Good morning and happy Thanksgiving.
If you have little ones who are in the service because it's a family Sunday and just make
sure you know that at the back there's a table with some things for them to amuse themselves
with.
Maybe that's not the right word.
If they would like to find other things to do with their hands while they're listening,
there are opportunities in the back.
So just wanted to make sure we pointed those out to you.
I'm a great fan of Kenneth Branagh and his, not all of his movies, mind you, but his
Shakespeare reproductions.
And one of my favorites is Henry V.
And if you have not seen it, you ought to.
It is not easy because it's Shakespearean English.
And so sometimes the subtitles are helpful.
Sometimes even that only gets you so far.
But it is a great story.
If you don't know the story of Henry V, Henry V is the story of Henry the Playboy Prince
from Henry IV, if you go back and read the other ones, who has now become at a young age the
king of England.
And he has been taunted and mocked by the king of France.
And his holdings have been threatened.
And he has roused himself to show that he, though young and though he did not show promise
in being a great leader, would actually be so for the nation of England.
And so he raises an army and sails across the channel to invade northern France, which at
that time was, according to law and right, at least in his mind, the property of England.
And so, and the movie is about this long slog.
Much of it's about this long slog of his army and about the growing leadership of Henry V.
And finally, they come to the climactic battle at the end.
It's a famous battle in military history, the Battle of Agincourt, where a small band of,
a small army of English soldiers outnumbered five to one, at least according to Shakespeare,
defeated a superior and fresh army of the French using new military tactics, which is really cool,
but a whole separate sermon and message and point.
But as they stand on the edge of this battlefield, counting the numbers and realizing how badly
they're outnumbered, one of his men wishes that maybe there would be more men from England
who would be with them.
And Henry V speaks to his men and he says, do you really wish there were more?
In fact, what we have here is enough.
And he goes on to talk about the glorious opportunity that they have to enter into this battle together.
And if you'll give me a minute, I want to read part of this speech to you to get us started this morning.
He's talking about the men who, having fought at this battle and having gone back home,
will remember the day, the day of St. Crispin.
It's St. Crispin's day, the feast of St. Crispin.
And so these men will say, then he will strip his sleeves and show his scars and say,
these wounds I had on Crispin's day.
Old men forget, yet all shall be forgot.
But he'll remember with advantages what feats he did that day.
And then our names, familiar in his mouth as household words.
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester.
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son.
And Crispin shall ne'er go by from this day to the ending of the world.
But we in it shall be remembered.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
For he who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
Be he ne'er so vile.
This day shall gentle his condition be.
And gentlemen now in England, now abed,
shall think themselves accursed that they were not here.
If you're not used to Shakespearean English, what was he saying?
He was saying, I fought that day with those men.
And we had such honor of fighting together.
And he, the king, is saying to his men,
You are not soldiers under me for me to throw away carelessly.
But you are partners with me in this battle that stands before us.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
And if you know anything about English society and the hierarchy and the lords of Gloucester and Essex and Salisbury and the others that he mentioned, right?
They fought alongside common men.
But there was a huge hierarchy of it.
And Harry that day said, we are in this together.
No matter what background you have,
if you fight this battle with me today, you are my brother.
I read this because I believe it taps into something that God created us for.
God created us to be in a community of people together with a mission to build his kingdom on this earth.
We all have a longing to belong, to feel like we have a tribe and a place, a band of brothers that we are a part of.
And we all long for a mission that's worth investing ourselves in.
And we may fill these desires with many things, some better and some worse.
But God's design for humanity is that we would be a people to pursue his kingdom for his glory.
With a common foundation laid in Jesus Christ.
And a common mission to make Christ known to the world.
And that we would do this mission together.
It is a global mission as the church continues to expand.
So that God might be worshipped among every tribe and tongue and nation in the world.
And it is a local mission that we here at Trinity are one expression of.
One place where God calls us to band together as brothers and sisters in God's purpose.
For us in this world.
What does it look like for us to do that?
Well, we're going to look at the end of Colossians today.
If you want to turn there, it's page 926.
926 in your new pew Bibles.
If you didn't notice, they're new.
They fit, which is really cool.
So, we're going to look at chapter 4.
We're going to look at the end of it.
Chapter 7 to the end.
And as we look at that, we're going to look at a few characteristics.
This section is Paul in his final greetings and words to the Colossian church.
And it might be easy to read this and think, okay, this is nice.
It's very easy to skim over these parts of the letters and to think, oh, okay.
