Well, as Corey asked you, I hope you're still in 1 Corinthians 16. We've been five weeks in 1 Corinthians 15. We're going to do 1 Corinthians 16 in one week. We'll finish the book of Corinthians. Our journey's been about a year and a half, if I remember right, when we started. What Paul does in chapter 16, I think in your worship guide it's entitled, Goodbye for Now. This is Paul's final word for right now. It's nowhere near his final word to the Corinthian church as he makes a couple of more visits, writes a couple of more letters. He has quite a bit of communication with the church. He writes a hard letter that he's Not so sure he should have sent after he sent it as a visit where he is totally rejected. But what we can gain here from chapter 16 is some insights into the impact of the gospel in the Mediterranean world in the first century throughout the regions as the gospel spreads like wildfire. What we're going to do with 16, we're going to look at it more as not so much from verse 1 to verse 24, as much as we're going to look at it with a couple of ideas or thoughts or topics in mind, sort of like when I was one of the years that we visited our son in Utah, we went to a Salt Lake City bee's minor league baseball game. And at that baseball game, the park was so beautiful, it was the evening, and my son taught me how to do a panoramic picture on my iPhone. So this is going to be like a panoramic view, not a snapshot, verse by verse as we typically do, but this is going to be a panoramic view of chapter 16 as Paul closes his message in this first letter to the Corinthians. So let's pray and ask the Lord to help us as we walk through this last section. Our Father, we have come to you singing that we are the church of Jesus Christ. We understand Christ is our head. We understand your desire and command to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. We understand as a church that we don't stand alone, that we are not self-sufficient. We depend on you, we depend on each other. We even depend on those in other churches. And Father, you've called us to be servants, servants in the name of Jesus, to assist and aid and to help others on their journey. So Lord, as you have preserved your word for us, and shown us the men, even at times the women. Father, the people that You used and the methods and the ways in which You used them to bring the gospel to cities and towns, across the lands and in neighborhoods, I pray that you would help us to learn, that we might learn about you, that we might, as we see you in all of your glory, we might understand about our helplessness and our dependence upon you, our need for you, as a church, that the life is not in us, but it's in You, in Christ, Your Spirit who does indwell us. Father, may we lift Jesus high. And I pray that Your Spirit would fill Your people I pray your spirit would convince those who are not yet your people, and we would all sing praise and honor and glory to Jesus Christ, our only hope. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. So the first thing that we can see is most of the section, most of chapter 16 that Corey read is the church is an international church already, as Paul is writing 1 Corinthians, an international church that is functioning interdependently, dependent on one another as churches and as people. We have Paul's comments here about the expansive reach. He mentions, or at least he alludes to five Roman provinces. Think of provinces as maybe countries. He talks about Galatia, where Paul began his first journey and went through the other two journeys. Judea, where Jerusalem is. He talked about Macedonia, just north of Greece. He talked about Achaia. Where Corinth is, he talks about Asia, not the continent that we think of as Asia, but a section there where Ephesus is as Asia. He talks about, here he doesn't talk, but the implication is of Syria. where the church in Antioch, Paul's home church, where after every journey, he would go back to his home church and report on his missionary journey. So all of those countries Paul speaks to here, cultures, there's European culture, there's Middle Eastern culture, Jews and Arabs, there are Greeks, the Greek culture that has bled into the Roman empire and the Roman culture, there's, urban churches, there's rural churches, we see all of that here and so the gospel has penetrated into all of these areas, countries, cultures, cities, towns, villages. And so Romans 1 16 that says the gospel is the power of God into salvation. The power of the gospel has penetrated in not many years. In fact, this growth that we examined, if you look at a map and go from Israel all the way around to Galatia, to Asia, to Greece, and then eventually to Rome, where as Paul sits and writes, It's only 25 years since Pentecost. This church is 22 years old. In July, we celebrated 22 years. So in the time that the church, this church has been alive, all of these countries had been invaded by the gospel without