Well, amen. I got my phone call at 7.15 this morning. I looked down at the phone and it said, Jacob Fleur. And I said, oh no. He's going to ask me to lead the singing. You don't know what a relief it was to find out I was being asked to preach. So, appreciated that message this morning, Brother Fleur. I was at Walmart yesterday. You ever need comic relief? Don't spend a lot of money going someplace. Just go to Walmart. And I was pushing my cart and coming out of one of the aisles and going into the main aisle headed toward the outdoor and garden area. And I got in behind this lady. Well, I say, lady, I get in behind this woman, and every once in a while, she'd just turn around and yell something. She had a little child in the cart with her, and she'd turn around and start yelling. And I'm angry. And then all of a sudden, I heard behind me a male voice yelling back. And I looked back, and there's a man pushing a cart with a child. And he's yelling at her, and she's yelling at him. I was ducking, you know, just trying to... and here I am caught between them and then it dawned on me. Somebody might think I'm with her. So I ducked into the pharmacy and waited for the storm to pass. But I appreciate that message this morning, brother Fuller. 2 Timothy chapter number 4. 2 Timothy chapter number 4. Have you ever had... Something that you realized at one point in time it was just useless. And you can't figure out why you hung on to it. We've got a storage unit, I'm telling myself a little bit. We've been storing stuff for five years. And I got to thinking, you know, I'm paying more money for that stuff than it's worth. And so we're going to go through it now that, you know, the kids moved out. And I've got an extra room in the house, a place to put things. I'm going to get out from under that storage payment. But I was over there the other day with one of my daughters going through stuff, and I'm looking at stuff going, this is useless. Why do I have this? And just, I don't know, have you ever had a wasted day? Where at the end of the day, you just said, this was unprofitable. This day just, there was no profit in today. I wasted the day. You ever had something that was unprofitable to you? It cost you more than it was worth? And it's just unprofitable. I want to look tonight, if we can, at some scripture. And I want to look at three individuals, primarily. I've got a 95% introduction and a 5% message. So you'll have to bear with me through the introduction this evening. But, you know, there's things that are useless. They're unprofitable. And we hang on to them. It's kind of like, Johnny, if you had a 1960 Jaguar XKE, I'm talking classic. You probably don't even know what that thing looks like, but those of us who were around back then know. And what a classic car. And here it is with leather black interior. It's a convertible. It's, you know, candy apple red. And I mean, it is a phenomenal car. And you say, Brother Desk, I want you to see my car. Come on over. And I come over, and we go in the garage, and there's this car sitting there. And boy, it is a beauty. I mean, it is in mint condition. And boy, you say, get in, get in, get in. We get in, you get in behind the driver's seat, we're sitting there, and boy, it's just beautiful. And I say, well, you know, let's take it for a spin. And you say something like this, well, it doesn't have a motor. But it's going to be a lot of fun here, because I got to, I brought a car. Where's Caleb? I got brother Caleb. Yeah, I got in the car there and he set me up with a video. It is a road trip video and I've got this big screen on the inside of the garage door. And what we're going to do is we're going to sit there and I'm going to pretend to drive. We're just going to enjoy the trip. I even got big fans blowing so that you get the air. Buddy, that car is useless. Unless you get something done to make that thing go on the road. It is not even a museum piece. It's useless. And there are so many things in life like that. Have you ever known someone who was useless? I mean, they were just unprofitable. Yeah. Don't say any names. Just unprofitable. There's just no, just this guy is useless. Do you know there's such a thing as useless information? For instance, did you know that a cat can last longer underwater than a camel? Now that's useful information, right? Or that a duck's quack doesn't echo. They can't figure out why, or why would anybody care. Or that there are no words in the English language that rhyme with orange, purple, or silver. It might be useful if you decide to write a poem, you know. Some of you teenagers, when you write that girl a poem, be careful, don't use silver, orange, or purple. That roses are red, but violets are violet? I love this one. When Motorola first started their business, they were designing a record player for the automobile. Some of you guys don't know what a record player is. Ask your mom and dad when you get home. And so since they were designing a record player for the automobile, and in those days the record player, the premier record player was called a Victrola, they decided to name their company Motorola. Motorola. Did you know that bats always fly left out of the cave? That's important information if you ever decide to go in a cave, you always go to the right. You'll be alright. The word profitable is a word that means useful, purposeful. Something has profit. That means that it's useful. It has a purpose. It has a design. It has a use. It's useful. In Hebrews chapter 4 verse 1, don't turn to these verses, it's just introduction stuff, but you know the Bible says there's no profit in hearing the gospel but not receiving Christ? Can I just interject that tonight? That you sit here in church and there is no profit in it if you've not trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? Let us therefore fear lest the promise being left us of entering into His rest, and if you should seem to come short of it, For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, being