A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Pastor John Randall offers this biblical encouragement as we begin a daily walk.

John Randall: Keep doing what God's called you to do. Don't lose the enthusiasm. Don't lose the the fervor and the zeal for what you're doing. You have got to be faithful. You have got to fulfill what you've been called to do. And there are times, aren't there? When it's not always easy to be faithful, to not always fulfill what's been required of you, but we need to be exhorted. We need to be reminded.

Guest (Male): Glad you could join us today for a daily walk. We'll be finishing up Colossians with the Apostle Paul's closing comments. In the final few verses of this epistle, Paul mentions several people that worked alongside of him. They were near and dear to his heart. Pastor John Randall believes this has a lot to say to us about the importance of people in our lives. We weren't meant to go it alone in our daily walk. We'll start off in chapter 4 verse 11.

John Randall: Then in verse 11, he says, and Jesus, who is called Justice. Of course, as you know, Jesus was a common name in those days. It was the Greek form of of the Hebrew Joshua. And so here we find call him also, Jesus who is called Justice. And Paul says concerning these men, these guys are my fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision, and they have proved to be a comfort to me. Aristarchus, Mark, Jesus called Justice. We're not only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, but they were also fellow countrymen.

They were Jews. When Paul says they are of the circumcision, that meant they were Jewish believers. Now, not all Jewish believers were a comfort to Paul. Some really caused a lot of problems for Paul. But these individuals, these fellow countrymen, Paul said these men have proven to be a comfort to me. You know, our primary source of comfort is the Holy Spirit. The Bible says he is the comforter. He comes alongside of us. He comforts us when we are in need of comfort. But then also the Holy Spirit will at times use other people to be instruments of comfort.

In fact, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 in verses 3 and 4, it says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforts us in our tribulations. Why? That we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Do you understand what that passage is saying? It's saying that God in difficult circumstances has been a comfort to us. He's the God of all comfort. And now this comfort that we've received through the work of the Holy Spirit, he wants us to minister that comfort to other people who are in need just like we were.

In other words, folks, there are certain things that you're going to go through in life that you might think are extremely difficult, and they probably are. But how do you know that God might not use that very experience in order for you to minister to somebody else? I'm sure there are people watching tonight. You could testify. There are things that you have gone through that God has used to shape and mold your character, and he has used you to be a comfort to other people who were in need. The Apostle said these men have been such a comfort to me, such a blessing to me.

I pray that you're a blessing to people around you, that you are working in the power of the Holy Spirit to comfort other people who need comfort. And there are a lot of people tonight who need to be reminded of the promises of God and to be comforted through the power and working of the Holy Spirit in and through your life. Next, the Apostle gives a shout out to his friend Epaphras. Epaphras in verse 12. Epaphras, who's one of you and a bond servant of Christ, he greets you. He's always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

And I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis. Paul gives us a description of this man named Epaphras. He speaks of his life, talks about his ministry. And he tells us first of all that he was a bond servant. And the word for bond servant here is a slave. In some Bibles, the word bond servant is the translation of the Greek word doulos, which means one who is subservient to and entirely at the disposal of his master. He's a bond servant. He's a slave as it were.

In the Roman culture, the term for bond servant or slave could refer to someone who voluntarily served others, but it usually referred to one who was held in a permanent position of servitude. Perhaps they had been purchased on the slave market, and they were a permanent possession of their master. And under Roman law, a bond servant was considered the owner's personal property. He could do whatever he wanted with his property. Slaves essentially had no rights. They could even be killed with impunity by their owners. But the Hebrew word and concept of a bond servant had a similar connotation, but it was a little bit different according to the Mosaic Law.

It allowed an individual to become an indentured servant voluntarily. In fact, in the book of Exodus chapter 21 it says this, if the servant declares, I love my master, my wife and children, and I don't want to go free, then his master must take him to the judges. He shall take him to the door or the door post and pierce his ear with an awl, and then he will be his servant for life. A bond servant in that context was voluntarily. You served your time. You you fulfilled your debt. But if during that time you got married and you had children and and you had this relationship with your master, you loved your master, you realized everything you had was because of your relationship to him and you were blessed and you said, you know what?

