November 16, 2025 • 38 mins
We walk through Romans 16 and discover why a list of names reveals the beating heart of the church: a family formed by Jesus, gathered in homes and across classes, where every story and gift matters and shows why showing up still changes lives. We honor Phoebe, Priscilla and Aquila, Andronicus and Junia, Rufus, and many others as living proof that God turns strangers into family and service into joy.
• why gathering matters beyond streaming
• Phoebe’s trusted leadership and teaching role
• Priscilla and Aquila’s costly hospitality and courage
• firstfruits in Asia and the spread of the gospel
• Andronicus and Junia’s witness and suffering
• approved through trials and faithfulness under pressure
• households tied to power alongside slaves and former slaves
• Rufus and the cross-bearer legacy
• every testimony as resurrection, not comparison
• all hands on deck, all worthy of honor, all welcomed as family
If you don’t have a church home this morning and you want to come be a part of this church family, I want you to know you will be welcomed as family
If you don’t know Jesus Christ personally, and this morning you say, I want to know that I know that he died for me, that he forgives my sins, you can come to know Christ even now, and you will be welcomed as family
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon
Podcast.
My name is Taylor Guerrera and Ihave the privilege of being the
pastor here at First Baptist,and I want to thank you for
listening into our sermon thisweek.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist ElDoredo.
(00:25):
Would you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
Man, yes, have a seat.
And you can open with me toRomans chapter 16.
Romans 16, and there are 16chapters in Romans, so we have
almost finished as we've walkedthrough the book of Romans
(00:46):
throughout the year.
Romans 16 this morning will bein verses 1 through 16.
I would like to read them now.
Romans 16, verses 1 through 16.
I commend to you our sisterPhoebe, a servant of the church
at Sincrea, that you may welcomeher in the Lord in a way worthy
of the saints, and help her inwhatever she may need from you,
(01:09):
for she has been a patron ofmany and of myself as well.
Greet Prissa and Aquila, myfellow workers in Christ Jesus,
who risk their necks for mylife, and whom not only I give
thanks, but all the churches ofthe Gentiles give thanks as
well.
Greet also the church in theirhouse.
Greet my beloved Epinatus, whowas the first convert to Christ
(01:33):
in Asia.
Greet Mary, who has worked hardfor you.
Greet Andronicus and Junior, mykinsmen and my fellow prisoners.
They are well known to theapostles, and they were in
Christ before me.
Greet Ampelatus, my beloved inthe Lord, greet Urbanus and our
fellow worker in Christ, and mybeloved Stachis.
(01:55):
Greet Apellus, who is approvedin Christ, greet those who
belong to the family ofAristobulus.
Greet my kinsmen Herodian.
Greet those in the Lord whobelong to the family of
Narcissus.
Greet those workers in the Lord,Triphina and Triphosa.
Greet the beloved Persis, whohas worked hard in the Lord.
Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord,also his mother, who has been a
(02:18):
mother to me as well.
Greet Asyncretus, Phlegon,Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and
the brothers who are with them.
Greet Philologus, Julius,Narius, and his sister, and
Olympus, and all the saints whoare with them, greet one another
with a holy kiss.
All the churches of Christ greetyou.
(02:40):
Pray with me.
Lord Jesus, we do thank you forthis morning.
We thank you for your word.
We thank you for baptisms.
We've already seen a picture ofyour gospel through these
baptisms this morning.
We've worshiped you throughsong.
Now let us worship you throughthe hearing and reading of your
word, Lord.
Let us leave transformed,knowing that the church is
(03:02):
beautiful.
And we thank you for it.
In Christ's name.
Amen.
I want to ask this question.
Why do we come to church?
I mean that literally.
Why do we show up here everysingle Sunday morning?
I don't know if I'm allowed toask that question, but I'm going
to ask it anyway.
Why do we come to church?
(03:23):
Because if you were honest withyourself, and maybe there are
the super saved among us whohave never had this thought, but
maybe you've had this thoughtbefore that for folks that
don't, you know, are not in thehabit of coming to church on
Sunday morning, do they justkind of get two Saturdays on
their weekend?
You've asked that, haven't you?
(03:45):
Is that what it's like to notget ready on Sunday morning and
come to this building?
Is that what it's like?
Kind of weird, kind ofdifferent.
And uh let's let's confess thatdoes it sound okay?
I don't know.
Why do we come to church?
Especially now in 2025 when wethink about it like this.
(04:05):
I can turn on a podcast anytimethis week.
I can go to HealthWorks onTuesday afternoon, and while I'm
working out, just put on apodcast, and I can probably hear
a preacher preaching ten statesaway that's probably much a
better preacher than the one atFirst Baptist Church El Dorado.
I can probably hear a churchservice online that maybe has
(04:28):
music that fits my ownpreferences perfectly or your
own preferences perfectly.
Uh I I can I can kind ofmanipulate a service online to
be my own exactly what I want.
So why do I need to come tochurch?
Why do we meet together in thisbuilding week in and week out?
Now, there's many reasons forthat, don't you worry.
(04:48):
There's many good theologicalreasons.
Number one, Christ died for thechurch.
Christ loves the church.
Number two, we are commanded tocome.
