The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 33: To the Saints

Episode Date: September 2, 2018

A life on mission in Christ is a life worth honoring.

All right. How's everybody doing? You good? Yeah, all right. Would you stand up? We're going to read God's word together. I'm going to start in Romans chapter 16. I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Centria, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way that is worthy of the saints and help her in whatever way she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers, in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epinitas, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. Greet Mary, who's worked hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow prisoners. They're well known to the apostles,

and they were in Christ before me. Greet Amplitis. My beloved in the Lord, greet Arbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stacchus. Greet Apelis, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobalus. Greet my kinsman Herodian. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. Greet those workers in the Lord, Trifenia and Trifosa. Greet the beloved Persisus, who's worked hard in the Lord.

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord. also his mother who has been a mother to me as well greet asyncretus phlegon hermes petrobus hermes and the brothers who are with them greet philologus julia nearius and his sister in olympus and all the saints who are with them greet one another with a all the churches of christ greet you amen amen you can grab a seat and i thought that might get an applause but Let's see you come up here and read a few of those, huh? How's everybody, Daniel Fas going? You're good? You're so weak. You can't even applaud. You're like, save my energy. I might pass out. I don't know yet. So we are jumping in to Romans 16. You're one week away. Next week you're going to finish up Romans.

And you're almost there. You're so close. But, hey, just a quick show a hand. How many of you, when you go to the movies, like to get there really early, get your seat, and watch all of the previews? Come on, raise them up high. How many type A achievers are there at the movie theaters these days? All right. How many of you love the fact that you can buy your ticket, reserve your seat, and show up at the last possible second? Come on with me, right? There's one of each in our household, which is probably the case with most of you as well, too. no matter whether you love showing up early to the movies or you love showing up at the last possible minute. Here's what I know. Ain't none of us sticking around for the credits. Man, that movie, unless there's like some weird superhero movie and they like bait you with some scene later after the credits, which, why are they doing that? Just stop that.

Put that in the movie where it belongs and quit making me watch all of the, you know, duct tape guy or whatever it is that's in the credits. Now, if we're really honest, and it's church, so we should be, don't we treat Romans 16 a little bit like the credits at the end of the movies? Like, we know they're there, we know they're important, we know things don't happen without them, but given the chance, I'm sneaking out on it. Like, it seems like they're just a bunch of names tacked on and who really cares and do they really matter and are they worth anything. and I'll just kind of flip the page and move on to the next best thing if I get a chance. In fact, I went back and I looked through books and books and books that I have on Romans' commentaries, and all but one of them completely leave Romans 16 out. I mean, volumes on the book of Romans, and the one that had something had about two paragraphs

and he just said, go read this other guy, he's got some stuff on it. That's it. They totally treat it like it's just a tab. on, sort of pointless add-on doesn't really mean anything. But think about this. The Holy Spirit breathed into Paul to write those names that all scripture, even 27 names at the end of a book, are God-breathed. So why would Paul write 15 chapters of the most glorious doctrine and theology of the grace of God in Jesus Christ? Why would he do that? And he'd write all of these, I mean, truths that just make smoke come out of your ears and blow your mind.

And he goes on and on and on and just keeps drilling deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into this high, great, glorious thoughts about Jesus. And then just drops 27 names and walks away. Why would he do that? And here's where I think why Paul does it, is if you want to know what Romans chapter 1 through 15 looks like, you read Romans 16. that Romans 16 is a commentary on what this amazingly high theology really looks like. You want to see real theology at real work, look at the real lives of Romans 16. And if we believe Romans 1 through 15, we'll live like Romans 16. And so Paul starts, and this is how he begins in Romans 16, verse 1.

I commend to you. So here's, this is Paul's sort of gratitude list. and instead of a bunch of stuff that he's thankful for, his truck and his house and all his other things, which are great, he's going to go and he's going to list 27 names. The idea that right doctrine gives a right heart, and that right heart looks like a heart of gratitude, that if you get a hold of this stuff that Paul writes about in chapters 1 through 15,

your heart will well up in gratitude like Paul's does. And so he says, okay, listen, this isn't a tack-on, this isn't an add-on, this isn't just sort of an add-a-boy, this is a list of what God has been doing in his people in the churches in Rome. So I commend to you, our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Centria, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and help her in whatever way she may need from you. for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. So here's Paul. Here's what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, man, I am so grateful for Phoebe because the gospel, this gospel that I've been writing for 15 chapters now,

has produced in Phoebe a heart of a servant. The word is actually deacon. That it's produced a deacon's heart inside of Phoebe. And it is created in her this heart of a patron. You ever heard somebody be like a patron of the arts? It's somebody that's kind of so enamored with the music or the dance company or the art gallery that they just, they joyfully, not begrudgingly, they joyfully just give their life and their resources that they commit to this thing because they're so in love with what's going on in there.

