter two of Philippians to verse three,
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Speaker 1: Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit. Now we've looked
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Speaker 1: at that a number of hours ago. How are you
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Speaker 1: coming with that command? Now? I failed a time or
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Speaker 1: two this past week, but that's none of your business.
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Speaker 1: And you failed a few times. That's none of my business.
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Speaker 1: And we're grieved over it. But we've dealt with it.
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Speaker 1: We realize how selfish, how conceited we are by nature.
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Speaker 1: And he says, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,
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Speaker 1: but the positive, with humility of mind. Let each of
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Speaker 1: you regard one another as more important than himself. He
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Speaker 1: even adds, do not merely look out for your own
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Speaker 1: personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Here again, people,
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Speaker 1: he's not talking about animals. He's not talking about ministering
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Speaker 1: to the mountains and to rocks and to flowers. He's
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Speaker 1: talking about people. And I have in my mind an
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Speaker 1: arrow that goes across the page to verse nineteen and
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Speaker 1: to verse twenty five, because two people who didn't act
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Speaker 1: out of selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind,
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Speaker 1: ministered to the Great Apostle. Paul. One is in verse
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Speaker 1: nineteen through twenty four. His name is Timothy. The other
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Speaker 1: is in twenty five to thirty, and his name is Epaphroditis.
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Speaker 1: Let's first meet a son named Timothy. I'll I want
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Speaker 1: to give you some just some basic information to begin with.
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Speaker 1: Timothy was a native either of Listra or Derby, nobody
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Speaker 1: knows for sure, in a part of of the continent
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Speaker 1: of Asia Minor. The Apostle met him when he was
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Speaker 1: when Timothy was probably a teenager. Timothy was a child
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Speaker 1: of a mixed marriage. His father is Greek, and Timothy
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Speaker 1: reached adulthood having not been circumcised. His mother was a Jew,
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Speaker 1: but apparently because Timothy was not circumcised, the Greek culture
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Speaker 1: won out over Hebrew culture, and according to Acts sixteen,
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Speaker 1: his father is a Greek. Never is named in scripture,
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Speaker 1: his mother and his grandmother are described as women of
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Speaker 1: God who ministered to him. Eunus is his mother's name,
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Speaker 1: and lois his grandmother. They are godly Jewish women who
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Speaker 1: poured their lives in spiritual teaching into this boy, Timothy. Timothy, however,
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Speaker 1: seems to be led to Christ by the apostle Paul.
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Speaker 1: I say seems to be because there is a implication
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Speaker 1: of that in First Corinthians four seventeen, where Paul calls
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Speaker 1: him my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. I
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Speaker 1: take it from that that Timothy was led to Christ
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Speaker 1: by Paul, who became later his traveling companion. And by
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Speaker 1: the way, a word of encouragement to parents. You may
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Speaker 1: live a godly life, you may model the message of
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Speaker 1: the Savior. You may faithfully present the Gospel and have
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Speaker 1: your children in gospel teaching camps and schools and churches.
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Speaker 1: But your child may not believe until an adult comes
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Speaker 1: along who is a third party apart from mom or
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Speaker 1: dad's influence. And for some reason, that third party gets
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Speaker 1: the attention and wins the heart and leads that child
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Speaker 1: to Christ. But don't stop laying the groundwork, don't stop
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Speaker 1: pouring the scriptures into your young, teaching them and training,
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Speaker 1: and best of all, modeling for them the message of Christ.
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Speaker 1: One of the reasons we believe as a church in
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Speaker 1: Christian camps and a Sunday school program and youth ministries, etc.
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Speaker 1: Is because we think sometimes it takes that third or
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Speaker 1: fourth influence to reach a child, even though a child
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Speaker 1: is raised under the sound of the Gospel. Now, Paul
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Speaker 1: and Timothy began to travel together. I noticed in my
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Speaker 1: study that they traveled in Philippi, Thessalonika, Berea, not Brea,
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Speaker 1: but Berea Corinth Ephesus. And he was even with Paul,
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Speaker 1: as we will see when Paul was imprisoned in Rome. Now,
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Speaker 1: why would the Apostle mention these two men and virtually
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Speaker 1: no one else in the letter to the Philippians. Probably
24:49
Speaker 1: because the Philippians knew these two men, but more importantly
24:52
Speaker 1: because of the kind of men they were. They were
24:55
Speaker 1: men who were unselfish, who didn't look out for their
24:58
Speaker 1: own personal interests. Only watch closely verse nineteen. I hope
25:02
Speaker 1: in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly,
25:06
Speaker 1: so that I may be encouraged when I learn of
25:08
Speaker 1: your condition. Now, the question why would he select Timothy?