Hebrews 10, 25, do not neglectthe assembly of the saints.
Do not neglect this.
But I believe in Romans 16, Paulgives us an even further reason
this morning of why the churchis so important, why you are so
(05:12):
important, why we are soimportant.
Now, we're gonna walk through,as you already heard, a lot of
names this morning.
I don't want it to sound like alecture, and it won't be a
lecture, but we're gonna walkthrough these names, and I think
you're gonna be a little moreexcited than you thought you'd
be as we read some of thesenames.
Romans 16:1.
First, I commend to you oursister Phoebe.
(05:37):
First of all, let's talk aboutPhoebe.
Who is Phoebe?
Well, she was the individualtasked with delivering the
letter.
So when Paul wrote this letterto the church at Rome, he needed
someone that he trusted at avery high level.
In this day, you couldn't justhop online and shoot this in an
(05:58):
email over to the church atRome.
You needed someone to deliverthe letter.
Now, I want to put a map on thescreen.
I got a map here with twodestinations.
On the right is Corinth, fromwhich Paul wrote Rome.
Phoebe is a leader in the churchat Sancria, which is just a few
miles outside of Corinth, thereon the right.
(06:20):
And so Paul trusted this womanPhoebe to get this letter from
Corinth all the way to Rome.
You're either crossing somewater, you're taking a long way
around, but somehow, Phoebe, getthis letter to the church that
exists in Rome.
And Phoebe was Paul's trustedsource to do this.
And so Paul gave Phoebe thistask, and it says this she is a
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servant of the church atSancria.
This word servant of the church,it's the word servant diaconos,
where we get the word deacon.
So she's a servant of thechurch.
Now, is Paul here referring tothe office of deacon?
I'll tell you, for 2,000 years,many have been wondering that
question.
What we know at minimum is whatPaul is saying here, is that
(07:04):
Phoebe is at a very high level aservant and even a leader in the
church that is in St.
Crea.
She has a big role to play inthe church.
She has a big role to play inwhat Paul is up to in getting
word to Romans in all that we'veread through these 16 chapters.
She is a servant of the church.
(07:25):
Even further, he says, welcomeher in the Lord in a way that is
worthy of the saints.
Bring her in, because she's beena helper of me.
She will be a helper of you.
I just think about when Paulneeded his best and brightest to
get the most important letter heever wrote, these 16 chapters of
this letter to Rome.
(07:46):
What does he say?
Send it with my servant Phoebe.
I think about the dignity thatexists for Phoebe in the life of
the church, the leadership thatexists.
I can't help but think of themany Phoebes that you have had
in your life that you've had inyour upbringing in church.
If you grew up in church, Ican't help but be but think
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about the Phoebes that existeven now in First Baptist Church
of El Doredo.
I think about the Phoebes thatexisted in my upbringing.
And I've told stories beforeabout the Phoebe that led me to
the Lord in first grade and thePhoebes all along the way that
helped grow me in the faith.
And you have those very ones inyour life as well.
Because what's interesting aboutPhoebe is that not only did she
(08:30):
deliver the letter, butoftentimes it was understood
that the one who delivers theletter not only just drops it
off like the mailman ormalewoman, uh, but even more
than that, this person would betasked with actually teaching a
little more about what thisletter means.
In fact, Phoebe likely wouldhave been the first commentary
(08:53):
on the book of Romans.
Because as this letter wasdelivered, Phoebe would kind of
send Paul's words or ideas.
And if the church wondered,well, what did Paul mean in this
moment, Phoebe would be theteacher to help figure this out.
Let me tell you exactly whatPaul is getting at.
(09:19):
Greet Prissa and Aquila, myfellow workers in Christ Jesus.
First of all, Prissa and Aquila.
This is a husband and wifeministry team.
It's a pretty neat story.
If you read Acts chapter 18 and19, you'll see these names
again.
They're called Priscilla andAquila.
(09:41):
You may heard those names.
Priscilla and Aquila.
What we know of them is in A.D.
47, Claudius expelled all theJews from Rome, and so Priscilla
and Aquila had to leave Rome.
They were Jews.
And so they find themselves inCorinth, and they take
leadership roles in the churchat Corinth, and they work hard
there for the sake of thegospel.
(10:03):
And then they go with Paul toEphesus and do great work in the
church at Ephesus.
But this team is just sounbelievable.
We read about it in Acts 18 and19.
Once again in Acts 19, whenApollos, who was this great
Jewish teacher, comes to knowthe Lord personally through the
(10:24):
person and work of Jesus Christ,who is tasked with teaching
Apollos about his newfoundfaith.
The church says, Priscilla andAquila, can you train up Apollos
in the ways of Jesus Christ?
That's who is tasked with thisjob.
These are leaders in the life ofthe church.
They aided Paul greatly, both inCorinth and Ephesus, and now in
(10:48):
Rome.
And even says, Paul says thatthese two risked their necks,
quite literally, they riskedtheir lives for my sake.
We don't exactly know theaccount Paul was referring to.
It could have been in Actschapter 19, the riot that took
place in Ephesus.
It could be that Priscilla andAquila played a very large role
in helping getting Paul out ofthat.
(11:09):
Whatever it was, we know thatthey did much for Paul's
ministry.
