And this morning we're looking at verses 12 through 13, Colossians chapter 4, verses 12 through 13.
And we find in Colossians chapter 4, there's a gentleman that we're introduced to by the name of Epaphras. Epaphras. And I know some of you are thinking, "Yeah, I put Epaphras in my coffee or I drizzle it on my tea or something." No, not Sassafras, Epaphras.
And you might be thinking, "Well, I've never heard of this guy before." Well, get in your Bible, read Colossians, and you'll find out a little bit more about him. But we're going to be taking a look at his life this morning because even though he is kind of a minor person that we just kind of read over sometimes, he is actually a very significant man when it comes to the early church.
We see that he was a man of prayer, a man of dedication, and a man of service. And he gives us an example in all three of these that we're going to take a look at this morning that offers us lessons as Christians today on how we should live our lives as well.
So if you're able, I'm going to ask again, would you stand this morning as we read God's word? Just two verses this morning. Colossians chapter 4, verses 12 and 13.
This is what the word of the Lord says:
"Epaphras, one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis."
Father, we thank you for your word this morning. Holy Spirit, we pray that you would speak to our hearts. Give us ears to hear and hearts to respond. This morning, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated.
All throughout scripture, we find different men and women that are mentioned. Some characters stand out more than others. Some characters are more of a central figure. If you go to the book of Genesis, I mean, it starts out with two pretty prominent characters, Adam and Eve. God created them. He created Adam first. He created Eve. And then we find Cain and Abel. And we find the failure of one of the brothers.
As you read through Genesis and Exodus, we come across another prominent character, Moses. Moses is called to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. We have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the founding fathers of what is known as the Jewish nation, the Hebrew nation, the Hebrew people.
If you continue to go through the Old Testament, we come across people like Esther and Ruth. We find Job has a book named after him. If we read through the Psalms and through Song of Solomon, we have King David and King Solomon. We have some prominent characters. We have Elisha and Elijah. Prominent characters that we read through and we hear about. And we can say, "Oh, yeah, I've heard about them" or "I know about them."
Even in the New Testament, we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They were, you know, the writers of the four gospels. We have Paul and Peter. Names that if you're familiar with church in any sense, you can say, "Oh, I've heard of those names before."
But be honest. Be honest this morning. You're in church, so don't lie. How many of you have ever heard of Epaphras?
OK, some of us that were in ministry probably have heard of Epaphras. But it's not like you've ever heard a sermon preached about Epaphras. I can say I have never personally heard a sermon preached or have I ever preached a sermon about Epaphras until today.
It was so rare to me. I mean, I've kind of those names that you kind of glance over like, "I can't, I don't know how to pronounce that, so I'm just going to go over that." I had to Google the pronunciation. Well, there's actually a software for pastors that allows for us to hear and listen to how to pronounce names. And my whole life, I always thought it was Epiphras, but it's actually Epaphras. That's how you pronounce it.
And so you can tell somebody, "What did you learn today?" "I learned how to say Epaphras in church." And they're going to be like, "What's Epaphras?" And then you can tell them all that you're going to learn from here on out the rest of this sermon.
But I had to actually listen so I could pronounce it correctly this morning. Because he's kind of one of those minor people within the Bible. And all throughout Scripture, we find that there are those that have minor acknowledgments, I'll say, in Scripture, and yet they have powerful impacts. They're a powerful example of dedication and work for Jesus Christ.
I looked up what does Epaphras mean? And the name actually means lovely, charming, and handsome. He was a lovely, charming, handsome dude. But that didn't matter because what really mattered was his desire to live for Christ and to serve the church.
He was a native to Colossae. After his conversion to Christianity, he took the gospel back to his hometown. Epaphras was very instrumental in the establishment of the churches in Colossae, and we just read here in Laodicea and in Hierapolis as well.
So this morning, I want us to look at these three things that Paul points out about him. Three keys, three lessons from his life that are important for us as well.
Here's number one: Every Christian is a minister. Every Christian is called to be a minister. If you turn back to Colossians chapter one, just a couple of pages back there, maybe only one page in your Bible. Colossians chapter one, verse number seven. It says this: "As you also learn from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf."