25:14
Speaker 1: There were no doubt other people who meant a lot
25:17
Speaker 1: to the Apostle. Well, there wasn't another Timothy. I find
25:21
Speaker 1: in verses twenty through twenty four three wonderful characteristics of
25:28
Speaker 1: a person like Timothy. First of all, let's just kind
25:32
Speaker 1: of name them like that. One two three. First, Timothy
25:35
Speaker 1: had a kindred spirit Verse twenty. I have no one
25:39
Speaker 1: else of kindred spirit ISAs spokos of funny words used
25:47
Speaker 1: only here in a combined way in the New Testament,
25:51
Speaker 1: only once, and used here for the Apostle. That is,
25:55
Speaker 1: as he refers to Timothy. It means like sold equal,
26:01
Speaker 1: sould like minded. We might say their triangles were congruent.
26:08
Speaker 1: What one felt the other often felt doesn't mean they
26:11
Speaker 1: never disagreed, or that they always would come down the
26:14
Speaker 1: same side of every small issue. But in the general
26:17
Speaker 1: picture of life, Timothy and Paul were soul brothers. They
26:24
Speaker 1: were connected in heart. Let me add a comment here.
26:29
Speaker 1: You won't in your lifetime find many who are of
26:31
Speaker 1: kindred spirit. You'll have a general cross section of friendships,
26:36
Speaker 1: you'll have many casual acquaintances. But you know, I've discovered
26:40
Speaker 1: in my life both hands and I'll have fingers left over.
26:44
Speaker 1: If I were to name men outside my own family,
26:48
Speaker 1: men who are of kindred spirit with me like Sould,
26:53
Speaker 1: they're rare. I realized when I look back to a
26:56
Speaker 1: ministry that was not really that delightful in my past.
27:02
Speaker 1: I realized now that what was missing was a kindred spirit.
27:08
Speaker 1: I didn't have somebody near me who was heart and
27:12
Speaker 1: soul with me in life. This is beyond husband wife relationship.
27:18
Speaker 1: This is beyond child and parent. This is another person,
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Speaker 1: same sex, many of the same spiritual interests, and you
27:28
Speaker 1: see things eye to eye. Isaskucas they are like Sould,
27:34
Speaker 1: same souled. Timothy was a man with a kindred spirit.
27:39
Speaker 1: Second second notice, Timothy had a genuine concern for others
27:44
Speaker 1: Verse twenty. No one else is a kindred spirit who
27:48
Speaker 1: will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. This gives us
27:53
Speaker 1: a little window into his makeup. When you cut Timothy
27:58
Speaker 1: right across the middle, he used with compassion. He cared
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Speaker 1: about other people. You know what that tells me, so
28:06
Speaker 1: did Paul. If they were like Sould. If Paul says
28:11
Speaker 1: this man is of kindred spirit, then whatever else he
28:14
Speaker 1: may say about Timothy could also be said about Paul,
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Speaker 1: I have no one who is so interested in you,
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Speaker 1: such a concern for your welfare. Remember, the illustration goes
28:26
Speaker 1: back to verse three. This is a man who did
28:29
Speaker 1: nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but regarded others as
28:33
Speaker 1: more important than himself. In fact, if you have as
28:36
Speaker 1: stereotype sort of an unrealistic idea of the first century,
28:39
Speaker 1: verse twenty one will help. They all seek after their
28:44
Speaker 1: own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. For the longest time,
28:49
Speaker 1: in my budding years as a growing Christian, I had
28:52
Speaker 1: the thought in mind that the first century must have
28:54
Speaker 1: been a century of saints, just rank and file saints
28:58
Speaker 1: lined up one afternoon. There were some, but not most,
29:03
Speaker 1: not even most Christians. Or verse twenty one is incorrect.
