Philippians chapter two, again. I didn't scare y'all off the first time, so I'm glad y'all are back. But Philippians chapter two, we're gonna be in verse 19 to start tonight. And if y'all remember from last week, we know the situation for Paul right now. He's locked away, and he's writing to the Philippians in hopes that he can ease some of their sorrows, as he says. Let me get there myself. He's been forcibly removed from ministering to the Philippians. We know he wants to be there, but that's not the end of Paul's influence. as we can see. Throughout Paul's many missionary journeys, several men served with Paul, laboring in a common faith. Many of these men, Paul was able to personally affect their ministry. In the previous passage, Paul wanted to make sure that we had a proper attitude for Christian service, as we saw last week. And we need to be blameless in this world. In this passage, though, we're going to see two men. who exemplify qualities that are needed in Christian service, and whose qualities we should emulate. And these qualities, as we'll see, aren't just for pastors, or for those in full-time ministry like missionaries or evangelists, but to all Christians who want to be effective for Christ. So let's turn there, and let's all stand. Chapter 2, starting in verse 19. Alright, trust you're there. But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I may also be of good comfort when I know of your state. For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that as a son with a father he hath served with me in the gospel. Him, therefore, I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall come shortly. Yet I suppose it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to mine once. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because he had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore more carefully, that when you see him again, you may rejoice, that I may be the less sorrowful. Let's pray. Lord, I want to come before you tonight, Lord, and just pray for this service. I pray that you'd bless all the people in here, Lord, and bless me as I'm preaching. I pray that you'd put your hand on me. I pray that you'd allow me and let you speak through me. I pray that you'd impact these people's lives, that they'd be able to take something away, Lord, and meditate upon. I pray that you do all this. It's in Jesus' name we ask. Amen. Y'all may be seated. And Pastor Ables was not wrong, I am quite nervous. But, we're going to see two people throughout this passage mentioned, of course, Timothy and Epaphroditus. Now, we're going to be looking at these men, we're going to be seeing their qualities, what they did and how they influenced Paul, and how they were able to minister unto the Philippians as well. and what we can emulate from their lives. Now, there is a lot to be said of Timothy. Timothy is the first one we're gonna look at. He was a son in the faith to Paul. He was very close with him. He accompanied him on his missionary journeys. Of course, two whole books are written about Timothy, or written to Timothy from Paul, giving him advice and exhorting him in the faith on the ministry. Paul has many things to say about this young man. Let's go back to verse 19, But I trust in the Lord to send Timotheus shortly unto you, but I also may be of good comfort when I know of your state. First thing we see is that Timothy reported to Paul. Now this may not seem like a big deal, but it's important to note that because Timothy was there, Paul could be comforted. Paul had a lot of faith in Timothy. He could trust Timothy implicitly, in Timothy's report implicitly, and that report granted Paul good comfort. But Timothy wasn't just an extension of Paul's influence. He was a replacement of Paul. Paul said, I have no, let me see what he specifically says before I misquote it. I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. Timothy was an equal replacement to Paul. He wasn't just someone that he could send to fill in the gap. Paul had no need to worry because Timothy was there. And as Christians, we all need to strive to be all that we can be for Christ. We all need to strive so that way we can serve where we need to be fully. We can't afford to be baby Christians. We can't afford to only be able to receive the milk of the gospel. We need to be strong for the Lord. And it's a sad testimony. I've heard of this a few times, but say a church has a ministry, and I've heard of a couple of things like this happening, that a church has a ministry, and there's a man that's very integral to that ministry, and if he passes away or transfers membership of a church, that ministry just disappears. While it's great that that man was able to serve there, who else was there to replace him? Who was going to stand in that gap? It may be a man, it may be a woman, it may be anyone. And it might be any ministries. It could be Sunday school, it could be outreach. Or if a pastor passes away or retires, that whole church just disappears. That's happened on several occasions. Many churches are without pastors in this country. Where are those men that stand in those gaps? Sad testimony. The Lord leads people to specific ministries and places. He has a specific will for your life. And we need to follow through on that will. And what I'm saying is that your Christian service also shouldn't be limited to the actions of others. You shouldn't let that ministry go by the wayside if the Lord leads you to that. Secondly, we see in verse 20 that Timothy had a heart for others. Paul had no other man who would naturally care for their state. Timothy had a burden for people. And I want to have a burden for people. It's been a specific struggle in my life for me. to get a burden. I had a burden to get a burden this past couple of years, is the best way I can say that. Because I wanted to be impactful for Christ. And I want to. And I hope you all do as well. But I didn't have a burden for a long time. And I hope I found it. I think I found it. And I'm glad. Timothy exemplified the most basic commandment given to Christians, that so many times we fall short of it. Let's all turn to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12. It's