Keep going.
I hope that you will see, however, that God included these sections in his word with a purpose.
To encourage us, to strengthen us, to help us see.
And here, I think, it's encouraging us by giving us a view of what it looked like for Paul
and his friends, his fellow workers, those around him to pick up the call
that God has put on his church.
So, let's read this together and then let's pray and then we'll look at it together.
Tychicus will tell you all about my activities.
He is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.
I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are
and that he may encourage your hearts.
And with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you.
They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas,
concerning whom you have received instructions.
If he comes to you, welcome him.
And Jesus, who is called Justice.
These are the only men in the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God.
They have been a comfort to me.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you,
always struggling on your behalf in his prayers,
that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Luke, the beloved physician, greets you as does Demas.
Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha and to the church in her house.
And when this letter has been read among you,
have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans
and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.
And say to Archippus,
see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.
I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
Remember my chains.
Grace be with you.
Let's pray.
Lord, we pray this morning as we look at this word that you will help us.
Lord, bring it to life in our minds and in our imaginations.
Help it pierce to the depths of our hearts.
Lord, we'll, by your spirit, Lord, your word work in us.
Lord, so that we may hear all that you have to say to us.
And Lord, that we may respond.
Respond in faith.
Respond in humble obedience.
Respond in worship and joy.
Lord, respond in all the ways that you would have us respond this morning to your word.
Lord, I pray for your help this morning.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So as we break down this passage, we see a bit of a snapshot of Paul's community and the way that his community has picked up this mission that God has called his church to.
And so we're going to look at it.
Verses 7 through 9 looks at the representatives, those carrying the letters, this letter of Colossians to the Colossian church.
Then verses 10 through 15 is the fellow companions, those who are with Paul, who are sending greetings to the church.
And then verses, oh, sorry, that's 10 through 14.
And then 15 through 18 are the final Paul's personal notes to them.
So we're going to just break it down and look at that and try to pull out something from each of these sections that we think will help us see how it is that Paul thought about what this church mission that he was on and that he was involved in in terms of a community of others.
What does that look like?
So the first thing is when you look at verses 7 through 9, Paul introduces the courier, basically.
This is my friend Tychicus.
You've heard of him.
He's often mentioned in the New Testament as a companion of Paul's.
And so we see that this is an ongoing part of Tychicus' life and ministry.
And that one of the things that he does is he goes from Paul to other places to communicate, hey, this is what's going on in Paul's life and Paul's ministry.
And when Paul says that, it's very easy to think, oh, well, Paul's pretty self-centered, isn't he?
Hey, I'm going to send my friend to tell you all about the things that I'm doing.
Don't you think I'm great?
But I think instead that when you look carefully at Paul's ministry and the way that he thought about it, instead, that's shorthand for Paul saying, I want you to see what God is doing.
I want you to know how we're doing because we have a real relationship.
And I care about you and I hope you care about me.
And there is a personal nature to it.
But there is underneath that a much deeper sense that Paul's life has been committed to the advancing of the kingdom of God.
And so when he talks about reporting on what he's up to, underlying that and the content of that is going to be primarily what is God up to?
Through the preaching of God's word, through the planting of churches.
As you see in the book of Acts, the extension of the church from Jerusalem to Asia to the known world at that time.
Part of what we see as well is how we see Paul views his others in his community, how he sees Tychicus.
Look at me again in verse 7.
Three descriptors, right?
He calls him a beloved brother.
For Paul, the church and ministry is not a task to be accomplished simply.
But it is a family to be engaged with.
Paul looks at this friend, this brother, and he says, you are beloved to me.
And he commends them to the Colossians.
This is a brother with you too.
This is a brother who has been joined to the family of God by Jesus Christ.
But Paul doesn't only see him as a brother, a beloved brother, but he also sees him as a faithful minister.
Tychicus is one who has partnered with Paul seeing clearly we are here to minister to others.
That is to bring the word of God to others, to bring the help of God to others, to bring fundamentally, given the book of Colossians, the message of Jesus Christ to others.
And not only has Tychicus done it, but he has done it faithfully.
Faithfully means he has both shown steadfast perseverance and not falling away or getting distracted.
But also faithfully in that he has been one who has walked with God and believed that God is at work in this.
He knows that a faithful minister is not one who is trying to build his own kingdom.
But one who is in faith working as God builds his kingdom.
And finally, Tychicus is seen as a fellow servant.
Now this is remarkable in two fronts.