airplanes, without the internet, without any of the mobility and the global abilities that we have. The gospel was spreading like a wildfire, and Paul shows how these many peoples and churches were dependent upon each other. Paul has been around that known world in that section. We'll see Aquila and Priscilla in a minute. We first find out that Aquila was born in Galatia. We meet him first as he and his wife Priscilla have been kicked out of Rome by Claudius and so they're in Corinth and Paul arrives in Corinth. Corinth, and there they are, and the next thing we know they're back in Rome, and then they're back in Ephesus. I mean, and they are travelers for sure. How do they get around so fast when they don't have the means that we have? But what we see is the mobility of the gospel and the people were really facilitated by the Roman Empire. In the fullness of time, Paul says to the Galatians, Jesus came. When the time was just right, when everything was set up fully, the Lord Jesus came and the gospel was enabled to spread because the Romans had built roads throughout the empire. It was easy to travel. They had legions of their army posted in strategic places and travel was safer than it had ever been. They had developed a postal system and a system of hotels and inns on the main thoroughfares. It was easy to go from town to town and have places to stay. Didn't have to... stay in a horse stable. The Romans had set up places to stay. Greek was the language that everybody in the area, both Greek and Roman, spoke. It was the language of the day developed by Alexander the Great. So men and women, married, single, businessmen, missionaries, young believers, and these are all young believers. had dedicated themselves to spread the gospel of Jesus. And so this church became an international church and took advantage of the situation and the time to impact this world for the sake of Jesus Christ. And what Paul does here in 16, he shows a number of ways that they're interdependent, how it is that they work together. The first four verses Paul describes this collection, now concerning the collection for the saints, from the beginning of his missionary journeys. While he was in Antioch, Agabus, a prophet, a Jewish prophet, came up from Jerusalem to Antioch before he and Barnabas did their first journey and said, there is a famine that is going to come to Judea, to the Jerusalem area, the country around Jerusalem. Well, that famine came and they were very poor and they were very hungry. And so from Paul's first journey When he first went into Galatia, every church that he established, every church that he was a part of, that he was responsible for, he dealt with this collection for the saints around the mother church, the home church in Jerusalem, the original church. They'd faced this long-term and severe famine, he encouraged, he stressed the opportunity to help, the privilege to help, and the responsibility to help these churches. The Gentile churches meeting the needs of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem and Judea. solidifying the relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians. Discipline giving, Paul talks about here discipline giving, the part of the worshiping life of those in the church. On the first day of the week, lay aside a portion. I remember when we used to have, in the churches I was in, we'd have two revivals a year. In the spring and fall, this traveling evangelist or itinerant evangelist would come in and they would preach for three days, sometimes for a week. We'd take up an offering every night while he sat there and watched. Paul says, wait, wait, wait, we don't want to do that. Set it aside on a regular basis. When I come, I don't want you passing the offering plate when I'm there. It's partly why it's right back there on the wall if the Lord leads you to give, but set aside the first day of the week. Paul will, as he deals with this collection and the church at Corinth in his second letter to them, or second letter of the scriptures to him, He'll talk about giving according to God's prospering you. So he has this systematic giving, regular giving, and then these one-time opportunities. It's kind of like if you give here, if you just give your tithes and offerings, you know a portion of that will go to across the world. We have a percentage of our budget that goes to missions. But if you've been around for the last couple of weeks, we've talked about an Ecuador trip that's coming up next month. Barry and Corey are going to Ecuador. And we say, if you want to help with that, just designate it, and then you can give to the mission trip for the Ecuadorian people. So it's systematic and yet also one time. You give to the church, you can know that you're helping the missionary cause around the world as the church does that on a regular basis. Or you can give also occasionally to particular mission or other things that we have. But the money, he said, when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift. In