Jeremiah in the Old Testament is often times called the weeping prophet. Not always because he was crying all the time. He wasn't an excessively emotional guy, but his heart was broken continually because at the preaching of his word, God's word that is, At the preaching of God's Word, he continually found men and women, his countrymen, those who called themselves God's people, he constantly found them unfaithful to the Lord. At least twice in his book do we find that he was imprisoned for speaking the truth. He incurred death threats on his life. At one point, a priest by the name of Pasher, identified as the chief official in the house of the Lord, gave the okay for Jeremiah to be beaten and then to be placed in stocks because he dared speak the truth of God. King Zedekiah gave the okay for Jeremiah to be dropped into a dry well, a cistern, in order that he die of thirst. King Zedekiah maybe did the most brutal thing to Jeremiah. He took Jeremiah's life work, all of the revelations the Lord had given to him and he passed on verbally to his amanuensis, Baruch, who faithfully wrote them down word for word. King Jehoiakim took Jeremiah's life work and as each paragraph was read, He tore it from the scroll and burned it. As if to say, your work is nothing. This revelation given to you by God is of no significance or worth. This man knew persecution. He knew the evil men who went to church every Sabbath day could do to one who dared speak the truth of God. This is the same man who wrote the book of Lamentations. And if you turn there with me to Lamentations chapter 3, you will find, you will hear some familiar words. Lamentations chapter 3 beginning at verse 19. Jeremiah wrote, Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. But this I recall to my mind. And therefore, I have hope. The Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease. His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. In the midst of pain, suffering, affliction, disappointment, grief, loss, in the midst of it all, Jeremiah found God to be faithful. Moses knew the same God. And he says in Deuteronomy chapter 32, I proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God, the Rock. His work is perfect, for all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and holy is He. This is the God we gather to worship. Now as God is described in the pages of Scripture as a just God, a merciful God, a God of compassion, a God of faithfulness, so He calls His people to be, to reflect His likeness and His perfections. As He is just, we are called to be just. As He is merciful, we are called to be merciful. As He is compassionate, we are called to be compassionate. As He is faithful, so we are called to be faithful no matter what. As we conclude the book of 1 Peter this morning, we come to the last few sentences and are introduced to some people that are not unfamiliar in the pages of the New Testament But this is the first time that Peter has mentioned them in this particular epistle. What you will find here are three people who are faithful. Mark them. Mark them as examples, testimonies of people who walked with God no matter Before I read the text, I'd like to tell you a story. In 1924, a man by the name of Gutzon Borglum, I'm not going to try to say that again. I did pretty good the first time. He gazed at the black hills of South Dakota and he said this, American history shall march along that skyline. Three years later, Borglum began sculpting the images of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt into the face of Mount Rushmore, a 6,000 foot piece of rock. Under his leadership, experienced miners working with jackhammers and dynamite, removed 400,000 tons of rock. And in 1941, Borglum died, almost being able to realize that finished work that he dreamed of in 1924. Shortly before he died, he was asked to identify the hardest part of that enormous project. This is what he said. The size of the task matters not. My job was to pick up the hammer every day. God doesn't call you to be famous. He calls you to be faithful. He doesn't call you to be fruitful. He calls you to be faithful. He'll produce the fruit. Here in front of us this morning, 1 Peter 5, beginning of verse 12, we have three people who are marked by faithfulness. No matter what, every morning when they got out of bed, they picked up their hammers. Let's read the text. Through Silvanus, 1 Peter 5, 12. Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, for so I regard him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. She who is in Babylon, Chosen together with you sends you greetings and so does my son, Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ. Now there may not seem like there's a lot there, but there's mountains of material right there. Because of the lives of people, Peter mentions. Now here's why he wrote this letter. He wrote this letter exhorting these people, that means that he was urging them, he was appealing to them, he was encouraging them to do something. Then he says he testified to the truthfulness of what he was proclaiming. These people whom he identifies as strangers and aliens in this world, these people who have been chosen by God, marked out by God, redeemed by God, these people didn't fit, they didn't belong, they were left here as God's alien nation to proclaim the gospel of Christ. And there was this temptation that they faced on a regular basis to turn away from it. Yes, the message was offensive. Yes, the message brought them suffering and grief. But Peter continually exhorted them throughout this book, stand firm in it. He testified from his own