First of all, because he calls Tychicus a fellow, which means he's an equal with me.
Now look, if you were Paul and you had the ability to start the churches the way you did,
if you had the role that he seemed to have in the early church,
how easy would it be for you to start thinking about yourself as pretty special?
As the top of the food chain, the CEO, the commander-in-chief, the however you think of it.
One who is distinct from the others who labor in the church.
But Paul didn't do that, did he?
Paul said, no, he is my fellow servant.
He is my equal.
We share together in this ministry because we are servants.
That is, this isn't about us, but we are under another authority.
The head is Jesus Christ and we are all serving him.
And so as Paul recommends Tychicus, he says, look, receive this man for all that he is.
For together we are in this.
And I send him to you with this purpose that he may encourage you.
I want you to look back really quickly with me.
Colossians chapter 2, verses 1 through 3.
Just so you can hear Paul's hearts again.
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face.
That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love,
to reach all the riches of the full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery,
which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
So when Paul says, I want him to encourage you,
I want to fill that in with all that Paul has said in chapter 2 about what being encouraged in their hearts would mean.
Their encouragement isn't just, hang in there, good job, it'll get better.
It gets dark, you know, it's darkest before the dawn and the sun will come up and it'll,
it's not just helpful platitudes.
But encouragement that Christ is fully sufficient for everything that they need for their spiritual lives
and that they would grow in knowing him more and more.
So what do you take away from Tychicus?
Paul, in this we see Paul engaging with Tychicus in a growing ministry of the gospel.
It is expanding geographically.
It is also multiplying in terms of the people involved.
The church is not meant to be centered on one human being ever,
but it's meant to be an ever-growing organism,
an ever-growing community of people
where one person reaches out to another person,
reaches out to another person.
And there isn't a node in the center.
The only center is Jesus Christ.
And as we gather here locally,
God has brought us together
to be not just a bounded community,
but a growing community of people who are reaching out
with the good news of Jesus Christ.
This is the cause that he's called us to.
This is the hope that he has called us to.
And we have this incredible privilege,
incredible privilege of together thinking about
how we might trumpet the cause of Christ.
Not just the cause of Christ,
but even more so, the person of Christ.
Friends, I want you to see that this vision
of how Paul related to Tychicus
and how he saw this impacting the Colossian community
is the very opposite of what I think we can fall into today,
which is a very selfish spirituality,
a very selfish church attendance.
We come thinking,
well, this is for me.
What am I getting out of this?
Why, how is everyone else serving me?
Friends, I want to tell you that in the New Testament,
the vision of the church
is something much greater than that.
God has called you to be a part of a bigger thing.
Now look, here's the thing.
We come to the church needy.
We all do.
Because we're all sinners in need of God's grace.
And we're all weak and need the encouragement
and support of one another.
So it's not our neediness that disqualifies us.
It's our selfishness that causes us to make this about us.
Rather than coming and finding that as God catches up
in this greater purpose,
this greater mission of making Christ known,
and that as we do that together as a community,
we also support and encourage one another
as we do that.
And that's what God has called us to.
So I want to leave you with a question.
How have you lost sight of the greater vision
of your participation in church?
Are you just checking the box, making time?
Are you a player or a spectator
in what God has called his church to do?
Maybe you're here this morning
and you don't know where you stand with Christ
or you're figuring out what Christianity is.
Maybe God's drawn you here
because you've sensed a hunger
that we talked about at the beginning,
a hunger to be a part of something bigger
and something greater.
I hope you'll keep coming back
and finding out who Christ is
and seeing that in him,
you will find the greatest mission
and the greatest community.
Not a perfect community.
I want to warn you,
we're not perfect around here.
But a great community of people
who, led by Christ,
actually, in that you will actually find
the thing that your heart is most longing for.
This passage goes on.
There's more to the shape of gospel ministry
than this.
As we look at verses 10 through 14,
look with me again.
There are a number of things
I want to point out in this section
and then I'm going to focus quickly
on Epiphras for a minute.
But quickly,
one of the things we see in this community
is that there's a diversity.
One of the things that isn't obvious
from the surface
is that three of the men that he mentioned
are Jewish
and three of them are Gentile.
He does say explicitly in verse 11
that these are the only men
of the circumcision,
which I think means
these are the men who come from
Jewish racial and religious background
who are converts to Christ.
And therefore,
Paul is living out
what he preached back in chapter 3,
verses 10 and 11.
Do you remember what he said there?