a familiar passage to a lot of us, I'm sure. Mark chapter 12, verse 30. We'll start in verse 30. Now, Jesus was talking to a group of Pharisees, some scribes, and they were questioning Him, asking Him what the greatest commandment was. And as they like to do, they like to trip Him up, or they tried to anyway. But He answers them pretty concisely. He says, The first commandment, the greatest commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Timothy exemplified that. Timothy had a burden for these people. Timothy wanted to be, wanted to minister unto these people. We know that Timothy was in ministry, of course. Timothy was going to be a preacher, a pastor of a church at one point. So, of course, it's good that he had that. But it's interesting to see that even if we worry about our actions, about not stealing or murdering or a code of conduct or lying or all these things, before all of these commandments of not stealing, not murdering, not committing adultery, The first commandments we need to honor, to establish that as the proper mindset of, we need to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love others as well, love others as ourselves. And that provides a good basis for all the other commandments. Those kind of fall naturally in line after that. It's amazing to see that. Let's look at, go back to Philippians, please, if you would please, and verse 23. We're gonna be back in Philippians quite a bit. Verse 23, specifically, says, him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall come shortly." As mentioned earlier, Timothy was a suitable replacement for Paul. Paul himself wanted to be there, of course. He loved these Philippians and had indeed planned to be there. But in the meantime, Timothy was worthy to fill that gap. And the fact that Paul had that trust in Timothy to fill that gap, No reservations whatsoever. Timothy was going to be there. Timothy was able to do everything that Paul needed him to do while he was there. Now let's continue on and look at Epaphroditus. Too far. Verse 25. Yet I suppose it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother, in companion and labor and fellow soldier. But you're a messenger that he ministered to my wants." Now, Epaphroditus is interesting. I like Epaphroditus. We don't know too much about him. But we do know a few things, of course. We know that he wasn't a pastor. We know that he wasn't a so-called evangelist or a missionary. But he was a member of a church, specifically the Philippians Church, actually, the Church of Philippi, as mentioned in verse 25. He was sent to Paul as a gift to minister to Paul's needs. And you've got to remember where Paul was again. Paul was a prisoner in Rome. And he was busy while he was there, as we'll see at the very end of the book. But he was ministering to an inmate on death row. That certainly isn't very good on How do I say this? That's not very good street cred. But he was still there, and he was still faithfully serving. So much so, in fact, that he got sick, as it says. Let me see where I'm at. So these Philippians were the ones that sent Epaphroditus to minister in Nepal. In fact, the letter to the Philippians would eventually be sent by Epaphroditus back to the Philippians, which is an interesting point. By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen. To the Philippians, written from Rome by Epaphroditus, Paul writes in chapter four, verse 23. But Epaphroditus was a servant. You know this, that could be his defining trait. He was companion in labor to Paul, a fellow soldier, a brother. But he was sent to Paul to fulfill a duty, and he did it in earnest. He served Paul and ministered to his wants. We see here, of course, that Epaphroditus got sick, like I mentioned. We don't know the specifics. I read in a book that apparently there was an epidemic that swept through Rome at about that time. I think it was caused by just the fact of how many different cultures were all together there. But apparently Epaphroditus fell sick. But we see why as well. The Bible says that he worked himself into exhaustion to make him susceptible to that. Not an amazing testimony. Epaphroditus had no chill, essentially. He didn't care about his own life, but rather he wanted to fulfill Paul's needs. He wanted to minister to Paul. There's another family, of course, in the Bible that this kind of reminds me of. In 1 Corinthians, y'all don't have to turn there, 1 Corinthians 16, let me get there myself. 1 Corinthians 16, 15. Just a short little thing. But it says, I beseech you brethren, I beseech you brethren, you know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. The Bible writes that they were addicted to the ministry of the saints. Isn't that an amazing testimony? I don't know too much about these people or the rest of them, but they were addicted to that ministry. They wanted to minister unto the saints. The Bible doesn't write about them preaching or being pastors or being missionaries sent off to some foreign field. They were worried about serving their brothers in Christ. They were worried about ministering to their church there. These folks are addicted to the ministry, which reminds me of Epaphroditus. We could say that he's addicted to ministry. I have a friend. He's an interesting guy. He's my best friend. His name's Luke. And unfortunately, ladies, before I brag about him too much, he did just get engaged the other day. So sorry about that. But Luke, I think, is the hardest working person I know. We work at the same job, and he's the one that always wakes me up to go to work. He's the one that's always there and is like, you're already leaving Titus? I'm like, yeah, I gotta go study for this. And he's like, no, we can work another hour. Luke is in just about every single ministry of that church up in Fargo. He works in the sound, he works in helping a lot of other people set up live streaming, he works in several different Sunday school rooms just making sure that they have all their stuff together. He's in the teen ministry, he's there every single night. That it's open on Fridays, they do it on Fridays. And he's always there and he always organizes games and