And Paul says, the gospel has created this selfless, self-sacrificing, generous serving heart in Phoebe. And the reason the gospel does that is because we're reminded that that's who Jesus is. That Jesus is a servant. Philippian says that Jesus, is he seated on the throne, took on the form of a person and became a servant to us. One of the stories in the gospel, Jesus would take off his cloak, wrap a towel around his waves,

get down on his knees, and wash. Do you know how nasty first century feet are? And he would wash foot after foot, at foot, at foot, at foot of all those guys in that room. That he would let lepers touch them. He would heal people. That he would feed people. Now, ultimately, he would die and not just die, that he would die a death on the cross, that you and I would die, that we should die, that he would serve us even to the moments of his death.

And then think about this. Three days later, God raises him from the dead. About 40 days later, he ascends to heaven. And right now, at this moment, the resurrected Savior of the world is interceding for you and for me before our Heavenly Father. That you have a Savior that right at this moment is serving you, that his place in heaven on his throne is a servant king ruling and reigning and interceding for you forever before your heaven. Father. And that's what the gospel does. When you get a hold of that deep in your gut, man, it creates a generous, selfless, serving heart inside of you. And I'm telling you, as one of your pastors, I'm so grateful for you who serve and are generous. I think about we have

140-ish deacons that just give and serve without ever a thought to be noticed. I think about Zach Stonker. He's a chiropractor, a doctor here in town. He's one of our deacons. And a couple weeks ago, I called him and I said, hey, Zach, I've got a group of about seven church planners that are coming in this week. They were here Monday through Wednesday. And we're going to be training them on being healthy pastors, healthy planters.

And you know what? I want them to finish well. I want them to finish as strong as they're starting right now. And so would you come and would you meet with them and would you talk to them? about what it means for them to steward their bodies well so that they would be healthy and they could run 40, 50, 60 years in ministry. And he said, absolutely. And he canceled his afternoon appointments and showed up at that house and just poured

into those guys. I mean, I think about Charles, a friend of mine that goes here. And when you think of a guy that is at basically the pinnacle of a career, I mean, I don't know about you, but, I mean, is anybody calling you up? and asking you advice on how to do your, how you've done your job. That's the who Charles is. People asking him to speak and write and come and be with and consult with them and talk to them. And he could pretty much do anything he wants to do within reason.

One day I'm back in my office, it's Thursday night getting ready to preach, and I'm sitting back there, a couple of us are talking. He comes walking in to my office. Hey, what's up? What's going on? It's like nothing. How you doing? Great.

Hey, can I clean out your garbage for you? like that's produced when you get down in your heart the gospel of a servant king and that's a life on mission and a life on mission is a life worth honoring and so he goes on in verse three he says this greet priscca and aquila sometimes if you read in the book of acts they'll they'll be called priscilla and Aquila. Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their neck for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Greet also the church in their house. So Paul is saying, hey, I'm so grateful for Prisca and Aquila, because this gospel that I've been writing about, these last 15 chapters that I've been writing to you about,

They have produced inside of them this willingness, this boldness, this courage inside of them, that they would risk their necks for my life. And they'd risked their necks, not just for my life, but they'd risked their necks to plant churches. That all of the Gentile world, think about that. All of the Gentile world would say thank you to that couple for what they did and the church in their house. See, Priscilla, Prisca, and Aquila, they're basically the black, Creek outfitters of Rome. That's what they are. They had this outdoor outfitting company. They'd design tents. They'd build tents. They'd sew tents up. And so if you go back and you kind of

trace the story of this couple, you first meet them there in Turkey. And then from Turkey, they moved to Rome and they start a church in their house in Rome. And Claudius, the emperor, gets so mad at what they're doing. This little house church is beginning to upturn the empire. And he runs them out of town. And so from there, they leave and they go to Corinth. And in Corinth, that's where they meet the Apostle Paul. Have you ever heard of Paul being a tentmaker before? You ever heard that? Most people believe that if he didn't learn that from them, he at least was in business with them, that he was living in their home or right near there. And he was making tents alongside of them to help fund the ministry. So they start a church in Corinth. And then they moved from Corinth. They moved to Ephesus. Now, Ephesus was an amazing town.