But we also see this at thebeginning of verse 5: greet also
the church in their house.
What we see in this moment isthat Priscilla and Aquila also
hosted a congregation in theirhome.
As we think about the church atRome, we don't think about the
(11:31):
idea of a room like this whereevery Christian in Rome would
gather at one time.
You really think more in termsof house churches scattered
throughout the town.
And it says that Priscilla andAquila, they hosted one of these
house churches.
So there was a congregation thatmet in their home.
What that tells me is that theywere had at least a level of
(11:52):
affluence to be able to welcomea congregation into their home.
It's clear that they were upperclass, which that is important.
Because within Romans 16, whatwe're going to see is that
you've got uh upper class,people of great affluence,
people that even worked withinthe empire under the emperor,
all the way down to you even gotuh slaves and former slaves.
(12:15):
Everyone from every demographicin the life of the church.
Now, this is Priscilla andAquila, and then we continue.
Greet my beloved Epinatus, whowas the first convert to Christ
in Asia.
Epinatus, we imagine, is likelyfrom Ephesus, following right
behind Priscilla and Aquila.
(12:37):
So likely some carryover as hethinks about Priscilla and
Aquila's ministry.
So the first convert in Asia,you think about how Christ Jesus
has given the Great Commission,called the gospel to go forward,
go make disciples among allnations, Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria, the ends of the earth.
The gospel goes forward.
And who's the first convert inAsia?
This man in Ephesus.
(12:59):
Here he is, Epinatus.
Just right here in the life ofthe church at Rome, they can
look around at the man who firstcame to know Christ in Asia.
What a story he had to tell.
But what I love about this is itsays he's the first convert.
That word really is firstfruits.
He's the first fruits of Christin Asia.
(13:22):
What that tells me is that ifthere are first fruits, then
there are obviously more fruits.
And so he was the first, butmany more have come to Christ in
Asia.
Verse 6, greet Mary who hasworked hard for you.
There are obviously multipleMarys throughout the Gospels and
within the New Testament.
It's unlikely that this is oneof those Marys, but this is
(13:44):
another Mary, it's a commonname, who has worked very hard
for the church at Rome.
Worked very hard for the sake ofthe gospel.
And let us say unapologetically,once again, that women made a
massive impact in the leadershipand the life of the church at
Rome.
In fact, women make a massiveimpact in leadership and life of
any church that exists.
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They play a massive role in thechurch of Jesus Christ.
We continue.
Verse 7.
Greet Andronicus and Junior, mykinsmen and my fellow prisoners.
They are well known to theapostles, and they were in
Christ before me.
Here's another husband and wifeministry team, Andronicus and
(14:27):
Junior.
First of all, we see this.
They are my kinsmen, so they tooare Jews.
Not only that, they are myfellow prisoners.
Now we don't know if that meansfrom Paul that they were
imprisoned at the same time andsame place as Paul.
He could just be meaning this,that they too have been
imprisoned for the sake ofChrist.
(14:48):
No matter what he means, we knowthis: that Andronicus and Junior
are so sold out for the sake ofthe gospel that they are ready
and willing to go to prison forthe sake of the name of Christ.
They have been imprisoned fortheir work in Christ.
It says this they are well knownto the apostles.
That among the apostles, as wethink about the eleven apostles
(15:11):
and Paul, these eyewitnesses ofJesus Christ, that they know
well of the ministry and work ofAndronicus and Junior.
Not only that, Paul says this,that they were in Christ before
me.
Now think about this.
Andronicus and Junior, they areJews.
They came to know Christ beforePaul came to know Christ.
(15:34):
And so when Andronicus andJunior, once they came to know
Christ, it very well may be thecase that they knew exactly who
Paul was, or should we say, whoSaul was.
They knew the threat thatexisted from Saul.
They knew that Saul wantednothing more than to hunt them,
or at least people like themdown, these Jews who, in Paul's
(15:58):
mind, had sold out and startedto follow Christ.
Because Paul formerly was thegreatest enemy of the church.
And yet now, this great enemy,these two that were at odds, at
least on Paul's end, looking atAndronicus and Junior, now they
are being lifted up by Paul.
They are working together forthe sake of the gospel.
Only the gospel message can dothat.
(16:20):
Only the gospel can turn enemiesinto friends by the blood of
Jesus Christ.
Verse 8.
Greet Ampliatus, my beloved inthe Lord.
Verse 9, greet Urbanus, ourfellow worker in Christ, and my
beloved Stachis.
So you've got these three (16:39):
my beloved, my worker, my beloved.
We continue.
Greet Apellus, who is approvedin Christ.
I love that phrase, and we don'tknow much about Apellus, but we
know this.
He is approved.
That phrase really meaning this.
He has shown himself approved.
He has shown himself faithful.
(16:59):
We don't know Apellus' story,but we do know this.
He has gone through the fire andhe has come out the other side
and proven once and for all thathe is dedicated to the cause of
Christ.
Greet Apellus.
He's approved in Christ Jesus.
Would it be said of us too?
Greet those who belong to thefamily of Aristobulus.
(17:20):
Maybe two options here.
Number one, Aristobulus was notyet a believer, or Aristobulus
has passed away, and yet hisfamily is still in the church.
