Address—Robert Boulard
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Let's turn to Acts chapter 20. I'd like to this evening just look at the beginning, the very first few verses of Acts chapter 20.
Because I find them to be very, very encouraging.
They were going to read about Pauls companions. He had seven companions. They were faithful companions I believe and were given to understand something of each one of those companions except for one. His name is only mentioned once and we'll we'll get to that.
But the others, you know, God mentions the Spirit of God mentions them, and with delight.
Just gives little tidbits of their lives and how they love the Lord and how they worked with the Apostle Paul and how the Spirit of God just records how he valued their work and their association with the Apostle Paul. Let's just read in chapter 20 then of Acts and and verse from verse one.
And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them.
And departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and there abode 3 months. And when the Jews laid weight for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia, and there accompanied him into Asia. So Peter a Berea, and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus.
And Gaius of Derby and Timotheus, and of Asia Tikakis and trophies, these going before carried for us at Trois. And we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and came there unto them to throw us in five days, where we abode 7 days.
Well, we're not going to go much further than that now, if you just turn back one page, perhaps in your Bibles. I just want to bring out a little.
Emphasis on the city of Ephesus. You know, just chapter 18 and verse 19. And Ephesus is mentioned in the book of Acts with very real prominence because it was located, I believe, in the heart of the enemy's territory.
And you and I live in this world, if I could use the terminology, we live in the heart of the enemies territory. And our brother Doug at the Walla Walla conference brought before us a picture of how David and he had three mighty men. And they broke through the host and they went into the heart of enemy territory. And they got a little picture of refreshment for David. And they brought it in affection for David. They loved David and they brought it in faithfulness and affection. They.
Right into the heart of enemy territory and God delights to bless his in His creation. And so I just bring this little picture to you as a picture of God's grace in going right into the heart of the enemies territory, idolatrous Ephesus and idolatrous part of the world and bringing blessings. So chapter 18 and verse 19, it says he came to Ephesus and left them there.
But he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
And then in verse 21, just at the end says, I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus in verse 24. And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.
And then we're not going to read about what took place there, but I just point these things out In chapter 19 and verse one, it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus and found certain disciples. And then in verse seven it says, and all the men were about 12. And he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the Kingdom of God.
And but when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of Tyranus. And then in verse 17, chapter 19. Verse 17. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus, and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Verse 20. So grew mightily the word of God.
And prevailed. And then verse 26. Moreover, you see and hear.
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That not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all ages, this Paul has persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods which be made with hands. Well, we find this little picture. I just like to give this as a little opening statement of how in grace and kindness the Lord Jesus sent the apostle Paul into the heart of enemy territory, as it were, and desired to bring those dear ones from darkness into his.
Light. And you and I have, by the grace of God, the Word of God, the full revealed word of God. It's a great light that has shone in this world and it reveals the person of Christ and his love and his kindness toward us right in enemy territory. And you and I, we live in enemy territory. We don't live in a friendly world. We don't live in a place that loves the Lord Jesus. We live in a place that crucified him. It's a place of unfruitfulness for God, except for the grace and kindness of God to raise up.
Testimonies in enemy territory, little assembly in Ephesus. He raised it up and made it shine brightly in that place. And isn't it the kindness of God to bring us into that place of blessing and to raise up those that would be faithful and encourage us and strengthen us in that place? Well, it says in the first verse of the of chapter 20 that there was an uproar.
In the city of Ephesus there was an uproar.
There was a mob scene and there was.
It says when the uproar was ceased. Why, you know, the enemy is it speaks of the Gentiles, you know, in their opposition to the truth of God and the grace of God. And God sent his man into enemy territory, as it were, and it caused an uproar. He didn't tell the people what they wanted to hear.
And he came and the enemy was angry. And you know the enemy during these meetings that we have here at last, and Pines is going to be working to turn the ear off and to turn the conscience, to try to dull the conscience. And God is not going to tell you during these meetings exactly what you want to hear. He's going to tell you the truth as we open up the Word of God. And you know, the flesh may rise up in any in any one of us. We may hear some things that we don't want to hear, but wouldn't.
Nice if we just submitted to the Word of God and the kindness of God to bring before us those things that are necessary, well, we find here in Ephesus.
Or in in Ephesus that there was an uproar of the Gentiles and but it ceased. And Paul, you know, is the apostle. He loved the disciples. He called the assembly together. It says he called unto him the disciples and he embraced them. Oh, isn't it lovely how God raises up those that have a shepherd's heart for his people and that bring them together and call them together to encourage their hearts and to.