What happened when they started the church in Ephesus? That church would eventually become pastored by a guy named Timothy. You ever heard of a couple books in the Bible, first and second Timothy? That's their pastor. And then they get an elder in that church. His name is John, as in like the John, as in the gospel of John, the dude that wrote that, the elder that wrote first, second, third John and Revelation. That's a powerhouse, seven books of the Bible written by or two, their pastor and elders. And they start that church there, and then they move back to Rome, and this is where they are right now, and they've launched another church in their home. Do you know where that kind of boldness comes from? Do you know where a courage like that

to just leverage your entire life, leverage your job, leverage your home, leverage your family, leverage your marriage, lever your friendships. That comes when you know that the security of your life is not held in the trinkets in the stuff of this world. That when you fix your eyes on heaven and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your king holds your salvation, you know that, don't you? Scripture says you're not the one keeping your salvation secure, that God has hold of you. and that your salvation, your eternal salvation, if you are in Christ, is held by God himself,

and God has never lost anything. And when you get a picture of that, man, the things of this world, it's like that old hymn says, they just grow strangely dim. And it creates a boldness and a courage deep inside your gut when you know that nothing can shake your eternal destiny and security. and you'll be bold like that and you'll risk your neck and you'll leverage your life like they did when you realize how long eternity really is and you realize what's at stake for the people around you when you realize that their life could be held in the hand of God for all eternity or not

and that creates a boldness deep inside your gut And I'm telling you, as one of your pastors, I'm so grateful for those of you that open up your home every week and have disciple groups in your house. I'm so grateful for Alicia that leads Kristen, my wife's disciple group. And I'm indebted to her. Men and women, some of you all that lead our kids, our teenagers, and disciple groups. Those of you that open up your home every week, like Priskin Aquila, husband, wife, singles, whoever you are. you open up your home and you invite the church to come and gather and meet in your home every week. And you make disciples that make disciples that make disciples that make disciples.

You know what is exciting to me? Some of you all don't even know this is going to happen, but it's about to happen in your life. Some of you all are going to get a hold of this boldness. And next May, you are going to be packing up your house and you're going to be moving to California to Encinitas, California. and you're going to be a part of the team that has helping Pastor Clifton from here, who's one of our church plant residents, to go plant a new gospel center church in Southern California. Some of you, woo is right. Whoever wooed, buy your ticket now, you're going.

I'm telling you, if you're clapping, you're going. After the first service, somebody came up to me and they were like, we have family in Encinitas. We live half the year in Encinitas. I'm like, well, you should just move the rest of the year out to Encinitas. It's gone. You may not know it, but it's deal done. It's over.

That's a life on mission. And a life on mission is a life worth honoring. And I'm just telling you, don't play it safe. Don't do it. Don't hold on to the things of this world like your security and your eternal destiny is held up in the plates and the dishwasher and the refrigerators that you've got. Don't do that. Don't waste your life on temporary stuff when there's so much better for you. Be bold. This I'm telling you couples, do ministry together. You want to watch God transform your marriage. You get into the thick of ministry and go after it together and watch what he does.

Just go. Don't play it safe. Don't do it. It's not worth it. Don't waste your life unsafe. Give your life to purpose and meaning. And he says in verse 5, greet my beloved Epinitas, who is the first convert in Christ in Asia. Think about that.