Greet the family of Aristobulus.
Greet my kinsman, verse 11,Herodian.
This is interesting.
This name Herodian likelyimplies that this individual had
(17:42):
a high up position in the houseof Herod.
And so as you think about thelevels of society that the
Christian church has somewhatinfiltrated all the way up to
Herod, we're going to seeanother one in just a second as
we look at this.
Greet those in the Lord whobelong to the family of
Narcissus.
(18:02):
Once again, likely someone whohas passed away, but greet their
family.
Who is Narcissus?
We can't say for sure, but therewas a very well-known Narcissus
who, under the reign ofClaudius, was really the lead
secretary of Claudius.
Basically, anything thathappened in the empire, it went
(18:24):
through Narcissus to get toClaudius.
You think way back in Egypt, aswe talk about Pharaoh, and
remember when Joseph rises up tosecond in command?
This is basically the positionNarcissus was in.
High up in the empire of Rome.
Now, when Claudius dies in A.D.
54, Nero comes to town and hecomes to reign, and to put it
(18:48):
nicely, Narcissus is permanentlyremoved from his position or any
position, but his family stillexists in the church at Rome.
And I just can't help but think,once again, Herodian and now the
family of Narcissus, that notonly is Christianity in Rome in
(19:10):
this day at this grassrootslevel of affecting even the
lower class and middle class,even all the way up within the
empire, within the house ofClaudius, within the house of
Herod, within the house of Nero.
It is almost like you can feelthis covert secret agent,
(19:33):
Christianity, on the move inRome, and it's happening, and
it's here, and God's doing agreat work.
Verse 12.
Greet those workers in the Lord,Triphina and Triphosa.
Greet the beloved Persis who hasworked hard in the Lord.
Don't you love Trifina andTriphosa?
(19:55):
Likely Trifina and Triphosa aresisters.
Their names mean this, and Ilove it.
If we were to translate them tosound similar in the English, we
could say it like this (20:07):
delicate and dainty.
That's their names.
These two sisters.
Sisters, delicate and dainty.
And yet, what does Paul sayabout them?
They are workers in the Lord.
That you may call them delicateand dainty, but don't mix that
for, don't mistake for who theyreally are.
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They are workers in the Lord.
I would argue we have some amongus, some faithful women in our
own congregation, and maybe theworld calls them delicate and
dainty, but God calls them greatworkers in the Lord.
(20:58):
I think you're gonna love tohear a little bit more about who
Rufus is.
You know, I love hearing storiesfrom every one of you.
I love hearing stories from yourlife, from your upbringing.
Uh today of all days, abeautiful day for it.
We've got these flowers downhere in memory of Marvin Cole,
and I think this week would havebeen his 99th birthday, and Miss
(21:22):
Gay and Miss Sheen and theirhusbands are with us.
And I think about just a yearago sitting in Mr.
Marvin's living room hearing hisstories, and I think about just
sitting with him, and he grew upin North Louisiana, and he told
me stories, and this is alltrue, and it just blows me away
that he was on the school busthe day that just like two or
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three miles from the bus uhwhere Bonnie and Clyde were was
captured.
Like the day they got Bonnie andClyde, uh, Mr.
Marvin was on the school bus.
His sister was at school, andthese are just stories they've
got.
Like I tell you stories about,you know, what I did, you know,
for lunch last week.
Mr.
Marvin tells you about Bonnieand Clyde.
(22:03):
These are the stories they have.
But even Mr.
Marvin and even many of youamong us who have these stories,
I think even Mr.
Marvin would tell you, even mystories he might say would fall
short of the story Rufus has totell.
Who is Rufus?
His name is mentioned one othertime in the New Testament in
(22:24):
Mark 15, 21.
And it's fascinating that it'sin the Gospel of Mark because
most believe Mark wrote hisgospel from Rome.
Most believe that Mark'soriginal audience for his gospel
was the Christians in Rome.
(22:45):
And so it's fascinating thatMark inserts two names into his
story that are largelyunnecessary unless you know
these two individuals.
And so in Mark 1521, there's alot happening in Jerusalem.
There was a man named Simon ofCyrene.
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Simon of Cyrene, Cyrene, whichis in North Africa.
Simon from North Africa wasminding his own business, had
come up to Jerusalem forPassover, thought it would be a
normal event.
We're going to go to Passover,we're going to provide our
offerings, and we're going tohead back to Cyrene in North
Africa.
That's what he thought.
And yet as he gets to Jerusalem,there's a lot of commotion in
(23:28):
town.
You can read about it in Markchapter 15.
There's a man who is carrying across through town, heading out
to a place called Golgotha.
And as that man is going toGolgotha, the crowd looks at
Simon the Sirene, who's justthere for Passover, and calls
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upon Simon to help Jesus carrythe cross.
And out of nowhere, Mark 15, 21,Mark says this that this is
Simon the Sirene, who has twosons, Alexander and Rufus.
And so if this is the sameRufus, within the church at
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Rome, just as you and I sit herenow, they can look around the
congregation, and there is a manamong them who can tell them the
stories that his father told himabout when his father helped
Jesus carry the cross toCalvary.
