.
You
Just see it's fine just see it grab your hymnals
Welcome to church this morning great to see you all we're going to start with him number
160 him number
160 crown him with many crowns when you have found it. Can you please stand let's sing it up?
Let's crown our Savior. Let's praise him. Let's glorify him invite him to the church service so
160 crown him with many crowns
Oh
Awake my soul
And
Oh
Wonderful singing let's go to a word of prayer
Heavenly Father Lord we thank you so much Lord for this morning to be in your house amongst your people
Lord we we do love the brethren here
We want to edify one another Lord
But we come firstly to give Christ the preeminence and Lord with your help with your spirit and power Lord
Help us to serve you this morning help us to serve one another this morning and Lord
May you be glorified in our praises and our singing towards you and Lord
Please feed us from your great word of truth Lord. We love you because he first loved us
We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated
All right before I hand over to brother Jason. We are going to have a
Video just a short video on the Fiji missions trip. That'll be before the sermon
But for those that went to Fiji if you because I actually wanted to do this last week, but obviously wasn't here
If if you are able to give a testimony
Man woman a child doesn't matter if you're able to give just a short testimony about your experience
Like lucky and love to hear from you if you can. All right
I'm not sure if sister Cindy's on her way, but I'd love to hear from her
but like if you have a just a story just something a testimony of
Your trip. I'm sure the church will be
More than happy to hear from it. So just just as a point of encouragement
The other thing is I thank you for your prayers definitely miss stop being at church for the past week
I would say I'm about 80%
Okay, I'm about 80% I really run out of battery very quickly for some reason the last few days
But if you continue praying for me, I'd really appreciate it, but great to be back in the house of the Lord
All right. I'm gonna hand over to brother Jason to continue leading us in song. Thank you
All right number 205 number 205 will be next he keeps me singing
Number 205 there's within my heart a melody. Let's lift it up just as loud as the first number 205
Oh
Coming back
Oh
Well done everyone fantastic
All right, just a couple pages to the right
All this wonderful weather we've been given lately has made you want to sing this one sunshine in the soul 209
Sunshine in the soul if you don't know it sing it like you do
209
All right, it's a quick one everyone make sure you keep up
Oh
All right doing good with the ones that you don't know I was definitely convinced that everyone was very familiar with that one
Number 65 is our last one just over in the glory land number 65. I have a home prepared where the Saints abide
What a wonderful thing to look forward to
Let's lift it up everyone
Wait
PG missions trip video, I'm sorry
All right, fine 65 just over in the glory land. We'll have our video in the Bible reading afterwards number 65
He got based on everyone
Oh
Well done everyone fantastic scene this morning, all right, let's have our video
Oh
You
Bring
Two thousand, what was it two thousand one hundred and
Fifteen souls saved and we counted very conservative
Amen, like even for example, there was one time when I had a group of
Four young students come and I started to give them the gospel from the beginning those four young students became 15
Something like that
I'm trying to give the gospel to all 15 and maybe a good 10 actually
Ended up praying calling upon name of Lord by only counted the four that I started with
That were there to the end because they got the whole presentation from start to finish
So I could confirm that we're engaged the whole way through so just situations like that
Of course, you're counting conservative as well
And so I'm like, could you imagine like getting two thousand salvation is here on the sunny coast in one week
Let it like one year
May I don't know maybe one day, you know, Lord willing he can put the fear of God into the hearts of people here
But great work Thank You Church for being part of
This work now. I am going to ask shortly. I'll give you
Just a brief
Conversation just not on what I'm thinking with Fiji, but if there are a few just a couple of just a few minutes
Just coming up. Just tell me tell us what how your experience was
We'd love to hear from you, but very quickly before I get into it. I
Do want to just announce that we will be doing this every year. Okay annually our church are going to be sending
Two people. Well, let's put it this way New Life Baptist Church is going to pay every year
for the flight
Accommodation and some spending money for one individual from our church every year to go to Fiji
Blessed Hope Baptist Church is going to be doing the same thing
You know, they're going to cover accommodation flight and spending costs to one person from their church every year
So ideally we get one soul winner here one soul win from blessed
Hope send them to Fiji and of course if others want to join them
Then that's gonna have to be an out-of-pocket expense for yourself to be part of that
So I just feel that Fiji it's only a four hour four and a half hour flight
I mean, it's it's it's quicker to get to Fiji than it is to get to Perth
Okay, number two time the time zone. It's not that big of a deal. It's only it's what's what was it?
Two hours ahead. It's not a big deal. So it's not going to be a major effect on your body
The people are so receptive. I would argue that they're even more receptive than the Philippines
Okay, and what I mean by that is you're going to get more Filipinos saved just by the sheer number that are out there
But just on a one-on-one basis
They are hyper receptive and they know their Bibles very well
It's really it's really sad that they know the Bible so well, they know the gospel or let's say another gospel
Very well, and you know, it just requires a little bit more for them to understand
It's faith alone. And so it's not a lot of effort to get them over the line
You're showing them verses. They already know they know the John 3 16
They stay seen it and and all of a sudden when you show them the truth of faith alone
Eternal life cannot be lost. It's not by works. It's like a light bulb moment when they realize man
That's that is what the Bible says
That is what I've been quoting it all this time, but it's never been explained to me
And so it's such a fertile soul winning place
I'd love to see if we can find a church a local church there
That we feel confident in that's also preaching the right gospel that we might be able to point these souls to
That might be my goal of the next year to find a church a pastor
They'd be happy for us to send our missionaries out there and be a support to their local church
So if you guys can be praying about this, I think every year we send one person one person
We can more than afford it as a church to do that and I think it'd be a great blessing
I do have something else that I want to mention before I ask for others to come up
But for our online listeners, I'm just gonna switch off the microphone at this point in time
So sorry online listeners, but I'm just gonna switch it off
You
Mike is back on so if there's anybody want to come and give a a little
Update on their trip to Fiji. Yeah, brother come up
Thank you
What kind of surprised me was the the battle of it all it just seemed like such
Warfare such a battle scene when you go there
You get the taxi into into town and you would see because there's 56 soul winners and Fiji is not a very popular place
We saw two thousand souls. It's actually like two percent of the population of the city
We went to so one in fifty people got saved there and you could see it like of the 56 of us
So we were just everywhere you pull in with the taxi and as you're three minutes away from the city
Still you see soul winners on every corner. We've got every like major
Location
Stronghold there and it was like so encouraging
Like every angle doesn't matter where you're driving from and
Pastor preached a sermon called why we need to go to Fiji and he highlighted the
Kind of battle aspect that the enemy is there that you know, the the other false churches also know how receptive it is
And how open they are
so
Yeah, just seeing seeing that part of the battle as well that battle aspect
It was it was truly
biblical every time we had big groups or like a
Momentum going the false prophets would pop out of nowhere and try to interrupt us and get in the way of preaching the gospel
And these were like lunatics like, you know, these are like real wild-eyed
Maybe or just just wild people and
You would see them at just these these incredible times were you know trying to interrupt and bring in the most crazy things
You know countless stories of that and shared people, you know experiencing the same ones
but the one that like had the most impact on me was um, I was
He seemed he seemed nice. I can't I can't you know, belittle his character, but I was it was on the Sunday and
We were talking to two people to two kids coming from their church
Had their Bible with them and I asked them if they're Christian
they said yes, and they were just coming from church and you know if they believe that the Bible was the Word of God and
I wanted to preach them the gospel and I asked them if they don't if they know they're going to heaven
You know the same introduction and they were very interested. They were really listening and uh, then their pastor came
And they're like, oh, it's our pastor and he didn't look happy
He came and he's like, oh, we're actually busy at the moment and you know, they already know this stuff
You don't need to tell them they already know very well
And they didn't I asked him the questions. They didn't they weren't sure they were going to heaven or what you had to do
at all and
So I knew he was wrong about that but I didn't want to create offense
I said, you know, if you want to if you want to go with your pastor, you know, here's your pastor
if he wants you to leave then please I'm not here to pressure you just if you want to leave and
They said no, we'd like to stay and pastor. Oh, they're just being polite. He keeps interrupting
They're just being polite. Of course, they'll say that and I'm like look are you just being polite or like, please?