Paul remembers the very first guy who came to faith in Christ in that area of the world. Think about what an impossibility that must have seemed like. Right? The disciples, Jesus dies. They put them in a tomb. They think it's game over. They're all huddled up. Some of them leave town. think of what an impossibility it must have seemed like for anybody, even when Jesus was resurrected. Think as Jesus said, you are going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Think what that must have felt like what an impossibility that must have seemed like to them, who had never left this little area about the size of New Jersey. But that's exactly what our God does.

that our God does the impossible, that he makes a way in your life and my life in ways that we never could have hoped, dreamed or imagined. Our God reaches into the darkest places of life and pulls life out of them. He's the one that breathes life into death, forgive sins. Don't ever buy into the lie that our God's arms are too,

short to save. There is no situation too impossible for our God. Think about this. Since we started as a church, since 2013, 6,832 people have come to faith in Jesus. How amazing is that? In fact, look at this picture. We have a picture. This is of Alay Darcy who in January 2013, Darcy was the first person to go public and be baptized in the church of 1122. How incredible is that? That's amazing. And here's the thing. If Epinidis were here right now, here's what I imagine he would say.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for those of you who keep the passion for evangelism and disciples, making disciples, making disciples white hot in your life. don't ever let that go think about it of those 6,832 and probably countless more that we'll never know of

some of those people are the first people to come to faith in their family some of you are the first people to come to faith in your office in your dorm in your apartment in your gym you carrying the gospel

inside of you is a life on mission. And a life on mission is a life worth honoring. And he says in verse six, greet Mary, who's worked hard for you. So Paul says, listen, man, I am so excited about Mary, because when I think about Mary, and I've been right in these 15 chapters of the gospel, what the gospel produced in Mary is a heart of hard work. And church is hard. At least it should be. You remember in the Chronicles of Narnia the kids see Aslan? And they look and they ask and they go, is he safe? And the answer is heavens no, but he's good.

The question should be, is church easy? Heavens no. But it's the best thing ever. It's amazing. Think about this. That the church is not just sort of an add-on. afterthought, a plan B for God. The church is God's plan A to see the gospel go out to the nations. That Jesus said that the church was like his bride. That Jesus died for the church.

There's this thing in our culture that would say that, you know, as long as you got Jesus, then everything's okay and you don't need the church and all of that. And I just want to say, but you're missing out on it. Think about this. If you came to me, and you said, Adam, you're awesome, which is probably what you would say. We love you. Man, you're great. But Kristen and Gavin and Sophie, they're like, we don't like them so much. So could we hang out, but could you leave your wife and kids at home?

Do you know what my reaction would be? I can't say it because it's on tape. I'll get fired. That Jesus died for the church. loves the church. The church is his bride, that he gave his life for that. And he said the gates of hell would not prevail against his church. And when you get that deep in your gut, it'll cause you to not have to work hard. Man, you want to just wring your life out for the sake of the gospel. You want to do it. You want to make it happen. I mean, I think about the countless,

countless, countless hours that so many of you have spent serving in this place. The countless hours that so many of you have served, literally, blood, sweat, tears to launch campuses. Last week or the week before I was over in our kids space, and I'm walking down the hallway. And I see that one of our kids' workers, leaders, come around the hallway and she's got a stroller. But it's not just a stroller, and it's not just like a double stroller. It's a six-seater stroller. Like, I didn't even know they made these things. It's like a minibus, a sprinter of strollers.

And she's got six kids in this thing. And as I walked by, the kids are crying and they're not happy and snotts running down their nose. You know, and she's like, she's just got a smile on her face, sort of singing to them, pushing them down the hallway. I went and did something. I walked back through. And those kids' faces, man, snot gone, tears gone. They're lit up.

and she's like, all right, back into the room, we're going to go teach them the gospel. The church is hard. It's hard. Come on. One crying kid is hard. Six. But it was never meant to be easy. And I'm just telling you, here's the prayer that I would love for you and I to pray. God, don't lighten my load, but broaden my shoulders. God, don't make things easier on me. God, give me a capacity that's greater than the strength that I've got inside myself. God, broaden my shoulders that I might be able to carry the gospel further. God, I don't want to get to the end of my life and step before my maker and have anything left in the tank.

I want to completely wring out my life so that I just stumble and fall into heaven and go, I gave it all. Don't ask God to make life easy. easier. Ask him to make it more purposeful. Ask him to put you on a mission. Ask him to broaden your shoulders and large in your plate. And he says in verse seven, greet Andronicus and Junia. My kinsmen and fellow prisoners. They're well known among the apostles and they were in Christ before me. So here's what Paul says.

