I've decided to preach a message this morning entitled The Work of an Evangelist, 2 Timothy 4, 5, and 2 Timothy 2, 1 through 3. We will mention 2 Timothy 2, 2 first before we get to those. Let me say it was a great blessing to me to see the work of God in Thailand. It was, I'm not going to say that it was necessarily physically, well it was not physically refreshing, but it was spiritually refreshing. It was a wonderful thing to see what God is doing there. There are preachers there that have been trained and are now training others. And so this verse came to mind more than once. Also, I did a little bit of reading. Actually, when I got back, I watched a little video. And I think I shared it on Facebook about the work of Adoniram Judson, things he went through, losing his wives and children. But in there, you'll read a little bit about that, and he talks about how that, you know, he would, he trained one of the young men, and that young man went into the villages and took the gospel forth. So this thought has been on my mind. Second Timothy 2.2, we'll start there. Second Timothy 2.2, in the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Let's pray again. Lord, bless your word and Lord, guide us in your word. We desire to obey you in all things and to, Lord, to see the gospel go forth for your glory. In Christ's name, amen. Now, Timothy was told to do the work of an evangelist. He would teach men that they might teach others. Now, some believe that we don't have evangelists anymore. I believe we do. There was a time in my life as a Christian that I had a narrow view of what exactly an evangelist is. It seems to me that an evangelist just preached the gospel, baptized people, and moved on to the next field. like Philip did with the Ethiopian eunuch. My narrow view didn't really include an evangelist doing much discipling, continuing to teach. But Timothy was told to do discipling. Again, some people believe that evangelists were only for the time of the apostles and some believe that God still calls men to be evangelists today. John Calvin did not believe that the office of evangelist existed anymore. Those who believe there are still evangelists today consider many times, not always, but will consider missionaries to be evangelists, those who preach the gospel to unreached places, and that would be my view. However, as we will see in the scriptures today, an evangelist also trains or disciples those who believe the gospel. When Paul writes to Timothy, he tells him to do the work of an evangelist. But a couple of chapters earlier, he tells him what that work is. In 2 Timothy 4, 5, he says, well, let me read this before we get to 2 Timothy 1 through 3. But 2 Timothy 4, 5 says, but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. So Timothy is instructed to do the work of an evangelist. But back up a couple of chapters and see what that includes. In 2 Timothy 2, one through three, says, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. He must commit what he has been taught to faithful men who can also teach. And that is preacher training. Discipleship, ongoing relationship. The same spirit, that same spirit of that verse we find in the Great Commission, right? Matthew 28, 19 and 20. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. We have a commission to teach all nations. God gives to the church men who can do this, baptizing and teaching them to observe or obey what Christ taught them to obey. There is the baptizing, but then there's also teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. It's very common these days, recently it's very common for preachers to do preacher training. I think it's very biblical. One of the things that the preachers among the law who greatly desire is training and there's a great opportunity there. Now, many believe that an evangelist simply describes an elder or pastor whose calling is to go forth like a missionary. That's what I tend to believe, although I understand that someone could go forth that maybe is just a deacon like Philip was. Not just, but who is a deacon like Philip was. So we see this, I think it's more describing the person who has a calling to do that, to go forth like that. An elder or someone who has a specific role God has called him to. It's important to note that the terms, before we before we go on, I wanna catch something out. I'm gonna have a couple of rabbit trails here that are important in this message that I want us to look at, consider. It is important to note that the terms elder, bishop, and pastor refer to the same person in the Bible. It's important to know that, okay? We see this clearly, the place that everybody goes to is Acts chapter 20. In Acts 20, Paul is speaking to the elders at Ephesus. This chapter helps us to understand that the Bible uses different words to describe the official leaders of a church. In verse 17, Paul calls them elders. Now, I'm not really wanting to expound the following scriptures. I'm just wanting you to see from them that there are various terms for one office. Acts 20, verse 17 says, and from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called elders of the church. And so, elder means older. Often these men would be older. But just because you are old physically, it doesn't mean you are always mature spiritually. The point isn't to be old. The point is to be mature spiritually. And generally they go together. Generally. If God works in the heart of a young man, he can be spiritually