I don't want to preach if you don't want to listen
But if you want to if you want to keep listening, please and I invited the pastor
Please come to you can you can listen in as well. See if I'm saying anything strange
Please like I'm just preaching the gospel just Christ and him crucified
and if they already believe then there's no problem and you know, I was just inviting him, please come and join and
He was insisting. No, they don't need it. They don't need it
So I asked them again
Do you want to stay or do you want to go with your pastor and they looked and they thought about it and they?
Looked at pastor and they looked at me and they said we want to stay in here
Oh, man, it's so beautiful and I'm just like well, sorry
I sure you don't want to stay with them and the passages passages looked at me. He's like no. No, I'm good and he left
I was just thinking like I have to focus on the gospel, but I was just thinking like if I was some wolf like
And he's the shepherd. He's just like oh, no you eat though eat the little sheep eat the little lambs
I'm just going I'll protect myself. I'm like what?
What kind of pastor would just leave his congregants with me like stay and listen, maybe I'm saying something weird
You know and then I'm preaching the gospel and I say like oh, yeah
And um, you know, Jesus is the father and it's like whoa hold there like, you know
Maybe he wants to interrupt if I say something weird, but he just left then there and I'm not a wolf
I just preached the gospel they got saved. Thank God for that and I told them
You know, I didn't want to offend your pastor. Just go and tell him did I preach anything weird?
Show them exactly these verses show them. It was just Jesus Christ death grow in resurrection and faith alone not of works
Is that what I preached or not? And they said yes, I said, okay
So, um, please tell him that and that you know, I'm sorry for any trouble
but yeah
I just went away thinking this was nuts how even a pastor wanted to interrupt and um
I guess just quickly before I finish just the last battle aspect was um, it's so sore in the slides
There was a day where we got 500 souls saved
That was a planned kind of day
I guess where we were in front of the mall and we noticed there were kids coming the day before we were hitting like large
groups of kids and
You would talk to one and then it turned into ten
And there wasn't enough of us there
You know, the problem was that it would turn into ten
But then the next thirty would keep walking the next fifty would keep walking and you want to stop them
But you can't just keep starting the gospel again. So
The next day we planned and we're just like, alright, we need to like set up. Here's the street
we're gonna get like a zigzag of soul winners so that when we get that front group and the
You know the fish keep swimming past that net
We need another net waiting to catch them and then there'll be more overflow when we need another one waiting to catch them
We'll just cover the whole street, you know on you know, both sides and
Boy, did it work just the entire school just flooding through their group group group group group all the way to the end of the
Street, everyone's preaching to multiple kids at the same time just everyone getting saved and then we finished that day with church
It was the Wednesday and 500 souls saved. It was it was ridiculous
And it just it was like warfare just like planning our positions and here comes the enemy
You know, we've got the flank on this side and it was really like a battle the whole time
That's what I found most interesting. Anyway, thank you
All right, is there anyone else anyone's welcome man woman child
Locky Matthias Lily
You know the story brother
All
Right, I'll be very brief. I know you guys had to put up with me raving and ranting already on video
So on the last day actually the last day we wouldn't wouldn't call it a fruitful day by Fiji measures
But again the spiritual warfare aspect really really struck. There was one man
This happened often in Fiji, they just would sort of walk up to you and hi, how are you?
What are you doing? You'd be like, okay, I'll give you the gospel
All right
Not reluctantly. Anyway, he walks up to me and I'm having this conversation. I'm preaching with him the gospel
Along comes this little girl. It's his niece and she says I don't want to interrupt
I just want to tell him something if she says something in Fiji and she runs off again, then she's back again
She runs off again and I get through the whole gospel. You could see that it's clicked in this guy's mind. He understands
We're just up to calling upon the name of the Lord. All right, what must I do to be saved?
Let's call upon the name of the Lord. Let's get you saved and his partner comes along
She made a beeline for him. She completely ignores my existence doesn't matter how much I was pleading with her
It doesn't matter how polite I was asking her for just one more ten more seconds
We just need to pray and get it out of the way and seal his fate. So he's going to heaven. That's it
She was physically trying to rip him away
From having his his soul eternally saved physically trying to remove this man
From praying with me so that he could call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. I've never seen anything like it
physically imagine that physically pulling someone away from the gates of heaven and
Tossing them into hell. That's what she was trying to do
But the part that I found a really really cool
He's telling her to go away and telling her to go away and telling her to go away
Just ten minutes just five minutes just ten seconds. And so finally she grabs his hand to pull him and
He wrenched it away from her and said no, I'm staying you go and then she was gone
He realized how important it was. That's one of the greatest things in Fiji
They realize how important it is
That they seal that that one thing that they get that squared away that they know that they're on the way to heaven
So we prayed together and he got saved and then I found out all of his family is Catholic I
Said hey go preach to them and he said, oh, they're all Catholic. Oh, that's a hard one
But there's a chance for them to get saved now because dad saved
There's a chance for all of the people around him to get saved now because dad saved
But that guy knew how important it was but even the little kids that we were talking to
Knew how important it was, right
It wasn't a weird thing to have high schoolers middle schoolers elementary school kids to walk up to you and say well
I've seen all these guys with the Bible out. I want to hear too and what you guys are talking about
What must I do to be saved, right?
It really was a trip that was straight out of the book of Acts. So just short story, but it was very impactful
I would recommend Fiji
Amen
All right, is there anyone else last chance Lily for sure yay
Are you throwing him in on the deep end as well, thanks Lee
Um, I was so grateful for the opportunity to go to Fiji like it was so crazy and it was so cool
The amount of people that were getting saved and I was seeing
Like everyone come up to me
I've got 20 people saved today, but like 12 people saved and I was like, that's actually crazy
I don't know how they're doing that and then I hadn't got anyone say before
And there was just so much like love and encouragement from everybody
Like I was kind of shocked by how I just how much love there was for like
one another
And like there were so many people that were encouraging me like Valerie I couldn't Valerie got her first salvation
I was just like, okay, like I need to do it and I was like no no
No, and then Chloe from Adelaide got her first salvation and I was like, how do you do it?
I was like no and then I was with a lady named Clarissa. I think she's from Sydney
Melbourne from Melbourne and
It was me and her another girl from Sydney and she was like, we're just kind of walking and then she's like
Hey stop this person and I was like what she's like
Don't just stop the person like you can do it and I did and then later got saved
Which is so cool and then I was a camp done
I can't do it. Like I'm like that was so scary and then
It was really into it was scary and then like ten minutes later
I was with Clarissa again and then these two girls walked past because another girl was giving they keep getting her first
Salvation and they were the friends of the girl that was getting saved and they walked up
But they missed half of it and Clarissa grabbed me. She's like, oh you give the gospel to them
Okay, and I had no Bible had nothing
I didn't even know what I was saying, but they both got saved
Someone handed me a Bible and I was just like scrambling
To find verses but I don't know there are just so many people that was so encouraging and it was that was how
That was just what made it
As good as it was. It's just all the love from everybody else
Thank you
All right anyone else
Lucky come on. Yes
I
Bravery well done
What?