I'm so grateful for Andronicus and Junia because of the gospel, this gospel that I've been writing about for chapter after chapter after chapter, 15 chapters has produced inside of them a faith. It's produced inside them a faith that came before me, Paul. Think about that.

Every single one of us have shoulders that we're standing on in the faith. In one way or another, Every single one of us are here because somebody else came behind us. I mean, we as a church, we get to gather here and gather all over the city and plant churches all over the world. Because there was a group of people down at the beach, Beach United Methodist, and we're standing on their shoulders. And we're not just standing on their shoulders.

In the 1930s, there was a group that would become Beach United Methodists that gathered in a bakery in Jacksonville Beach. and began begging God that His Spirit would move in this city. And we're standing on their shoulders. I get to stand on my parents' shoulders. I mean, I'm sure there are things in my life that have happened that I'll never know the depth of sacrifice and love and giving that they did. I think about John Hambrick when I was about 21, 22 years old. I started into ministry.

I was just about to go into seminary. I was working for young life, and John gave me the first opportunity to really preach on a regular basis. And at 22 years old, I had no business doing this. None. But John said, here, let me leverage my platform, let me leverage my relationships, let me leverage my experience, let me leverage the capital of my life to push you up so you can do what God has called you to do. I get to do this because I stand on John's shoulders. We were in Germany this summer with a bunch of church planters and Pastor Jovey was there and our wives were there with us and we went in this little town called Wittenberg, Germany.

In Wittemberg, Germany is this little, little, little town and I got to walk up and see the doors on the church where Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses and started the Protestant Reformation, revolutionized the church. And I thought, I get to do, this because he did that. And I went back and I saw, you could go into his house and he has this little table. He used to do this thing called table talks. He'd sit down with pastors that he was training. And I looked at that table and I was blown away. I thought, man, what must the conversations have been like in that table 500 years ago? And I get to do what I get to do because they sat at that

table and prayed and studied and wept and got up. And then I went into the church where he preached. This huge pulpit. I mean, it looks like a rocket's going to launch out of the pulpit. It's like way up, spiral staircase. It's awesome. And I sat down in the pews. There's like hard wooden things that used to be in churches. And I sat there and I looked and I thought, I mean, almost in tears. Thinking because of the things that he did, we get to do what we're called to do. Our elders, I mean, the other week we had elder-led prayer. We're standing on the shoulders of some giants in the faith.

Hebrews 12 says that we're surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. That's an eternal cloud of witnesses like the eternal faithful saints that have gone before us. and you all are a cloud of witnesses. You all are people that you should have somebody. Who is it that's standing on your shoulders? Who is it that you're propping up? Who is it that you're leveraging your life and your experience and your platform and your knowledge and your expertise?

Who are you pushing up so that they can do what God has called them to do? And whose shoulders are you standing on? Maybe you need to get out your phone, not now, later and text them or pick up and actually make a phone call, that'd be a remarkable idea. Like let it ring and then voice to voice tell somebody, I get to do what God has called me to do because I get to stand on your shoulders. You were before me in Christ. And he says in verse 8, greet Ampelatus, my beloved in the Lord, greet Arbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stacus greet Apollis who's approved in Christ.

Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobalus. Greet my kinsman, Herodian. Greet those in the Lord that belong to the family of Narcissus. That's a bummer of a kid's name, isn't it? I know what I'm going to name my child, Narcissist. That's exactly, that seems fitting for a newborn. I'll do that. Greet workers of the Lord, Trifenia and Trifosa.

That means dainty and delicate. it. I'm just hoping they're women. Not greet my beloved persistis, who's worked hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen the Lord. We're going to come back to him in a second. He's my favorite. Also, his mother, who's been a mother to me as well. Do you see the language Paul is using in there? He uses words like beloved and kinsmen and family. And then he says, hey, Rufus's mama, she's been like a mama to me. This thing that we call church,

it's not an event to attend. It's a family to belong to. That gathering up in rose is great, but you were meant to be in a family of God. You know, this is what the gospel says. The gospel says that in Jesus Christ, God created you, and you were created to have a perfect relationship

with your Heavenly Father. but sin entered the world by nature, by nurture, every way possible. Sin enters our lives and it fractures that relationship. Because God is a holy and righteous God, he cannot tolerate sin in his presence. You don't want a God that tolerates killing,

murder, stealing, sex trafficking. You don't want a God that tolerates sin. The problem is, is whether it's little in our minds or big in our minds, it breaks our relationship with God. And it fractures. And God comes in and he says, you are dead in your trespasses and sins, but I am going to enter into your world. And while you are dead, I'm going to reach in and I'm going to save you and I'm going to give you a new life and I'm going to forgive you. But here's the thing. forgiveness is only part of the good news of the gospel.