In the path of faith, well, Paul loved the people of God and he had authority. You know, as the apostle Paul were not brought into a place where there is an authority. When we come into the assembly, there is the authority of the Lord and Paul is an overseer, a special.
Oversight given to him of God as an apostle had the authority to call the disciples together, but he called them together in love and he was going to depart he calls them together and he embraced them in that lovely you know it says of the oversight in Hebrews chapter 13 right at the end of.
Chapter 13, it says something that we ought to do with them. And I love that little thing, the little expression. Chapter 13 of Hebrews and verse 24, the very end of that epistle, he says they're going to be overseers among you. And he says shepherds, those that care for your soul, he says salute all them that have the rule over you and all the Saints. You know what it means, that word salute. It means to warmly embrace them to affectionately.
Embrace them. And what a nice thing it is, you know, for us to just affectionately embrace one another as we meet one another here for these meetings and just try to encourage one another in these times. Well, Paul embraced them. And he was about ready to part, to go into Macedonia. And then it says he'd gone over all those parts and had given them much exhortation. He came into Greece.
And so he was very diligent in his work.
For the Lord. And he went throughout all those parts. He was on his way over to Trois and he went throughout that part of Macedonia. And then he came into Greece and he gave them much exhortation. And you know that little word exhortation, perhaps we could read it. Encouragement. I just want to just say this.
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Let's encourage one another. We don't need any, just discouraging words, as it were.
Don't need to talk negatively to one another. And it's a day of of great weakness, a day of discouragement, a day of hard times, perhaps even forgotten People, let's encourage one another. That's the work that every individual can do. And God looks upon us as we are together, young ones and old ones. Everyone of us has a work of encouragement to do. And so Paul had that desire. Everywhere that Paul went, he was encouraging the brother.
Is that how it is with you and me? Do we everywhere we go, do we encourage the brethren or do they, are they sad after we leave? We, they say, well, I wish we'd had a better visit with so and so. I wish that they, you know, there had been some cheer because they were here. But isn't it nice? Paul went and he warmly embraced the brethren and he encouraged them. He encouraged them with thoughts from the word of God, no doubt. And he thought.
Than the things that remain there while you bode three months and so that just speaks to my own soul of a little space of time that he devoted to them and sometimes, you know we just kind of rush up to one another and we say hello and and we barely listen to say to see how we say well how are you and then we're off to the next thing that we're doing. Isn't it nice to just stop and to listen Paul sat where they sat and he listened to what they had to say He didn't just move on so quick that he.
Barely knew the brethren. Why we need to just spend a little bit of time here at Lassen Pines with one another and maybe not just with our favorite friends, but those that we don't know and just get to know those friends. Just get to know them and spend a little bit of time with them and spend time listening, not only speaking in that nice how we get this little picture here given to us. Well then we have in verse three that the Jews laid weight and so those were the religious people of the day God sent.
His man, you know, into Ephesus and into Greece, here, Macedonia, all these parts. And the Jews were the most religious people on the face of the earth. And but they opposed the truth of God in connection with the Lord Jesus. And Paul, you know, went there and there was always a plot against Paul. It just seemed to oppose him. And I just say this to you, the Gentile.
World opposes Christ it's an unfriendly world but generally speaking, in this world, those that are religious and want religion, they often want religion without Christ. And so we have a we live in a scene where the enemy has imitated the truth of God and there are those things in this world that are not according in the religious world that are not according to the truth of God. So I just say this while you sit in this meeting at these meetings and the truth of.
God is presented and the blessedness of what it is to be gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Just lay hold upon the truth of God and thank the Lord in your soul for what he's given us. And you know that the religious world is going to oppose the truth of God. This is the picture given to us. But now we're going to begin here in verse four with these men that accompanied Paul.
You know, in business, some of us have been in business and and.
One of the first rules of business when you go into an operation and you buy a business or you start an operation.
Is you the first rule of business to make it successful is to surround the top men with good solid people. And it's drilled into into the those business leaders at the beginning of an operation. When you go in and you buy an operation and you try to turn it around, perhaps it's not doing well. You surround yourself with good people and you get rid of those. Perhaps they're not good in leadership and so on. But here you know.
Apostle Paul, the Spirit of God gives us a little picture of how the apostle Paul.
By the grace of God was surrounded by those that were faithful to Christ. That lovely are you faithful to Christ? You love the Lord Jesus. Could the Lord count upon you to send you along with one of the brethren, to encourage the brethren to strengthen the things that remain, to cheer the apostle Pauls heart as it were, and to stand firm for the truth? Could he send you and would you be faithful? Would you be someone that could be count upon as you?