Paul is describing him as a faithful servant, as a faithful minister of Christ. And so this is in the word of God. This is here so that it will remind us that you and I are called to be faithful ministers as well. Ministry is not just reserved for the pastor. It's not just reserved for a few leaders within the body of Christ. If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are called to be a minister today.
Every believer is called to serve in the body of Christ. We're called to serve. So how do we serve? Well, we see here that the first thing Paul says about him is that he is serving faithfully. Epaphras is serving faithfully.
Ministry involves you and I using our God-given gifts, our time, our resources. Not that we can be self-serving, but so that we can serve others. In Romans chapter 12, verses 4 and 5, it reminds us that every believer has a role in the body of Christ. You and I have a role in the body of Christ.
Why? Because it tells us that we are a part of the body of Christ. You're all a part of the body of Christ. Greater than this, the body of new life, you're a part of the body of Christ in general.
Now when you look up here this morning and you look at Pastor Wayne, you can see I have two eyes, a nose, two ears, a mouth, thinning hair, you know. I have two arms, two legs, and I'm able to get about this morning. But what happens if all of a sudden I lose my sight and my eyes aren't working the way that they should? I'm not going to be able to move around, and somebody's like, "Good, just stand behind the pulpit, stand still for once, Pastor Wayne."
But I'm not able to see where I'm going. And what does it do? It limits what the rest of my body is able to do. The same thing is true within the body of Christ. Some of you, in the physical sense, exemplify the eyes. You see where the church might need to go. You see the direction that the church might have to go in. Some of us are the hands. Some of us are the feet.
So the eyes see where we need to go, but it's the feet that take us to where we need to go. Some of you might represent the feet within the body of Christ. But all of us are a part of the body of Jesus Christ.
Good stewards. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 4, verse 10, is this: is that we steward what God has blessed us with. We are to use our gifts to build up the body of Christ. Use your gifts to build the body of Christ. Not to tear down the body, but to build it up.
It might be teaching. It might be helping. It might be encouraging. But listen, there is a place within the body for each and every one of us to work for God.
So first of all, we need to serve faithfully. We've all been called to minister within the church. The second one is this: We've been called to equip and to encourage. Pastors and leaders equip the church for ministry. Ephesians 4, verses 11-12 tells us that each believer must actively engage in building the church.
Don't leave it up to Pastor Wayne to build the church. Don't leave it up just to a couple of board members from the church to build the church. The Bible tells us clearly that all of us should be engaged in building the church.
So let me ask you this morning. Are you actively serving in some capacity here at New Life? Are you actively serving in some way within the body of Jesus Christ? How are you using your God-given gifts to minister to others? And if you're not, how can you get involved?
Now I mentioned a little bit earlier that in front of you there is what we call a connect card. And if you take out that connect card, everybody just grab one. If there's not enough, share with somebody beside you. And if you open up that connect card, you will see that it says, "I'd like more information" or "Tell me about."
Some of you, this may be the first time you're taking it out without taking it out to put your gum in or to write a note to somebody else. You're like, "Oh, wow, there's actually stuff on the inside of that."
But when you look at there, there's a lot of different ministries that are taking place here at our church. And some of you, you're like, "Oh, wow, there's actually stuff on the inside of that." Some of these ministries go beyond our four walls as well.
Things like New Life Men. Last night was our men's fellowship. We got together, and I'm thankful for the men that have stepped up to say, "You know, we're going to lead this. We're going to take the reins, and we want to minister to the other men in the church."
But maybe you say, "You know what? That's something I didn't even know was happening. I want to be involved in that." New Life Women and the women's ministry, they get together. And just a couple of weeks ago, Mary Ann said, "Hey, we're looking at our retreat for the summer."
There's different things that take place within the women's ministry that you might want to get involved with. New Life Young Adults, Mason kind of heads that up with the young adults with different churches that get together throughout the year. Once a month, I think they get together for fellowship and game nights and different things like that.
Young Adults, we see there. New Life Sam, Senior Adult Ministry, gets together the third Wednesday of every month. And you can go down the list: kids ministry, kids teachers, helpers. If you'd like to help with kids ministry or help teach, man, we can use you back there. Teaching our kids the love of Jesus Christ.