It's amazing, but the reason you and I are forgiven is so that we can be family. That you and I are forgiven so that we might be able to be restored and reconcile back to God and to one another, that you and I might be adopted as children of God. man I am so grateful for people like our care team that at a moment's notice will run to the hospital that'll run into the most dark and devastating situations of life and they don't do it because it's a program they do it because they saw that's what God did in their life

and restored them back into the family and I'm so grateful for people like down at Hope's closet it. You go down there, that looks like a store. You know that's not a store, right? You know that is like a hotbed for ministry. People come walking in there from Mayo Clinic and they're sick and they think they're just wandering in for a diversion and pick up a new scarf or whatever it is, some saturated gear. I don't know what they're going to wander. And they walk in there and they leave walking out going, I just got prayed for. I just got the gospel shared. My light, I just got life. They walk in and they're thinking one thing and they walk out a Christian. That's what's going on. And it's family.

Get out of rows. They're great. But there's more. Go get in somebody's house. Go get in a disciple group. Become a covenant member. Become a covenant part of the family. We are a big, giant dysfunctional family. It's true. We are. We're not perfect. But it's good. It's the best thing ever. And then there's Rufus. Good old Rufus, right? Chosen in the Lord. I love that. I think if there's a word that you could like, just what is the gospel? Give me one word for the gospel. I would love to say chosen. And I know that word when you start saying God chooses you, it starts bubbling up. probably some all like, but what about, but what about, but what about, but what about? And so I don't want to

dismiss those, but can I just, here's what it means. And why I think it is such a beautiful word and encapsulates all of the gospel. It means while you and I were dead in our sins and could do absolutely nothing, God gave us life. That while there is nothing in me, noteworthy, other than my sin, God made the first move towards me. When I have nothing to contribute to my salvation, except the sin that deserves hell, and God comes and dies for me and for you, that when you and I kind of awaken to faith and we go, yes, do you know that that is the work of God in your life? That God shows you, that God moved in you?

Think about Paul. When Paul thinks about Rufus, he thinks about that. kind of radical grace. That Rufus is the kind of guy that makes Paul think, I don't know if this is true or not. This is just me, so take it, leave it forever it's worth. But I picture Paul writing, and he gets to Romans chapter 8. Romans 828 is this gloriously wonderful, high, big, God works in all things, those who love him, called according to his purposes.

And then he writes this in verse 29. He says, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined he chose he called and those whom he called he justified and those whom he justified he also glorified

I just picture in my mind Paul's writing that and who he's got in his mind is Rufus that Rufus is the type of guy that would make Paul's heart explode with how untamable the gospel is, that how sovereign and good and powerful our God is. Who do you have in your life that causes you to stand in awe of God? Do you have somebody in your life? Do you have moments in your life, regular moments in your life,

where it blows your mind that God's great. race is so much bigger than you could ever hope, dream, imagine, or fathom. It's what I love about gathering like this. I love our team, our musicians, our worship leaders, the people that serve back in the booth and hold doors and pass out bulletins and come down and pray and all of the people security everywhere that make this thing possible because what this does in me is it causes me to kind of go from navel gazing, right? Just turned in on myself thinking life is all about me. And it causes me to lift my eyes up and remember that God is so much bigger and so much greater and so much more powerful and so untamable. And maybe you would be that for somebody.

Now I would challenge you to be the type of person that walks into a room and the temperature of the room, the gospel temperature in the room just goes up by your presence. because if you have Christ in you, you have the Spirit of God in you, which means when you walk into a room, the Spirit of God moves into that room. Would you be the type of people that in your office and in your dorm and in your classrooms, in the grocery store, in the carpool line, that wherever you go, the temperature of the gospel would go up and people would be in awe and would be enamored by Jesus Christ. And then he says this in verse 14, greet asynchronous.