And Rufus might say somethinglike this I gotta tell you, I
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just believed the gospel, andlet me tell you why.
Because I can tell you thestories I grew up hearing about
my father telling me about thesplinters in the wood, about the
weight of the cross, about thesweat and the blood mixing
together, and I can tell youabout the weight of that cross
as we carried it to Calvary.
And Rufus might just say this: I've got nowhere else to go but (24:56):
undefined
to Jesus because I've just seentoo much and heard too much
about the sake of the gospel,because my dad's told me exactly
what it means to carry the crossof Jesus Christ.
These are just the stories amongthe church at Rome.
These are just the stories ofthe people as you would go to
(25:20):
church on a Sunday morning andyou'd show up at Prissa and
Aquila's home, you might hearthese kinds of stories.
From Herodian who works high up,from the family of Narcissus who
works so high up, from Rufus whosaid, My dad carried the cross.
You get these kinds of stories.
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Church family, we have the samestories in here.
You say, Taylor, no, we don't.
There's no one in here thattheir father helped Jesus carry
the cross.
Let me tell you.
Every story in this room ofsomeone who has come to know
Jesus Christ personally, don'tmiss this, is a story of someone
who has moved from death tolife.
(26:04):
I'm gonna tell you, if you wentto any cemetery in America today
and you were out there on yourown, and suddenly you were not
on your own, and everybody justgot up and started walking,
you'd have a story to tell.
In fact, you'd tell that allover the place.
Let me tell you, when you walkinto this room, you walk into a
place filled with people whoonce were dead but now are
(26:26):
alive.
That's an even stronger story ifyou think about it than my dad
helped carry the cross.
I'm not downplaying that in anyway.
But more than my dad carried thecross, my savior raised me to
life.
(26:48):
That's where I get caught up,and I've said this before when
people are tempted to say, my mytestimony's boring.
I've talked about this before,hadn't I?
My testimony, you know, ITaylor, I just I grew up in
church.
Uh, you know, I grew up inchurch.
I, you know, I wasn't doinganything like crazy, sinful out
in the world.
You know, I wasn't doing allthis.
I is my testimony, will it countfor anything?
(27:09):
No, your testimony is you weredead and now you're alive.
Your testimony is resurrection.
That's your story.
These are the stories that existin church.
Verse 14.
Asyncretus, Phlegon, Hermes,Patrobas, Hermas, and the
brothers who are with them.
Some of these are likely namesgiven to slaves or former
(27:33):
slaves.
Greek philologist Julia Neurusand his sister, and Olympus and
all the saints who are withthem, these others in the life
of the church.
We've got these 15 verses now ofall of these names that Paul is
greeting, that this is noteverybody in the church at Rome,
obviously, but Paul is greetingthese in the life of the church
(27:55):
at Rome.
And I want us to think aboutsomething for a second.
As you look at all these names,there's some things you get.
Number one, you get Jews and youget Gentiles working together,
loving each other, coming tochurch together.
You get men and you get women.
You get enslaved or formerslaves and you get those who are
free.
You get uh upper class andmiddle class and lower class and
(28:18):
everyone in between.
What you get here is really thefulfillment of one, God's
covenant with Abraham.
I will create a people, I willsend them out, I will bless
them, and they will bless thenations.
The nations will come in.
You get the fulfillment ofGalatians 3.28, that in Christ
there is no uh Jew, Gentile,man, woman, slave free.
(28:40):
You see that here.
You you get the uh fulfillmentof 80s and 90s sitcoms.
From 1982 to 1993 for 270episodes, the sitcom Cheers
aired, and you know the jingle,and I do too, that sometimes you
just want to go, what is it,where everybody knows your name.
(29:02):
I'll tell you, it's good andit's true on TV.
Let me tell you where it's evensweeter in the church.
That there is this place in theworld that exists at 200 West
Main Street, that when you walkin this room, you're not a
number, you're not a statistic,you're not just a body to sit on
(29:22):
a pew, you're a name.
You have a story.
You have gifts, God-given gifts,that you bring to the church.
This is the place where we knowyour name and you know ours.
And we want to even more andmore get to know your story and
you get to know ours.
This is what the church is.
(29:43):
And I just want to ask, why dowe go to church?
Because where else do you getthis?
Where else do you get this?
That every person in here, we'rewe're we're here voluntarily
actually.
Actually, we give of tithes andofferings.
In a sense, we're we we've gotskin in the game to be here.
(30:08):
But we want to.
Because there's just this placewhere, like we talked about from
Romans 14, we may thinkdifferently, we may have
different ideas, differentupbringings, but we just come
into this place and we'refamily.
And that's what the church is.
That's what the church was inRomans 16.
That's what First Baptist Churchof El Doredo is.
(30:29):
That's what the Church of JesusChrist is.
And so, why do we come tochurch?
Because we just want toexperience that.
This kind of family.
And so now I just want to closewith this.
What does it mean?
Really, I think in three ways.
What does it mean to be a partof the church?
Number one, it means this thatall hands are on deck.
All hands are on deck.
(30:49):
You think about the characters,the people in the church at Rome
that are named.
Again, I'll say it again, fromdifferent uh upbringings,
different walks of life, allcoming together, and they all
have purpose and meaning andreason to be there.