29:09
Speaker 1: Paul writes, perhaps with a bit of exaggeration, they all
29:13
Speaker 1: seek after their own interests in this day and age,
29:17
Speaker 1: not those of Christ. While reading this, the thought occurred
29:23
Speaker 1: to me that there's a strong contrast between Philippians one
29:26
Speaker 1: twenty one and Philippians two twenty one. You have your
29:29
Speaker 1: Bible open to both. In this particular version I carry,
29:33
Speaker 1: they're on the same of their across from the same
29:36
Speaker 1: page Verse twenty one of chapter one says for me
29:40
Speaker 1: to live as Christ and to die's gain. Verse twenty
29:43
Speaker 1: one of chapter two says, they all seek after their
29:46
Speaker 1: own interests, not those of Christ. Jesus. I've discovered people
29:50
Speaker 1: are in one of the other camp I've also discovered,
29:54
Speaker 1: and it's true in my own life that you can
29:56
Speaker 1: grow from one toward the other. Thank goodness, and grow
30:00
Speaker 1: beyond two twenty one into one twenty one as God
30:04
Speaker 1: begins to do a real work in your life. Interestingly,
30:08
Speaker 1: most of us live out the philosophy of one of
30:10
Speaker 1: those verses or the other. Timothy was a man with
30:13
Speaker 1: a kindred spirit. He was a man who had a
30:16
Speaker 1: servant's heart. Let me give you a third right from
30:18
Speaker 1: this passage. He was a man, yes, who had a
30:22
Speaker 1: servant's heart. He was a man of kindred spirit, a
30:25
Speaker 1: man with a genuine concern for others. And third, a
30:28
Speaker 1: man with a servant's heart see verse twenty two. You
30:31
Speaker 1: know of his proven worth. He served with me in
30:36
Speaker 1: the furtherance of the Gospel, like a child serving his father.
30:43
Speaker 1: Where do we learn a servant's heart? We learned it
30:47
Speaker 1: at home, like a child serving his father. Another word
30:54
Speaker 1: of encouragement to parents, if you want to work on
30:57
Speaker 1: anything in the life of your young on a servant's heart.
31:02
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about slavery. I'm not talking about that
31:05
Speaker 1: kind of abusive treatment we read about and just breaks
31:08
Speaker 1: our heart. I'm talking about a christ like servant spirit.
31:12
Speaker 1: Teach your children to be better at giving than receiving.
31:16
Speaker 1: Teach them the pleasure of generosity rather than selfishness. Help
31:21
Speaker 1: them know how to share. Model that because as a
31:25
Speaker 1: child serves his father or his or her mother, that
31:29
Speaker 1: same child, when they grow up, will learn to serve
31:32
Speaker 1: their fellow man, and it won't be as painful as
31:36
Speaker 1: God uses their servant heart in others. You get Timothy,
31:42
Speaker 1: you get me, says the Apostle. One of the thrilling
31:46
Speaker 1: things in life is seeing people grow from their original
31:53
Speaker 1: state as a believing sinner into a mature Christian who
31:58
Speaker 1: is serving others. Stuart Briscoe, in his book on Philippians
32:03
Speaker 1: entitled Bound for Joy, writes these words that illustrate that
32:08
Speaker 1: a few years ago I stood on the banks of
32:10
Speaker 1: a river in South America and watched a young man
32:13
Speaker 1: in western clothes climb out of a primitive canoe. The
32:17
Speaker 1: veteran missionary with whom I was traveling beamed at the
32:22
Speaker 1: young man and he whispered to me. The first time
32:25
Speaker 1: I saw him, he was a naked Indian kid standing
32:29
Speaker 1: right on this bank, and he pulled in my canoe
32:33
Speaker 1: for me. God gave me a real concern for him,
32:37
Speaker 1: and eventually he came to Christ, committed himself to the
32:41
Speaker 1: Lord's work, and is just returning home after graduating from
32:46
Speaker 1: seminary in Costa Rica. Then Briscoe adds, I could understand
32:50
Speaker 1: the beam on the missionary's face, and I think Paul
32:54
Speaker 1: beamed when he talked of his men, and he had
32:57
Speaker 1: good cause to be thrilled with them. Can you name
33:01
Speaker 1: somebody like a Timothy, some individual that you have seen
33:06
Speaker 1: grow into an unselfish adult. Perhaps someone in whose life
33:11
Speaker 1: you have built. You have given time and energy and concern.