Flegon, Hermes, right? There's your purse. Petrobus, Hermis, and the brothers who are with them greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus, and his sister, Olympus. Do you know who any of these people are? Seriously, do you know any of these names? Come on, one person. Can anybody tell me anything these people did? Anybody got what Philologos did? Like, oh, nope, sorry, drawn a blank. like, you know why you don't know? It's never recorded. And we never hear from them again. And then Paul goes on and he says all of those people. And then he says, oh yeah, and all of the saints who are with them. He's like, here are a bunch of people that really, I'm not really sure what they did noteworthy. Like, I can't really remember. I got some names, but, man, their names aren't really

so noteworthy and big. And then there's a bunch of other people that I don't even know their name. Sort of this all the saints, the junk drawer over here. Have you ever felt like nobody knows you? You've felt like, am I really making an impact? Like, does this even matter? Does anybody even notice? You're felt like a nobody? Look what Paul calls them.

Saints. He calls them saints. Saints are not sprued. special Christians. There is no such thing as a special Christian. There is just somebody in Christ. If you are in Christ, you're a saint. Saints are just somebody that's saved. That's all it is. And that if you are in Christ, you are a saint. You are a saint. If you feel like nobody knows you, if you feel like a nobody, if you feel like you're hardly even making a, like you drop something in that, in the water and hardly a ripple goes out, can I just tell you some good news? The God who numbered the stars

in the sky has numbered your days. The God that created all of the universe created every single hair on your head and knows every single one of them. There is not a moment in your life that does not go unnoticed by the king and the creator of the universe. You do do. You do. You do, not have this distant, far-off deity, you have a heavenly father. You got a, you got a God that's like your dad that loves you and knows your name. And if you are a follower of Christ, the Bible says that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's just God's, it's the way of saying, God knows every single one that is his. There is not one that he ever forgets.

And so I'm just, I'm wondering that if you would live, not for the fear of man, not for the applause of man, do you know what that does to your soul? When you live for the notice and the applause of everybody else, it wreaks havoc on you. man it promises everything and underdelivers everything it'll say we'll give you all the joy and all the recognition and all the happiness and then it under delivers on it all

you can go after that thing but it is temporary at best even if it feels good it's temporary at best but you have a god in heaven that forever knows your name and will never leave you and never forsake you and always remembers you. Live for an audience of one. And then he says this, verse 16, greet one another with a holy kiss. And all I would just say is single guys, hold up, partner. Just calm down on that in church for a minute. I'm not sure that's what he means, if that's what you're thinking he means. And then he says, all of the churches, what's the next word? Come on. I know, I know you're,

We're almost there. You got it. I know you can read. You're smart people. All of the churches of Christ. Of Christ. There are names throughout all of the church. There are 27 names here, but there is a name that is above all of the names.

There is a name that all of those names belong to, that the church belongs to. And that name is Jesus Christ. Do you know that the name of Jesus means God? saves, that Jesus is a Savior, that you and I don't need a coach, that you and I don't need a buddy, that you and I don't need like a mentor. We need a savior. We need a solution to a problem that we can't fix. Dead people can't do anything. And our problem is not being bad and we need made good. Our problem is that in Christ we have died and we need life and we need a Savior. And he calls him Christ.

That's not just his last name, right? That's a title. That is a kingly title that the Savior who saves us is also the king that rules and reigns and holds the entire world, including your life in the palm of his hand. do you know that name? Have you trusted your life to that name? Have you trusted your life to Jesus? Because Jesus is the one name that is greater than any other name.

It's the one name that is more powerful than any other name. It's the one name that is at the center of the kingdom of God. Jesus is the one name that holds all the third. authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus is the one name under heaven by which we must be saved. It is the one name that we can call on and be sure to be saved. Jesus is the one name in which we repent and are baptized. Jesus is the one name that even the demons are subject to. And Jesus is the one name that has the power to do true signs and true wonders. Jesus is the pioneer and the perfector of our faith. Do you know that church? Yes. Yes.

that Jesus is the king of kings. He's the Lord of Lords. He's the bread of life, the light of the word, the door, the true vine, the good shepherd, the way, the truth, the life, the resurrection, the life. Jesus is the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He is who is and was and is to come. Church, would you stand up on your feet? And let's worship the name of the one. Let's praise the name of the Lord our God. Thank you.