life. And we look simply at the first 12 chapters of the book of Acts and we see Peter lived for what he believed. And he was actively persecuted because of his confidence in the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Stand firm in it. Don't allow anything to dissuade you, to turn your head, to cause you to go a different direction. There is no other truth than what you find in Christ. Hang on to this Gospel. Stand firm in it. No matter what happens. That's His message to this people in this book. And surrounding Him and surrounding this message are these three people. First he mentions Silvanus. You know him by his diminutive, Silas, same guy. His name means of the forest or a person of the woods. I call him my chainsaw man. Peter calls him our faithful brother. Now we'll look at that in just a moment, but I want you to look at the phrase that's in parentheses in the New American Standard Text. It says, through Silvanus, our faithful brother, in parentheses, for so I regard him. Now, one commentator marked, and I didn't hunt it down myself, so I'm taking this at his word, that there are only four times in this letter that Peter uses the first person singular. saying I did this or I think this or I respond in some way. It's almost as though he is giving a blanket affirmation to say I stand by this guy. I regard him highly as a faithful brother. Now when he says through Silvanus, he's saying one of two things. Either Silvanus is his amanuensis, his scribe, that was writing down this letter as Peter was dictating it to him, or Silas is his carrier, his messenger, if you will. Maybe both. But Peter regarded this man as reliable, faithful, entrusting him to either write down accurately what he said or to deliver faithfully that letter which he finished. Maybe both. We're introduced to this man Silas in the pages of Scripture at the Jerusalem conference in Acts chapter 15. Turn with me over to the book of Acts. We find his name first showing up in Acts chapter 15 verse 17. In verse 32 he is mentioned along with a man by the name of Judas to be a New Testament prophet. In that verse It says that, well we read in the whole context here, that along with Peter and Barnabas, Silas is one of a foursome that's sent from the Jerusalem church to the church in Antioch of Syria to declare to them what the council decided. So we read in verse 32 of Acts 15, Judas and Silas being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with a lengthy message. I like that verse. Here's a long-winded preacher who likes chainsaws. I mean, what is not to like about this guy? Then we find at the end of this particular chapter that Silas is selected by Paul to accompany him on Paul's second missionary journey. Let me remind you by way of this map where Paul and Silas are. They're in Antioch, that's the sending church for Paul and Barnabas in the first missionary journey. Now it's Paul and Silas on the second missionary journey and when they get up here to Lystra, They pick up a young man by the name of Timothy. When they get over here to Troas, they pick up Dr. Luke. So as they cross the Aegean Sea onto the continent of Europe, there is a foursome. Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke. The first city that they go to on this new continent, second missionary journey, is the city of Philippi. You remember there, that's where they met Lydia, the seller of purple goods? It was here that the authorities didn't like what Paul and Silas were preaching. Remember, Silas is not just a footnote. He is a partner with Paul. He is himself a New Testament prophet. He is one who was actively out there preaching just as Paul was. These are the two that were imprisoned there in Philippi. Do you remember how they were lashed and beaten, then placed in stocks? And scriptures tell us in Acts chapter 16 that at about midnight they started singing hymns to the Lord. What were they singing about? They were singing, I'm confident of it, they were singing about God's faithfulness. And it was a reminder to them that they needed to continue to be faithful to him. Well, it was there. You remember the earthquake? It loosened their chains. The Philippian jailers came to them on his knees and said, man, what must I do to be saved? And they led him to the Lord that night. He was baptized that night. They were over at the jailer's house that night. And they ate. They were up all night. In the morning, they got him back to the prison. And the city official said to them, would you please leave? They left. They went to Thessalonica. And there in Thessalonica, Luke stays behind in Philippi, by the way. And here's Timothy, Peter, and Paul, and Silas in Thessalonica. After just a very short ministry, there was a riot that erupted, and they all escaped for their lives. They went to the city of Berea. We know the Bereans because they were the ones who were comparing what Paul and Silas had to say with the scriptures. And they were affirmed because they didn't just take some man's word for it, they checked it out with what does the scriptures say? It was from here that Paul separated from his co-workers. He went on to Athens, you remember? Silas and Timothy stayed behind in Berea. They caught up with the Apostle Paul in Corinth. They gave a good report of the work of the gospel and the fruit it was bearing in the province of Macedonia. Paul was a happy camper and he wrote two letters. What were they? Okay, here we go. Here's your memory. Okay, the first missionary journey, Paul wrote one letter. Second missionary journey, he wrote two letters. Third missionary journey, he wrote three