Yeah, I'm Lachlan and I was in Fiji and the first of us all I ever got saved was when a guy
I just came up to him. It was a super rainy day and
His loved one was dying in the hospital right over and he had so much respect for me in the Bible and
God that he gave his time
He gave his last moment like his last moments with his loved one
To me who and he ended up getting saved
but they have so much respect for the Bible that they would give up time with their loved ones and
It's just amazing everyone loves to talk
everyone
Like in Australia, everyone just is on their phone. Like it's just ridiculous everyone. No one wants to talk
No one wants to have conversations. I have to knock 20 times on a
Street
Every house just to get just to talk to one person talk
not even get a full presentation and
Yeah, that's pretty much it not much. Thank you so much. Not good. Thank you
All right, anyone else anyone else?
Last chance
I
Thank you, okay
So Jason already kind of covered
the story but
I had not really ever gotten anyone saved before this trip
I got Jason and I gave the gospel to his mom and she got saved
But I had never done it by myself
And so my rule on this trip was if someone comes up and like interacts with Sammy then I would give them the gospel
and
the first lady that ever did
We were in the food court at the mall and she just came up to him and was like, oh so cute
So cute and she was talking to him and then she went to leave and he just wouldn't let go of her hand
And he did this twice. This was the first time and she
Was just like, oh sorry, baby. I have to go and he just would not let go of her hand
And so yeah, I was like, oh, okay. I gotta give her the gospel and
Yeah, it was just really cool
Like even if people said oh no
I have to go like I'm on my way to work or I have this thing to do if you ask them like
Are you hundred percent sure you're going to heaven? Can I show you from the Bible?
They're like, oh, yeah, I want to listen
so it's just really cool like in Australia and
Japan and also America, I mean people are just like no I gotta go
I guess I got things to do but in Fiji they will interrupt their day to stay and hear the gospel
And most of the time they'll get saved and so it was just really cool
Just even this guy
Was being used to get people saved is just really encouraging
So yeah, I definitely recommend Fiji if you can go
All right. Thank you. All right last chance
Going once. Oh, yes. Thank you
Going twice
Actually, I thought about it
For the sake of missions trip because I went both Fiji and also Philippines before this
I want to mention the difference a big difference of those two country is both receptive but
This Fiji specifically they have so much love for others. And once I was talking to two girls and
Ended up somehow. I felt like a little bit weird
That's like a different situation and realize they were like ten girls around me and they all got saved at the end
but
In the middle of when I was preaching in the beginning to two girls there were two Indian ladies
Came up to me with a baby and I was like, okay, maybe they're like, you know, I'm saved or whatever
but as I go they kind of like started quoting with me and kind of like I felt like what are those people and then
When I get to Ephesians two eight nine, that's kind of like my inverse and then they just like yeah
You're right and they're just like satisfied with my presentation
And then they just left we could and I was like, oh
saved
Like so because pasta mentioned I kind of thought like well
There is definitely a saved people know the right gospel and there is probably a church because they were Indians
But they were saved people and they knew
The
Correct gospel. I mean everyone loves big group, but personally I really like to
communicate with one person
because individual soul is very important and
We actually were so winning. I am my husband
At the food court the first day or second day and I always keep looking at this lady
She was drinking coffee and eating but for a while she's been sitting there and I was just keep looking at her and I was
Like I need to talk to this lady
and when I talked to her she said I'm a Sunday school teacher and I know the gospel and
everything and I was like, okay, then can I ask you a question and she gave me wrong answers and then
You know, I shared the gospel with her she started crying and she was like, you know
this is very important and I know you are here for that reason and
Yeah, I don't know to me. It's like those moments are very important and
every country I have that very specific people I love and
Share the gospel and stick in my mind
so I really appreciate this Fiji missions trip as well as
A few Philippines. Thank you. Amen. Thank you
All right last chance
Anyone left
All right, let's take out let's take our Bibles and turn to acts 19
Please take your Bibles and turn to acts 19. I will say I just before we do the reading
Yeah, I think it took maybe the first day to just adjust to
Completely different culture people that fear the Lord and cuz you know day number one. I'm kind of looking around okay
Okay, who's gonna be receptive to the gospel and then you realize everyone's receptive to the gospel
And then I you know, sometimes you especially day number one on Sunday. I was wasting a bit of time with drunkards
and
Just the whole look some of the homeless got saved
But some of the homeless would just wanted money, you know
And they'd listen to you and they go for the motions
At the end of it I just wanted, you know a few dollars here and there and so I realized okay
They number one just took a little while to adjust pretty much anybody just just pick and choose
Anyone's receptive don't get you know
Don't get held up by the false prophets like like I almost did brother with the with the Emmanuel guy as well
It's not it's like, you know, Jesus is the wrong name the right name to be saved is Emmanuel
I must got you know held up by that guy, but once once you kind of get okay
I get the feel of Fiji to the Fijians
I became Fijian that kind of attitude then it became such a great place to preach the gospel
So I just want to repeat a Sami's, you know word of encouragement if you're able to go to Fiji, please
Please consider it. It's such a great place to go but acts 19 in your Bible's
Please and brother Oscar's coming to read acts 19
Okay acts 19
And it came to pass that while Apollos was in Corinth Paul having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus and
Finding certain disciples. He said unto them
have ye received the Holy Ghost since he believed and
They said unto him we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost
And he said unto them unto what then were you baptized and they said unto John's baptism
then said Paul
John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance
Saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on Christ Jesus
when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and
And when Paul had lady's hands upon them the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied
And all the men were about 12 and he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months
Disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God
But when diverse were hardened and believe not but spake evil of that way before the multitude
He departed from them and separated the disciples disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus
and this continued by the space of two years so that all day which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus both
Jews and Greeks and
God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul so that from his body were brought onto the sick
handkerchiefs or aprons and the diseases departed from them and the evil spirits went out of them
Then certain of the vagabond Jews
exorcists took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus saying
we are drew you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth and
there were seven sons of one
skiva and a Jew and chief of the priests which did so and the evil spirit answered and said
Jesus I know and Paul I know
But who are ye and the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them and overcame them and prevailed against
Them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded
This was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus and fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord
Jesus was magnified and
Many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds and many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together
And burned them before all men and they counted the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver
So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed
After these things were ended Paul purposed in the spirit when he had passed through Macedonia and IKEA to go to Jerusalem saying
After I have been there. I must also see Rome
So he sent him to Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him to Mothius and Erastus
but he himself stayed in Asia for a season and
The time came there rose no small stir about that way
For a certain man named Demetrius a silversmith which made silver shrines for Diana brought no small gain onto the craftsman
Whom he called together with the worksmen of like occupation and said sirs, you know that by this craft we have our wealth
Moreover ye see in here that not alone at Ephesus
But also not all Asia this Paul persuaded persuaded and turned away much people saying that they be no gods
Which I made with hands
So that not only this our craft is in danger to be said at naught
but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence should be destroyed from all Asia and the
world worshipeth
And when they heard these sayings they were full of wrath and cried out saying great
Is that Diana of the Ephesians and the whole city was filled with confusion and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus men of Macedonia
Paul's companions and travel they rushed with one accord into the theater and
when Paul would have entered in unto the people the disciples suffered him not and
Certain of the chief of Asia which were his friends sent unto him desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theater
Some therefore cried one thing and some another but the assembly was confused and the more part knew not