He says that Christians are those
who have put on the new self
which is being renewed
in the knowledge
after the image of its creator.
Here there is no Greek and Jew,
circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave-free,
but Christ is all and in all.
Paul didn't just say that
as a nice ideal.
He lived it
with a community of people
where people who had no business together
came together for the cause of Christ
because of Christ.
Not only was this diversity there,
we see it also with Onesimus.
I skipped over him
in the verses 7 through 10,
but Onesimus was a runaway slave,
it seems,
who then came to faith in Jesus Christ
and was going back to his hometown.
You've got to read the book of Philemon.
That's another sermon
to figure out his whole story.
But Paul commends him
as a fellow brother
and a beloved one.
He also is clear
to point out
in verse 15,
he spends a special greeting
to Nympha.
We might think,
well, he's only talking to men here
because all of his companions
seem to be men.
Well, no, it's not true.
Here we see
that the diversity
of the community
being formed
and called by God
in Christ
involves everyone.
And this woman, Nympha,
was not only just
someone to greet,
but she was a major player.
She was hosting a house church.
She was involved
in the ministry with them.
Paul saw himself
in this ministry together
of this diverse band of people.
slaves and free,
Jew and Gentile,
men and women together,
equally serving
because of Christ.
And some of them
may have been great
in the history of the church.
It's possible
that Luke and Mark
were actually
the writers of the gospel
of Mark and Luke.
It was likely.
It's hard to say,
you know,
but it's highly possible.
And interestingly, too,
to see that his community
is not one of perfection,
but that some
had a checkered past.
If this is the Mark
we think it is,
it is John Mark,
who at one point
Paul had a whole conflict with
because he
flaked out on ministry
at just the wrong time
and disappointed Paul.
And Paul didn't want to have
anything to do with him
for a while.
But Barnabas came along,
took him under his wing,
and seemed to encourage him,
and now he's a partner
back together with him.
If we put the,
if we reconstruct
the timeline right.
So Mark is a restored brother
with a checkered past.
And then he also mentions
a Demas.
And if you go to 1 Timothy,
you hear about Demas later,
and it seems that Demas
will depart from the faith.
Again, if it's the same Demas.
For he departed from Paul
because he loved
the things of the world.
So Paul has a,
this very rich view
of his community.
And as he's,
he's simply recounting,
hey, all these people
want to say hi to you.
They love you.
They care about you.
They want to say hi to you.
But in doing so,
he gives a snapshot
and a picture
of what kind of community
Paul was involved in
and what kind of community
the church is called to be.
Two other people
want to point out?
Verse 10,
Aristarchus.
Aristarchus is a fellow prisoner.
I want that to sink in
because not only
does he mention it
for Aristarchus,
who was probably
literally imprisoned
with Paul
in chains,
but to recognize
that all of these other people
who are with him
are connected
with this convicted prisoner,
this man who has been
arrested and condemned
by the authorities.
all of them have identified
in a way
publicly
by their participation
in the church
and in the ministry
that Paul is involved in.
It is sometimes
embarrassing
to connect with other believers,
isn't it?
it is sometimes
something you wish
people didn't know
about you.
Where do you go to church?
I go to
Trinity Baptist Church.
Oh, what's that?
Trinity Baptist Church.
There's a lot to be said there
about the wisdom
of how we present ourselves.
Paul became all things
to all men
so that he might win some.
There is wisdom
in not having to tell
everything all the time.
But at core,
part of what I want you to see
is that
for Paul
and for his companions,
they were willing
to say,
yes,
my identification
with this community
and my commitment
to this cause
is so great
that if I go to jail
for it,
so be it.
I will identify
with those
and I will count the cost
and find Christ
worth it
and find the church
worth my identification
with it
even though
it might cost me
a lot.
Finally,
Epaphras,
look at me,
look with me
in verse 12
for a second.
Epaphras was mentioned
earlier in the letter
if you remember
in chapter 1
we see that
as Paul
is giving thanks
for the Colossian church
and how the gospel
came to them
and was growing in them
and bearing fruit in them,
it says in verse 7,
just as you learned it
from Epaphras,
our fellow,
our beloved fellow servant,
he is a faithful minister
of Christ
on your behalf
and is made known
to us
your love
in the spirit.
It is almost
certain
that Epaphras
was the one
who first planted
the church
in Colossae.
He was the one
who brought the gospel there.
He was the one
who proclaimed it
and started
the church there
and here we have
a greeting from them
and Paul expands
on his heart
for them
and his mission.