letters. Fourth missionary journey, how many do you write? Four. Oh, you guys are good. This is easy. First missionary journey, he wrote the book of Galatians. Second missionary journey, he wrote 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. Third missionary journey, just to complete the whole picture, 1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, Romans, 4th, those are the prison officials, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, right? Then we have the pastorals, 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus that fit in a little bit afterwards. Those aren't quite as easy to fit into the whole picture. But he wrote those two letters on that second missionary journey from Corinth to the Thessalonians. He mentions Timothy and Silas in both letters. So we know Paul is with them. He relies on these men. They are his faithful companions in the preaching of the gospel. Now, we find Silas showing up in the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 1. Paul wrote that on his third missionary journey from Ephesus, which is about right there, and he mentions his his faithful servant Silas there. At that point we lose track of our dearly beloved Silas until we get to 1 Peter chapter 5. Now back there in the text Peter also refers to this man as a faithful brother. So here we have had Silas through all kinds of persecution, pain, disappointment and loss that he himself has personally experienced, he remains and has for over a decade worth of ministry that we can track, he has remained faithful to the Lord no matter what, standing firm for the truth of the Gospel. I love the Chainsaw Man. The word faithful has as its root this meaning, to be persuaded to the point of belief. You are so persuaded of the truth of a thing that you remain faithful to it. You are counting on this truth to be reliable and you in response are reliable or faithful to it. So convinced are you that it is the truth that you will not vary from it or turn from it. That's Silas. That's what it means for him as Peter regards him as our faithful brother. is one who stands firm no matter what happens. I have a second page of your notes, a second person that we're going to be introduced to through a rather cryptic statement by Peter in verse 13. He says this, look at the beginning of verse 13, she who is in Babylon chosen together with you, sends you greetings. Now if you are familiar with John's Apocalypse, the book of Revelation, you know that the word Babylon is used in a figurative sense. It's used of the city of Rome. And so the question, who does the she refer to in verse 13 is assumed by some that it's a reference to the church in Rome. So it would read this way, if you understood verse 13 to be figurative. She, that is the church who is in Babylon, that is in Rome, chosen together with you, sends you greetings. In other words, the church in Rome sends a collective greeting to these churches to whom Peter is writing sprinkled through the northern province of present-day Turkey. Howard Marshall in the NIV New Testament commentary series is one who believes that and this is what he says. She who is in Babylon must be the church in Rome. The affectation of personifying a congregation as a female figure was facilitated by the fact that church in quotes is a feminine noun in greek and by the tradition that saw israel as a female figure the bride of god babylon is a pseudonym for rome all right that's a possible interpretation I'm convinced it says something different. Let me spell it out for you. The church did refer to Rome as Babylon. That's well known, well documented. Particularly in the second century and beyond. In the first century, where we're talking these books being written, that was a rather new idea and John may have been the fuel that started this. Some people think he wrote this in the late first century like maybe 90-95 AD. Now Peter's epistle was written probably, if that's true, if that dating of Revelation is accurate, and I think it's too late, But if it is accurate, then Peter's epistle was written a whole generation before that, probably around 60. But I note this. Peter's epistle is very plain and it's very practical. It's not apocalyptic in nature. He doesn't have a lot of interesting figures and pictures that John has in the Revelation. It's a completely different type of literature. And when we talk about the geographical references in 1 Peter chapter 1, Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, as Peter mentioned these, they are taken literally. They're taken at face value. And I find nothing in this epistle that would require or even would hint at the fact that we should look at this reference to Babylon in anything other than a literal, I mean what I write, kind of sense. There's nothing in here that would lead us to think that for some reason Peter was slipping in a figure of speech where everything else is to be taken at face value. I want you to notice a couple things in addition. The apostle to the Gentiles is Paul. Now Paul had a longing to preach the gospel in Rome. You know that if you've read the books of Romans, Corinthians. In Romans chapter 15, Paul makes this statement. Romans 15 verse 20, he says, Thus I aspire to preach the gospel not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation." Now, to whom is Paul writing that letter? To the church where? In Rome. He wants to go to Rome. He's not been there to Rome. He's writing to Christians that are in Rome and he says, I want to preach the gospel where Christ has not already been named. Well, hasn't it already been named in Rome? Not in the sense Paul is thinking, because he says, I don't want to build on another man's foundation. Now, let me ask you a trick question. was the New Testament church built? Remember, it's a trick question. You'll want to say Jesus or the Bible, and that has to be the answer to all questions, right, in Sunday School? Well, in one sense, yes, it was built upon Christ, but in a sense, He is the cornerstone. He is the chief cornerstone of the building. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 that the New Testament church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. New Testament prophets and apostles. So this foundation that Paul does not want to build on, he wants to go where there is no other foundation. Read that. No other apostle has been here establishing the work of the gospel. Has the gospel been preached in Rome? Even though Paul wants to go there? Yes. What he wants to do is to go where there has been no other apostle. All right, now just tuck that in the back of your head. If Peter is writing to these people in present day northern Turkey, if he is writing to them and sending them greetings from she who is in Babylon, read that, the church in Rome, it would necessitate that Peter was in Rome receiving the greeting for him to send along. Are you tracking with me? There is no evidence that Peter was ever in Rome. Now I am well aware that the whole Roman pontiff system is built on the assumption that, well let me see if I can spell it out how they probably got there. Jesus said to Peter, after he made the great confession of faith, Jesus said to Peter, upon this rock I will build my church. When Peter said, in response to Jesus' question, who do men say that I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said, upon that rock I will build my church. Now, Rome assumes that the rock is Peter. The rock is that confession. That's the better way to understand that. I can see how Rome would go from, okay, well it's built on Peter, and if the church is built on Peter and we have this whole system where Peter has to have been here and he is the one who has passed on the hopeliness our church enjoys. I'm not doing a very good job of trying to figure out how they got from one place to the other. But there is the assumption that Peter was in Rome. Let me put these other little tidbits in your mind. Paul wanted to go to Rome. He wanted to build on a foundation that hadn't been built on before. I wanted to establish something there. Now at the end of the Book of Romans, he gives greetings to 27 individual people that are there in the Church of Rome that he knows about. No apostle is listed. Peter is not listed. The absence of his name tells us something significant. How could it? How could it be that the apostle to the Gentiles would fail to at least acknowledge the chief apostle to the Jews in his letter where he is giving greeting to all these other 27 people? Would he dare not name the name of Peter? A number of years later, Paul is in Rome. He's incarcerated there for a few years and he writes the four prison epistles. That's the fourth missionary journey. What are the four prison epistles? I already told you. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Those are the four written from the Roman prison. Now he mentions a number of people in those letters. Does he mention Peter? No. If he had been there founding the church, does it not make sense that he would have mentioned him? In some way, there's not even the hint, the illusion, the breath that Peter ever was there. Now put this in your pocket too. Peter, the apostle to the Jews. We read of some amazing things that happened to in his life in the first 12 chapters of the book of Acts. And roughly after that, Luke's attention as he's writing the book of Acts shifts from the ministry of Peter to the ministry of Paul. And he's walking with Paul. It makes sense that he He is tracking the acts of the apostles through Paul in the rest of that particular letter. But I make note of this. In those first 12 chapters, the bulk of Peter's work, ministry, attention is within about a 60 to 70 mile radius of Jerusalem. He stays very close to home. We have a very cryptic reference in the book of Galatians that he was in the city of Antioch of Syria along with Paul at one point, but other than that we don't really have any other biblical references. But we do know this, that there was outside of Jerusalem large a large pocket of Jews, one of the largest communities of Jewish population in the city of Babylon. Why? I'm glad you asked. In 605 BC, and again in 587 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians, capital city of Babylon, took captive the brightest and the best Israel had. Daniel and his three buddies were among them. Ezekiel was one of them in the second deportation. They all went to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar did that in order to build his kingdom. He wanted the brightest and the best to serve him. Humble guy that he was. When, 70 years later, their captivity was over, And the likes of Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, Ezra come to the scene, lead people from Babylon back to the land of promise. There were many, many Jews who stayed behind. Seventy years is a long time. You establish some roots there. You start a business. Your son helps you in the business. For what reason would we want to go back to the homeland? There were many that stayed. And so over four more centuries, five centuries, we've got an enormous Jewish population still living in the city of Babylon. Some historians say that between the years of 54 and 60 AD, Peter, lived in Babylon serving the Jewish community there. And who did he have with him? But his wife. Did you know Peter was married? 