the first century, Paul knew how important it was to build a fence around the money of the church. When you give money that we're going to take to Jerusalem, you send a worthy representative who will guard your interests. And if you want me to go with them, I'll do that. to ensure that there's no opportunity for accusation of theft or greed. So that's the material side of it, as Paul lays out some instructions, but also the personal ministry that he talks about. Paul in verses five through seven, he talks about planning to come to them, but he doesn't wanna come, just come and pass through, he wants to come when he can stay. And so he says, it may not be right now, but here's my plans. I'm going from, he's in Ephesus, he's going and he says, I'm going around to Macedonia and around and I hope to come to you if time permits, I'm gonna stay here till Pentecost. And he says, there's a great door of opportunity. Verse nine, a wide door for effective work open to me. So I'm gonna stay here for the time being. So Paul gives his traveling, Itinerary, he talks about Apollos in chapter 12, now concerning our brother Apollos, I urged him to come, but it wasn't God's will for him to come now, but he's planning to come to you. So here's another personal ministry, Apollos, who had been to Corinth, a wonderful orator, a wonderful pulpiteer, but he just didn't know the gospel fully. So Aquila and Priscilla had to take him aside and tell him that he didn't know the cross had happened. And so they explained the gospel fully to Apollos. He goes across over to Ephesus and is there right now, and he's going to come back to you. So Paul is there, Apollos is there, and of course, Timothy, Paul's dear son, Timothy, verse 10. When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord as I am, so let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace that he may return to me. I'm expecting him with the brothers. Timothy is a special guy. Special to Paul. special to the second generation of the gospel. As the apostles die, Timothy is a young, hesitant minister of the gospel. Paul picked him up on his second journey in Galatia. At this point in time, he's been with Paul about four years. He's not been a believer apparently much longer than that. And Paul regularly felt like he needed to encourage Timothy. He says there, put him at ease and then let no one despise him. I was reading an essay by F.W. Boren this week. He entitled it, Don't Frighten Timothy. that word put at ease is no cause for fear. It's really don't frighten Timothy. Paul knew Corinth could be frightening. And so he was sending this new Christian, young Christian into Corinth to minister to the church. Paul knew how frightening they were because he told the Corinthians in chapter two, I came to you with fear and trembling. And we have recorded in Acts, that while Paul was at Corinth and he was facing some opposition, God assured him, keep speaking, don't be silent, I've got many people here in Corinth who need to hear the gospel. So Paul knew it was frightening and he tells the Corinthians here as he comes, take care of Timothy while he's there and then help him on his way in peace Don't give him troubles, don't bother him, help him on his way so he can leave rejoicing. What Boram says in his article is, Timothy stayed perpetually young. He'd found the fountain of youth because 10 years later, 1 Timothy chapter four, Paul's writing to Timothy, let no one despise your youth. So he's still youthful 10 years later. And so he's young, he's shy, he's sensitive. Again, with Titus that we know of, these are the young men who will take up after the apostles, the second group, the second generation to continue the gospel. So Paul teaches the Corinthians their responsibility, and that's the same for all of us. All churches. Timothy is coming. He's going to teach you. He's going to encourage you. He's going to strengthen you. He's going to disciple you. He's going to enrich you. But the church also is to do the same for Timothy. They need to encourage and refresh Timothy. Paul needs this ministry of refreshment. Look at verse 17. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people." So Paul needed this ministry from the church. Timothy needs it. The church has the responsibility. So even as other, Most probably, Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Achaicus brought news from Corinth. Some of the news was good, much of the news was bad, and yet they were able to refresh Paul as they came. There's the ministry that they provided for Paul. This news that broke his heart, he was still refreshed by their presence. So there's benefit and responsibility on both sides. Ben Franklin tells a story. Ben Franklin said he was very passionate about his goodness, trying very hard to be good. And he reminded him of his neighbor. His neighbor wanted an ax to be built. And so he went to the blacksmith, or to the smith, and I want an axe, but