The nursery, the little kids, vacation Bible school, kids camp. We're looking at getting kids camp back up and running to send kids to our Pendale District kids camp because we believe that when they get there, they can have encounters with Christ as well, just as they do here.
Refuge Youth Network on Mondays and throughout the year, different activities, life groups. If you're interested in having a life group at your house or having a life group here at the church, you're like, "You know, I'd like to hear a topic on maybe it's maybe you have a burden for people to be financially stable in their lives, in their homes. You're like, 'You know what? I took a course in Dave Ramsey years ago. I'd like to do that at New Life.'"
That could be a life group that we start up here or a marriage life group. But there's different opportunities that you can use that God may be speaking to you about: Bible studies, worship ministry, music, audio, camera, graphic design. There's so many different things. If you just go down this list, there's so many other ways you can get involved.
Softball team. If you want to be, we want to start a softball team, a volleyball team. We used to have a volleyball team. There's Monday Night Bowling League. So many different avenues that you can get involved in. Missions, trips, ushers, greeting, visitation, and on and on and on it goes here.
But my point is this: What are you involved in? What part of your body is being used here at New Life to equip and to encourage the body of Jesus Christ?
Now, when you came in this morning, you may have noticed that things look a little different in the Welcome Center out there. We're kind of changing things up a little bit, opening it up a little bit so more people can come in and linger around and stand out there and talk and fellowship.
And Mindy did a great job letting people know as they were coming in that there were bagels and all the other food was down in the activity center. And we're just trying to change things up a little bit so that people can engage more in fellowship.
And for some of you, it's a little harder to make it down there. You know, we kept some tables and some chairs there for you to sit in. But we want to engage the body of Christ. We don't want to make it look like—not that this has ever been said or it's ever been pointed out this way—but we want to make it look where everybody's invited. Everybody is welcome, that we can fellowship together, that you don't come in and go, "Oh, what's that group over there?" or "What's that group inside the door there?"
But that we can all come together and say, "Hey, I want to be a part of the body of Jesus Christ." And so we gather together for these purposes to encourage each other to engage in worship.
You see, if we don't do it, who's going to do it? The Psalmist tells us in Psalm 66:18 that in order to use our gifts, we need to do it in a humble way. It says avoid sin because the presence of sin in your life is a stain on your ministry.
If we're all ministers, we are all called to be careful, to guard our hearts, to guard our lives, not to allow sin to come in because it's a stain on the ministry that we have.
I once heard it said that true greatness begins with humility. And our work for the Lord must be motivated by love. Again, true greatness begins with humility. Are we humble enough to say, "Lord, I don't know what I can offer, but whatever I have, here I am. Use me."
Get in the word. When you stay in the word, you'll find the love that Christ has for others. And that love will grow inside of you and it will motivate you to serve as well.
Kind of leading into next Sunday, the final of the five opportunities that we're speaking of. You need to allow for the Holy Spirit to lead you. Allow for the Spirit of God to lead you because when the Spirit of God is, we allow him to lead us. You know what else he does? He also equips us.
He equips us for the work that he has for us. Last night at the men's fellowship, we heard from Greg Shannon and a couple of guys that went down to North Carolina. And all of the guys, I don't know if anybody else caught this, but they all said, "You know, I heard God speak to me. I heard God saying, 'I want you to go to North Carolina.'"
And one after the other said, "But what am I going to do down there? I don't, I don't, how am I going to use my gifts or what am I going to do there?" And each one of them realized that God had brought them together, even though they didn't know they were brought together.
Because they each offered something that was needed for the job that had to be accomplished. We had a group from here in Altoona that went down, that was able to work and take some equipment. When they got down there, there was a guy at a house, there was a tree that had fallen over. And he's like, "I can't do this by myself. I need people to help me."
And guess what? Here comes this group to help out. You see, when we just say, "Lord, here I am, use me, make me available," God will say, "Okay. This is the job I have for you."
And you might go, "Well, I can't do that." You're right. You are 100% right. You can't. But Christ in you is able to. When you allow for him to work in you, you can accomplish the things that he calls you to do.
When you're serving, Colossians chapter 3, verse 23 and 24 says this: "Serve with joy. Serve with joy knowing that God equips and strengthens us for every task he assigns." Serve with joy.