wherefore they were come together and
they drew Alexander out of the multitude the Jews putting him forward and
Alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made his defense unto the people
but when they knew that he was a Jew all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out great is Diana of
the Ephesians and
When the town clerk had appeased the people he said ye men of Ephesus
What man is there that knoweth not how that the city of Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana
And the image which fell down from Jupiter
Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against he ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly
We brought hither these men which are neither robbers of churches nor yet blasphemers of your goddess
Wherefore if Demetrius and the craftsmen which are with him have a matter against any man the law is open and there are deputies
Let them in plead one another but if you inquire anything concerning other matters that shall be determined in a lawful assembly
But we are in danger to be called into question for this day is uproar
There being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse and when he had thus spoken
He dismissed the assembly. Okay, let's pray
dear father
Help us to learn from today's preaching and also regarding future mission trips. Let us remember that
We have two
Aspects there's a there's our new man and our old man and
If you're a new man, he's moved to go on this trip
Amen thank you, brother
All right, we're there in acts 19 this is during Paul's third missionary journey
I'm not sure if you're familiar with all of that
But when we get so when we start at the book of Acts, we're not dealing with Paul directly
We're dealing mainly with Peter and the disciples of Christ the apostles and then it shifts to the work of Paul
And when Paul is sent with Barnabas
By the church in Antioch he's sent out to go and preach the gospel to different places that have not heard the gospel
to start churches and in that process he has
free of all actually kind of
Some people debate this but I believe it's kind of full but it seems like that
There's at least three
Significant missionary journeys that he's on where he goes and and he does a trip and then he returns back
And he gives a report back to the church as to what he has accomplished
And so we're at the points of his third missionary journey
He's gone back and forth and we're gonna pick up the story there in Acts 19. Look at verse number 21
It says after these things were ended Paul purposed in the spirit
When he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem saying after I have been there
I must also see Rome
So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him to Mothius and Erastus
But he himself stayed in Asia for a season
What I want to pick up here in verse number 22 as Paul is traveling to different places
He says look we've got to get to Rome
But we also notice here in verse number 22
There are two that are ministering unto him there he's got other helpers is what I'm trying to say
Even though Paul is the one that's kind of the leader in this in these missionary journeys
Here's the one with the ordained office as an apostle
He also has other helpers along with him on the journey and there in verse number 22
We see two names to Mothius and Erastus. Okay to Mothius. We know who to Mothius is Timothy
We have two books first Timothy second Timothy is obviously the most well known out of these helpers
But as I was thinking about the trip to Fiji with that we had one thing that really stood out to me
The the the the the phrase that really stood out to me was teamwork
teamwork and
You know when we got to Fiji I just started to see wow
You know how if we all have the same heart we all have the same mind. We all have the same mission
Just how wonderful a work like the Fiji missions trip can be you know different from the Philippines trip
We're the Philippines trip, you know, it was great. Don't get me wrong. It was amazing
But we had a local church there very Baptist Church in Manila who was coordinating things for us
You know, all we had to do was buy our tickets find accommodation and we'll be told
Alright, these are places you can go. These are places that you can visit. These are restaurants that are suggested
We had people that were kind of helping us coordinate things and it's great to have a local church
That is able to be the foundation and you know, just that that boots on ground sort of
Help, you know as we go to someplace like a place like the Philippines
But when it came to the Fiji missions trip, we had nobody that was boots on ground
We're trying to coordinate from a distance, you know, I had brother
Jackson from Canada trying to book a public place for us to hold our church service from Canada
He was having a hard time overseas
We had sister Cindy, of course trying to come get the accommodation sorted out and unlike Australia
Fiji is different. They say Fiji is run Fiji time
Okay, Fiji time is Fiji time meaning that if they tell you they're gonna get back to you soon
You don't know what that soon really is
It depends on what they think soon is okay, and they don't really work on the weekends
That became very abundant
Right on the Sunday when we got together for church and we go we went solely in the city all the shops were closed
Only the main mall had a few stores open
For I guess the Westerners that expecting something to be open and even then
It took a long time to get the food organized because I don't think the employees were expecting anybody to order
And so, you know things are different and you're trying to coordinate things and and I realize boy
This is gonna be like as I'm Travis a Fiji, you know, honestly in my heart
I'm thinking this is gonna be a mess
Like this is gonna like we're not going to know what we're doing. And but what was so beautiful about it, you know and
Even you know the morning the morning. I'm trying to get to Fiji. We brother Oliver and I were upstairs in the office
We're trying to print off him just some him lyrics and we're having a hard time
The printer wasn't working exactly how we needed it to work. We'll print it on the wrong side
Like everything's going to get frustrated frustrating and then we miss that our connecting flight to
Suva because the flight was delayed in
in
Brisbane and so I'm kind of thinking oh man, this is gonna be a disaster
Like this is not gonna work out. But what was wonderful about, you know, once we landed in tonight
He there was brother Sam with his van
All right
The people that was providing the accommodation that were more than happy to be flexible and help us to figure ourselves out
And so everything was kind of just starting to click
We didn't have a place to meet for Sunday on church
And then we realized hey the house that one of the apartments that we've got one of the houses
We've got booked this seat. This is a good setting
For for for church and praise God the whole moment has actually got saved the day before
Praise God for that and so everything just started to click and with everybody assisting everybody trying to figure out
You know, how can we make this work? And you know it to me it was a very smooth missions trip
I don't know how you all feel about that. But to me just the coordination everybody trying to figure things out
You know just worked out so well and I realized boy. This is the real work of a team
Okay, I don't have to carry it all, you know
I can allow other people to direct and and consider and give her opinions and give the suggestions and
It was such a it was such a great thing in that, you know when we come together to help together for the ministry
But again, it requires everybody to have one heart one mind, you know one mission
And if we're all you know on the same page, you know
We as a church even though we're a small church
We as a church can do some great things for God the title for the sermon this morning is
Helpers in the ministry helpers in the ministry. So we're going to be looking at four helpers of the Apostle Paul
That are named in this chapter in Acts 19. We've already come across two of them Timotheus and Erastus
Okay
And so we're just going to go through these names and we're going to pick up different areas that they have strengths in
Because did you know we all have different strengths and weaknesses. I got plenty of weaknesses
Okay, so when we get to Fiji and I see others with strengths where I'm weak praise God
I'll let them coordinate. Oh, let them sort this out
Praise God for that and really when we're all helping together and we identify look
This is something that I'm strong in this is something that I'm strong in when we can identify our strengths
When we can identify our God-given gifts of the Spirit boy coming together again with the same heart and same mind
We're able to accomplish great things and the Apostle Paul was able to accomplish great things
Getting many many saves study many churches
Okay, and brethren we can do a great work even though again
Like I said, even though we're a smaller church here at New Life Baptist Church together. We have blessed up at this church
we're going to be able to accomplish some great things for our Lord God and
So the first name that I want to bring up there is Erastus
We saw that it's a minister and to Paul a minister again that word minister means servants
Okay a servant so he's there to serve Paul is there to help Paul
But let's see some other passages where Erastus is mentioned if you want to keep a finger in Acts 19
Please do but come with me to Romans 16 Romans 16 and Johnny. Can you give me a cup of water, please?
But Romans 16, please come with me to Romans 16
Romans 16 and
We actually learn a little bit more about Erastus in this chapter here in Romans 16
Because when we think about okay, you're a minister to Paul
I don't know what impression you get obviously Paul is the leader Paul is the one deciding where to go
We kind of see that we see impressed in the spirit or purpose in the spirit. We're gonna go here
We're gonna go there. And of course if he's got a good team around him, they're gonna go
All right, Paul
If that's the way you believe we need to go if that's the way the spirit is leading us where behind you Paul
How can we serve? How can we be a minister?