I want the whole axe head to be shiny like the edge is on it. Usually they just made the edge shiny and the rest of it was kind of a dull, heavy metal. He said, I want the whole thing to be shiny. And the smith said, okay, but you got to turn the wheel. All right, so he sits down and he starts turning the wheel and he goes and he goes and he goes and he goes and he says, how are we doing? And the smith came out and looked at it and he said, well, you got a ways to go. And he says, the ax head is speckled. You know, there's some bright spots, but it's speckled. It's not finished yet. And he says, you know, I think I want a speckled ax head. And the smith said, no, no, no, no, no. Buy and buy, it'll be shiny. No, no, no, speckled is good. So he takes his speckled axe. And Boram takes that story and he says, that's the story in the life of many pastors. As they are in their churches and the luster of the ministry kind of wears off and makes the congregations unreal or unspoken expectations, a lack of encouragement, a bit of loneliness. And they leave the church, they leave the ministry with speckled axe heads. They quit, tired, lonely, before the job is finished. I'm thankful to God that I've never faced that here. Many pastors and leaders of churches do, but the PBC here at PBC, the elders, and you as a congregation have always been so affirming and so encouraging and so kind. And I was, I have been refreshed. I think all of the elders would say that, I would hope. So the Corinthians have an opportunity to care for, to love, and encourage in Timothy all things spiritual, all things that make him more Christ-like. And Paul says, look, I'm expecting Timothy to come back, and when he comes back, I'm expecting him to be refreshed by you, to be encouraged, to be more mature in ministry, to come back better for it, so that he might be prepared for greater and more fruitful ministry of which Paul will send him out for more. And when I was studying also this way, I learned a new word. I learned it from Boram. I'm sorry, I have to give him the credit. The word is make-weight, one word, make-weight. Here's a definition from a dictionary, that which is thrown in to make up weight, what contributes to something not sufficient on its own. That's what Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Achaicus did for Paul. Boreham says, we all owe more than we can express to the people who, noticing our shortcomings, make no fuss but simply supply the lack. When the offerings lag, Stephanus steps in and fills the need. When a mess is on the floor, there's Fortunatus cleaning up the mess. filling up that which is missing. No one knows how the messes get cleaned often. How it gets done, but it gets done. We're members of one another here in the church. We need each other. We're interdependent. We depend upon Christ and Christ then meets our needs, if you will, through one another. And we have all those one another commands of scripture. Luther without Melancthon would probably not have had a reformation. He needed the balancing work of Melancthon. So make way to make up what's lacking by adding to what is not there. They see all the best, All that's best in the church. They're grateful. Corey talked about Thanksgiving. Andy talked about Thanksgiving. These make-weights, they encourage the teachers that they sit under. They welcome guests. They work hard to make sure where everybody else is comfortable. They're ambassadors for providence. They provide what is lacking. So whenever Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Achaicus tell their own stories, their testimonies, all that the Savior means to them, they do it with such obvious sincerity and deep emotion that they set everyone longing for that same satisfying joy. Where did they learn that? Well, they probably first learned it from Paul as he established the church in Corinth. Where did Paul learn it? Well, he is taught it by Christ. So ultimately the Lord Jesus is the one who inspires, who modeled for us, a life of service who enabled ours and their life choices to serve one another. One last, verse 19, one last, I mentioned Aquila and Priscilla all over the Roman Empire. From 49 to 55, that's where we, from 49 AD when they're booted from Rome by the Roman emperor, And then we see them in Ephesus, in Corinth, back in Rome, back in Ephesus, we see them all over in just a period of six years. They had a family business, they included Paul when he came to Corinth in the tent making business. Wherever they settled, look at verse 19. The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. When we see Aquila and Priscilla, the churches meeting in their house, in Rome, here in Ephesus, or I mean in Corinth. So we learn also from Aquila and Priscilla, the interdependence. You know, in different cultures, we can learn from this giving and receiving of cross-cultural ministries. We can learn today. You know, we have as a nation, as the Western world has been for about 