33:17
Speaker 1: You've encouraged him. Maybe you've helped pay their way through school,
33:22
Speaker 1: or you have been with them at the tough times,
33:24
Speaker 1: and you've done more than given words of comfort. You've
33:29
Speaker 1: performed deeds of encouragement. Never underestimate the importance of people.
33:37
Speaker 1: There is a reason God continues to have you cross
33:40
Speaker 1: the path of another person who is a kindred spirit.
33:46
Speaker 1: Now we move from Timothy Verses nineteen to twenty four
33:50
Speaker 1: to Epaphroditis twenty five to thirty. Different man entirely. By
33:57
Speaker 1: the way, It's okay to name your son Timothy, but
34:01
Speaker 1: don't name him Epaphroditis. Just take it from me, friend
34:06
Speaker 1: to friend. Don't name him on a sypherus. People see
34:10
Speaker 1: names in the Bible and think, oh, I've got to
34:12
Speaker 1: name my son that, and boy, your son, I'll just
34:14
Speaker 1: never forgive you for a name like Epaphroditis. So name
34:18
Speaker 1: him Timothy E. Janes. Just don't tell anybody what the
34:20
Speaker 1: E stands for, and it'll be okay. Now, Timothy is
34:24
Speaker 1: different from Epaphroditis in that Paul emphasizes who Timothy was,
34:29
Speaker 1: but in Epaphroditis he emphasizes what he did. This man
34:34
Speaker 1: seems to be older, more seasoned. In fact, the very
34:38
Speaker 1: first words out of Paul's pen tell us what a
34:43
Speaker 1: seasoned man he was. I thought it necessary to send
34:46
Speaker 1: to you Epaphroditis my brother, my fellow worker, fellow soldier,
34:52
Speaker 1: who is also your messenger and minister to my need.
34:56
Speaker 1: What does all that mean when you first read words
35:00
Speaker 1: like that you must scratch your head as I did
35:02
Speaker 1: when I first read it, and think, what's this all about.
35:06
Speaker 1: Bishop Lightfoot, one of the early writers I so respect
35:10
Speaker 1: on Philippians, says Epaphroditis was one in sympathy, one in work,
35:15
Speaker 1: and one in danger with the Apostle. But again I
35:19
Speaker 1: need some background, So listen for a few moments to
35:23
Speaker 1: a couple of paragraphs of background. Imagine the scene. When
35:30
Speaker 1: the Philippians heard that Paul was in prison, their warm
35:32
Speaker 1: hearts were moved to action. They sent a gift by
35:36
Speaker 1: the hand of Epaphroditis. What they could not do personally
35:40
Speaker 1: because distance prevented them, they delegated to Epaphroditis to do
35:45
Speaker 1: for them. Not only did they intend him to be
35:47
Speaker 1: the bearer of their gift, they also intended him to
35:51
Speaker 1: stay in Rome and be Paul's personal servant and attendant. Clearly,
35:56
Speaker 1: Epaphroditis was a brave man. For anyone who proposed to
36:00
Speaker 1: offer himself as the personal attendant of a man awaiting
36:03
Speaker 1: trial on a capital charge was laying himself open to
36:07
Speaker 1: the very considerable risk of becoming involved in the same charge.
36:12
Speaker 1: In truth, Epaphroditis risked his life to serve Paul. In Rome,
36:19
Speaker 1: Epaphroditis fell ill, perhaps with the notorious Roman fever which
36:26
Speaker 1: sometimes swept the city like a scourge, and was near death.
36:31
Speaker 1: He knew that news of his illness had filtered back
36:33
Speaker 1: to Philippi, and he was worried because he knew that
36:37
Speaker 1: his friends there would be worried about him. God, in
36:40
Speaker 1: his mercy, spared the life of Epaphroditis, and so spared
36:44
Speaker 1: Paul yet more sorrow. But Paul knew that it was
36:49
Speaker 1: time that Epaphroditis went back home, and in all probability
36:53
Speaker 1: he was the bearer of this letter. But there was
36:56
Speaker 1: a problem. The Philippian Church had sent it Epaphroditis to
37:01
Speaker 1: stay with Paul, and if he came back home there
37:06
Speaker 1: would not be lacking those who said that he was
37:08
Speaker 1: a quitter. Here Paul gives him a tremendous testimonial which
37:13
Speaker 1: will silence any possible criticism of his return. I find
37:18
Speaker 1: information like that regarding Bible characters very helpful. It kind
37:23
Speaker 1: of opens the door of understanding as to this man.