mature. There were young men in the Bible who were spiritually mature, like Timothy, the one Paul is writing to and telling him to do the work of an evangelist. He wrote two letters to Timothy telling him how to guide the church. I doubt if Paul would have given him this responsibility if he was not qualified. What I want you to see in this passage is that Paul calls the same men three different things. Actually, he calls them two different things, but alludes to a third. Well, it's not really alludes, but it's in the text there. You'll see what I mean in a minute. So we already saw that Paul called the elders elders. Next Paul calls these same men that he called elders, overseers in verse 28. Look at verse 28, Acts 20, 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. We'll be mentioning verse 28 again here in just a second. So an overseer is someone who watches over others to make sure they are safe from dangers around them. but also watches over them to make sure they aren't doing things they should not do. And then also notice the word feed, also in verse 28, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Now, the word feed here is, this is why I say it's there, but it's maybe not as obvious. The word feed here is a form of the same word used for pastor in Ephesians 411, which is the only place in the King James where the word pastor is found. But you do find a form of the word here, to feed or to pastor the Church of God. He is one who is a pastor, a shepherd. He makes sure they have the care they need, like a shepherd feeds the sheep. He feeds them the Word of God, making sure their spiritual needs are met. When they're afraid, he uses God's word to assure them that God will never leave them nor forsake them. When they're confused, he guides them with God's word. When they sin, he uses God's word to warn them about being disobedient to God's commands. Now, sometimes you may see the word bishop, and this is the same word as overseer. So three terms refer to the same office, pastor, bishop, and elder. And an evangelist is, in my view, a type of elder whose calling is to take the gospel forth, establish churches, and then train men that they can train others. Of course, every man has differing gifts, and every man is at a different stage in his ministerial growth and experience. When we accept the fact that all elders aren't the same in gifts or experience or calling, then we will stop trying to make them all equal in responsibilities and commissions. Because men are different. We'll be coming back to that in a minute, that thought. However, whether you are an evangelist taking the gospel forth or an elder in a local church, the admonition is the same. and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Now, Moses and Weechai have differing roles in the church in Thailand. Weechai primarily teaches and guides at the local congregation, and Moses goes to the hill tribes around them. I think both of them would tell you that they are part of a pattern found in scripture. They were taught, and now they teach others. Now, here's my second rabbit trail here. One other thing I want to address. I, one of the difficulties that I run into at times is, is, you know, there are times when I know I'm going to be giving my view and I know that you may disagree with me, but I have to preach what, how I see it. Okay. It's, it's not, I'm not attacking anyone. Okay. I just want you to know that that's, this is part and this is important. Now, and I'm aware that some have a problem with a man serving who is not married, based on the qualifications of the husband of one wife. However, I would appeal to you that this is a very rare view and not common among Baptists. During the time of Spurgeon, there were many scholarly Baptists, and Spurgeon faced intense inspection from them. This wasn't a major issue that was brought up with him. He pastored as a single man for several years before getting married. And many hundreds were saved during the time he pastored as a single man. And he had a lot of adversaries. This wasn't something that they brought up. What that tells me is it's not really a Baptist view. I'm not saying you're not Baptist if you have an opposite view. I'm just saying I look at history and what other very learned men of God have said. Now while it is uncommon for the minister to be single, it isn't unheard of among Baptists. I think the usual arrangement that God ordains is a married man, but it has not been common Baptist belief to exclude a man who is single from serving. It also hasn't been common for a man to be excluded from eldership if he doesn't have children. The qualifications in 1 Timothy say he is a man who has one wife, but it also says his children must be well behaved. To be consistent in the view that 1 Timothy excludes a single man, one would have to argue that elders must have children as well. This interpretation of this passage would exclude quite a few men from Baptist history that God used in a great way as elders. And it hasn't been common practice to make a man step down if his wife died or children died and it made him single and childless. Neither have men been excluded if they could not have children. God uses men who have various circumstances in life and various gifts and callings. Now, in recent years, there's been a movement to align churches more closely with the biblical example of multiple elders. And one of the things that is debated is whether or not every elder is equal in authority. In other words, some say that associate pastors and senior pastors are unbiblical. Now, without going into all the arguments that are usually given for either side, let me throw in a principle that I think is getting ignored in the debate. It is the truth that all men are different with different callings, abilities, and even maturity. There's differences in abilities, there's differences in callings, there's differences in their maturity. Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 that there are various parts of the body. This is applied to the church body. That's what it's applied to, the church body. But couldn't this same principle be applied to the elders? They are part of the church. Can't you have elders who have different areas of ministry within the body and therefore have a pastor, an associate pastor? They have different gifts and abilities, different callings, different areas they serve in. I don't think it's a problem because I can apply 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, the principles found there to elders. They're not exempt from this principle that people are different. So that's why I don't have a problem with distinguishing these various areas of service that elders may have, because elders are not all the same. Now, again, I want to bring something else up here, because I think this is important, because we're talking about wives. When I was in my preparation and I was studying this and looking at this, I found this quote from Charles Spurgeon. You know, I said, well, it's not really exactly part of this message. And I kept coming back to it and thinking, you know, I want to read that because I did deal with the wives here. It is a quote from a message preached by Spurgeon. And I think what it does is it addresses the mistake that some churches make in putting responsibilities of a pastor on the wife. Spurgeon says, If I was a young woman and was thinking of being married, I would not marry a minister because the position of minister's wife is a very difficult one for anyone to fill. Churches do not give a married minister two salaries, one for the husband and the other for the wife, but in many cases, they look for the services of the wife, whether they pay for them or not. The pastor's wife is expected to know everything about the church, and in another sense, she is to know nothing of it, and she is equally blamed by some people whether she knows everything or nothing. Her duties consist in being always at home to attend to her husband and her family, and being always out, visiting other people, and doing all sorts of things for the whole church. Well, of course, that is impossible. She cannot be at everybody's beck and call, and she cannot expect to please everybody. Her husband cannot do that, and I think he is very foolish if he tries to do it. And I'm certain that, as the husband cannot please everybody, neither can the wife. There will be sure to be somebody or other who will be displeased, especially if that somebody had herself half hoped to be the minister's wife, and I wonder, I wonder when he preached that. Difficulties arise continually in the best regulated churches, and the position, actually it's in his autobiography, so I guess it would have been later. Difficulties arise continually in the best regulated churches, and the position of the minister's wife is always a very trying one. I think that if I was a Christian young woman, I would marry a Christian minister, if I could, because there is an opportunity of doing so much good and helping him in his service for Christ. It is a great assistance to the cause of God to keep the minister himself in good order for his work. It is his wife's duty to see that he is not uncomfortable at home. Oh, there you go. And I'm comfortable at home, I got my chair. Okay. For if everything... If everything there is happy and free from care, he can give all his thoughts to his preparation for the pulpit, and the godly woman, who thus helps her husband to preach better, is herself a preacher, though she never speaks in public, and she becomes to the highest degree useful to that portion of the Church of Christ in which is committed to her husband's charge. Spurgeon, Autobiography, Chapter 81. Spurgeon, you know, and let me say that's, We don't have a problem here with that. I think everybody understands that, and I'm grateful for this church, and grateful for my wife. I'm thankful for her. She does have responsibilities, though, that do go along with being a minister's wife, so pray for her. Spurgeon had more than one, again, he had more than one Baptist preacher who brought accusations against him and opposed him, but I don't remember them. There may be some. I'm trying to disqualify him on the grounds that he was not married. It would have been a slam dunk if this was a common Baptist view. Now back to the subject at hand. Missionaries doing preacher training. Several years ago, I made an ignorant statement I say that like that was the only one. I'm just thinking of that specific one. I believe I was talking to Blaine, I think. I don't remember my exact words, but I was actually arguing against the idea of missionaries doing preacher training as a focus. Of course, I wouldn't argue against preacher training, even that time, but against it being the main focus of the ministry. I had in my mind a picture of a man hacking through the jungle, declaring the gospel and moving on, or traveling from village