things like that. And so, Luke is a servant. Luke doesn't have a specific call in his life, as far as he knows, not yet. But all he cares about is serving others. And it's an amazing testimony to me, and it's also very convicting to me, because how can Luke, who doesn't have a call in his life, be so restless about serving in the ministry? And where am I? What am I doing? Why am I always the one that he has to wake up for work? He does that a lot. But why am I always that? Why can't I be that for him? Why can't I be the one that provokes Luke into good works? Luke is a great friend to me, and I am very blessed to have him in my life. As I said, though, sorry, he did just get engaged, so. But, Epaphroditus meant a lot to Paul. Just as Timothy was invaluable to Paul, so was Epaphroditus, although serving in different roles. When Epaphroditus was struck with an illness, Paul described it as a mercy to himself, as well as Epaphroditus, that he pulled through. Paul cared about this man deeply. Epaphroditus made himself invaluable in the service of Christ. Our job, being a pastor, being a preacher, is not more important than any other role in this church. And our job is not, all is equal to God. We all have different responsibilities. We're all given different gifts. All of them are crucial, though. We can't just expect, there's a sad saying, but the saying goes that 8% of the church does 100% of the work. That's a terrible thing. I've heard that from several people. That's a terrible saying, but so often it's true. We all have different responsibilities, but we'll never know the full extent of one's effects in the service of God till we get to heaven. And I say, why don't we work towards that? Why don't we try to gather that unto ourselves? So when I moved to North Carolina, when I disappeared off the map to the rest of y'all, I was 12, and I was very excited to get into the teen class. That did not happen, and I'm not bitter. But we moved to North Carolina, and we didn't know why we were there, in all honesty. We weren't too sure. My dad's job was the one that ended up moving him. And we were very confused, but we knew the Lord led us out there. We were like, well, if it's just dad's job, then why is God just pulling us out there? or stay with the church. But no, the Lord just didn't give him peace about it. We eventually moved out there. Dad made a couple of trips out there a couple of times just to survey some churches. But he didn't really find any one that he was comfortable with, so he just waited till we all got up there. We started going around to a couple of churches just to see which ones the Lord was kind of leading us to attend. And there's a lot, it is the Bible Belt. There's a lot of Baptist churches up there, and a lot of good Baptist churches, I would say. And the big churches, too, you know, 300 people, 200 people, good-sized churches. And we were just in and out of a couple of them. Some we stayed in a little bit longer than others. But each time, the whole family was like, this isn't where the Lord wants us to be. We're just not comfortable with it. comfortable here, this doesn't just feel right. We eventually get to this one, and this church, fortunately the Lord made it clear that he didn't want us there, but the pastor of that church met with my parents, and he was like, well, I'm sorry to hear that the Lord just doesn't want you here. What can I do to help? And we were like, well, I just don't feel comfortable here. We don't think the Lord's leading us here. Do you know of any other churches in the area? He's like, well, I had this assistant pastor a while back, and he is now a pastor of this one church over here. We're like, oh, okay. So we hear about it, and we go to that church. And you know, it's, It's a good-sized building for the church, it could hold about 150, but there's about 50 people in there, and maybe less. And we get in there, and the pastor's very young, he's about 35. And it turns out he'd just taken the church the year prior, and was faithfully preaching, but it wasn't too many people there. But we were like, out of all the churches, why was the Lord leading us there? Because he was. And every single one of us said, this is the church. It was so weird, because we all got in the car right after that first service, and we're like, yep, this is the one. It's such a very clear decision for us. I'm sorry if this sounds like a long rabbit trail. I'm getting to the point. We get there, we start serving. That's where I started serving a lot. And the whole time, I must explain, I was bitter. I did not want to leave here because everyone that I knew was in Missouri was here. I did not want to go because I was just leaving all of that behind. So as a 12-year-old, I wasn't too happy about it. But we start serving in this church. and me, mostly unwillingly. It's an amazing story. I lack the words for it a lot. All of a sudden, different families started joining the church. They started serving a lot, too. At first, it was just us and the pastor's family, really. serving, that was setting up for meetings, that was remodeling in the back, that was painting, that was doing all these things. But then we got another family, one after the other. They all started joining this church. We're like, wow, the Lord is really blessing. Come to find out, with me, I got called to preach while I was in that church. That pastor there, he let me He let me, we had chapel for all the homeschooled people, just so we could get out there and socialize. But he would let me do little five minute sermons for the chapels every once in a while. And before I was even called to preach, I think at the beginning of it, but I think he had kind of an idea. I get called to preach during a youth conference there. And that pastor is the one, he kind of took me under his wing. He taught me how to write a sermon, or at least the outline of one. And it's a very dear place to my heart. And I realized after about a year of being there that I was happy being here. I was a kid. The Lord's will for me was being where my parents were. But I realized I was happy in there. I was in the will of God there. I was satisfied. The Lord