Guess what? I love having Mindy and Connie at the front door greeting people when they come in. Because you know what? Mindy's not standing at the door going, "Welcome to church. Yeah, you can go in. Yeah, pastor's not that good, but hey."
Right? Guess what? Mindy wouldn't be at the door. But Mindy's at the door because she's happy, she's friendly, she's welcoming. She likes to engage people as they're coming in. And you know what? That makes a difference, doesn't it?
It makes a difference when somebody's there greeting. Can you imagine if you came to church week after week and nobody met you at the door? You're like, "What's going on here? Does anybody go to this church?"
You see, that's why it's important for us to engage and to equip. To go out and to serve the Lord in ministry. And to do it joyfully. Do it joyfully.
And listen, we all have bad days. We all have rough days. And some days we put on the smile. It's like, "Bless you. Love you. My life's a wreck right now, but Jesus loves you." But you know what? That's when other people come alongside of us and say, "Hey, I just want to pray with you today. I just want to encourage you. You'll get through this."
See, that's what a body represents. And that's why we minister. We minister together.
Here's number two: Make disciples. Colossians 1, verse 7. Paul says, "As you also learn from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf."
Go back to those first four words: "As you also learn." Epaphras didn't just preach the gospel. He invested in the lives of others by making disciples. The church at Colossae learned from him. They grew under his guidance.
Jesus in Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20 tells us to go and do what? Make disciples. Go and make disciples of all nations. Making disciples involves teaching, mentoring, helping others mature in their faith. Discipleship requires your time. It requires effort. It requires intentionality.
But discipleship is essential for the growth of the church. Discipleship is essential for the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Go and make disciples. It says here that they also learned from Epaphras.
Are people learning from your life? Are they learning from your ability to share the good news of Jesus Christ? What do we see here? That first of all, Epaphras himself was a disciple. You see, to make disciples, we must first be disciples.
We can't just go out and say, "I'm going to teach everybody about Jesus Christ" if we've never picked up the Bible a single day in our lives. In order to disciple others, you need to be discipled yourself. Learning, following, and growing in Jesus Christ.
We need to invest in our spiritual growth before we can invest in the spiritual growth of others. Grow in your relationship with Jesus first. And as you grow in your relationship with Christ, you'll be able to help others grow in their relationship with him as well.
Which leads to the second. Once you have allowed for yourself to be discipled. And listen, I'm constantly being discipled. I haven't reached full discipleship. I'm still being discipled in my life because I need to continue to grow.
But as I am being discipled, as I grow more, I'm able to share more with you as a congregation. I'm able to share more and invest in others as well. And that's the second part of this. As disciples, we need to invest in others.
You may not realize it or not, but discipleship requires intentionality. It requires intentionality. You need to be intentional in helping others grow. It's about building relationships, mentoring, guiding others in their faith journey.
So are you mentoring? Are you discipling somebody with your life? Who are you helping to grow in their walk with Jesus Christ? Discipleship takes on all kinds of different forms. It doesn't mean that you sit down for 10 hours on a Monday and you just go through some course.
No, some of us as parents, what do we do? We disciple our children, don't we? We're discipling them from a young age until they're growing older. Sometimes we're still discipling them when they're 40 or 50 years old.
Discipleship is something that is a continuation of a process. It's not a one-time-and-done thing. But commit time. Commit regular time together. Focus on spiritual growth. Focus, and this is a big one when it comes to discipleship, focus on accountability.
Accountability is so important in our lives today. Be faithful in building relationships, guiding each other, modeling a Christ-centered life. Encourage those that you disciple to turn, disciple others.
And in discipleship and through discipleship, together we can carry forward the mission of Jesus Christ. We can carry forward the mission that Jesus told us in Matthew to go and make disciples. And guess what? We don't stop making disciples until Jesus Christ comes back.
Until the Lord returns, there is still opportunity. There is still a need to make disciples. Go into all the worlds and make disciples. Christ has not come back, church. Oh, I can't wait for him to come back. I'm ready for that day to happen. But until he does, we are called to make disciples.
Here's the third and final aspect of Epaphras' life that we see. He had and understood the power of intercession. Verse number 12, it says, "Always laboring fervently for you in prayers."
"Always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in the will of God." Epaphras wasn't just a servant. Not just a minister. He wasn't just a disciple maker. But Paul tells us that he was a prayer warrior.