I don't want to not be your servant anymore. I want to stay here for life. What what was the motivation? The motivation was love. So if that was the case and you wanted to serve your master for life, then he would take you to the judges. They would make it legal. They would pierce your ear through with an awl. And from that moment on, you were a servant for life. And the motivation was love for your master. Paul applies that particular title to himself in his epistles. He said, I'm a bond servant of Jesus Christ.

I serve my master because I love my master. I am committed to my master because I realize that everything I have is a direct result of my relationship to him. Why would I want to serve anybody else? I'm motivated by his love for me and my love for him. Friends, listen, Jesus said it so clearly, you you can't serve two masters. You have to make a decision who you're going to serve. And I pray that you realize tonight that you want to be a bond servant of Jesus Christ. Lord, take me to the the door post as it were.

Pierce this ear through. Let people know that I'm your servant, not because I have to be, but because I want to be. I realize every blessing that I have is a direct result of my relationship with you. Where else am I going to go? Where else would I want to go? Who are you serving tonight? This man Epaphras, he was a bond servant. And as a servant of the Lord voluntarily, he was involved in a very important and sometimes forgotten because it's unseen ministry. What was it? It was the ministry of prayer. Notice what it says concerning his prayer life.

It says he labored, interesting word, labored fervently for you in prayer. And the word labored fervently, those words mean to struggle. It literally means to compete for a prize. Figuratively, it means to contend with an adversary or generally it means to endeavor to accomplish something. It's fight. It's a labor. It's fervent. They're striving involved. It it also speaks of interesting pain like the giving birth. He's laboring, Paul said, in prayer over you, hoping that the life of Christ would be born in you. I wonder who are the Epaphrases of Calvary Chapel those who are willing to labor fervently in prayer for the needs of the body of believers.

I know some of them. Only heaven will reveal those who labor fervently in prayer. But how thankful I am for those who make it their ministry to labor in prayer. I wonder if we labor in prayer. Then what I what's your prayer? I labor in prayer. Do I? Do I labor in prayer? It's a battle. It 's a fight. And Epaphras made it a priority to pray. And he prayed Doesn't say he prayed fervently for himself. Says he prayed fervently for the church. Can I just say to you tonight? Can I appeal to you who are watching this evening?

You say Pastor John, what do we what do you think we need right now and you know what we need? We need men and women to pray fervently. That's why we've been 30 days to pray, praying for personal revival, praying for congregational revival, national revival, praying for global revival these last 30 days. That's why we need to pray because we want to see God move. We want to see God work, and he is. And so here we find Epaphras praying faithfully, fervently. Even the disciples of Jesus knew how powerful prayer was. They said to Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.

And of course, Jesus gave them a model and even instructed them on how to pray. And Paul mentions another individual here in verse 14. He says, and Luke, the beloved, there it is again, the beloved physician and Demas greet you. Luke, a name that maybe you're familiar with. He's the author of the book of Acts and he is also the author of the gospel according to Luke. But he was a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. And Paul calls him the beloved physician. I'm sure in Paul's case with all of the health issues that he had and all of the infirmities physically that we know he dealt with, boy, it'd be great to have a guy like Luke along for the ride, to have your own personal physician to help you and assist you.

And he was always there for Paul and ministered to him and alongside of him in his missionary endeavors. But at the same time, think about this for a second. Does it seem odd to those who teach that all are to be healed? There's people out there. Everybody's going to be healed all the time. I mean just if you're not healed, you don't have enough faith. I wondered to myself, why did Paul have a physician along? I mean this guy had sweat bands that he could take off and hand to somebody and they could be healed.

Paul was praying for people they get healed. Why have a physician along if you could just pray a prayer and and you're healed? I I think this is very practical. Why in the world would you have a physician? Did he lack faith? No. No, he knew the validity of having a physician along to minister to the hurting physically. And what a blessing it is and especially during this season in which we're in those those responders, those people who are on the front line, uh doctors and nurses and ministering and and EMT workers and everybody who's involved with ministering to those who are sick right now.

How grateful we are. And Luke here was a a beloved physician and a companion, traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. But then there was also an individual by the name of Demas. He says Demas greets you. Now this is a name that you will see mentioned more than once in the Pauline epistles. Philemon, the book of Philemon, which is believed to have been written 2 years before this letter to the Colossians was written. It says in Philemon verse 24 that Demas, just the name Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers. 2 years later here in writing to the Colossians, Paul says Demas greets you.