250 years sending missionaries all across the world. And it could be time for us to learn to receive ministry from some of these folks. God is at work in places around the world in ways He's not at work in our country. Latin America, where Barry has been, where Corey is going to go with him, is teeming. The gospel is spreading. The faithful message of the gospel is spreading into Central America, South America, Mexico, Africa. The gospel is spreading in Africa. China, it's underground, but it is spreading there. Many abroad have a lot to offer and they can help. It's gotten to where I choose to go to conferences looking at the speakers because more and more and more our US conferences are having foreign speakers. coming from these lands where the gospel is truly at work. And it's at work in our country. We've been blessed. But it's truly revival time in some of these other places. So that's just an idea of the international church, the diversity of the church, and yet their interdependence as they shared resources and they shared their people one with another. In verse 9, Paul alluded to a wide door for effective work is open to me and there are many adversaries, so this church also had much opposition or many opportunities in the midst of opposition. We go to Acts 19, we see that as Paul is writing from Ephesus, he says, a wide door of opportunity and many adversaries. He stayed in Ephesus for two and a half, maybe three years. longer than anywhere else during his time there. Luke writes in Acts that all of Asia heard the Word of the Lord. He taught daily for three or four hours in the afternoon during siesta time in the Hall of Tyrannus. He taught the Word of God. The Word of God prevailed in Ephesus. In Acts 19, we hear that. So many opportunities for the gospel in this little valley where Ephesus is. Men like Epaphras, if you remember that name, probably was saved in Ephesus. Then he planted churches in Colossae, the church in Colossae. We have the letter to the Colossians. Paul did not start that church. and in Hierapolis and Laodicea, all three cities away from, a distance from Ephesus, probably planted as a result of Paul's ministry in Ephesus. It was a sacrificial ministry that he stayed there in Ephesus. He saw great opportunities, but there was bitter, bitter opposition. He was confronted with a satanic, with evil, occultic kind of powers. When he got there, many Ephesians were practicing witchcraft and magic. There were miracles happening. Paul had, that's where in Ephesus where he, God, he had these miracle handkerchiefs and he gave the handkerchiefs out and people were healed, strange as that can be. He faced exorcists and exorcisms as demons were cast out of people and demons were entering into people who were thinking or proclaiming the Lord but not trusting in the Lord. It was quite a confrontation with the evil powers. Many believed there was a true revival and they had a big bonfire that was fueled by the magic books as the people confessed their sins, turned to Christ from their worship of other gods and many over the years church history are paid the price dealing with these occultic powers in ministry. The silversmiths, the union of metal workers, the silversmiths guild led by a man named Demetrius, a mark of a true revival is when the economy of a place is affected. Well, the sales for the idols, the silver idols, worshiping the god Artemis, Diana, where the temple was there, sales went down to nothing. I mean, stock was, they were losing their livelihood. They were furious. They caused almost a riot. No little disturbance is how Luke called it in Acts. They dragged Paul's friends into the amphitheater because they couldn't find Paul. I mean, it was essentially almost a lynching, but the faithful gospel will always affect lives, right? It'll affect lives in powerful and offensive ways. And many believed in Ephesus. And then the religious leaders, the religious establishment, from the outset of Paul's ministry, wherever he went, those who were in power looking for status quo, they accused Paul of turning the world upside down when all he was doing was turning it upside down, the world right side up with the gospel. They were rubbed the wrong way by the gospel. So Paul faced many opportunities. There's a wide door, he says, but there's also many, much opposition. And what we can learn there is opposition doesn't mean we're not in God's will, right? The gospel never promises to smooth out all the rough places of life. Your gospel promises to make sense out of every circumstance that comes to us. And I just, my mantra, make sure that you don't cause the offense. Make sure it's the gospel that is that which causes opposition and not your presentation of the gospel. So that's opportunities, opposition, international church, interdependent, and then we also, it was a church that had resources and also responsibilities. Look at verse 15 and 16, I kind of, went past there. Now I urge you, brothers, you