And that's the question. I want you to be asking yourself this morning. How can I be a minister?
How can I serve not serve past the Kevin? Okay, but how can we serve new life Baptist Church?
Which is the body of Christ? How can we serve Christ?
How can we accomplish and and fulfill his kingdom, you know?
And you know the spiritual kingdom that exists today and see soul saved
How can we do something great for God?
And so again when we think of Erastus, we might think of him and he is a follower
All right
We think of him as a follower and he is a follower in this side of of you know
His ministry and his work, but did you notice that it's did you know, I don't know if you know this
But Erastus is someone of great significance if you look at act Romans 16 Romans 16 verse number 23
Romans 16 verse 123
Bible reads Gaius mine host
And of the whole church salute of you
Erastus, that's Erastus, Erastus the what? The chamberlain of the city salute of you
And courtus a brother
Erastus the what?
The chamberlain of the city salute of you
Now if you don't know what a chamberlain is, I looked this up. He's basically like
He's a high official in in a city, okay, he's someone with an official title
He works for the government
You know, he's someone kind of that you would say. All right, you know, there are potholes on the road, you know
It's your job to make sure that gets taken care of
There's infrastructure to build, you know, there there is maintenance to be had of the city
That is what a chamberlain is. He's kind of managing affairs of the city
He's got a high position
In in the government you say well what city is it?
You don't need to turn there, but i'll just read to you from second timothy 412. It says Erastus abode at Corinth
If we have a look if you look at the story of Erastus, it seems like Corinth
Is his main city is where he lives is where he functions from and so for him to be the chamberlain of the city
And of course the book of Romans was written by Paul when he was in Corinth, which makes a lot of sense
if um if Erastus is uh,
Saluting you if Erastus from Corinth is saluting you Romans again gives further support
That Erastus is the chamberlain of the city of Corinth. So hey, he's a man of authority
He's a man with a title. He's a man that he's looked up to
Okay, and yet one thing that we see in a man with with with with education with with honor
Is when it comes to starting church when it comes to
Preaching the gospel he's able to say you know what i'm willing to lower myself and make myself a minister to Paul
Because that's how important god's work is
And so as as we think about being a helper in the ministry there are some of you with the skills
Of managing a city maybe okay, you've got you know a good education
You've got a good position. You know, you're someone that is able to coordinate
You're someone that is able to look out at the needs of a city and say hey
These are things that need to be fixed. These are things that need to be replaced
This is infrastructure that needs to be built. He's a coordinator
He's a manager. He's able to oversee some large projects
Maybe that's your skill
Maybe you're someone with that level of skill and you're able to bring it
to the house of the lord
Maybe you have to say hey pastor i'll take care of service at large
I'll make sure that everything is taken care of so you can focus your attention on just studying god's word and preaching us god's word
Man, I would love that
You know, I mean, I don't know i'm not saying that that necessarily needs to be avoided that avoid that needs to be filled
But maybe there are there are qualification skills that you've developed over your life
Maybe your employment right now is helping you develop, you know areas of expertise
That you can bring to the house of the lord
Please don't underestimate, you know your work that you do day in day out five days a week
You know why because you become an expert at your field
And the next question is how can I take my expertise and be a helper in the ministry?
If you uh, you're there in romans come with me to romans 12 come with me to romans 12 and verse number six romans 12
And verse number six
Romans 12 6
says
having then gifts
differing
According to the grace that is given to us
Did you know if you're saved we all have gifts?
We all have been given a spiritual at least one spiritual gift, okay, but what purpose
To serve in the house of the lord
And look this has been given to us. God said here's a spiritual gift that i'm giving this man
Here's a spiritual gift that i'm giving this woman. Here's the spiritual gift that i'm giving this teenager
And brethren you need to say hey, what is that gift? What is that strength?
What is that area of expertise that god has given me to serve in the house of the lord?
You see brevin, I don't know
I've shown you so many times. I'm a very simple person. I'm very simple
Okay, all I need is a bible and a platform
And we don't even need music. I can sing some hymns. We can do acapella
You know what if we wanted to have church at the local park, we could have church at the local park
Like i'm a very simple person run church
Sing some songs praise the lord
Teach the bible pray
soul win
That's like kind of like in my mind. Okay, that's what church is and yes, that's the you know, the core elements of the church
You know what? There is other areas of our of our work of our church of our ministry that can be
beautified or expanded upon, you know as our as our
Vision the great commission that god has given us to do how can we expand on the gifts that god has given you?
To serve in the house of lord to be a helper in the ministry and for us to fulfill a greater work
You know for the kingdom of god's sake
I really want you to think about what is the gift that god has given me
You know what and take what you've gained in the workplace and say how can I apply this to church?
You know before I became a pastor I don't want to go on and on about something because
Anyway, this was a very difficult part of time of my life
Is when I had a team my main team was in sydney
but I had a team in orkland and I had a team in singapore and
A team in uh, well, my boss was in japan and I had a team in in uh in thailand
They were trying to help coordinate we're doing all this work with a new system and I had to do a lot of travel
Travel and then I also had to travel to uh to perth sometimes and to melbourne sometimes the brisbane sometimes
You know to because I was an auditor as well
Uh while I was doing things I was constantly on the move. I was constantly traveling
And I was getting frustrated because at that point in my life. I I was saying to myself
I want to be a pastor one day. I believe god wants me to be a pastor
Okay, and here am I traveling here and there and uh, you know, I want to be settled
I just want to be able to
Focus on the bible and on doctrine and get myself grounded on great truths and here I am getting distracted traveling here
Team here team there team everywhere and it was getting very, uh, you know difficult
But see I never expected that one day i'd be pastoring two churches
I I never expected that one day we're going to have a church down in sydney, you know
I never expected that we're going to have missions trips to like a melbourne or to a perth or
Or to a fiji or to a philippine like, you know, those things were not on my mind
But so what did god do god utilized god put me in a position?
Okay, where i'm developing skills i'm developing the know-how to manage teams in different places
You know even overseas or different places different states different jobs different projects for what purpose?
So I could come to the sunshine coast move my family here
Needful blessing about the church to start to pass that church down there. Hopefully not forever. Hopefully we find a pastor, you know
In the near future, but those are real. I realized later on boy, even though I was getting frustrated in my workplace
God was teaching me skills expertise. He was giving me certain gifts in my workplace
So I can then be utilized by him to do a great work for him for his kingdom
And again, I don't want to talk of myself
But what i'm trying to say to you is that you probably don't even realize
How many skills you're learning on the job that god wants you to use in the ministry?
How can you be a helper in the ministry we've seen
Um, we've seen erastus now, let's talk about timotheus. Let's talk about timotheus
Now, can you come with me to act 16 act 16?