He says the Philemon, my fellow laborer Demas. Here he just says Demas greets you. But 6 years later, estimated 6 years after this letter at the end of his life, Paul mentions Demas one more time. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 10, this is what he says about Demas. Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world, and he has departed for Thessalonica. Somewhere along the road, there was this downward spiritual digression in the life of Demas. How long was it before he went from fellow laborer to Demas? To Demas who has forsaken me having loved this present world.

How did it happen? We don't know. The Bible doesn't say how this individual backslid. He started out as a fellow laborer, someone that Paul could count on. This guy works alongside of me. But then it went from Demas, my fellow laborer to Demas greets you. To to finally Demas has forsaken me. And why did he forsake Paul? Because it says here he loved the present world. The love of the present world choked out the love of Christ. And he went back. He went back into the world. I don't believe, and you can tell just from the years involved, it didn't happen overnight for Demas.

It happened over time. Backsliding can be rather subtle. Starts off incrementally. You slowly begin to drift. And before you know it, you don't know how you got where you got and how how to get back from where you left. That was Demas. Prayerfully, friend, that's not you tonight. Prayerfully, you're not going from fellow laborer to forsaking the Lord like Demas having loved this present world. Because listen, let me tell you something about this present world. The Bible says it's passing away. This present world isn't going to be here forever. It's temporary. Sadly, Demas eventually turned away from the Lord.

But then in verse 15, Paul says, greet the brethren who are in Laodicea. And he mentions, hey, and Nymphas. Don't forget Nymphas and the church that is in his house. They met in houses. That's where the churches met. They didn't have buildings to meet in, kind of like you're doing right now. You're meeting in your home. And so Paul says, hey, make sure you mention say hello to Nymphas for me. He's got that that church in his house. And then in verse 16, he says now, when this epistle is read among you, see that it's also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.

Apparently, Paul had written a letter to Laodicea and he wanted the church in Colossae to read that and he wanted him to read He wanted them to both have access to the letters. So you read this, send it over to the other church and I'm going to that letter I sent them. They're going to send it over and you're going to read it and you can get the full understanding of everything's going. He wanted this letter to be written, not only written, but also I should say read by the churches, the churches in their houses, the churches that were gathered.

And then also Paul adds another name as we wrap this up tonight. He said, and say to Archippus. Don't you love these names? Archippus, Aristarchus, Onesimus, Philemon and a few other Epaphras and Archippus. Say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it. The salutation by my own hand, Paul, remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen. Archippus in Philemon in verse 2 of that one chapter epistle, Archippus is mentioned as Paul's fellow soldier. He was a warrior, spiritually speaking. He was a fighter in this spiritual battle.

And Paul speaks of him with honor. And here he mentions Archippus again. And he's saying, hey, make sure you tell Archippus that he fulfills his ministry. I don't think it's too imply that he wasn't ministering faithfully. I think it's really just an exhortation, a word of encouragement to Archippus. Hey, keep doing what you're doing. Make sure you tell Archippus fulfill that ministry. Remember who gave that ministry to you. Remember that you received it. It wasn't something you earned. You didn't earn the right to minister. God gave it to you, Archippus. So you be sure and fulfill it.

Don't stop doing what you're doing just because it's difficult. Don't stop doing what you're doing just because you you find yourself struggling and you're not sure if it's being effective. You fulfill it. I feel like I'm preaching to myself tonight. Fulfill the ministry you've received. Keep doing what God's called you to do. Don't lose the enthusiasm. Don't lose the the fervor and the zeal for what you're doing. And listen, the ministry that Archippus had in that area, listen, there was false doctrine all around him. He could not afford to falter at his post. You have got to be faithful.

You have got to fulfill what you've been called to do. And there are times, aren't there? When it's not always easy to be faithful, to not always fulfill what's been required of you, but we need to be exhorted. We need to be reminded. And so he's saying, hey, listen, you keep going, man. You keep charging. You keep doing exactly what you're doing. You fulfilled that ministry and you remember who you received it from. The ministry it's the Lord's. It's not my ministry. We're just stewards of what God's entrusted to us. It's all his. Never forget that.