1 Corinthians 9, verse 5 strongly suggests to us that Peter was married. So it is well within the realm of possibility. I think it is the better way to understand 1 Peter 5.13 to say that the she is Peter's husband. Thank you. Let's not make this messier. Peter's wife, who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings. So before Peter went on this journey and he paused in whatever inn he was in to dictate this letter maybe to Silas, his wife said, when you have contact with those believers, Tell them that I love them. Tell them that I'm praying for them. Tell them to stand firm in the gospel. Now, Peter would have helped us all out had he simply told us what her name was. I don't know why he didn't do that. He didn't. She who is in Babylon sends you greetings. A funny way to refer to my beloved wife, but maybe that's how he did it. Now, the fact that she is here demonstrates her faithfulness. Ladies, you will identify with this. When somebody comes up against your man, do not, the hackles on the back of your neck stand up. Do you not want to claw their eyes out Punch him in the nose. Do whatever to protect your man. Huh? Peter had gone through unimaginable suffering. His life was on the line repeatedly. Acts chapter 12, his head was all but in the guillotine. Had he ever had one? And his wife knew that it was all unjust. It was all trumped up charges. It was all bogus. It was because he was faithful to the message of Christ that he was being persecuted and yet she remained faithful and loving and kind and compassionate and not bitter through it all. That's why she's in this list. The second one, the third one, hastily I must march through his life. Peter says, so does my son Mark send you greetings. Now the name son is in quotation marks. This is not his boy as in his offspring. This is his adopted son. This is his son in the faith. He appears for the first time in Acts chapter 12. Turn back there with me. In Acts chapter 12, I just made reference to the time Peter was in prison because of Herod. And you remember the story how miraculously an angel came and released his chains, released the doors and Peter walked out in the still of the night. And he made a beeline for where he knew all the believers would be and he knew what they would be doing. They would be praying. So he went to, let me see, let me find what verse it was. Verse 12. He went to the house of Mary where he knew they were praying. And sure enough, that's where they were. Now this is the same house where scholars think Jesus ate the Last Supper with his men. House of Mary. Evidently she had quite the space there for a large number of people. Verse 12 tells us that it was not only the house of Mary, but she was the mother of John who was also called Mark. It's the same guy. The same one that Peter is mentioning in chapter 5 of his first epistle is this very same guy in Acts chapter 12. We find out a little bit later in Acts chapter 12 that Barnabas and Saul, later to be known as Paul and Barnabas, took John Mark to be with them as their young protege to go with them on their missionary journeys. Now take note of the order there. In chapter 12, verse 25, it says Barnabas and Saul, the one who is the instigator of these ministries, The one who is the initial leader of this ministry duo is not Paul, but is Barnabas. Just stick that in your other back pocket. In Acts chapter 13, verse 13, they have completed the first portion of their missionary journey, having gone to the island of Cyprus, and then verse 13 reads, Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos, that's on the island of Cyprus, and come to Perga in Pamphylia. But John left them and returned to Jerusalem. We don't know why. Seasick? Homesick? Sick of Paul's cooking? We don't know. He simply leaves the ministry team and goes home to Jerusalem. Well, the Scriptures just leave it right there. John Mark is not on the rest of missionary journey number one for whatever reason. Well, he shows up again in Acts chapter 15. In Acts 15, that's the chapter where we have the record of the Jerusalem council, and after the council, this would have been a couple of years after that departure Barnabas and Paul had with John Mark. At the conclusion of the council, we read this in verse 36, Acts chapter 15. After some days Paul said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are. Verse 37, Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. Okay, now you have to know two things. From verse 37, the word translated wanted in the New American Standard translation is way too plain vanilla. It more literally means to deliberate, to reason, to counsel together to resolve. Barnabas made a decision. On the basis of some information that we'll talk about in just a moment, Barnabas came to a conclusion. He made a resolution. He said to Paul, I like that idea. I think we ought to go back to all the churches that we previously preached the Gospel in and see how the brothers are. And we're taking John Mark. No, it doesn't, please don't read the, as the New American Standard translated it, and Barnabas thought it would be kind of a nice thing if maybe we took John Mark along with us. That's not how it reads. It says, we're taking John Mark. Okay, put this in another pocket that you have. You're running out, I know. Colossians chapter 4 verse 10 says that Barnabas is the cousin of John Mark. Oh, okay, now we've got blood that's related here. You know blood is thicker than water. Okay, where