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Just walk with those that desire to walk in the truth of God. Well, the first here thing it says that they came into Asia and I just Asia, you know, means middle and I've just mentioned that it was this this region of the country, this region of the world where Paul went with the seven command companions was right into the heart of enemy territory. And let's not forget that we are in the enemy's world and we need to follow the.
Jesus in his rejection and so here it says mentions so Peter, so patter of Berea and you know, I'll just turn to the a couple of other scriptures. I think there's only one other scripture that mentions so patter. I think it's Romans chapter 16, verse 21.
His name is spelt a little bit differently there.
Romans 16 and verse 21 Says.
Timotheus, my work fellow, and Lucius and Jason and so Peter, my kinsman salute you. And I like to think of this that you know, Paul here mentions this man. So Peter or soccer as a kinsman.
And.
You know, I have found it very, very encouraging that there are those that are related to me, that are my natural born relations, that walk with the Lord, that walk faithfully with the Lord, that read the word of God, that study the word of God, that just desire to walk in the truth. And here Paul mentions this man, So Peter, and perhaps it's the same one that is mentioned.
Chapter 16 spelled his name spelled a little differently, but you know the man's destiny or habitation. He came from Berea and that's very significant because he came from a place that was characterized by those that had perhaps a reverence and an honor for the word of God. If you just turn back one page in perhaps in your Bible to Acts chapter 17, we'll look at that.
The place that he came from.
Chapter 17 of Acts and verse 11.
Well, let's read verse 10, Acts 17 and verse 10.
These were more noble than the those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mine, and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed also of honorable women, which were Greeks, and of men not a few, But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached to Paul at Berea.
They came thither also, and stirred up the people well.
You know this man, So Peter came from a place that God records, a very, very commendable thing that took place there, and that is that Paul, when he came there, these men that were there, it says the first thing it says about them is that they were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They were more honorable than those that were in Thessalonica because when the Word of God was presented, they listened to the word of God.
They wanted to know what God had to say. I want to ask you a question tonight. Do you want to know what God has to say? God's going to be wanting to speak to you at these meetings. He's going to be wanting to speak to you. And there's things in every one of our lives that the Lord is working with us to form us into the image of Christ. He doesn't want us to be conformed to the image of this world. He wants a transformation that takes place from within so that we mirror, we reflect the moral.
Glories of the Lord Himself. He wants us to be just like Christ as we walk through this world. Are you going to be noble and just listen to the word of God with an open ear and have a desire to listen to that word while these men were noble and then it says that they received the word with all readiness of mind. Well, they had a God-given thirst for the truth and a readiness of the mind, I believe.
Speak of the Spirit of God giving us a desire to hear that word and to bow to it. And so we need to have our hearts in tune with Christ. We need to, before we come to these meetings in the morning, pray ourselves individually and ask the Lord for readiness of heart to hear the things of Christ and to have our affections turn to that blessed man who loved us.
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Gave himself for us, spared nothing to bring us into blessing.
And now he's going to have message, a message for us and he wants our hearts to be ready to hear that message. Well, it says that they search the scriptures. Isn't that nice? They search the scriptures. It doesn't say they read the scriptures. I'm sure they did. But it says they searched the scriptures and that, you know, searches my conscience. Sometimes I just read the word of God and and I read it quite quickly, but I want to tell you.
This that I believe that these men, they were poring over the scriptures. They had a copy, a handwritten copy of the Word of God. They didn't have printing presses and someone had gone to a lot of work, a lot of effort to hand write the word of God out. And they had the scriptures there. And Paul came to them and he spoke to them of the Lord Jesus. And they searched and they searched the Scriptures to find treasures in the Word of God. They were searching to find pictures of Christ and we need to search.
The scriptures.
Do you search the scriptures?
Do you personally own a concordance? Do you personally own maybe a new translation that's a little more accurate? Maybe you speak Spanish and you can have a Spanish translation as well as an English translation. I derive tremendous benefit from reading Mr. Darbys French translation as well as the English Bible. And you know, there are many ways that you can search the scriptures, but search the scriptures to find Christ.
And search the Scriptures to find treasures. This is the first man, his name. So Patter and he lived in Berea and he was characterized by those that searched the word. They searched the word of God daily. Now that speaks of consistency and endurance in the path of faith. He didn't if he didn't find it right away, he didn't say, well, I guess we'll kind of wait. We'll see if we find that a little bit later. No, I think he searched daily. They searched daily.
I could envision these men in Berea getting together and searching diligently to find little portions of Scripture that Paul had mentioned to them and spoken to them about and searching it out for themselves and young people. If you don't search the Scriptures for yourself earnestly, for yourself, not just haphazardly, but search for the treasures of the Word of God, search for Christ, search for instruction for yourself.