He says,
if you look again,
struggling on your behalf
that you may stand
mature
and fully assured
in all the will
of God.
And again,
part of what I want
to remind you here
is that
this is not only
Epaphras' heart
but this is exactly
what Paul has been saying.
As we've read
the book of Colossians
chapters 2,
6 and 7
are the core
of this book.
Therefore,
as you have received
Christ Jesus,
the Lord,
so walk in him,
rooted and built up
in him
and established
in the faith
just as you were taught
abounding in thanksgiving.
That you may
reach the end,
the goal
for which God
has saved you.
That you may find
the fullness
of all
that his salvation
brings to you.
Epaphras is one
who loves
the Colossian church
and he works hard.
And one of the ways
that he works hard
is in prayer.
He prays for them.
His desire for them
is that they may grow
in Christ
more and more
towards what God
has called them to.
So what's our
takeaway from this?
Well,
first of all,
we praise God
regularly
for the diversity
of this church.
We are not as diverse
as we could be
in the world,
but thankfully
God has brought
a number of
different people,
ones of you
from different backgrounds,
from literally
all over the world,
from literally
all over the city,
from the region.
And you gather here
and we are thankful
for that.
And it's something
that we count
as a treasure
and a stewardship,
as a privilege
to be that kind
of church.
It is something
that we want
to continue
to do.
And we know
it's hard sometimes.
We know it's hard
to connect with people
that you have less
human,
normal connections with,
that you don't share
hobbies with,
or even communities with.
But we are thankful
for the witness
that we gather together
because of Christ.
We pray that we will
do more.
We will continue
to value this
and to seek out
connecting with one another
in this space
and in other spaces
in the name of Christ.
Second thing here
is that for Paul,
the whole goal
of the church
is to reach
this maturity,
this end,
this place
of being
full of Christ
in all that he has
for us.
What I want to ask you
is just a few questions
about that this morning.
How much does this
shape your approach
to others?
Do you ask God
how he might want
to use you
to encourage others
towards Christ?
Do you believe
you need others
in your pursuit
of Christ?
Do you think
that there might be
among here
someone like Luke
or Mark
who might shape
the church
in the coming generation?
Not to build them up,
but to love them
and encourage them.
Do you think
there's someone
who like Demas
might be in danger
of falling away
because they love
the world so much?
Do you recognize
that they need you
today
to encourage them?
Friends,
do you pray
for one another?
CCB creates
an opportunity,
our online community
creates an opportunity
for you to know
what kind of church
community you're a part
of.
Michelle,
on a semi-regular
basis,
prints out
a photo directory,
which not all of you
are in
because you don't
all submit photos,
but if you were,
it's an opportunity
for you
to have a list
of people
to pray for.
There are lots
of ways
for you to pray
for one another.
Pray for one another
in a small group.
Pray for the people
that you meet
because the reality
is that
we need
one another
and we need
our help.
God has called
us to be a band
of sisters
and brothers
in this city
and in this world.
The final
observation,
verses 15 through 18,
we'll do this briefly.
As Paul greets
the church
himself personally,
you see in verse 18,
he says,
I write this greeting.
It's probably just
verse 18.
Typically,
Paul would dictate this.
Someone else
would be writing it
and here in verse 18,
he picks up his own hand,
his own pen
and he says,
I write this greeting
to you with my own hand.
Remember my chains.
Grace be with you.
So this is a personal set
but what you see
back in 15
is as he's writing
these letters,
Paul is very self-conscious
of what he is doing.
He is writing
these letters
to encourage
the church
in Colossae.
He's not just writing
it for them though,
is he?
Because you see
it's very clear
that his purpose
is that this letter
wouldn't only be read there
but then it would be
passed along
and that there's
another letter out there
that had gone to Laodicea
or that was going
to Laodicea
that ought to be
then passed along,
maybe copied
or maybe just physically transmitted
passed along
to the church
in Colossae.
There's lots of ink
spilled in the commentaries
about what the letter
to the Laodiceans is.
Some people
think that it might be
the letter of the Ephesians
because the letter
of Ephesians
was known
to be a circular letter
written to multiple churches.
It's a possibility.
I'm not going to die
in that hill
and the fact is
we just don't know.
We just don't know
what that letter is
but what we do know
is that Paul's intent
and purpose
in writing these letters
was both personal
and occasional
but also more than that.
By that I mean personal.
He's engaging
with a community of people
in its context.