We all have gifts that we bringto the table here at this
church, and all hands on deck.
(31:09):
And I want you to know this notonly can we not do it without
you, we don't want to do itwithout you.
We are begging that we don'thave to do it without you.
Because we want to walk towardsJesus with you.
So this is the kind of placewhere all hands are on deck.
And whatever we have to do tomake much of Jesus, we're just
(31:32):
gonna do it.
And we're gonna do it together.
Number two, what does it mean tobe part of the church that all
are worthy of honor?
Upper class, middle class, lowerclass in Rome.
Priscilla and Aquila owned ahouse that could bring a whole
congregation in, and then therewere those who were enslaved
that that couldn't do much ofanything, and yet we are all
(31:54):
honored.
And every member of this churchis so worthy of honor.
Why?
Because you are a redeemed uhson or daughter of Jesus Christ,
you are a child of God, you haveso much honor and dignity, you
have so many gifts to offer tothe church, you are worthy of
(32:16):
honor.
I just think, and and again,yeah, you almost hate to tell uh
stories like this because Icould just go around the room
and just tell them all, butthere's just not time.
But as I just think about a fewpeople worthy of honor, and
there are many.
I think of Maggie Grace and andJosie Kate Williamson for just a
second.
Do you know they've they'vethey're entrepreneurs?
(32:39):
They've gone out on their ownand they've started a business.
And here's what the business is.
They released this just uh a fewweeks ago online.
They've got a business right nowthat uh, you know, uh your
pumpkins this time of year,they're starting to get gross.
Your pumpkins, they got youthrough Halloween, they're gonna
be beautiful for maybe a weeklonger, but Thanksgiving,
(32:59):
they've got to go, okay?
And they kind of get gross.
Uh these two girls, they'regonna come to your house and
they are gonna remove thosepumpkins uh from your front
porch, and all you have to do isgive a donation.
Look at this, to the globalmissions offering.
They've set up that business forthe sake of the global missions
offering.
They will come get your pumpkinsoff of your porch, and you and
(33:22):
you can just give them a littledonation for the global missions
offering, whatever amount.
I think of the Kennedys,Adeline, Elise, and maybe
Margaret's helping as well, butbut uh we got a loaf of bread
from them just yesterday, justtwo days ago.
They're baking bread right now,and in return, what are they
asking for?
Donations for the globalmissions offering.
(33:43):
I think of Connie Marsh, shedidn't ask me to say it, doesn't
want me to say it.
But just last week, twodifferent days, she had me come
down to the pool through, andwhen I say her car was full,
floor to ceiling, there wereboxes that uh we about had to
get the jaws of life to get themout because we couldn't we
couldn't get them out.
But but boxes full, why?
(34:04):
Because she thought about thekids at Yokum Primary and she
just made a Sams order.
And you know, Sam's they sendyou a lot of things.
And she just made a Sams order,and two days in a row, we went
down to the pool through and wejust got boxed after boxed out,
and right now that room up thereis so stocked up with goods.
These people are worthy ofhonor.
I think of just little things.
(34:26):
Did you know this?
That up until eight or ten yearsago, uh Bob Merkel used to still
climb up in the attic up thereto change every light bulb you
see.
And now I'll tell you this: Craig Bonzel is now his disciple (34:36):
undefined
that now goes up.
And Craig Bonzel now has theprivilege of going up there when
he sees one of these lights out.
You didn't know that happened,but there's people worthy of
honor among us.
Do you know there are first aidkits all around our church?
Do you know uh Elizabeth Prattthat every few weeks she goes
(34:57):
and checks the defibrillators?
I hear it because the alarm goesoff while I'm working on a
sermon or something, but uh thealarm goes off and she makes
sure those first aid kits arefull.
There's just people around hereworthy of honor.
And they're not seeking it.
Not a soul I just mentionedemailed me, said, Taylor, can
you mention this?
(35:18):
No, no, no.
I just can't wait to mentionthese things.
Because it's just who our peopleare.
It's the kind of people, andthey're all over this room that
when you're writing a letter,you just want to send a
greeting.
You just want to say, thinkabout so-and-so, beloved in the
Lord.
Think about delicate and dainty,these workers in the Lord, think
(35:41):
about these servants of thechurch.
Think about these you wouldn'texpect, you would have never
known, but they're just makingmuch of Jesus.
All hands on deck, all worthy ofhonor.
And lastly, is this I forgotthere's one more.
I was closing the Bible.
All welcomed as family.
(36:04):
All welcomed as family.
Verse 16.
We didn't cover it, but here itis.
Greet one another with a holykiss.
All the churches of Christ greetyou.
How literally do we take that?
I hope not very.
(36:40):
That when we come into thisplace on a Sunday morning, it's
more than just a church service.
What it is, is a family reunion.
We had a family reunion lastSunday.
We all went our different waysto be on mission for Christ
Jesus, and now there's a familyreunion going on right now.
(37:02):
Welcome one another as family.
You're home, you're here, you'reone of us, you are welcome.
If you don't have a church homethis morning and you want to
come be a part of this churchfamily, I want you to know you
will be welcomed as family.