37:27
Speaker 1: In fact, if you'll hold your place here and go
37:29
Speaker 1: to chapter four, verse eighteen, you will read something of
37:34
Speaker 1: Epaphroditis that's not mentioned anywhere else in scripture. Paul writes
37:39
Speaker 1: to the Philippians as he winds this letter to a close,
37:42
Speaker 1: I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance.
37:47
Speaker 1: I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditis what you
37:54
Speaker 1: have sent. What was that? A fragrant offering an acceptable sacrifice?
38:02
Speaker 1: Well pleasing to God. You know what Epaphroditis was. He
38:07
Speaker 1: was a messenger boy or a messenger man. He came
38:10
Speaker 1: from Philippi with a gift of money. He brought the
38:14
Speaker 1: gift to Paul, who was imprisoned in need. He gave
38:18
Speaker 1: the apostle the gift, bringing encouragement and strength and affirmation,
38:24
Speaker 1: and then fell ill while he was in Rome, and
38:27
Speaker 1: the church at Philippi began to get news that he
38:30
Speaker 1: was ill. Perhaps some were even saying he had died.
38:33
Speaker 1: And Paul said, I'd rather give up the comfort of
38:35
Speaker 1: his presence and let him bring you cheer again than
38:38
Speaker 1: to keep him by my side. So I'm sending him
38:40
Speaker 1: back to you. And as he does, he sends the
38:42
Speaker 1: letter of Philippi back with the paphriditis. He brought a
38:45
Speaker 1: gift he took back with him the letter that we
38:49
Speaker 1: are studying, and we are reading now. The man himself
38:54
Speaker 1: looked closely at the verses back in chapter two. He's
38:58
Speaker 1: a brother in Christ, He's a fellow worker, fellow soldier.
39:00
Speaker 1: He is your messenger, he is my minister. I take
39:05
Speaker 1: it that he's older. He's a seasoned soldier of the Cross,
39:08
Speaker 1: acquainted with hardship and danger, and he's been slowed by illness. Now,
39:15
Speaker 1: why did Paul send him back verse twenty six Because
39:21
Speaker 1: he was longing for you all. He was from the
39:24
Speaker 1: southern part of Europe, and he refers to that he
39:28
Speaker 1: was longing for y'all and was distressed because y'all had
39:32
Speaker 1: heard that he was sick. Indeed, he was sick to
39:35
Speaker 1: the point of death. But God had mercy on him,
39:38
Speaker 1: and not on him only, but on me, lest I
39:42
Speaker 1: should have sorrow upon sorrow. So he sent him back,
39:45
Speaker 1: first of all, to put the Philippians at ease. Paul's
39:48
Speaker 1: concern was great on behalf of the Philippians, And second
39:52
Speaker 1: he brought it. He sent him back to cause them
39:55
Speaker 1: to rejoice. That's verse twenty eight. Therefore, I've sent him
39:59
Speaker 1: all more eagerly in order that when you see him again,
40:02
Speaker 1: you may rejoice, and I may be less concerned about you.
40:07
Speaker 1: Let me ask you something real on it, very candidly.
40:10
Speaker 1: If you were in prison, would you be concerned about
40:13
Speaker 1: anybody else? Isn't it interesting the way we're put together?
40:18
Speaker 1: Our single focus would be how can I get out?
40:22
Speaker 1: How can I find comfort? How can I get back
40:25
Speaker 1: to freedom? When will I ever be relieved of the shackles?
40:29
Speaker 1: But this great apostle is so unselfish. He says, I
40:34
Speaker 1: don't want the man to stay here and keep you
40:37
Speaker 1: wondering about his health. I want him to bring a
40:40
Speaker 1: smile on your face, and I want him to return
40:42
Speaker 1: to you. Remember, this is a letter of joy, joy,
40:45
Speaker 1: even to the point of giving up what is comforting
40:48
Speaker 1: to me? Now? What was to be their response when
40:52
Speaker 1: Epaphroditis came back verse twenty nine, look closely, therefore, receive
40:59
Speaker 1: him in the lawe with all joy. So they were
41:02
Speaker 1: to welcome him arms open, smiles on their faces, returning
41:09
Speaker 1: to their joy. And he says they were to hold
41:13
Speaker 1: him in higher regard, hold man like him in higher regard.