He was a man of prayer. He was a man of intercession. Paul testifies to his fervent intercession for the believers in Colossae, and Laodicea, and Hierapolis as well.
So how do we, as the body of Christ, how do we, as an individual, recognize the importance and the power of intercession? Well, first thing I think we need to realize is that prayer is actually a ministry.
Prayer is a ministry that all of us have been called to. And so, when you say, "I don't know what my ministry is," or "I don't know what my gifting is," do you know this? That God has called all of us to prayer. He's called all of us to pray for one another, to lift each other up, to encourage each other.
And Epaphras knew this. He wrestled—the Bible, another terminology for laboring fervently—was this: He wrestled in prayer. He agonized on behalf of the church so that the church might stand mature in Jesus Christ.
"I'm just not sure what I can do." Can you pray? Can you pray? Pray for the church. That's what we see in the example of his life. It reminds us of the vital role that intercessory prayer has in ministry.
Oh, we may not always be able to be physically present with those that we care about, but we can always lift each other up in prayer. And it's not even the sense that we stake out certain times of the day, but that's important as well.
But, you know, sometimes we're just going through life, and something of the past can start to happen. And we are part of one. And so we all shall be one. Or someone will remind us of somebody or a situation, and we just take the time to pause and say, "Lord, I'm not sure why, but right now I'm lifting up so-and-so. Father, I'm praying for them. I pray that you would be with them, that you'd watch over them. Lord, I don't know if they're going through a physical situation, but Father, I pray that you would touch them, bring healing to their body. Lord, maybe they're going through a financial situation right now. Lord, I know that you are faithful to provide. Would you provide and meet that need for them?"
You see, what you've just done there, without even realizing it, is you've just interceded on behalf of somebody else that's in need.
I shared the story of the missionary who went to Africa, and he, you know, he was surrounded by the tribe and they were ready to take him out. But when they got there to attack, they saw, you know, these mighty men, these warriors protecting him.
The missionary didn't know this until he got back, and the church said, "Hey, when was that again?" And they opened the book. Remember this? I told you a couple of weeks ago, they opened the book and it was the exact same time that the church was in prayer for that missionary and the people.
We don't know, but when we are led by the Spirit, he will prompt us to be intercessors, to intercede for one another. And when we intercede for one another, we build up the body of Christ.
Hebrews 4:16, "Let us approach God. Let's approach his throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
Intercede for others because when we do that, we can find his grace and his mercy that is there to help us.
Number two, practice intercession. I don't know how to intercede. Practice. Take time to intercede for somebody. You know, we have an index card on one of our mirrors at home, and it just has names and prayer requests.
You know, whenever we're in there brushing our teeth or fixing the lack of hair, it gives time to pray. Suzanne prays longer; she's got more hair than I do. But we intercede for people. But we do it, and it's a practice.
It doesn't just naturally happen sometimes. Sometimes we have to put it into practice. So let me ask you, are you interceding faithfully for your church? Do you intercede for New Life? Do you intercede for your pastor? Do you intercede for the board? Do you intercede for those who are in the church?
Do you intercede for those that are teaching our kids on Sundays? Do you intercede for the women's ministry, the men's ministry? Do you intercede for these other ministries that are represented on this card here?
Do you take time to intercede on behalf of others? You see, intercession is a dedication of time. It's a dedication to specifically pray for spiritual growth. But even more importantly is spiritual unity.
You see, through intercession, if the body of Christ, if New Life comes together and we're interceding for one another, we're interceding for the church, the leadership, guess what happens? It brings a unity because that's what Christ does. That's what the Holy Spirit does. He brings us together. He unites us in his spirit.
Pray, practice intercession. One way we can deepen our intercession is try fasting. Consider fasting as a way to deepen your prayer life. What is fasting? It means that you're giving something up in exchange for spending that time in prayer. That's what fasting is.
Fasting doesn't mean you just give something up. No, fasting means you're exchanging that specific thing for a time with the Lord. You're fasting lunch, fasting dinner, fasting breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When you would normally have your meals, that's time you take to intercede. You time to take to pray.
You're substituting the presence and the power of Christ through prayer in those times. It's so funny, people say, "I'm fasting social media for the week." But then they go and spend hours watching movies instead.