Timotheus, like I said, we know him more often as timothy
Okay, um act 16 verse number one act 16 verse number one
Act 16 verse number one
It says here then came he to derby and lystra and behold
A certain disciple was there named timotheus
the son of a certain woman which was a jewish and believed
But his father was a greek
which was well reported of
by the brethren that were at lystra and
iconium
Really interesting that in verse number two. It says timotheus was well reported. He had a good report
He had a good reputation
Amongst the brethren that were at lystra and iconium something that we noticed about timothy
And the reason I think that's really important that we noticed about timothy
Is that you know, he's got this good reputation everywhere that he goes whatever city he's been part of
Whoever he interacts with is because later on he's part of timothy
Okay
And the apostle paul says in first timothy chapter three verse number seven when he's telling timothy to a dane pastor
So dane elders he says in first timothy three seven
Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without
Lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil
When paul is telling timothy look, this is the most important thing you need to look out for
Moreover this is very important when it comes to finding a pastor for a church
He must have he must this is not optional. He must have a good report of them which are without
Guess who else had a good report timothy had a good report
Okay, which is why he's past timothy, which is why he's pastoring, uh churches that we read about in the scriptures
Now that's not so much what I wanted to focus on but I just want to show you that he's a man
Of a good reputation he's a man of good report, okay
And what we notice in verse number
verse number three act 16 verse number three
It says here
him
Would paul
Have to go forth with him
so paul
Singles out timothy. He goes man. You're a great believer
Okay, we know he also has the faith of his mother and his grandmother. Okay, we read about that in first timothy
But paul says look i'm singling you out timothy. I need you to come on a trip with me
All right him would paul have to go forth with him
And took and circumcised him because of the jews which were in those quarters for they knew all
That his father was a greek. So he circumcised that's another story from the day
He did not have to circumcise him, but he did it for the jews for the fear of the jews
But anyway, what I want to notice point out there is that we're in when we're introduced to timothy
We see that it's a man of a good report
And it's a man who's able to travel with all
Okay
now
Come with me if you can I want to show you these references. So come with me to first corinthians first corinthians chapter four
Come with me to first corinthians chapter four
first corinthians chapter four verse number 17
Well, it turns to first corinthians chapter four what we see with timothy timothius
Is that he's willing to be sent
Okay, paul singles him out
Obviously timothy has a choice
Do I go with paul to do a great work for god to further the kingdom?
Or do I just stay comfortable where I am?
And look, there's nothing wrong with staying where you're at. Okay, but when the opportunity comes
You know, can you go to fiji?
When the opportunity comes guys, the church is going to cover for it something like that, right?
When those you know when that availability turns up
Are you able to say you know what i'm willing to be sent? You know what i'm willing to go
Or i'm just too comfortable at home
And look someone's got to stay home. Don't get me wrong. Okay, we can't all go
Like what i'm trying to point out here brethren are helpers in the ministry
We all have different gifts. We all have different abilities. I'm not saying you have to be erastus and timothy
You can be erastus
Or you can be timothy or you can be others. Okay, we all have different strengths and weaknesses
We don't have to be all the same
I'm, not trying to say to you if you didn't go to fiji. There's something wrong with you
I'm not trying to say that at all. Okay
But what i'm trying to say is if we want this ministry to
Profit and to do well, we need people that are willing to be flexible willing to say, you know what i'll go i'll be sent
You know i've had people say to me pastor if you can't go to sydney for whatever reason
Send me i'll go i'll go and preach it blessed up at this church, but we've got preachers there
Anyway, that's covered. But you know what i'm looking for the man that'll say to me pastor. I want to go to adelaide
Let's do a missions work in adelaide. Are you willing to send me whatever it is?
I'm, not saying adelaide necessarily hobart. I'm willing to go to hobart. I'm willing to go to darwin
Pastor next year when you decide who wants to be sent to fiji
Choose me pastor, please choose me
Are you willing to be sent are you willing to be flexible?
Look at first corinthians chapter four verse number 17
Paul writes to the corinthian church for this cause have I sent unto you to motheus
Who is my beloved son and faithful in the lord who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways?
Which being christ as I teach everywhere in every church
What else do we notice?
Paul as paul is writing to the corinthians because he can't make it. Okay, he's busy. He's being held up
He's going to different places. He says to the corinthian church. I'll send you to motheus. I'll send you to what else again?
What do we notice with timothy? He's ready to go
Paul, where do you need me to go? I need you to go to corinth. All right, i'm going
What do you want me to teach them this is what I want to teach them
All right
I'll teach them the same things that you've taught them that you've told them about i'll take your teachings
I'll take the doctrines ball that you've got and i'll be used by you
To teach the corinthian church and we know this church needed a lot of help
But again, we noticed timotheus ready to go ready to move ready to be flexible for the service of the lord
Can you come with me to first thessalonians first thessalonians chapter three?
first thessalonians chapter three
First thessalonians chapter three verse number two first thessalonians chapter three
First thessalonians chapter three verse number two reads
and sent
timotheus
Our brother
And minister of god and our fellow laborer in the gospel of christ
to
establish you
And to comfort you
concern your faith
Now the thessalonian church is different to the corinthian church
Corinthian church had a lot of problems the thessalonians church was very strong
It was very faithful had a good reputation amongst itself. But even then timotheus is being sent by paul
to the thessalonians to the thessalonika church
Okay to minister to labor in the gospel to establish them
To comfort them
Concerning your faith because some of them had gone through tribulations and things like that some difficulties
But I want you to notice something about timothy, you know, we really we notice his name come up quite a bit in the bible
But I really one thing I really started to notice when I started the life of timothy
Was this guy's going everywhere like he's been sent here there and everywhere
And he's not a very
You know, we know that he's got youth
You know, don't let let no man despise your youth
And one thing that you're going to notice is that when you have youth on your side, you're going to be a lot more flexible
Okay, when you get older
Okay, the body doesn't work as well as a someone that's young that's the first thing but when you're older
You're more likely to have more responsibilities
Maybe the larger family. Okay more children or you know
Kids become teenagers. They require
More time, you know than when they're very little and things like that
You just notice that as you get older
You're not going to be as flexible especially if you have a family and a larger family
That's going to prohibit you from being able to be as flexible, but we know that timothy was someone in his youth
And so I strongly encourage our young people when we have these trips, especially something like fiji
Boy, especially if you're not comfortable giving the gospel there were so many people that got their first salvation
Or even the first gospel presentations out, you know in a place like fiji, you know use your youth in time
I don't want to go to fiji. I mean I do I i'd rather just live in fiji
So I could just be established there and go solo winning
But I don't want to be doing that trip because I do enough trips
Okay, and lord willing hopefully one day god sends us a young man who could be doing the trips for me instead
Back and forth from sydney and things like that
But
You know young people this is an area that you're flexible in
You know, you don't have a lot of responsibilities. You don't require a lot of
Resources, you know to go from one place to another place to take the gospel of jesus christ
But one thing we clearly see with timotheus is that he's flexible
One more passage, please. Come with me to second timothy. Well one more passage about timothy
Come with me to second timothy second timothy chapter four, please second timothy chapter four
Second timothy chapter four
And when paul is writing this epistle to timothy he's his pastor in the church. He's leading the church
And um, you know paul is giving him all these instructions and you know to study the bible to preach god's word faithfully
To pray for the saints
Uh to teach godly men and things like that
But one thing that always stood out to me as well in second timothy chapter four verse number nine
Verse number nine paul says to timotheus
Verse number nine second timothy chapter four verse nine
Do thy diligence?
To come shortly unto me
See paul is arrested at this point in time
And so he's in rome. He's under house arrest in rome and he's writing to timothy
Look, this is how you need to pass for a church
Here are some instructions for you pastor timothy young pastor timothy on leading the church and then he ends second timothy with
Can you come see me timothy, please come shortly
Please don't take too long come as soon as you can to see me in rome
So again something else something else with timothy even while he's passing the church
Paul's like can you come with me to rome? Can you come see me? I need some companion
Companionship. All right. I I need I need to give you some further maybe words of advice
Or I need some further help from you here in rome
and of course
Timothy would be someone that was ready to pick himself up pick his family up and go to another place if the call needed
Reverend the title of the sermon is helpers in the ministry
You know, are you an arasta? So you're someone that can help manage the affairs of this church
Pastor don't worry. I'll take care of the cleaning
Pastors, don't worry. I'll make sure the toilets are clean
Pastor i'll make sure the doors are open on time
Pastors, don't worry. I'll lock up the church
You know pastor don't worry i'll make sure the morning tea is is organized pastor i'll make whatever it is
Is that you?