41:18
Speaker 1: It's the idea of attaching weight to one's judgment and opinion.
41:23
Speaker 1: Listen when he speaks respect his leadership. The thought occurred
41:29
Speaker 1: to me when I have finished studying verse twenty nine,
41:33
Speaker 1: that it is not the job of the leader to
41:37
Speaker 1: announce the importance of his role and to require respect
41:43
Speaker 1: from people. That's somebody else's job. The leader who has
41:48
Speaker 1: to keep saying I'm the boss probably isn't. The leader
41:53
Speaker 1: who is a servant leader lets his life speak for
41:57
Speaker 1: him or for her and other people to endorse and
42:02
Speaker 1: to encourage great respect. The apostle says, I send this
42:06
Speaker 1: man back to you, and I say to you, hold
42:08
Speaker 1: him in high regard, not only him, but others like him.
42:12
Speaker 1: By the way, this is not a blind submission. Holding
42:16
Speaker 1: someone in high regard does not mean that you simply
42:19
Speaker 1: and blindly accept everything that person says. But there is
42:24
Speaker 1: a reason this man was to be respected, And what
42:28
Speaker 1: was it? What brought such respect? Again, the word because
42:31
Speaker 1: in verse thirty introduces the answer, Because he came close
42:35
Speaker 1: to death for the work of Christ, risking his life
42:40
Speaker 1: to complete what was deficient in your service To me,
42:44
Speaker 1: I'm intrigued by verses like that first because we have
42:49
Speaker 1: nowhere else to turn, and we're left to our imaginations.
42:55
Speaker 1: How did he come close to death. We're not told
43:00
Speaker 1: where did he risk his life. It's never revealed, but
43:05
Speaker 1: he did. In fact, this is a very interesting term.
43:10
Speaker 1: Translated risking, it means to expose oneself to danger, to
43:15
Speaker 1: cast oneself alongside a dangerous setting. In those days, identifying
43:21
Speaker 1: with a criminal was a risky thing. Ministering to the
43:26
Speaker 1: diseased was risky. You might catch the contagious disease. This
43:32
Speaker 1: man gambled with life. In fact, it's so translated by Lightfoot,
43:39
Speaker 1: having gambled with his life to complete what was lacking
43:45
Speaker 1: in your service. I came across a very interesting little
43:51
Speaker 1: vignette in all of this. The term is a para baliuo,
43:57
Speaker 1: from the word parable. You've heard something cast along something
44:01
Speaker 1: else for the purpose of comparison. But this is paraboliuo,
44:06
Speaker 1: and it's a different term. Listen, one man writes, in
44:10
Speaker 1: the early Church, there were societies of men and women
44:13
Speaker 1: who called themselves the parabolani, that is, the riskers are gamblers.
44:22
Speaker 1: They ministered to the sick and the imprisoned. They saw
44:26
Speaker 1: to it that, if at all possible, martyrs would receive
44:30
Speaker 1: an honorable burial. Thus, in the city of Carthage, during
44:34
Speaker 1: the Great pestilence of AD two fifty two. Cyprian the
44:39
Speaker 1: bishop showed remarkable courage, the self sacrificing fidelity, in self
44:46
Speaker 1: sacrificing fidelity to his flock, and love even for his enemies.
44:51
Speaker 1: He took upon himself the care of the sick, and
44:55
Speaker 1: he bade his congregation nurse them and bury the dead.
45:00
Speaker 1: What a sharp contrast with the practice of the heathen
45:04
Speaker 1: in that same city, who were throwing the corpses out
45:07
Speaker 1: of the plague stricken city and were running away in terror.