(37:23):
If you don't know Jesus Christpersonally, and this morning you
say, I want to know that I knowthat he died for me, that he
forgives my sins, you can cometo know Christ even now, and you
will be welcomed as family.
Because that's what we are.
That's what the church at Romedelighted to be, the family of
(37:46):
God.
That's what the first Baptist ElDoredo delights to be, the
family of God, but even morethan us.
That's what the Church of JesusChrist delights to be, the
family of God.
Would you pray with me?
Lord Jesus.
I thank you so much for thefamily.
(38:07):
I thank you for the familyreunion that takes place every
week.
Every week in this room, I thankyou for the gifts, the God-given
gifts and ability that you bringto this church family.
Thank you for the privilege ofus getting to come together and
make much of your name.
(38:28):
Lord, even now, if there'ssomeone that wants to come be a
part of this family, if there'ssomeone that wants to know Jesus
for the first time, someone thatwants to be baptized and let the
world know that they know Jesus,someone that wants to uh just
have a pastor pray over them.
Lord, whatever it may be, Lord,we give this time to you.
We pray this in Christ's name.
(38:48):
Amen.
Would you stand?
We'll worship together, and I'llbe down front as we do.
Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon
Podcast.
My name is Taylor Guerrera and Ihave the privilege of being the
pastor here at First Baptist,and I want to thank you for
listening into our sermon thisweek.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist ElDoredo.
(00:25):
Would you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
Man, yes, have a seat.
And you can open with me toRomans chapter 16.
Romans 16, and there are 16chapters in Romans, so we have
almost finished as we've walkedthrough the book of Romans
(00:46):
throughout the year.
Romans 16 this morning will bein verses 1 through 16.
I would like to read them now.
Romans 16, verses 1 through 16.
I commend to you our sisterPhoebe, a servant of the church
at Sincrea, that you may welcomeher in the Lord in a way worthy
of the saints, and help her inwhatever she may need from you,
(01:09):
for she has been a patron ofmany and of myself as well.
Greet Prissa and Aquila, myfellow workers in Christ Jesus,
who risk their necks for mylife, and whom not only I give
thanks, but all the churches ofthe Gentiles give thanks as
well.
Greet also the church in theirhouse.
Greet my beloved Epinatus, whowas the first convert to Christ
(01:33):
in Asia.
Greet Mary, who has worked hardfor you.
Greet Andronicus and Junior, mykinsmen and my fellow prisoners.
They are well known to theapostles, and they were in
Christ before me.
Greet Ampelatus, my beloved inthe Lord, greet Urbanus and our
fellow worker in Christ, and mybeloved Stachis.
(01:55):
Greet Apellus, who is approvedin Christ, greet those who
belong to the family ofAristobulus.
Greet my kinsmen Herodian.
Greet those in the Lord whobelong to the family of
Narcissus.
Greet those workers in the Lord,Triphina and Triphosa.
Greet the beloved Persis, whohas worked hard in the Lord.
Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord,also his mother, who has been a
(02:18):
mother to me as well.
Greet Asyncretus, Phlegon,Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and
the brothers who are with them.
Greet Philologus, Julius,Narius, and his sister, and
Olympus, and all the saints whoare with them, greet one another
with a holy kiss.
All the churches of Christ greetyou.
(02:40):
Pray with me.
Lord Jesus, we do thank you forthis morning.
We thank you for your word.
We thank you for baptisms.
We've already seen a picture ofyour gospel through these
baptisms this morning.
We've worshiped you throughsong.
Now let us worship you throughthe hearing and reading of your
word, Lord.
Let us leave transformed,knowing that the church is
(03:02):
beautiful.
And we thank you for it.
In Christ's name.
Amen.
I want to ask this question.
Why do we come to church?
I mean that literally.
Why do we show up here everysingle Sunday morning?
I don't know if I'm allowed toask that question, but I'm going
to ask it anyway.
Why do we come to church?
(03:23):
Because if you were honest withyourself, and maybe there are
the super saved among us whohave never had this thought, but
maybe you've had this thoughtbefore that for folks that
don't, you know, are not in thehabit of coming to church on
Sunday morning, do they justkind of get two Saturdays on
their weekend?
You've asked that, haven't you?
(03:45):
Is that what it's like to notget ready on Sunday morning and
come to this building?
Is that what it's like?
Kind of weird, kind ofdifferent.
And uh let's let's confess thatdoes it sound okay?
I don't know.
Why do we come to church?
Especially now in 2025 when wethink about it like this.
(04:05):
I can turn on a podcast anytimethis week.
I can go to HealthWorks onTuesday afternoon, and while I'm
working out, just put on apodcast, and I can probably hear
a preacher preaching ten statesaway that's probably much a
better preacher than the one atFirst Baptist Church El Dorado.
I can probably hear a churchservice online that maybe has
(04:28):
music that fits my ownpreferences perfectly or your
own preferences perfectly.
Uh I I can I can kind ofmanipulate a service online to
be my own exactly what I want.
So why do I need to come tochurch?
Why do we meet together in thisbuilding week in and week out?
Now, there's many reasons forthat, don't you worry.
(04:48):
There's many good theologicalreasons.
Number one, Christ died for thechurch.
Christ loves the church.
Number two, we are commanded tocome.