You're not going to grow in your soul. God wants you to grow. And you know, I use another little business term. You probably have heard it, but brother Bill would know and others, you know, you're either going up or you're going down. You're never the same. Business doesn't just stay flat. Right now the business world is on its ear because fuel prices are very high.
And, you know, I read a little news publication, Automotive News publication.
Article last week and it said that the price of steel for the frames of cars that are manufactured in the automotive plants has gone from $585 a ton to $1000 a ton. Now the steel companies are ripping up the steel contracts with the car companies and they're saying you now are going to pay $1000 for the steel for those cars.
And you know.
There needs to be the recognition that.
There there needs to be that recognition of endurance and consistency in connection with what we do. I guess I lost my train of thought on my illustration, but anyway.
The result was in verse 12 as a result of searching the scriptures, the divinely inspired Word of God, that these men believed there was faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
And so you're not going to increase in your faith, you're not going to increase in your growth in your soul if you don't search the Word and read the Word of God for yourself. It's a wonderful resource for you and the path of faith. It's lovely to be able to have this occasion together to read the Word.
Well it says they believe there and then it says in verse 13 that there was the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea. They came to there also and stirred up the people. Well I just wanted to point out that the very first man here that's mentioned of Pauls companions was characterized by those that had searched the word of God. And now after they had searched the word of God, there was opposition by the enemy. And so this.
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So Peter knew what it was to read the word of God and then have those men come from Thessalonica and try to stir up the people. And so God is going to test you to see as to whether or not you're going to walk and what you hear in these meetings. Isn't it lovely to have others of like precious faith to read the word of God together and then to just be able to strengthen one another and to give a sense of the truth and the knowledge of God to strengthen one another. But God is going to allow you.
Tested. And to allow your faith to be tested. This man, his faith had been tested and Paul valued him as a companion and he brought him there with him.
Well, it says of the Thessalonians that there were two men, Aristarchus and Secondus.
And you know, they came from Thessalonica because these two men, I believe the very second thing that ought to characterize a companion of the apostle Paul, one that loves the truth of God and is a companion of Paul, is that he's waiting for the Lords coming, that he's waiting for the Lords coming, waiting and watching for the Lords coming. And these two men, Aristarchus and Secundus, came from Thessalonica. They had ceased to worship idols.
And they had turned to God to serve the living God, and they were waiting for his Son from heaven. I want to give you a little illustration of.
How perhaps we don't watch as we ought to, and we don't wait as we ought to.
There was a man in Montreal.
And he preached the gospel of the grace of God.
And he was a powerful gospel preacher during the 30s forties. He he died in 1962.
In our home, but he went home to be with the Lord and believe. And just in that 1962 in March, and when he was in Montreal, he preached the gospel, gave a gospel track to a man, and he got saved and he told the man that the Lord Jesus was coming again.
And.
While Brother Hammer was there in Montreal visiting, they had to rush over to this man's house because he was in the process of taking the roof off of his house. He was, he was taking shingles off. He was taking boards off. And they came rushing over and they said, what are you doing? And he said, well, I'm waiting for the Lord's coming. I don't want anything to stand in the way. I want the place to be. I want to be able to go straight up. He was, he was in earnest. He wanted the Lord to come. Well, they explained the way of God.
More perfectly unto him. And some of the brethren came to his house and they fixed up his house again. But you know, it's nice for us to be in a practical way waiting for the Lords coming. No, I talked in Walla Walla. I just mentioned my wife's little white dog. Little shame, that abused little dog. She loves Janet, and she'll do anything for Janet. Janet went away for two days. She went on a trip to Ohio to pick up her grandson.
And the little dog loves my wife, and every time my wife goes away, she goes to the front door of the front door, has a glass panel in it, and she sits by the front door and she's going to wait till her Master that rescued her from an abused life.
Comes back and so she sits there right at the front door and she won't budget except for her meals and for to go to to bed at night. And when she gets out, she barks and she wants to go out. We open the door and she goes out. She does her business. And then she she lies down underneath the Maple tree halfway up the hill and she watches her. She's pointed in the direction that she knows the van is going to come from and she waits.
She'll wait all day, she'll wait underneath the Maple tree and unless I call her and she's waiting there and she's watching. And you know this man, this man, Aristarchus and Secondus, they came from that place. They came from the place where they were characterized of waiting for the Lord Jesus and watching for him. And the Lord valued that and Paul valued it. And it's mentioned here that.
Aristarchus was one of those that waited and watched.
From that place, well, as he's mentioned several times, I'll just mention it that it means and it says here in chapter 19 and verse 29.