to village, quickly spreading the gospel. I really needed to hear this message today, back then. The Great Commission tells us to teach after they are baptized. So preacher training is a major part of the work of an evangelist, because they're going to be teaching others. And God uses men from various cultures, various personalities, and various stages of life. We try and Moses have a big load. They also have an opportunity and facilities for the preachers of the hill tribes together to be trained. They're open to the idea of hosting preachers who will come in to teach workshops. at intervals and hosting the preachers who would like to have the training as well. And of course we'll be more about that later. Now I will say, it seems to me, we're getting kind of a shotgun today, but it seems to me that God is moving in a great way among the Lahu people. It's interesting to me that missionaries who go to Thailand will quickly gravitate to the Lahu people because they are the ones who are responding to the gospel. It's kind of like Adoniram and Ann They were mostly influential, I think, with the Karen tribe, which is right in there in the same area. The Lord just chose to work among Karen tribe. And it seems as if the Lord is really working among the Lahu people, and they're responding. The Lahu are in southern China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and even Vietnam. Vietnam. In many of these places, God is working and saving Lahu people. We learned of one brother in Myanmar who has an exciting ministry there. He was our interpreter. We'll tell more about him later. But God is raising up men who have a desire to train other men who can then go forth and do the same, train others. And don't forget the wives and their heavy responsibility. This one brother, I was questioning him. We were just riding back to the Myanmar border. And I was questioning. I was wondering. Because he was our interpreter, so he spoke English. So I could talk to him. It was hard to talk to the others. So I was just asking him about his life and things he did. So he told me. And then when we got to the border, I said, I want to take a video of you. I want you to tell about. who you are and that sort of thing. Like I said, he didn't approach me. I approached him. But he was telling me, he said, well, he said he had taken in 15 children who were hiding in the jungle after their village was bombed and burned. And they have three children of their own and one on the way. So I Of course, his wife was there with him, and I looked over at her and I said, 18? And she just smiled, she didn't know what I was saying. So we need to pray for the wives as well, whose husbands are called to a very difficult ministry. You know, my wife already has a heavy lobe, but even if she didn't, I can't imagine showing up at home and asking her to help me with 15 children I found in the jungle. But these kids didn't know where to go. The jets bombed their houses, and a lot of the people were killed, and the kids were just hiding in the jungle. So he went back and found them. So another thing is the children's ministry. Now, that's in Myanmar. That's not in Thailand. From time to time there have been single young people who have gone to Thailand to help with the children for a few months. We need to pray that God would raise up more young people to serve. Everybody can have a part in how God calls you. We need to take the good news of the gospel to people. Now the word evangelist appears three times in the New Testament. It means to bring good news, specifically the gospel. So I don't want to leave out the message while talking about the messenger. Whatever we teach, we must make sure that people hear the gospel. It is the power of God. It's what he uses, Romans 116. God has given the church a commission to take the gospel forth and given men who can preach the gospel. Women who can teach the children, older women who can teach the younger. But people need to hear the good news. But you know what? They need to know why it's good news. It's because there's bad news. People need to hear that they are sinners. They need to hear that they're under the wrath of God. Otherwise, the good news is not good news. They need to know that, acknowledge it, understand it. Repentance needs to be preached. And you need to know that if you don't know the Lord. Jesus died, was buried, rose again, so that we could have a way of salvation and a firm hope. And we will be raised as he was raised. What a great hope that we have. What great news is that? And while we're on this earth, that is the message we proclaim to the world. Now the question is, is whether or not we love to tell the story. And we love to see the story told. And we love to see the gospel go forth. Do we love that? You know, God has a plan. It includes his people taking the gospel forth. Imperfect people, people that have problems, but he uses his people. I think in the however many years I've been preaching, I think I've probably quoted this four or five times But I love this song, especially the third verse. I wanna end with it, the third verse of Joy to the World. It says, no more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow, for as the curse is found. to prayer request, pray that God would use us to take the gospel forth, and pray that God would raise up others, that they can go forth and teach. God's truths can spread as far as the curse is found. Lord, we pray that you would bless your word.