fulfilled my needs there. And it's a very blessed place to me. But you're never going to know the effects of how the Lord is using you in ministry until after you're there at all. You're never going to know the far-reaching scope. I would never have been called to preach if I had just resisted that entire time. We wouldn't have seen the growth that we had seen if I was just constantly pushing against the pricks like that. And because of that, I'm not saying that I'm so integral to the success of that church. That's not what I'm trying to say. In the ministry, you're never gonna know the effects until the Lord reveals it to you. And me, it's five years later now, and it, well, a little bit longer than that, but just seeing the effects of that. And it's amazing to see, but I can only see it now. I needed to have that faith to step out and work in the ministry of the Lord then. So, what does that mean for you? So we've seen the ministries of these two men. One who was a son in the faith to Paul. He was in the ministry, he was called to preach, he was a pastor, and he was like-minded, and he was a worthy substitute for Paul. who cared for others, who cared for the things of God more than himself. The other, who was a soldier in the faith, who assisted the man of God in any capacity he could. He said he was a servant. He worked so earnestly, he very nearly died because of him, who carried a good report with him. And that's one of the things, too, was that, This is interesting to note. But Paul specifically mentions several times, receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such in reputation. Paul wanted to make sure that Epaphroditus did not receive any flak for being sick and being taken out of the ministry like that for that time. Paul understood in how earnestly this man worked. So what does that mean to us? What does that mean to you? What does that mean to me? First thing that needs to be understood is that the ministry is for everyone. 2 Corinthians 5.18. 5.18. and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Now, if you're saved, you were, let me see, if you were saved, you were reconciled unto Jesus Christ. That means that if you were reconciled unto Jesus Christ, that ministry now is for you. You don't have a choice. You're already locked in. You're in the hands of Jesus, and Jesus is in the hands of God. No man can take you out. You're locked in. But we need to understand that that's for you, that's for me. And especially for me, I'm called to preach. I'm serving at my college. I am surrounded by good godly coworkers. But I need to understand that I can't let my guard down. I am surrounded by all these godly influences, and I hope that I am one, but I need to realize that just because, and I do have some unsaved coworkers, but I need to understand and apply to myself that there isn't a time when I can't just be like, oh, I can stop acting like a Christian now just because everyone else is. That's not true. It's every day. We represent Christ. We are ambassadors for Christ. Ambassadors, we carry that standard of Christianity to others. That's our job. That's why we're still here. And we have a head knowledge of this. We all know this. But how many are acting upon it? How many are acting upon this realization that, yeah, we're ambassadors for Christ? What are you doing about it? Has it reached your heart? So there are certain things that you keep in mind, though. We need to seek the things of Christ, of course. Like the first most important commandments that Jesus said. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind. We need to seek those things of Christ. We need to care for others. And love thy neighbor as thyself. And not care so much about ourselves. It's easy to be self-centered in this world. The world is so very oriented towards that, and they praise it, in all honesty. You see it online all the time. People are talking about, oh, I just need a me day, or this is self-care. When did those phrases become comfortable with us? Why do we care so much about ourselves? And sure, we all need to take vacations, if that's what the Lord leads you to do. That's not wrong, that's not what I'm preaching against. But we need to realize that the things of others, the things of God, are you a Christian on your vacation? We need to be. We need to serve earnestly, no matter what capacity we're filling. From a janitor, from a secretary, I've been doing a lot of secretary work while I'm here, and not complaining. Now let me say this before I continue. This summer has been one of the most fulfilling of my life. I can honestly say I'm doing what I'm called to do and learning in that, and it's been an amazing time for me. But we need to serve no matter what capacity we're doing. Even if I'm scraping paint off light poles out here, I need to be serving. I need to remember, even though it's 103 degrees out, that I'm still a servant of God. That's a difficult thing to do sometimes. We need to understand, though, that if I'm just throwing my tools out there, someone passing by might see some crazy lunatic in the church parking lot. Yeah, well, maybe. Maybe. But wherever the Lord takes us, Christians are called to give 100%. We need to keep our guard up. We need to equip ourselves for the ministry. We need to carry with us a good report, like Epaphroditus did. That's for all of us. That's not for just the pastor. That's not just for me. That's not just for the missionary in Albania. But that's for all of us. You don't know where the ministry of the Lord is going to take you. And I didn't think it was going to take me to North Carolina. But I'm eternally thankful that it did. And that's what the ministry is all about. That's why we're called. Because the Lord will see fruit through us if we allow him to work through us. And so, I think that's all I got. Dear and holy Father, thank you for this evening, Lord. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to preach. Lord, I pray that you'd use this message, Lord, and I pray, Lord, that it would reach the heart of the people and that they'd be able to take something away. I pray that Jesus bless us all this evening. It's in Jesus' name we ask, amen.