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It mentions him. The whole city was filled with confusion, and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions and travel, they rushed with one accord into the theater. You know this man who's waiting for the Lord to come.
He knew what it was to suffer with Paul. He knew what it was to, You know, the Romans were very proud of the fact that they thought they had good culture and they had a good civilization. But you read all through the book of Acts and in the Gospels, it was one mob scene after another. The rule of law was just one mob scene after another. They could with their laws and they couldn't control the Jews with their laws. It was just one mob after.
But this man Aristarchus, he suffered with the apostle Paul men in Acts chapter 27. I'm just going to mention these scriptures and then maybe you can just write them down and look at them yourself. But he accompanied Paul to Rome in Acts chapter 27. I think it's verse two. He accompanied Paul to Rome. He was a companion, a faithful companion. He was looking for the Lord to come and just because Paul was being transported to Rome to get to go to.
Oh, he went with them. He went with them. Oh, beloved young people, if the road gets a little hard, are you one to turn back? Are you one to just say, well, this is a little tough. I'm not used to this tough life. And you know, it's a wonderful privilege to suffer reproach with the children of God. You know, Moses, he had an estimation of the value of what Egypt had, and he said, I'd rather suffer reproach with the people of God.
And have all the treasures in Egypt. That's what he wanted. He wanted to suffer reproach with Christ. That's what God records in his word. You know, when I was going to college, I went to interview with the Dean and with.
Program coordinator and a bunch of people and one of the questions they asked me when I was being interviewed for and at the admissions office is this, they said Mr. Bullard.
How much stick to itiveness do you have? Are you, this is a hard program to go through this design school. We have a tremendous dropout rate. And do you, are you one of those people that begin and then you lose interest and then you go on to something else? Or are you one of these people that has real stick to itiveness? You see, of course and that you want to get to the end of that course and you stick with it.
And I didn't really know how to answer that question.
But I trust that I answered it accurately and I got admitted into that program and then was there for the duration of the the course. But that's a question, you know, that each one of us needs to answer. Do we have that endurance that stick to itiveness to be a companion of Paul while we find in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 10 that he was a fellow captive?
Paul said he was a fellow captive. And then in Philemon, verse 24, he says that he's a fellow worker. I thought to myself, well, that's a little bit of a contradiction. They were, those letters were written at the same time, perhaps Colossians and Philemon. And how can he say he's a fellow worker?
And then he's a he's a fellow prisoner.
He's either one or the other. But you know, I thought of it in this way. Even though he was imprisoned, he was doing the work of the Lord. And I see that man tenderly caring perhaps for the apostle Paul, the agent Paul, perhaps just doing a little work in blessing for his brethren in some way behind the prison walls. And he was a fellow worker. And are you fellow worker? Are you one that does just a little work for the Lord?
You know, we have a lot of young ones here tonight. I tell you, my daughter, one of my daughters when they were young.
Wanted to bring friends to Sunday School. Just a little work, just a little funny school in Hammer Bay. You know, if we all come to the meeting, there's nineteen of us. Well, we had a little Sunday school would go out into the neighborhood and get some children, and one of my daughters wanted to have her friend come to Sunday school. A friend came to Sunday school and came for a couple of years, I think, from my memory.
And, you know, in the schoolyard, my little little daughter talked to her friend at the school and said to her friend, do you want to be saved? Do you know how to be saved? And the little friend, you know, said to her, yeah, I want to be saved. And they just walked over to a little clump of trees out in the school yard, and they knelt down in the dirt. And the little girl accepted Christ as her savior.
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Not a nice little work for the Lord. You can do a work for the Lord.
None of us here is too old or too young and the enemy is going to be saying, making all kinds of excuses why you can't do a work for the Lord and that perhaps, you know, you're imprisoned in a certain situation and you really can't do a whole lot for the Lord. But that's not true. I believe that this man.
Here Aristarchus was a prisoner, but he was a fellow worker as well. Then it says Secundus.
Secondus, and I believe that's the only time in scripture that his name is mentioned.
The only time, you know, I thought, I thought, why would God mention his, this man's name as the companion of the apostle Paul? He comes from Thessalonica. His name is only mentioned once. I wonder if he was what we might call a shooting star Christian. Maybe he was, you know, he was there and Paul valued his companionship. No doubt nothing is said about him.
And perhaps I don't want to be giving.
A conjecture in any way, but umm, you know, the Lord loves the Kundus and he just didn't have that. Perhaps that fruit in his life that he could have had and his name is mentioned once. I wonder if there's some here that, you know, you have a real affection for Christ. Or maybe you had more affection for Christ a couple of years ago and you've grown cold in your soul.
They're nice to come apart into a desert place and rest a while with the people of God.