Occasional
in its context.
He's addressing
the issues
that he knows
are appropriate
for this particular
group of people
and yet
he's also teaching
in those contexts
timeless truths.
He's teaching them
about Jesus Christ
and about the kingdom of God
and about what it means
to know him
and he's writing it
in ways that are
applicable along the way
and so we too
here today
are actually fulfilling this
by reading this letter
as we seek to encourage
one another.
We are reading his letter now
as an extension
of what Paul's intent
was for these letters
as he wrote them.
He wrote them
with a sense of authority
because he felt
that God had called him.
Do you remember
chapter 1
verse 27?
God had given him
a stewardship of ministry
to the Gentiles
to them
God chose
to make known
how great
among the Gentiles
are the riches
of the glory
of this mystery
which is
Christ in you
the hope of glory
him we proclaim
warning everyone
and teaching everyone
with all wisdom
that we may present
everyone
mature in Christ.
This is the centerpiece
of Christ
of Paul's letters.
This is the point
of everything
that he does
in his ministry.
Friends,
this is why
scripture is read
at the beginning
of the service
and between the songs
and at the time
of the assurance
of pardon
and why we spend
as much time
as we do
in our sermons
because we think
that God's word
is God's means
to instruct us
and teach us
and it is the baseline
the foundation
from which then
we are able
to encourage
one another
and live out
this ministry.
What great joy
it is that we
don't have to
figure out
or make up
what it is
that we have
to say about God
but that God
has revealed himself
to us
and given us
these letters
so that we might
know him.
and Paul was aware
I don't know
if Paul was aware
that he was writing
eternally inspired scripture
that's a whole other
conversation
that I'm not going
to address
this morning
if Paul was
but he wrote
with authority
about the reality
of Christ
what he had received
he was passing on
and friends
we as a church
pick up that stewardship
and we're called
to do the same thing
to pass on
the message
of the riches
of Christ
for this is what
the book of Colossians
has been all about
hasn't it
Christ is enough
for you
Christ who is
the sovereign one
over all creation
by whom all things
were made
by whom all things
are sustained
and for whom
all things were created
Christ is enough
in that his work
of his life
and death
and resurrection
for us
and for our salvation
has completely
and sufficiently
dealt with
the problem of sin
in our lives
so that all
who are joined
by him
in faith
die to sin
and are made new
in Christ
Christ is enough
for us
to pursue
a life of godliness
in him
a transformed life
whereby the life
of Christ
is increasingly
manifested
and takes hold
of us
and makes us
like Christ
in the individual
ways that all of us
will express it
but all of us
living out this life
that God has called us
to
and not just
for us then
but that it might
overflow
to the world
that we would
take this mission
and this calling
of proclaiming
and making known
the good news
of Jesus Christ
this is Paul's heart
and his message
this is what he's
called us to be
as a church
Trinity
will you
will you join
with us
in this
will you be
a part of it
I hope you don't
come here
and think
gosh I'm glad
those guys up front
I'm glad they're
doing what they're
doing so I don't
have to do that
that's not how
we think about
church around here
I have a role
to preach
on Sunday mornings
every third week
but we have a
calling to make
Christ known
and to make him
great
we have a calling
to encourage one
another
to strengthen one
another
God has called
us as a community
to pick up the
cause of making
Christ known
my prayer is that
you will pick
it up
many of you know
we're embarking
on this building
campaign
it's going to be
very easy for us
to be distracted
by brick and mortar
in the next two
years
but that's just
a tool
it's just a
context
whereby we
might do
more
of what we're
already doing
which is this
being this kind
of community
and reaching out
to our community
with this message
of the good news
of Jesus Christ
I pray
and hope
that we will
make that
our primary
focus
that we will
hear the call
we few
we happy few
we band
of sisters
and brothers
together
called
to what God
has for this
church
at this
time
in this
place
knowing that
whatever it
looks like
at its
center
it will be
exalting
and lifting
up
and proclaiming
Jesus Christ
let's pray
Lord thank you
for this word
Lord thank you
even more so
for the call
that you have
put on our
church
and the call
that you have
put on
the church
worldwide
Lord we pray
that you might
strengthen us
enable us
Lord that you
would help us
to see the
great calling
to which
we've been
called
and that we
would take
it up
Lord that we
would
Lord pray
and work
and labor
and suffer
out of love
for one another
and for the
sake of Christ
in this world
and pray this
in Jesus name
Amen
Thank you.