You know and uh, you know, I I don't know
I don't know what the lord knows. That's what the lord knows what this church needs
And so the lord has given you a gift
You know what it is if you spend time in prayer to god and say god
How have you gifted me to serve in this church?
And he tells you this is how you do it do it
Do it serve the lord
You know praise him give him glory and I always say this when your pastor forgets to thank you, you know
Please forgive me, but don't don't forget you're doing it for the lord
Okay, the rewards are in heaven
You know if I forget to thank you, there's probably another golden brick in heaven for you anyway
It'd be worth it when he went when he comes to being judged by jesus christ
Okay, but there's different people different ways
The flexibility are you flexible?
You know, I feel that I am flexible
But it's i'm becoming less flexible
You know i'm becoming less
enthusiastic about travel
Right things like that. I don't know. Maybe it's just someone else here
I i'd love i've said it before i'd love to do a soul winning effort in every city of australia
Okay, we've done perk. We've done melbourne
Um, but to be honest with you if you ask me pastor, where are you going to go next i'm kind of like
You know what? Maybe that's if you're going to ask me where we're going next. That's kind of your responsibility now
Maybe god's giving you that ability to be flexible and pick yourself up and
And to to take yourself to another place and get the brethren organized over there to do some soul winning
Can you come back with me to acts 19 acts 19, please acts 19?
Acts 19
So we've read about erastus and timotheus, let's read about two other names found in this chapter that was read for us acts 19
Verse number 24 acts 19 verse number 24
For a certain man named dimitrios a silversmith which made silver shrines for diana
Brought no small gain unto the craftsmen. So we're not going to read all this but okay, we have dimitrios. He's creating
Shrines images idols for their goddess diana that they worship, okay
And he goes to because you know, he's hearing the preaching they're preaching about jesus christ
They're hearing the preaching of the work
And they're realizing hey
these preachers
They're turning the hearts of the people away from the false god diana to jesus christ
Meaning this is going to affect my business
This is going to affect my sales
This is going to affect my bottom dollar
Okay, so obviously dimitrios is not happy
Okay for him to lose business with people getting saved and no longer buying his products
And so he finds other craftsmen other men gets them all riled up
Okay, and he gets them riled up and then the whole city gets riled up
Hey, who are you to come here and preach against our our goddess diana?
They're coming with some other god that we don't know. What are you doing here?
Uh
And then uh, well, let's look at verse number 28. It says there and when they heard these sayings they were full of wrath
And cried out saying great is diana of the ephesians
We've got a book called the book of ephesians. So praise god a church started there
Okay, even in the middle of a city of a city of the great diana of the ephesians
So everyone's getting riled up. Everyone's getting bothered by the preaching of the gospel
And verse 129 says and the whole city
Was filled with confusion
And having caught
Gaius and aristicus men of mastodonia
Aris aristicus men of mastodonia look paul's companions in travel
They rushed with one accord into the theater
Could you imagine that could you imagine guys if we're in suva fiji, right?
We're preaching the gospel and the whole city's getting praise god the beautiful people nice people in general
They could have like the whole scene just getting rolled up
Okay, and they then grab us literally they that's what they did right? It says they are
um
Having caught gaius and aristicus
They just grabbed them and dragged them into the theater like a public area where the whole city is gathered with them
You know or against them speaking against them praising their goddess diana. How would you feel about that?
If you're pulled you're grabbed and taken to a public place
And the whole city is angry full of wrath against you
Boy, you think i'm i'm gonna die today
Like man, i'm gonna lose my life
I mean there's a part of you. That's like woohoo, you know
I'm gonna say christ today
And it's not a part of you another part of you says man. I don't want to die now
I mean my family and all these other things that I have, you know on the earth that I need to take care of
So I can expect, you know great fear on these men
Yeah, we are going to the full story. Let's drop down to verse number 35
There was a town clerk. There was there was a man who is in like part like again
Tan clerk is another man who's kind of an official in the city and he realizes this is not good
This is not you know for us to maybe potentially murder these men. This is not good for our city
And so the tan clerk, you know tries to calm people down in verse 35
35
It says when the town clerk had appeased the people he said ye men of ephesus
What man is there that knoweth not how to the city of the effigians is a worshiper of the great goddess diana
And of the image which fell down from jupiter. So he's trying to say look
Yeah, who doesn't know we worship diana. Of course. We worship diana calm down guys calm down
Like we don't want to you know, it's trying to appease the people
drop down to verse number 41
It says here and when he had thus spoken he dismissed the assembly
Okay, so he calms people down and goes all right guys, you know
We know the right way to do things if anyone has anything against these men, you know
There's a proper court proceedings the proper way to do things
This is not the way we carry about, you know here in in ephesus. Anyway, he calms down the situation
But again, how would you feel as a soul winner being dragged being taken and dragged into a public square?
And just being yelled at you know, you don't know what's going to happen to your life, right?
Like think of the fears the concerns that may overcome you which is why in acts 20 verse number one
In acts 20 verse number one, it says and after the uproar was ceased
Paul called unto him the disciples
And embraced them and departed for to go into macedonia
Okay, so it takes guys and aristocrats. He embraced it's like man, you know, we got through this, you know
He comforts them hugs them, right? He he encourages them and then they depart
Into macedonia drop dance verse number four
It says yeah, and they're accompanied him into asia
Uh sopata of baria of the thessalonians and then there's this
Aristarchus
And secundus and gaius. So there's aristarchus and gaius of derby and timotheus and of
uh and of asia
ticacus and
trophimus, okay, but what I want you to notice there is that even though um aristarchus and gaius
Have a fear of their life like this is this is crazy what's happened, right?
They didn't give up though. You notice that they did not give up
I mean I I can imagine going soul winning
Okay, especially for those that did it for the first time
And some horrible thing happening to you and you're coming back going i'm never doing that again
Like I can almost understand where you're coming from
Okay, just from a human being perspective
But what I want you to notice when we see when paul begins to send go out again who's coming along with him
The same men that were taken into this hostile environment
We learned something else about gaius and aristarchus is that they're persistent
and persevering
You know persistent and persevering we need these helpers in the ministry as well
When things get tough
Don't quit
When things get challenging don't give up
Okay, even to the point, you know, what's the point of church? What's the point of coming and i'm not getting anything
Look just persevere
No one promises you that as a christian life is going to be easy. There's going to be difficulties all the time
All the time
Be persistent persevere
Like I need you guys to encourage me
And I want to be an encouragement to you if we're going to accomplish something great for god
We need to help one another one another
Means don't quit on church
Especially when we're doing something great for god. I mean two thousand souls saved
Is that the time to quit church?
I'm done. It's too hard
That's not the time
Man, that's a time to earn great rewards in heaven
But sometimes and many times it requires some difficulties
Be persistent persevere
Show your character show your skills show your gifts that god has given you
Continue laboring the work for god
Can you come with me to romans 16 romans 16?
romans 16
Please romans 16 so gaius
now
When it comes to gaius there might be there's at least two guys that i'm I can see in the bible at least two
But I believe the guys that we're about to read about in romans 16 is the same gaius that was with paul in acts 19
Okay, but come with me to romans 16
romans 16
verse number 23
Romans 16 verse 23 something else that we learned about guys here in romans 16 verse 23 paul says
gaius mine host
and of the whole church
the ludefiou
Erased us to chamberlain. We said we read that ready of the city salute of you in quarters a brother
But there's gaius and how is he introduced in romans 16 23 mine host?