And just seek from the Lord, just to be refreshed and to just renew your desire to please the Lord, to walk with the Lord.
It would be nice here at this little place, this little retreat apart from the world, just to make a decision to follow the Lord Jesus and to lay your life on the altar, just to just give him everything and He's worthy. You know, He went to the cross and bore the judgment for your sins and mine on the cross, and He didn't spare any suffering. He wanted your soul, He wanted your life, He wants everything.
In your life.
Says my son, give me thine heart. Oh, he wants it so badly. Well, that's the kind of I find that a little sad that his name is only mentioned once and nothing that he did or said, well, Gaius here is mentioned Gaius of Derby and Timotheus. So there. Here's two men that come from Derby. They come from a place that's called Derby and.
They perhaps knew one another.
Gas but gas here his name means happy I believe and or rejoicing something like that. And it says in chapter 19 verse 29 where we just read in Acts that he was from Macedonia as well that region and he was a companion of Paul verse chapter 20 verse 4 here and then it says.
In verse chapter 16 of Romans. Let's read it in chapter 16.
That he was.
A host.
I like this little expression. He was a host. Acts 16 and verse 23.
Gaius mine host.
And of the whole church saluted you.
Not nice. This man hosted the Apostle Paul. This man.
Wanted to have the people of God in his home. He loved the people of God. He wanted to provide for them and he was a host. It mentions another Gaius in the third epistle of John and he calls them beloved. And I don't know if it's the same Gaius or not. It says in First Corinthians chapter one, it speaks of the apostle Paul said that he didn't know whether he baptized anyone but Gaius. And I think it's Crispus.
And perhaps this is a different Gaius, but you know the Apostle Paul had this man as a companion.
And his characteristic specifically, I believe, mentioned in Romans is that he was a host. Do you like to have the people of God? Do you like to host them and to do something for them? You know, one of the things that characterizes the people of God ought to be hospitality. Hospitality, doing something for someone else and having them, putting yourself out for them.
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And taking of what you've what you have and bringing them into your home, into the very inner sanctum of your own existence, perhaps in dwelling place in this scene and just providing them for them. And you know, I just think you're, there's a lot of young people here and it's nice for you to encourage one another and to bring one another into your own homes and to strengthen them and to speak of Christ to them. The apostle Paul here.
Value of this man Gaius, and he speaks of them as a host. Well, let's turn to first Timothy. I know second Timothy chapter one, and we'll read about Timothy. Timothy was there as one of Paul's companions. Oh, how Paul loved Timothy.
He had made himself valuable to Timothy, to Paul. First Timothy, chapter or second Timothy.
Chapter One.
And, umm.
Let's just read verse 4 from verse 4, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is indeed which first dwelt in my grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice. And I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands for God.
Not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Well, you know we have a few little lessons here with Timothy, and Paul loved Timothy. You know his name means honoring God.
That nice Honoring God is your life honoring God.
He, Timothy, honored God, he honored the apostle Paul. He walked with Paul, he served with Paul, he was a prisoner with Paul, all sorts of events that took place in Paul's life. And Timothy was right there. And Timothy, you know, got the last letter, I believe from the apostle Paul as he was just about ready to depart. That's how God.
Records Timothy's life. He says the apostle Paul that received the last part of the word of God.
To filled out the word of God why he got the letter the last letter in Paul's life and Paul was encouraging him and he says something that he says he greatly desired to see Timothy and nice to greatly desire to see our friends and those that love the Lord and that we just have a a real hearts affection for because we know that they're faithful to the Lord. Paul wanted to see Timothy.
Who He wanted to see Timothy one more time.
I don't know if he ever got the desire of his heart.
But God records it that he loved him so much, he wanted to see him just one more time before he departed. And he was mindful of Timothy's tears. That is that Timothy had a real heart's affection for the people of God. And he didn't just in a cold way do his work for the Lord. But you know, he, he cried over the people of God. There were tears when they didn't go on very well, and he wept with them when they had sorrows.
And he wasn't just doing a work for the Lord and with the apostle Paul without real feeling, without real affection for the people of God. And so it's an example of a young man.
That shed tears for the people of God. Not nice. And so, you know, as you pray for the people of God, I was thinking it was as I was driving up here, you know?
Brother Walt Porter gave me some of these little lists. Greet the friends. You know, there's enough Greet the friends for everyone, every one of us here in this room. I don't know if you have a little greet the friends, but I was thinking as I looked through the list and prayed for those that are named on some of those pages by name. It helped me to remember the names of those dear ones and recall their faces and just just present.