It's great if you're fasting social media, but are you taking that time that you'd have been on it to pray, to intercede? My guess is most of us, if we were fasting social media, aren't taking that full time because studies show that most people are on it. They're on their phone, on social media, five to six hours a day.
You don't even realize it, do you? But it's just there. It's so easily accessible. Can you imagine if you spent those five to six hours praying, interceding for the Lord? What could take place? What could happen in our church? What could happen in the lives of your family members?
Practice intercession. And here's the third one: Teamwork in intercession. It's okay to partner with other people in intercession. Partnering with others to create a prayer team. You see, because sometimes one will grow weary, but then other people can come along and step in and support us.
We might become weary and praying, and we just get so worn out. "I've been praying for this, Lord, it's been a year I've been praying, and God, I know that you're still able, but man, I'm so worn out."
But then somebody comes along and they put their arms around you and say, "You know what? I'm going to join in prayer with you. I see that this is wearing you down, and I just want to join together," and they can come along and they can pray with us.
Because something happens when two or three are gathered together, when two or three touch anything in Jesus' name, the Bible says. Great strength happens when we pray together.
Pray for your pastor, pray for the church ministries, pray for the spiritual growth of the congregation. Something happens when we do that together, not just alone.
Follow Epaphras' example by praying with discipline, praying with persistence, and ultimately praying with a heart full of love. See, when you pray, pray with love.
"God, I want to see my church grow. Lord, I want to see the people of my church healthy. I want to see the people of my church loving you, discipling others. Lord, I want to see the people of New Life working together to show the love of Christ to others."
Epaphras may be one of those lesser-known figures, but his story demonstrates that God values faithfulness over fame. He values faithfulness over fame. It wasn't even Epaphras that was writing these things about himself. It's Paul. "Hey, by the way, Epaphras."
But it's amazing when the letter got back to Colossae, when the letter got back to the churches, they're like, "Oh yeah, we know him. He was a vital part of starting this church. Oh, we remember him. We remember he was always praying for us."
We remember Epaphras because he was faithful to work to see the church get going. And so Paul mentions him in this letter in Colossians, but it's more than just mentioning him. It's a reflection on his life, what he did, how he served.
How are we remembered? How are we reflected upon in our lives? You see, the world, for the most part, they'll forget us. You know, it's one big headline and it's gone in a week.
But when it comes to the body of Christ, the Bible says, as I shared last week, that the Lord keeps track of these things. We store credit for ourselves in heaven when we honor him, when we serve him.
And so we are remembered throughout history, throughout time for what we have done in service to the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15. Paul writes this, verse number 58: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain."
Doesn't stop there. Knowing that your labor is not in vain. What does it say? In the Lord. Some of us labor. We work hard. And as I mentioned last week, you know, there's a lot of people that work hard within the church, but they failed to take the time to worship God.
And so they're laboring in vain. They're just doing it for themselves. But when we labor, we should be laboring as unto the Lord. We should be laboring to say, "Lord, I want to see your kingdom come. I want to see your will be done. Lord, I want to see the work of discipleship take place at New Life. I want to see the ministries just grow and bloom and blossom as people are serving you, as people are loving you."
So whatever we do, do it steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because we know that as we serve him faithfully, it is not done in vain.
Now, listen, it doesn't mean that you won't go through life and there won't be times when you're like, "Does anybody notice what I'm doing? Did anybody see what I did the past year at church?"
But if we're so focused on, "Did anybody notice what I did?" we'll miss out on looking back and saying, "Wow. God used me and look what happened in their life. I didn't realize that just shaking somebody's hand and smiling at the door would be the first engagement that they had with New Life that they said, 'You know what? Those are friendly people. I'm going to go back a second time.'"
You see, sometimes we don't realize it because we can get so focused on, "Am I making a difference? Am I making a difference?" But we need to take the time to recognize I'm serving as unto the Lord's.
Don't go through life feeling that you're unnoticed. But remember that God sees every act of faithfulness. Hebrews 6, verse 10 says, "God sees all that we do. He knows all that you have done for him and he sees everything that you are doing."
And so in that, will you stay committed? If you're serving the Lord now, will you stay committed? Will you trust that your labor is not in vain, but that it's making a difference?