mixed with faith, and in them that heard it." They didn't listen and hear the gospel, and it had no profit to them. Do you know there's no profit in worldly gain without heavenly security? Didn't Jesus say in Mark chapter 8 that for what shall a man profit if he gain the whole world? and lose his own soul. There's no profit in it. It's useless. Brother Fleur talked about that going for the glitter and going for the gold. That's useless without salvation. There's no profit in faith that has no works. James wrote it very clearly. What does it profit, my brethren? Though a man say he have faith and have not works. Then in chapter, verse number 16, he says that one of you say to them, depart in peace, be you warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body. What does that profit? It doesn't do you a whole lot of good to have faith if your faith isn't being worked out in your life. Yeah, you got a heavenly home, but you will live a miserable life getting there. Do you know there's no profit in words of advice that are not supported by Scripture? 1 Corinthians 14 verse 6, Now brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall profit you? Except I shall speak to you either by revelation or by knowledge or by prophesying or by doctrine. It doesn't do me a whole lot of good to give you advice if there isn't some sort of scriptural support for that advice. In fact, it doesn't do you any good to listen to advice. that's coming from someone that can't support it by scripture. But we get a lot of our advice from the world today, there's no profit in it. There is profit in good works. Titus 3, 8, this is a faithful saying in these things, I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. There is profit in investing in God's work. Matthew chapter 25, 26, His Lord answered and said, Thou wicked and slothful servant, Thou knowest that I reap where I sow not, and gather where I have not strawn. Thou oughtest therefore to put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it to him who hath ten talents. For every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have in abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant, that servant that hid his Lord's money and didn't use it, didn't put it to work. It was unprofitable, Jesus said. That unprofitable servant into outer darkness. I believe that same illustration also works well for talents and abilities. Just to interject this, if God's given you a talent and an ability, you ought to be using it. Otherwise, you're unprofitable. Unprofitable. In Philemon, the book of Philemon, we have a story about the man named Philemon, a servant who ran away. Paul led him to Christ and sent him back to Onesimus, a different man. And if I leave in verse 11, the Bible says, in which time was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me. Can I just say that there is profit in a repentant heart. There is profit. You gain a whole lot more being sorry and repentant than being stubborn and willful. Profit. So I want to examine, if we can tonight, three men listed here in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Three men who contrast three separate profit or unprofitable behaviors. So let's go there this evening. 2 Timothy chapter 4. And let's begin down in verse number 9. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 9. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me. For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Damasia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. And Titus have I sent to Ephesus. The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, I pray that you'll bless Lord tonight as we just take a couple of minutes, Lord, to just deal with our own individual hearts. And ask ourselves the question, am I profitable? Is there value in me? Am I doing what I ought to be doing? Am I profitable? And Lord, I pray that you just stir us to serve you more. Father, we pray for our pastor tonight that you raise him back up, heal his body quickly, and we'll give you the praise for it in Jesus' name. And amen. First fellow I want to look at tonight is that guy listed there in Paul's passage. A man by the name of Demas. Demas. Turn with me, if you will, to the book of Philemon. Look down at verse number 24. In Philemon, verse 24, I want you to notice what Paul writes. He's writing to Onesimus here and talks about the profitability of this servant that's returned home. And then he gives some instruction and some desire there. And verse 24, he says, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. I want you to know first tonight that Paul says, I have some fellow laborers, and one of the guys who's working with me, that is laboring with me, is a man by the name of Demas. We find that at some point in time in Paul's ministry, Demas was profitable. He was a co-laborer. He was working right along with the Apostle Paul and the others in serving Christ and in planting churches and in winning souls. And here's this guy, Demas, who has a profitable testimony. Then go to Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4. Look down in verse 14. Paul writes in Colossians 4.14, Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. Here he is again. This guy's working with Paul. He's there with Luke, the beloved physician. And Paul says, hey, Luke and Demas, say hey to your church there. Demas was profitable. But then we read in 2 Timothy chapter 4 where Paul wrote, Demas hath forsaken me. All of a sudden, this profitable Christian, this co-laborer, this fellow worker, this man that was involved in Paul's ministry and traveling and working with the Apostle Paul, all of a sudden became unprofitable. And I would wonder what happened if Paul hadn't told us. Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. Something got into Demas' heart and life that took him from profitability to an unprofitable, forsaken Christian. What happened? The world. He got hooked up with the world. I think he looked around, began to see some things that he might be missing. Because he's traveling with the Apostle Paul. Because he's trying to live a good, clean, Christian life. And all of a sudden, hey, those folks over there are doing it. That kind of looks like, hey, I'm missing out on some stuff. I love that song. Folks sing it. I missed out on heartache. No, I didn't. Thank God for the things I missed out on. Well, look at Demas looking around. All of a sudden, the world... The world, Christian tonight, the world will render you useless. And depending on how deep in the world you get, the more useless you'll become. Even to the point where God says, I'm going to have to give them up. They're not usable anymore. There's something in their life that's come along that has taken away their ability to have a testimony for Jesus Christ. Teenagers, listen to me very carefully. It doesn't take much of the world to mess you up and render you useless. It doesn't take much. Demons have forsaken me, having loved this present world. Useless. Unprofitable. A second fellow mentioned in this passage of Scripture, there in 2 Timothy chapter 4. It's found in verse number 11. Paul says, only Luke is with me. And then he says, take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me. Paul says, now, I need some help here, and I need you to bring a couple of guys with you, and Demas has forsaken me, but when you come, I need you to bring John Mark, because I've got a job for him to do. He is profitable Now, in case you don't know who John Mark is, let me take you back to Acts chapter 13. In Acts chapter 13 is where we first encounter John Mark. By the way, I believe that Demas and John Mark and Timothy were all around the same age group. And you may have studied otherwise, but that's how I believe and how I see it. These guys were all pretty much contemporaries, all about the same age group. In Acts chapter 13, John Mark went on a mission trip with the Apostle Paul and Barnabas. Can you imagine going on a mission trip? Ademas had gone on some. John Mark is getting his opportunity. And John Mark goes on this mission trip. But look down at verse number 13. The Bible says in Acts 13.13, Now when Paul and his company loosed from Pappas, They came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. Here they're on this mission's trip, and they're getting to these cities and these places, and somewhere along the line, this young man by the name of John Mark said, oh, wait a minute. This is getting a little too intense for me. I mean, after all, Paul's getting stoned. He's getting beaten. getting kicked out of the city. I mean, it's dangerous to be around the Apostle Paul. And John Mark said, you know, I think maybe I've had enough. I'm going home. And he departed. Go to chapter 15, Acts chapter 15, verse 36, And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, Let's go again and visit our brother in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with him John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought it not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other, so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren under the grace of God. Ready to go on another trip. Barnabas says, let's take John Mark, let's give him another chance. Paul says, nothing doing. No way, Jose. I am not taking him. He quit on us. He's a quitter. He's unprofitable. He has no use. It's useless to take him along with us. He'll just be a burden. He'll just drag us down. Barnabas says, no, I see something in him. I really think we should take him along. And they argued about it so sharply that they decided not to even go together. Barnabas went one way and Paul took Silas and went the other. John Mark quit and became unprofitable. But in 2 Timothy 4.11, we hear the Apostle Paul say this. Bring Mark, for he's profitable to me. I really don't know what happened, so I have to speculate a little bit. But I think somewhere along the way, Barnabas reached John Mark. I think somewhere along the way, somebody cared enough about that young man to invest in his life, and it paid off, and eventually down the road, the Apostle Paul looked and said, that young man has changed. He's grown. There's something different about him. He is now a prophet for the ministry. You see, there was some repentance, I think, along the way and some growth, some maturity that made him profitable. Two men. One who had profit, who was useful, who quit because of the world and became unuseful. A young man who was unprofitable because he was immature and not ready in his life, and he was unprofitable, became profitable. There's a third young man in our story tonight. And it's the one that the letter was written to. Young man by the name of Timothy. You know Timothy. Timothy started out right. 2 Timothy chapter 1, we read Paul writing, When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which first dwelt in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that is in thee also. Chapter 3, look down at verse number 14. But continue thou, in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which is able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." Paul said, Timothy, you've been profitable all your life. You've let God use you You've allowed yourself to learn from Scripture. You've grown in faith. You have been profitable all along. Three guys. Demas, profitable, but because he let the world in, became unprofitable. Jean-Marc, who started out unprofitable, but grew and matured in his spirit, became profitable. And Timothy, who just stuck by the stuff, decided as a young man, I'm going to stick with it and stuck with it. Now here's the message. How do I become and remain profitable? I'm going to make an assumption tonight that everyone in this room would like to be profitable. I'm going to make an assumption that we're all anxious to hear the words, well done, thou good and faithful servant. I don't think anyone in this room wants to hear, depart from me. I don't think anyone in this room wants to hear, you are