What else was gaius as a helper of the ministry known for his hospitality?
His hospitality. Oh paul you're coming. Oh, man, my house. You can stay at my house paul
Paul have you have you eaten, you know dinner. Hey come and have a dinner with us in my family
guys is also known for his
hospitality
And look, maybe that's where your gift lies
Maybe it's not in the coordination and in the management of church affairs
Maybe it's not in the flexibility of being sent to this city in that city in that city to go soloing in
Maybe your strength is your hospitality
Gaius mine host
And I I thank much the church from the very beginning from from coming here for the hospitality that many families has shown
Uh my family making us feel comfortable when it first came to the sunny coast and made sure we had the things that we needed
To get started our life started up here
But hospitality is that your strength is that a way that you can help in the ministry?
You know, have you got resources?
Have you got the ability to comfort and help people, you know, we have sometimes people that say man
I'd love to come and visit your church
You know, uh, maybe they're from melbourne or they might be from new zealand
We have a guy from new zealand that wants to come and visit our church
But he's got nowhere to stay. I said, hey you can stay in the church building potentially
But maybe there's someone I don't know maybe there's someone here that says hey
Pastor we've got an empty room in our in our house. We're more than happy to accommodate this individual
You know more than happy to be a host
To this individual if there's anyone else, you know pastor that is traveling through that wants to visit our church
Let me know and i'll you know, let you know if I can make ourselves available to be a host for that person
Can you come with me to acts 27 acts 27, please acts 27
While you're turning to acts 27
Hospitality isn't just your house
accommodation food
But in while you're turning there i'll just read to you from first peter four verse eight
Which says and above all things have fervent charity among yourselves
For charity shall cover the multitude of sins and then verse number nine says
Use hospitality one to another without grudging
Use hospitality one toward another without grudging, you know, what's going to overcome grudges?
Conflicts
Hospitality
Okay being hospitable
Serving
ministering
Figuring out is an area that I can help you in
Is there a conflict we're trying to resolve?
Let's do it
That hospitality will overcome the grudges that we may develop over time
Help us in the ministry
You know one way to not help in the ministry is to create conflicts
Cause divisions
You know to to criticize and to look down on brothers and sisters in the lord
Because they're not up to your arbitrary standard whatever that is
You know those things will destroy teamwork those things destroy the ministry
But gais is a man of who's hospitable guys is a man who's willing to be a host above all things
Now let's talk about aristochist
I don't know if i'm pronouncing that right am I pronouncing that right?
Aristochist
Aristochist, let's go with Aristochist. Okay. Did I tell you to come with me to Acts 27?
Aristochist, Acts 27
Now we're going to end on him
Now remember he's one of the two with gais
Who've been poured into this public square
public space
And threatened, okay
Like he's one of these guys
Now again, I can understand when someone says that's it. I can't do this. I quit
It's too hard. I get it. I
I get it again from a just a human fleshly perspective. Okay, but in Acts 27, I want you to notice something about him
In verse number one it says and when I was determined that we should sail into Italy
They delivered Paul
and certain other prisoners
unto one named Julius
a centurion of Augustus' band
So we know this is when Paul is arrested, right? They're trying to take him to Rome take him to Italy
And look at verse number two
and entering into a ship
of
Arimithium we launched meaning to sail by the coast of Asia
one
Aristarchus
a Macedonian of Thessalonica
Thessalonica
been with us
There he is again
Okay, he's definitely the same guy. Okay
and
Again, when you read the Bible, you don't really pick up on these things
But when you sort of pay attention to people's names and hold on
As Paul is arrested and being taken to Italy who's coming along with Paul under arrest
same man
Aristarchus
There he is coming along with Paul
In fact, I'm going to read to you from Colossians 4 10
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner
saluteth you
to the Colossian church. Hey guys, I'm in prison, but so is Aristarchus
What a helper in the ministry
To not have given up when he's taken into that public square being yelled at the fear of his life
I can see that. Yeah, man, I can see why you'd quit
But there you are no problems
When Paul has been arrested, you're like, all right, man, arrest me too
When Paul is being taken to Italy, I'll go along with you Paul. He's happened to be a fellow prisoner
With Paul what a man
What a friend what a helper in the ministry
And again, you know what makes me what makes me one thing that comes to me sometimes the difficulties that we face
being yelled at
We don't like it who likes no one likes it
Okay, we're gonna go door to a soul winning and someone might say yell profanity at you
Okay, or just slam the door just be completely rude. It's not doesn't feel nice, does it?
But you know what all these things that God allows us to go through is to strengthen us
Is to challenge us
Is to give us a little lesson
of suffering
A little lesson of pain a little lesson of discomfort a little lesson of abuse
Because God wants to utilize us for something much greater
I don't know if Aristarchus would have allowed himself to be taken prisoner if he hadn't already gone through some hardships earlier
And to go through those hardships and go you know what Paul I'm still coming along on the journey with you
I'm not giving up. I'm not going to allow this bad time
This bad result to affect our work for your kingdom
And so man if I have to be a fellow prisoner to both with Paul so be it
What a man
Loyalty is what we see with him again the perseverance the loyalty and the growth
of going from being yelled at
By the Ephesians to all right. I'll come along Paul
You need to be taken to by prison to Italy you know we're gonna. We're going to Europe
We're gonna be brought before Caesar. I'm happy to go along with you Paul
Take me under arrest. I'm your fellow. I'm the fellow prisoner of Paul as well
What a man to be a coming alongside because we know one thing that we see with the Ephesians of Paul
When he was being arrested and these things happen many churches that he started and planted had turned away from Paul
They were kind of ashamed of a man who was being ridiculed and taken into arrest
But there's Aristarchus
loyal friend
helper in the ministry
Helper in the ministry
So brethren title for the sermon was helpers in the ministry
Erastus, Timotheus, Gaius
Aristarchus
Which one are you are you one of those
I mean look I would love to do a whole series on the helpers of Paul
I'm, not sure if I will or not, but these men these four men are enough to say hey
How can I challenge myself?
What area has God given me his gift to be a helper in the ministry of new life of this church
That's my challenge for you this morning. Please think please pray about it this week
How you can further the work here at new life of this church. Let's pray
Heavenly father lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the great work of the apostle Paul in those early days
And lord, we often talk about Paul and his work his missionary journeys and the church planting that he did but
Lord we can sometimes forget the great helpers that he had and lord the great gifts that you've given men women
To be a support to him and lord
I pray that as we read our bibles and we see these names brought up
That we would not just overlook them that we would see them as real people
People that might be a great example unto us
And lord if you can utilize us for your great work whether here lord at new life at this church
Weather abroad lord if you can further your kingdom through the people here in this church lord
I pray that you would make it super clear what gifts what abilities what strengths you've given each one of us
To further the work in your kingdom. We love you lord. We pray this in jesus name. Amen
All right, please take your hymnals, please take your hymnals
We'll sing we'll work till jesus comes
Which is hymn number
44 hymn number 44
We'll work till jesus comes hymn number 44
Oh land of rest for thee I sigh when will the moment come
When I shall lay my armor by and dwell in peace at home
We'll work till jesus comes we'll work
till jesus comes we'll work till jesus comes and we'll
Be gathered home
To jesus christ i fled for rest he made he ceased to roam
And lean for soccer on his breast till he conducts me home
We'll work
till jesus comes we'll work
till jesus comes and we'll be gathered home
I saw at once my savior's side
My steps shall roll
Oh grave death chilling tight and reached my heavenly home
We'll work till jesus comes we'll work
till jesus comes we'll work till jesus comes and we'll
Be gathered home
You