45:12
Speaker 1: In other words, Epaphroditis was among those ancient parabolani willing
45:18
Speaker 1: to risk his life for the help and for the
45:22
Speaker 1: needs of others. Let me pass along a word to
45:25
Speaker 1: you who do that. Every time you minister to someone
45:31
Speaker 1: in need, you risk every time, you risk being taken
45:37
Speaker 1: advantage of. You risk being misunderstood. I might as well
45:44
Speaker 1: say it. You risk being tempted, You risk becoming diseased physically,
45:57
Speaker 1: you risk being ostracized. But it is worth it. You
46:07
Speaker 1: are one who is to receive high regard from us
46:13
Speaker 1: because you take time. You listen to the broken hearted,
46:19
Speaker 1: You help them work their way through it. You help
46:22
Speaker 1: them miss the land minds that are a part of
46:25
Speaker 1: their journey back, and you risk somebody saying to you,
46:30
Speaker 1: you're a fool to waste your time on something as
46:32
Speaker 1: reckless as that. One of my mentors tells the moving
46:38
Speaker 1: story of a mutual friend of ours who became fallen
46:44
Speaker 1: in ministry. He yielded to sexual temptation, and he was ostracized,
46:51
Speaker 1: He was cast out of the ranks, and he went
46:53
Speaker 1: through the consequences. My mentor was the only man who
46:59
Speaker 1: reached him. And when he finally want him back and
47:04
Speaker 1: helped him heal his wounds and gave him a bit
47:08
Speaker 1: of significance and dignity again. And the man turned the
47:11
Speaker 1: corner and washed up his life and cleaned it up
47:14
Speaker 1: and put himself back together. My mentor asked our mutual
47:18
Speaker 1: friend what it felt like back then. He said, let
47:21
Speaker 1: me tell you what it felt like. Felt like. I
47:23
Speaker 1: was a wash at sea, and the tide was going out,
47:28
Speaker 1: and everybody else was standing on the shoreline, shouting criticism
47:34
Speaker 1: and rebuke, telling me all the things I already knew.
47:40
Speaker 1: But you threw a life preserver. In fact, when it
47:45
Speaker 1: wouldn't reach me, you swam out to me, and you
47:48
Speaker 1: made me take a hold and you brought me back
47:53
Speaker 1: a parabolani and Epaphroditis a man of reckless courage. Now
48:05
Speaker 1: what do you do with something like this? How do
48:09
Speaker 1: you apply it? You know? The easy thing for me
48:11
Speaker 1: to do is to say, now, may the Lord bless
48:13
Speaker 1: his word to your lives, and then we all pray
48:16
Speaker 1: and all go home. But you know me better than that.
48:18
Speaker 1: We're not going to do that. That's not what God
48:22
Speaker 1: has these names in this book for. So let me risk.
48:26
Speaker 1: Let me take a shot at an application. Okay, let
48:31
Speaker 1: me imagine for a moment that there are still Timothy's
48:33
Speaker 1: and there are still Epaphroditis on this old Earth. First,
48:40
Speaker 1: a word about Timothy's. When God brings a Timothy into
48:44
Speaker 1: your life, he expects you to relate to him or her.
48:52
Speaker 1: Timothy and Paul relationships are rare, and if you have one,
48:56
Speaker 1: God expects you to cultivate it. I say again, they're rare.
49:03
Speaker 1: You never have to force yourself into the life of
49:06
Speaker 1: your Paul. If you're a Timothy, it'll flow. You don't
49:11
Speaker 1: have to make yourself a part of that other person's
49:14
Speaker 1: life gets there, and when you come across one of
49:17
Speaker 1: those rare Timothy's, God expects you to relate because he
49:22
Speaker 1: wants to do something in that combined effort of one
49:26
Speaker 1: life with another. I am confident, without even asking the two,
49:31
Speaker 1: that there is that kind of relationship with between a
49:33
Speaker 1: Billy Graham and a Cliff Barrows, there's a Paul Timothy
49:37
Speaker 1: relationship there. I can assure you. They think together, they
49:41
Speaker 1: work in harmony together, and they're famous. They're names that
49:44
Speaker 1: we all respect and admire. But there are many, many
49:48
Speaker 1: more Paul Timothy relationships to be cultivated. For God wants
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Speaker 1: to do a wonderful thing between you and the other individual.
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Speaker 1: When God brings a Timothy into your life, expects you
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Speaker 1: to relate to him. Here's a second. When God sends
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Speaker 1: an epaphoriditis among us, he expects us to respect him.