did John Mark go after that incident as they got back to the mainland and he left Paul and Barnabas? Where did he go? Remember? He went back to home in Jerusalem. So he's back in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Council was also in what city? Jerusalem. Okay. If Barnabas and John Mark are related by blood, even though the New American Standard translates that nephew, it could be translated in an uncle-nephew relationship. Could be. Could be. So if he goes back, if Barnabas goes back for the Jerusalem Council in Jerusalem, where is he probably going to stay? with his sister or his auntie marry. Okay, he's going to have plenty of opportunity in the evenings after the council is deliberated in the morning to talk with his cousin slash nephew John Mark. Now we know of Barnabas that he is called the son of encouragement and he wanted to give every opportunity to this young man to make good. Barnabas saw something in that young man, John Mark. And maybe it had happened over the last two, three years. There had been a growth and a maturity in that man. And Barnabas said to Paul as they were deciding to go back and visit these churches where they formerly preached the Gospel, Barnabas said, we're taking John Mark. He's not going to let us down this time. I know it. What does Paul say? Acts chapter 16, 28. But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas. John Mark violated Paul's trust. And when he deserted the ministry party there in Pamphylia, Paul chalked him up as one who is not trustworthy. Read that. Not faithful. Not reliable, not consistent. I can't count on this man. My life is on the line, Paul says, and I want somebody standing beside me who is going to be with me shoulder to shoulder. He's not going to walk away running home to mama. So who did he pick? Chainsaw man. He picked somebody who was already proven to be faithful. But that's not the end of the story. I'll get to the core things. Ten years later, Paul is sitting in prison in Rome and he writes this letter to the slave owner Philemon. He writes the book Philemon, that's the name of the slave owner, in regard to this prisoner, this slave named Nesimus, who came to faith in Christ when he looked Paul up in Rome. Nesimus ran away from his master Philemon, and he ended up in Rome, found Paul, came to faith. Paul convinced him, you need to go back to your master. You need to get this thing squared away. Well, it's there in Rome that Paul says these words, verse 23. Epiphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, he's the pastor of the church in Colossae, remember? He greets you, as do Mark. As do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers. Ten years later, from the time he had deserted Paul, now to the time that Paul is in prison in Rome, this man, John Mark, became noted by Paul to be a fellow worker. Ah! It gets better than that. 2 Timothy. This is Paul's swanson, his last letter. This is just before he dies. He's in Rome, in prison again for a second time. And in chapter 4, verse 9, he writes this, Make every effort to come to me soon. He writes to Timothy. For Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia. Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Middle of verse 11. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. Oh, there was a patching up of that relationship. You know the thing that is so encouraging about the example of John Mark is that we who are immature in our faith can grow. And God wants us to grow. And He wants us to grow in that area of being faithful to the Lord, standing firm for the Gospel no matter what. God doesn't call you to be fruitful. He doesn't call you to be famous. He calls you to be faithful. A century ago, a man by the name of James Graham was a missionary to China. For 25 years that man labored in that country. With great regularity, came home to his wife with his hair, his clothing, bespirched with spittle from people who declared him to be a proclaimer of a foreign devil. It was not unusual for his wife to find black and blue marks on his body He had been pelted with stones as he preached daily in the marketplace. After 25 years of labor in that country, James Graham had 25 people who he could list as converts to Christianity. Twenty-five. As I read that story in Leighton Ford's book, Transforming Leadership, written in 1991, Ford said, today in that same region of China there are an estimated 140,000 followers of Christ. Were there other people involved in proclaiming the gospel? Probably. James Graham being faithful to the Lord no matter what and the Lord took care of the fruit. I close with this quote that I put in your notes by F.B. Meyer. Don't waste your time waiting and longing for large opportunities, which may never come, but faithfully handle the little things that are always claiming your attention. whether it's serving your wife or your husband or your children or your co-workers or your neighbors or your extended family members, every morning that you get up out of bed, pick up the hammer. Do those small things. Be faithful to them for the sake and the cause of Christ. Father, I thank You for the Apostle Peter. I thank You for his faith. I thank You for his faithfulness. I thank You for the book that we have from him, both of them. This has been good, helpful, and I pray preparatory for us in light of the pressure mounting against Christians and Christianity and the true Gospel as we find it in the Scriptures, both home and abroad. Find us faithful. Give us courage for Your glory and the fame of Your name. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.