So what do we do? Well, if you're not serving, if you're not ministering in some way, ask God. "Lord, where can I be used? What can I do to contribute to the body of Christ?"
It's a call to action. This passage truly is a call to action. Epaphras' life is a call to action for us as Christians. What am I doing? What can I do?
Give Mindy a break at the front door. If you're a smiling person, join her at the front door. We have four doors out there. We've changed things up a little bit out in the foyer. Help Joe make coffee. Help him carry it out. Help Carol help in the kitchen. Get things ready. Help with the tax ministry. Help on Sunday mornings.
What we'd like to do is kind of get a more than just one connection point with people coming in through the front doors. You know, Mindy does a great job handing out the forms that you've been filling in this morning.
We'd like to take that out of their hands. We'd like for them just to focus on saying hi, how you doing? Welcome to New Life and put some people right here, right past where the offering container is and hand those out inside here so that we have more people connecting with more people.
Why? Because when we connect with each other, it encourages us and gives us the opportunity to grow together in the Lord.
Maybe you feel like you'd like to be a part of that. Yes. Yes. You can give yourself that opportunity. Find out. Some of you, we've asked and hey, you want to help work in the nursery? You like, "Not a chance in the world."
I'm right there with you. Don't ask me ever to change a diaper because you'll be cleaning up another mess. I got the weakest stomach in the world. But you know what? There are some of you that can love on those little kids in the nursery.
We'd love to have you be a part of that. Get your clearances and we're get ready and set to go. Where can you find that? Where can you serve? What can you do? It's a call to action.
What about identifying somebody that you can disciple? Is there somebody that might be new to the faith? Can you disciple them? Can you invest in them in their spiritual growth?
And can you dedicate time to pray? Dedicate time this week to pray fervently for the church, for the leaders, for the ministers, for the ministry of New Life. What can you do?
You see, Epaphras' life is an example of these three things: ministry, prayer, and discipleship. And these are all three that we need in our lives as well.
Maybe you're here this morning and you've never given your life to Jesus. And you're hearing this message and going, "That's great for those that have been coming to church, those that serve the Lord."
But maybe you're here today, and you're hearing this and you're like, "You know what? That sounds like something I'm missing in my life." Well, it's not the work. It's not the labor. It's not the camaraderie that is necessarily missing, but it's a relationship with Jesus.
So today I want to invite you, if you have never given your life to the Lord, to say yes to him today. Because when you say yes to Christ, you come into a relationship with him. But then you also come into a relationship, the Bible says, with the family of God, with each and every one that's part of the body of Christ.
And as you say yes to Jesus, he begins to work and change your heart and your life. And you begin to look outside of yourself and recognize that God wants you to help others as well.
Have you asked the Lord into your heart? Today you can do that. See, today Jesus is waiting for you to say yes. Say yes to him.
And that's the first and most important thing that any of us can do is say yes to Jesus. So right where you're at, would you just bow your heads for a moment?
Do you know him as your savior? If you can't say with certainty that you've asked him into your heart, you've asked him to forgive you of your sins, then right now is the perfect opportunity for you to do that.
And I would ask that you would just say this simple prayer in your heart. And it's not even vocalizing it that makes it stick, but it's if you really mean it and trust him in your heart that your life will change. It will go, the Bible says, from death to life.
So if you need to ask him in your heart today, would you just say this prayer in your heart? So you can say it out loud too if you'd like.
"Lord Jesus, I come to you as a sinner. But I don't come alone. I come recognizing that everyone in this room is also a sinner. But I come because I know that I need to be cleansed. So cleanse me of my sins.
Today I accept you as my Lord and my savior. Would you fill me now with your Holy Spirit so that I can live for you? Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for giving me life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen."
Just keep your heads bowed for a moment, would you? For the rest of us, and for those of you that have said that prayer this morning, we're part of the family of God. We're part of the church.
We're the ones that Paul wrote this letter to, to encourage us. So can we pray this morning, "Lord help me. Help me pray for the church. Help me faithfully pray for the pastor and the leadership. Help me pray for the families of New Life. Help me to pray for more families to come and be a part of our family.
Lord help me pray for the ministries of the church." And ask yourself, "Lord, is there a ministry? Is there somewhere you would have me to be a part? What can I do?"