not profitable. There'll be no rewards. I think we all want to be profitable. So how do we do that? I'll give you three things tonight and we'll be done. First, find your role for whatever stage in life you're in. Find it. Have purpose now. Now. All walks and ages of life here. So let me just start with the younger kids, alright? Let's just start with the teenagers. I know some of you have the heart that someday you're going to say, I want to serve God. I know that you're saying in your heart, you know, one of these days, I want to serve the Lord. Can I just say this now? In order to be profitable then, you need to be profitable now. Can I just say this? Whatever it is God has for you to do, now do it. Now guard your life. Now stay pure. Now try to withdraw from the world. Now live your lives like God would have you live them. Don't look down the road and say, well, one day I'm going to do this, or one day I'm going to do that. Do it now. Do what God has for your life now. It's not profitable to be a rebellious child. There's no profit in giving Mom and Daddy a hard time. There's no profit in your independent spirit. There's no profit in doing your own thing. It's like the young man said, I'm tired of my mom and daddy telling me what to do. I'm going to join the Marines. Profitable. The question is, young folks, are you profitable now? Are you serving God now? Are you taking what talents God's given you and developing them for the Lord now? Are you trying to reach out now and learn and grow? Are you profitable now? You see, in order to be profitable down the road, you need to be like Timothy. See, nobody wants to be like Demas. Nobody ought to be like John Mark. Timothy is the example. Hey, you look at the life of Joseph. Think about Joseph. No matter what came along in Joseph's life, he was profitable. I mean, he was really a good shepherd out there, tending to the sheep. All his brothers were doing all the shenanigans and hanging out. He's doing the right thing and watching the sheep, and he was very profitable to his father. Brothers hated him, threw him in the pit and sold him in slavery. One of the most profitable servants Potiphar ever had was Joseph. He elevated him right up the chain. Profitable. Got thrown in prison. Best prisoner the guards ever had. Joseph. He was profitable in the prison. That had he not been profitable in the shepherd's field, and had he not been profitable in Potiphar's house, had he not been profitable in the prison, I'm wondering if he would have been anything worth anything in the palace. You see, young folks, it's important to be profitable now. Give God your lives now. Don't wait for down the road when someday I'll serve God serving now. Now, adults, you said amen. These are appreciative kids, isn't it? Well, let me ask you, how profitable are you? See, what happens is as we age, we begin to look back on what we did, not what we're doing. It's just as important to be profitable at your stage in life as well. And then you get old. And it's real easy when you get old to sit back and say, well, let's let the younger generation do it. But the honest, simple truth is you ought to be profitable. Say, well, there's not a whole lot I can do. Yeah, there is. You can teach these young folks. You can be a good example. You can pray. You can give. There are a lot of things you can do to be profitable. So number one on our list, how to be profitable, is to be profitable at whatever stage in life you're in. Do it now. Secondly, fulfill that stage in life. Just fulfill it. There's no reason to try to be something you're not. Do your best now. Give it your all now. Be profitable Not just there. You know the old expression, bloom where you're planted? That means get involved and be happy and serve and be joyful right where you're at. Fulfill your role now. And then thirdly, how to be profitable Finish. Finish. As your role changes, find a new role. As life changes, find something else to do. When you go past the stage of being able to do what you used to do, do something new. Be profitable. I have grandkids. For a while, some of my grandchildren were living in England, and we went over to visit. Now, there's a real popular animated series in England that all the kids know about. Some of you may be familiar with it, but it's Thomas the Train. Who of you all know Thomas the Train? Oh, look at that. Great. Then you'll know what I'm saying when I say that Mr. Topham Hatt, But by the way, when we were over there, we went to the Thomas the Train amusement park. Mickey Mouse ain't got nothing to Thomas the Train. And we got to meet Mr. Topham Hatt, the Fat Controller, and all the Thomases, and boy, that was just a lot of fun. Mr. Topham Hatt had an expectation of his engines. Do you remember what Mr. Topham Hatt always asked his engines and his engines always wanted, especially Thomas, always wanted to be useful. I'm a very useful engine, he would say. Ask your question tonight. How useful are you? You see, I don't find anywhere in scripture where, when a horse gets old, you put him out to pasture, right? I don't see any pastors in scripture. We're supposed to work till we die. We're supposed to serve Jesus till he calls us home. It doesn't matter how old or young you are. You're supposed to be, the expectation is, you're profitable. You're useful. Are you useful tonight? Will you hear, well done? Thou good and faithful servant. Or maybe there's been some things that have clouded your usefulness. Maybe tonight's a good time to repent of some things. And say, you know what, I was headed down the wrong path. I was headed down the path of unprofitability. I want to turn it around tonight. I want to be useful. I want to be useful for Jesus Christ. I want to be useful for our church. I want to be useful for my parents. I want to be useful to my children. I want to be useful. Maybe tonight, in just a little bit, you come to the altar and you'll say, look God, I'm sorry, I was headed down the wrong path. Please take me and use me.