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Speaker 1: I want to say a word on behalf of you
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Speaker 1: who minister to the hurting. We respect you, We hold
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Speaker 1: you in high regard for risking yourself, your time, your
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Speaker 1: energy on behalf of those who are imprisoned in one
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Speaker 1: of many different ways. And by the way, if you
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Speaker 1: are a recipient of an epaphroditis, somebody who's rescued you,
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Speaker 1: somebody who's come to your assistance who's thrown that life
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Speaker 1: preserver in your direction, who has gotten into the water
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Speaker 1: and swam out to you. You tell that person on
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Speaker 1: a regular basis how much you respect him, Tell him
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Speaker 1: how much you appreciate him. These are people who had
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Speaker 1: nothing to gain and perhaps something to lose, but they
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Speaker 1: cast that to the winds. They gambled their lives for
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Speaker 1: the cause of Christ, seeing value in your life. When
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Speaker 1: God sends a epaphroditis among us, he expects us to
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Speaker 1: respect him. There's a third person who isn't named, that
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Speaker 1: is not by model in this passage. He is named
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Speaker 1: verse nineteen, verse twenty four, Verse thirty, verse twenty nine.
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Speaker 1: It's the Lord Jesus Christ. When God sends his son
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Speaker 1: across our path, he expects us to receive him. Have
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Speaker 1: you done that? I'm amazed that people would accept a
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Speaker 1: Timothy and relate, and would appreciate and affirm ima an
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Speaker 1: epaphroditis and respect him. And yet we can do all
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Speaker 1: of that and pass right by Jesus Christ. When God
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Speaker 1: sends the Lord Jesus across your path, he's reaching out.
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Speaker 1: His hands have nail scars in them because He paid
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Speaker 1: the price for your sins and he says in his word,
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Speaker 1: as many as receive me, to them, I give the
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Speaker 1: authority to become children of God. Even to them who
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Speaker 1: believe in my name, receive him. He'll absolutely change your life.
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Speaker 1: He'll make you into a Timothy and an Epaphroditis. Let's
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Speaker 1: bow for a few moments of quietness. The wonderful truth
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Speaker 1: about the Bible is that the people in it live
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Speaker 1: on listening to me today are Timothy's and Epaphroditises. And
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Speaker 1: I might add Christ himself, who loves it when his
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Speaker 1: word is presented and when he is lifted up and exalted.
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Speaker 1: As important as these other people may be, there's no
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Speaker 1: one more important than Christ. If you have never received
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Speaker 1: the good news that He died for you and rose
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Speaker 1: from the dead for you in spite of your sins,
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Speaker 1: knowing all the while that you would run from him
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Speaker 1: and reject him on your own. If he's done that
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Speaker 1: for you, now's the time for you to give your
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Speaker 1: heart to him, to become his disciple, to turn your
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Speaker 1: life over to him. He really is the one worth knowing.
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Speaker 1: Come today to the prayer room, where you can find
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Speaker 1: people who will pray and encourage you, help you make
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Speaker 1: this decision that is the most important decision you can
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Speaker 1: make on earth. Help you know how to receive Christ.
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Speaker 1: If you're sitting in this worship center, the room is
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Speaker 1: clearly marked to your left in the corner. There are
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Speaker 1: people who have been trained and carefully chosen who will
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Speaker 1: talk with you, who will speak quietly and with dignity,
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Speaker 1: and will listen to you and your needs. There are epaphroditis,
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Speaker 1: people who care, who are there to bring encouragement and,
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Speaker 1: if necessary, rescue. Come today. May the mind of Christ,
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Speaker 1: our Savior, live in me from day to day, by
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Speaker 1: his power and love, controlling all I do and say.
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Speaker 1: May the love of Jesus fill me as the waters
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Speaker 1: fill the sea. May the peace of God, my Father,
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Speaker 1: mark me and be modeled in me. May your beauty
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Speaker 1: rest upon us as we seek the loss to win,
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Speaker 1: and may they forget the channel seeing only Him. Lord.
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Speaker 1: This is your work, this is your ministry, this is
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Speaker 1: your presentation. These are your men, this is your son,
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Speaker 1: this is your word. And so we leave to you
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Speaker 1: the moving into the lives of men and women who
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Speaker 1: need this day to receive the gift that you have
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Speaker 1: so graciously given to us. Fill us with a renewed
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Speaker 1: gratitude for the Timothys who so encourage us, and the
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Speaker 1: Epaphroditis who assist us in our desperate need, and most
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Speaker 1: of all, in our gratitude for Christ, who loved us
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Speaker 1: and gave himself for us. In his glorious name, We
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Speaker 1: thank you, and we pray Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Friends Make Life More Fun was copyrighted
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Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety and the sound recording was copyrighted in
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Speaker 2: two thousand and eight by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All
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Speaker 2: rights are reserved worldwide