"No, I'm not good at greeting people. I like working behind the scenes." Oh, there's a place for you. "I'm not really good at talking with people." But I like to play pickleball. Hey, there's a place for you.
So many different ways that we can serve each other, minister to each other. What's the Lord speaking to you this morning?
What's the Lord speaking to you this morning? What's the Lord speaking to you this morning? Would you just pray, "Father, keep me firmly in your will. Keep me in your will that I might grow in grace towards others.
Ask him to give you a greater burden for intercessory prayer. Holy Spirit, speak to our hearts and our lives today. May we be in tune with your spirit each and every day.
So that we are not missing out on opportunities that you are asking us to pray for others. Father, give me opportunities to also help disciple others.
You may be new in the faith. You may have only come to know the Lord today. But right now you have more faith. You have more to offer somebody that doesn't know him than you did just five minutes ago. And that makes you a discipler.
So, Lord, help us to disciple others for an eternal impact. Do you need strength today? Do you need hope for tomorrow? Then ask, "Lord, strengthen me. Strengthen me to stay steadfast, unmovable, unshakable. Lord, help me to stand firm, knowing that my labor is not in vain."
And ultimately, Lord, would you help us to follow the example of Epaphras, serving, discipling, and praying for the glory of God to be seen and to be known.
Lord, use me. Use me. Use me. Use me, Lord. Use me, Lord.
Take the time not to point a finger at somebody else and say, "Lord, use them. Use them. Why aren't you using them?" To say, "Lord, how can I be used? What would you have me do? What would you have me do? What would you have me do?"
Lord, we thank you and we praise you. Can we stand together this morning?
The worship team is going to lead us in a closing song in just a moment, but statistics all throughout church history have shown that barely 20% of the church history has been of those that attend church do 80% of the work.
20% of you that are here this morning do most of the work for New Life. And yet the Bible calls each of us to be ministers, each of us to do our parts.
I mean, if you came in next Sunday and from this section here all the way over was empty, it'd be a little discouraging, wouldn't it? But that's about 20% over here. They were saying, "Hey, you guys, you take care of it all."
But you see, when you look around the room and you see each section filled with people, it's more of an encouragement, isn't it? Because it shows that we're all involved. We're all a part. We all look different.
My goodness, there's Redskins and Eagles fans in the same room today. If you're a Kansas City Chiefs fan, get out. You see, it's, we're all different. We all have things that we like, we don't like, but the good news is this: we're all one in Jesus Christ.
We're the body of Christ. And because we're different, I can joke around, I can joke about what I just did. But I know how to spell Eagles. Some of you get that.
But when we come together, we make the beautiful bride of Christ. And the Lord looks and says, "I'm well pleased. Keep on going. Keep on working. Keep on serving. Keep on loving. Keep on discipling."
And as we do that, God pours out his blessing. He pours out his favor. He continues to pour out his spirit. And as long as we're serving and loving him, he will continue to use us. The church will continue to move forward. The church will continue to grow. People will come.
And yeah, sadly, people will go. Life has ways of taking us here, taking us there. But you know what? The faithfulness of us serving him is what's most important.
And so this morning, as the worship team leads us again, I just want us to take this time. And maybe you've been challenged in your heart. "Lord, I've been wondering, what can I do?"
Would you just make yourself available to him this morning? Maybe you have a burden for something and you're like, "I don't see it on that list." Come up and let me know.
I'm going to tell you this, though. If you come to me and say, "Hey, pastor, we really need this in our church," I'm going to say, "Great, you're in charge."
It ain't my responsibility to do what the Lord's calling you to do. But if he's calling you to it, step into it and let him use you. Let him use you.
So, Father, this morning, we thank you for your faithfulness and goodness. And Lord, as we just worship you as a church family with one last song of praise, one last song of adoration.
Lord, would you make a way in our hearts? Would you make a way in our lives that we can bring glory and honor to you in all that we do, in all that we do, in all that we say so that Jesus might be glorified, so that the kingdom of heaven might be advanced and one more soul might come to know you as Lord and Savior because we said yes to ministry. We said yes to prayer. We said yes to discipleship.
This day, we give you the glory.
on Jan 26, 2025