know that the household of Stephanas, who was one of the three that refreshed Paul, you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints, be subject to such as these. and to every fellow worker and laborer." So here's some resources in the church and responsibilities in the church. The responsible sharing of Stephanus' household is an example, a beautiful example, if you will, of family Christian ministry. The extended family, they saw the priority of being available, available with hospitality, identifying the needs to serve the church. They devoted themselves, they dedicated themselves. They were disciplined in their lives of service. Learning to identify and meet needs and then model the ministry of service to the people around them. And the people began to see in Stephanas the marks of a Christian leader. And Paul is able to urge the Corinthians to be subject to people like this. Submit yourselves to people like this. These are the kind of men that you want in leadership in your church. Respect their gifts. This gift of service or this lifestyle of service kind of challenges many of our ideas about who should be leaders in churches. You know, the first thing we're usually thinking about is, are they educated? Yeah, that was the first thing they told me to do. And I said, I think the Lord's calling me in a minute. Well, you got to go to seminary. Well, nobody checked out. And I didn't know any better that it wasn't good education in the seminary that I went to. The education, the ability to think and speak kind of on their feet, the ability to present the truth, right? I mean, that's what we think. A good business head. Well, you didn't choose me for that. So Paul gives this proper perspective of what leadership in the church needs to be like, and it's reminiscent of Jesus, whoever would be great among you must be servant of all. So it comes from those who leadership is those willing to serve. Doesn't always, there's nothing wrong. Good education is very, very helpful. I got some good nuggets, but I didn't know how to sift through until later on. Good education is important, but leadership doesn't always depend on education. or natural charisma, you know, a charismatic kind of a character, status in the society, from the grace of God, endowing his people with the gifts of the Spirit, and the leaders then equipping the saints to do the work of ministry. So this household of Stephanas, they lived like that. They were a family serving others. Isn't that what the church is? A family serving one another, serving others all in the church, you're involved, imitating the examples of their appointed leadership, using their God-given giftedness and developing whatever natural talents they have, helping everyone helping. Even the kids, helping the kids learn to identify needs. Can't beat the testimony of a Christian family serving in the church. It's the evidence of the power of the risen Christ. So every home, every person is a resource to the local church, but that resource that we have, God has given us, also comes with responsibility to use our abilities, our resources, our gifts for the glory of God. And so chapter 16 talks about church members' responsibility to the ministers, and ministers' responsibility to the churches, to the body, both are vital. Verse 13 and 14 is kind of a summary of the responsibilities of every Christian. This could be one, this could be a whole sermon, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, let all that you do be done in love, those two verses. That could be a sermon, that could be a semester course on ethics, Christian ethics, just those two verses. What it is, they're kind of military terms. What Paul is saying here, look at what, be on watch, stand firm, grow up and be strong. Put away, Paul is really identifying these Corinthians and say, put away your wishy-washy immaturity. Grow up. All that's leading to problems, but he balances these commands with verse 14, let all be done in love. Love without strength deteriorates into just kind of emotional, sentimental blah. Love without strength. You know, we just love each other, right? but we have to stand firm, we have to be strong. But strength without love can lead into this tyranny, heavy-handed authoritarian leadership. So in 1 Corinthians, many areas of sanctification have been addressed. They've been shown to be lacking. Paul challenges them to put them right. The things that have gone wrong, above all, he has stressed this priority of love in all that they do. So this has been the summary of the instruction to an energetic, divided, enthusiastic church that is in danger of veering off the path. And Paul will deal with them for a few years to come to help them get back to where they need to be. So he picks up the pen, verse 20. You know, Paul, most of his would have been dictated to a secretary, an amanuensis. So Paul says in verse 20, all the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand." Sort of a barb maybe aimed at the troublemakers in Corinth in verse 21. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be anathema, maranatha. Let him be accursed, our Lord, come. Leon Morris in his commentary says, if a man's heart is not aflame with love for God, the root of the matter is not in him. Let him be accursed. I mean, that's a strong word. In chapter 12, verse 3, we get an idea. Paul says in 12.3, Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says, Jesus is accursed. So here he says, if you don't have anyone who doesn't have the love of the Lord, let him be cursed, accursed. Maybe Paul knew who made that claim over here, that Jesus was accursed and reminding him that he knows, but then he says, Maranatha, our Lord come. the deep conviction of the early church. They lived with the anticipation of the coming of the Lord Jesus. And after chapter 15, it kind of takes on its own significance. And I just wrote, is our expectation dampened by 2000 years of waiting? The excitement of the 70s that I experienced in my Christian life of, many being saved, and we just knew, I mean, things were going bad for America after the Vietnam War, riots, all kinds of things, and we just knew Jesus was coming back. I mean, there wasn't a question. We were the generation. And then you study church history, every generation thinks that. And so as 2,000 years of waiting dampened us, dampened our expectation. Shouldn't we still be eagerly longing as they, the Lord could come and return at any time. 23 and 24, the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. He desires grace for all of the Corinthians, even and especially those who caused the greatest problems. Nothing can quench His love for them. And so Paul just closes with that. Goodbye for now. He's content to leave the matter with God and His Spirit. He's going to send Timothy. Apollos is going to come. Eventually, he hopes to get there, depending on the Lord's will for his life, and that's how he leaves the church. Going back to this idea of make-weight, and one of the illustrations that I saw was when a heavyweight boxer Or I guess better, that one talked about a heavyweight. I see it as a flyweight, no, it had to go this way. A heavyweight boxer is not weighing enough to get into the ring with the champion. And so he needs to make some weight, needs to build himself, needs some addition to it. Here's a strange passage with that thought. Paul says to the Colossians, I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. You ever wonder about that passage? Filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions? Is his atonement incomplete? Is the price paid insufficient? Does his sacrifice need some make way to be all it was meant to be? And of course the answer is no. It is finished, right? Isn't that what Jesus said? It's finished. Like the cry or the exclamation of an artist who put the finishing touch on his painting and it's voila, it's finished, it's done. Well, here's just some thoughts. Again, I owe this to Boram. If Jesus died on the cross and everyone went home, would the world have been saved? I would have never heard if everybody just went home. It'd just been another Roman execution. It was necessary that Jesus rise from the dead. And for the apostles to suffer and die proclaiming the gospel. For the apostles to die and suffer. For martyrs to lay down their lives defending the gospel. If you know of Livingston or John Payton and Tyndale and Latimer, Jim Elliot, near where Corey and Barry are going. They gave their lives to testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. Boram says this, every death in the foreign land, every tear shed for the gospel's sake, Every sneer patiently endured out of love for Christ is an augmentation of the awful tragedy of Golgotha. Every presentation of the gospel, no matter the situation, Sometimes there's victory, sometimes there's defeat in our eyes, but every death, every tear, every sneer is an augmentation of the tragedy of Golgotha, an awful tragedy that was turned to victory in the resurrection of Jesus Christ for all who will believe. So He died on the cross to redeem us, and in redeeming us, He brings us into a relationship with Himself through His work. I'll just close with this verse. I've been crucified with Christ, Paul says. There's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. As he died on the cross, as you come to faith, you join him on the cross. And he gives you new life. and you live your life as he lives it through you because he gave himself for you. If you've not trusted Christ, won't you do that? What is it that's holding you back? Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this testimony of the power of the gospel. Remind us how dependent we are on you. Remind us that salvation of the lost is not dependent upon us, but it's the gospel that is the power to save. Use us, we pray. Convict us. we ask. Change us into the image of our Savior in whose name we pray. Amen.