Them before the throne of grace. Well, Timothy prayed no doubt for them and he had joy, but there was tears and then there was unfeigned faith. He wasn't pretending to believe in God. He wasn't pretending to believe the word of God and to walk in the apostles truth. No, he believed it. And there was evidence in his life Paul could look. And I want to just ask you a question tonight.
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Is there evidence in your life that you love the truth of God? That you would stand for it, That you would defend it? That you enjoy it in your soul?
Or are you just pretending to love the Lord? Maybe there's someone that's lost, doesn't know the Lord Jesus tonight. Tonight, just as you sit in your seat, would be a good time to quit pretending, to stop pretending and just receive the Lord Jesus as Savior. You know the gospel. You know that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and that he shed his precious blood to cleanse you from all sin, to make you perfectly holy and acceptable.
As the Son of God. And you don't need to pretend Timothy wasn't a pretender. He always. I believe in consistency.
Revealed his faith well it says it mentions here his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice and I say to those that are older in the room here tonight that.
It was a wonderful testimony to Timothy to see a godly mother and to see a grandmother that walked with the Lord. And I say to you young people, if you have a mother or a father, an uncle, a grandfather, a grandmother, are walking with the Lord and seeking to encourage you in the things of God. Thank God for them. Pray, pray to the Lord for them.
Thank God for those relations, Paul, I'm sure. Thank God for so Peter, often times.
As the companion, not only a relation, natural relationship, but also wonderful thing to have those that are in the family, in the natural bond as it were in your own family that loved the Lord Jesus and that encourage you, that seek to encourage you. Have you ever thanked God for them or you just take them for granted? Why I believe there was a family bond here between.
Lois, Eunice and Timothy.
And it yielded fruit because you know they were women of faith, and you, grandmothers and mothers in the assembly.
If you're women of faith, there's going to be fruit for God. It may not come in your lifetime. It may not come as you see it, but if you're women of faith and you walk in the truth of God and the apostles doctrine and fellowship, there's going to be fruit for God. There was with Timothy because of these godly women, and I believe This is why they're mentioned. Well, Paul says stir up the gift of God, which is in the by the putting on of my hands. And so Timothy had a gift.
He had some ability, some God-given ability and Paul says just stir it up. Don't just hide it, stir it up. Just seek to in the energy of faith to use that gift and use it for the blessing of your brethren. And so he encouraged him that way. Then it says he wasn't God hadn't given us the spirit of fear. So Timothy perhaps was a little timid, it says in another.
Perhaps in I think it's First Corinthians at the end of first Corinthians that they weren't to despise Timothy when he came, that they were to receive him and not to have him in fear. And so Paul says, you know, you're not to be a coward. Don't be a coward. God hasn't given us the the mindset of a coward. Just go forward in the path of faith and trust the Lord. And then he says.
Be thou partakers of the afflictions of the gospel, according the power of God.
You know, it's a wonderful thing.
To take part in the afflictions of the gospel, to have someone swear at you and throw that gospel tract away, or to say they don't want to come to Sunday school or whatever it is. You know, you're going to hurt inside. But you know, I'll just say this. Brother Gordon Hale, when we used to go to Otter Lake and we were young people, he would say this to us. He would say something like this. He would say, you know, you speak to your friends at at school.
And at work about the Lord, you speak to them, he says, because you know they need the Lord, they need to be saved. They need to know the truth of God about their sinful condition. And he says you're going to be afraid maybe to open your mouth and speak to them. But he says you do it anyway. He says because.
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When you speak to them about the Word of God and you mention and quote a verse of Scripture, they're very afraid that you're going to talk to them in the 1St place, more afraid than you are of them. And he says, secondly, their conscience is on your side. And so when you speak, their conscience is on your side. And so I just mentioned those things in connection with Timothy and then it mentions tickets here.
And tickets.
Was um.
He accompanied Paul here and he was a faithful servant. He was sent by the apostle Paul. We're running out of time here a little bit, but I'll mention in Ephesians chapter 6. If you read it, just jot it down. Ephesians chapter 6, verses 21 and 22.
Paul sent Tiktok as an encourager to the Saints he sent them to.
Kalasha to the Colossi Colossian assembly and any sent him to the Ephesian assembly in Second Timothy chapter 4 and verse 12, and then perhaps in he might have even sent him to Titus, a young man, another man in chapter 3 and verse 12. Paul had a man as a companion who was an encourager of the people of God.
Isn't that nice? He was characterized by being able to be faithfully sent. He would go to an assembly and Paul would say, you know, there's a message that I have to deliver to the assembly, and I want to know how the assembly is going on. And he would send this man to go and encourage them and to find out how they were doing and to just bring a good message back.