It's something you receive. It's not something you take for yourself. It's something you're called into. And it's the Lord's. And so I've received it and I want to be faithful with it. He says, remind Archippus to take heed to that ministry which he received in the Lord in order that he may fulfill it. It's a service. He wasn't the Lord over the people. This is my ministry. No, no, no. This is Jesus's church. These are his people. You received it. You be faithful in it. You fulfill it. Can I ask you something tonight? What has the Lord given you?

What has the Lord Jesus entrusted into your care? What ministry have you received from the Lord? If you're a husband tonight, you have a ministry to your wife. If you're a wife tonight, you have a ministry to your husband. If your parents tonight, you have ministry to your children. If you're a child tonight, you have ministry to your family. If you're single tonight, you have ministry to your friends and your family. Listen, every single one of us has been entrusted with something. The question is, what are we doing with what we have received? Are we fulfilling it?

Are we taking heed to it? Are we being diligent with it? Are we growing lax? Are we growing lazy? It's easy, isn't it? In in this circumstance, if we're not diligent in discipline, it's easy to grow lax. It's it's easy to go outside of the borders. It's easy to go outside of uh of the parameters that God has set for us to be effective. But we got to continue. Listen, I I personally have been asking myself the question, how long is this going to last? I know you've asked that question. I'm ready for this to be done and and I see leadership that's over us, governmentally speaking, that keeps, you know, changing things daily and threatening this and saying that.

How long's it going to take? I don't know. But here's what I know. This exhortation to Archippus, I receive it myself. And every minister, every pastor, every person who has some sort of ministry that you're involved with, this exhortation is for you tonight. Take heed to the ministry that you've received and fulfill it. Why is that so important? Because there's going to come a moment in time when we're going to give account to the one who gave us the ministry whether we've been faithful with it and we're going to be rewarded for it. So if you're discouraged tonight, if you're tired, if you're weary, remember the ministry you've received.

Be faithful to fulfill it.

Guest (Male): With that call to be faithful to the Lord, we'll draw today's program to a close. But don't rush away. Pastor John Randall will be right back. Today on a daily walk, we're putting the finishing touches on our series in Colossians. This final message called closing comments can be heard again at adailywalk.org or wherever you get your podcasts. It's also available through the Calvary South OC app. Looking for a patriotic shirt to sport around town this month? We've got a good one. We'd like to offer you an adult tee today that features the phrase, pray for the USA.

It's a great way to encourage people to pray for this great country of ours. You can order that online at adailywalk.org or call us at 877-242-0828. It's just $13. And anything given above that amount will help us deliver God's word on stations like this one all across the USA. Prayer and the word, two ways to make an impact for good. Again, call 877-242-0828 or donate online at adailywalk.org. Now let's wrap things up here in Colossians.

John Randall: Paul ends by saying, remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen. Paul was a prisoner. Did you know tonight, folks, that there are people who are suffering for the cause of the gospel? I heard a friend of mine today mention something that kind of spoke to me that what the church is going through right now in America. He called it uh white collar persecution. It's it's very mild, in other words, compared to what our brothers and sisters are experiencing in other parts of the world tonight. Paul says, hey, remember my chains. And I think it does us good to remember the prisoners as the writer of Hebrews says, as if being chained with them, to pray for those who are persecuted severely for their faith.

Remember, don't forget because that's your family. That's my family. Those are my brothers. Those are my sisters who are suffering. Remember my chains. Not just my my thing that I'm going through, but remember what other people are experiencing tonight. And then he ends by saying, grace be with you. Amen. You remember when we started this letter, the salutation began with grace. And he ends this letter in the benediction with grace. And that's really what this relationship with Jesus is all about. It's his grace. It's his grace that saved us. It's his grace that sustains us.

And it's his grace that presently stabilizes us in the midst of so many things that are uncertain. Grace upon grace. The Bible says he gives more grace. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. And I pray tonight that you would experience it know first hand to a greater degree the grace of God.

Guest (Male): What a fitting note to end on, the grace of God. And with that, we've made it through Colossians. Next time, Pastor John Randall will be get a study in 1 Thessalonians. We're going through the Bible together here on a daily walk. This program is brought to you by Calvary South OC and made possible through your generosity.