Are you an encourager? Do you know how to encourage someone?
Listen to their needs.
Listen as the Lord Jesus listen to them and seek to be a blessing. Mention a verse of Scripture. You know my mother was an encouragement to me when I was young because you know when I said I would like to do something, she often used this little phrase, if the Lord will.
If the Lord will, will go and do that. If the Lord will. If the Lord will, If the Lord will. And I think of that oftentimes now as a grown man. I think of how my mother's used that little phrase, if the Lord will. But you know, I think of how there was a man.
Well, to tell you a little illustration.
There was a lady by the name of Eva Chris and she lived in San Antonio, TX and there was a brother.
I went there to San Antonio, TX. I would have business in San Antonio. And so I would go and visit her and we would break bread. She was there alone in San Antonio and there was one other sister, I believe at the time, and we would break bread in her living room, just the two of us. And they were precious moments. And the first time that I went there, I went there and she pulled out. She hauled out a little big book out of her.
End table, It was in a drawer. She asked me to go and get that book and I said well what is this? And she says this is my book of remembrance.
And she said, she solemnly took it out of my hand and she laid it down on the table and she flipped the pages and she came to the page and a big, thick book. And I would say maybe half of it had names of people that had come into her life and had encouraged her. They'd come into the home. And here she was at the end of her life. I don't know how old she was when she went home to be with the Lord, but.
You know, I, I looked in that book and she asked me to sign it. So I signed it. I said this brother here.
I was just in his home last weekend. He didn't come here. How come his name is in here? She said, well, you know that brother picked up the telephone and he called me and we had such a nice visit on the phone. He encouraged me. I'm all by myself here in San Antonio. He spent all kinds of time on the phone. He encouraged me. And she said I wrote his name in my book of remembrance.
And that's why it's there in that book and everyone of us.
Ought to be able to be sent by the Lord by the heart of God himself to encourage our brethren in some place while just mention trophies here in closing trophies was an Ephesian it says in chapter 21 and I think it's verse 29.
Acts 21 verse 29 it says for they had seen before.
With him in the city of Trophamus and Ephesians, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. And all the city was moved, and all the people ran together, and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple, and forthwith the doors were shut. Well, here was a companion of Paul. He was an Ephesian. And then it says in Second Timothy chapter 4 and verse 20 that Paul had left him.
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In in Ephesus, I believe he left him there sick.
He left him sick. And Paul, you know, there was a work of God going on in this man's life. Trophy must no doubt. But you know, he came from that city of great privilege, that city that Paul had labored in and where there was a nice little assembly. And Paul says he was sick and he didn't heal him.
And I just wonder if it's just a little picture for us that there was something Paul, perhaps the word of God just gives us to know that that perhaps there was that beginning of the leaving off of first love and the Lord was working with trophies.
And he caused some sort of a sickness. And we're not told what it is to stir them up and to get them to feel how short life was. And God, you know, may be working with you in one way or another to prove to you that life is very, very, very short. Very short.
And He may be allowing something in your life to prove to you that life is short and it won't last very long. Only what is done for Him will last at all. And this world is perishing. It's going on into judgment, and God is going to judge. God is very, very patient, but He's not infinite in patience. His patience comes to an end, but He wants fruit in your life and mine.
And he'll do what's necessary to get that fruit.
He's, it may hurt, but he may cause that there's something that comes into my life for yours. And he wants the fruit and he's not going to send somebody to take the hard trial away. He wants the fruit and it's going to hurt. And God desires that we wouldn't run away from what he brings into our lives. He doesn't want us to run away from it. He wants us to just submit.
To it, you know, I'll just close with this little story that our brother Gordon Hale again used to tell us, You know, as young people in Otter Lake, he would say, you know, young people, they're going to be really hard things that happen in life. You're going to have trials and difficulties. And he said, I want to give you a little bit of advice. He said when something hard comes into your life, a trial.
He says you get down on your knees and you thank the Lord for the trial.
The first thing you do, you thank the Lord Jesus for loving you enough to send a trial of difficulty into your life and you ask the Lord for help, that there might be fruit for him as a result, and that you would learn the lesson that needs to be learned as a result. And so that's something that I just pass on to you. If the Lord is working with you and you're left in a place, as it were, alone with the Lord, and there's just a little trial, maybe a big trial that you just submit to the.
Lord, and you seek a blessing, always going to bless you. He loves His people. He blesses His people all. He wants you to be here at Lassen Pines and to be encouraged and strengthened in the faith and to be a companion of His. He wants your companionship, and isn't it lovely to be able to enjoy the companionship of the Lord?
In the wilderness scene, do we have time for a hymn or should we?