Hebrews 10, 25, do not neglectthe assembly of the saints.
Do not neglect this.
But I believe in Romans 16, Paulgives us an even further reason
this morning of why the churchis so important, why you are so
(05:12):
important, why we are soimportant.
Now, we're gonna walk through,as you already heard, a lot of
names this morning.
I don't want it to sound like alecture, and it won't be a
lecture, but we're gonna walkthrough these names, and I think
you're gonna be a little moreexcited than you thought you'd
be as we read some of thesenames.
Romans 16:1.
First, I commend to you oursister Phoebe.
(05:37):
First of all, let's talk aboutPhoebe.
Who is Phoebe?
Well, she was the individualtasked with delivering the
letter.
So when Paul wrote this letterto the church at Rome, he needed
someone that he trusted at avery high level.
In this day, you couldn't justhop online and shoot this in an
(05:58):
email over to the church atRome.
You needed someone to deliverthe letter.
Now, I want to put a map on thescreen.
I got a map here with twodestinations.
On the right is Corinth, fromwhich Paul wrote Rome.
Phoebe is a leader in the churchat Sancria, which is just a few
miles outside of Corinth, thereon the right.
(06:20):
And so Paul trusted this womanPhoebe to get this letter from
Corinth all the way to Rome.
You're either crossing somewater, you're taking a long way
around, but somehow, Phoebe, getthis letter to the church that
exists in Rome.
And Phoebe was Paul's trustedsource to do this.
And so Paul gave Phoebe thistask, and it says this she is a
(06:43):
servant of the church atSancria.
This word servant of the church,it's the word servant diaconos,
where we get the word deacon.
So she's a servant of thechurch.
Now, is Paul here referring tothe office of deacon?
I'll tell you, for 2,000 years,many have been wondering that
question.
What we know at minimum is whatPaul is saying here, is that
(07:04):
Phoebe is at a very high level aservant and even a leader in the
church that is in St.
Crea.
She has a big role to play inthe church.
She has a big role to play inwhat Paul is up to in getting
word to Romans in all that we'veread through these 16 chapters.
She is a servant of the church.
(07:25):
Even further, he says, welcomeher in the Lord in a way that is
worthy of the saints.
Bring her in, because she's beena helper of me.
She will be a helper of you.
I just think about when Paulneeded his best and brightest to
get the most important letter heever wrote, these 16 chapters of
this letter to Rome.
(07:46):
What does he say?
Send it with my servant Phoebe.
I think about the dignity thatexists for Phoebe in the life of
the church, the leadership thatexists.
I can't help but think of themany Phoebes that you have had
in your life that you've had inyour upbringing in church.
If you grew up in church, Ican't help but be but think
(08:08):
about the Phoebes that existeven now in First Baptist Church
of El Doredo.
I think about the Phoebes thatexisted in my upbringing.
And I've told stories beforeabout the Phoebe that led me to
the Lord in first grade and thePhoebes all along the way that
helped grow me in the faith.
And you have those very ones inyour life as well.
Because what's interesting aboutPhoebe is that not only did she
(08:30):
deliver the letter, butoftentimes it was understood
that the one who delivers theletter not only just drops it
off like the mailman ormalewoman, uh, but even more
than that, this person would betasked with actually teaching a
little more about what thisletter means.
In fact, Phoebe likely wouldhave been the first commentary
(08:53):
on the book of Romans.
Because as this letter wasdelivered, Phoebe would kind of
send Paul's words or ideas.
And if the church wondered,well, what did Paul mean in this
moment, Phoebe would be theteacher to help figure this out.
Let me tell you exactly whatPaul is getting at.
(09:19):
Greet Prissa and Aquila, myfellow workers in Christ Jesus.
First of all, Prissa and Aquila.
This is a husband and wifeministry team.
It's a pretty neat story.
If you read Acts chapter 18 and19, you'll see these names
again.
They're called Priscilla andAquila.
(09:41):
You may heard those names.
Priscilla and Aquila.
What we know of them is in A.D.
47, Claudius expelled all theJews from Rome, and so Priscilla
and Aquila had to leave Rome.
They were Jews.
And so they find themselves inCorinth, and they take
leadership roles in the churchat Corinth, and they work hard
there for the sake of thegospel.
(10:03):
And then they go with Paul toEphesus and do great work in the
church at Ephesus.
But this team is just sounbelievable.
We read about it in Acts 18 and19.
Once again in Acts 19, whenApollos, who was this great
Jewish teacher, comes to knowthe Lord personally through the
(10:24):
person and work of Jesus Christ,who is tasked with teaching
Apollos about his newfoundfaith.
The church says, Priscilla andAquila, can you train up Apollos
in the ways of Jesus Christ?
That's who is tasked with thisjob.
These are leaders in the life ofthe church.
They aided Paul greatly, both inCorinth and Ephesus, and now in
(10:48):
Rome.
And even says, Paul says thatthese two risked their necks,
quite literally, they riskedtheir lives for my sake.
We don't exactly know theaccount Paul was referring to.
It could have been in Actschapter 19, the riot that took
place in Ephesus.
It could be that Priscilla andAquila played a very large role
in helping getting Paul out ofthat.
(11:09):
Whatever it was, we know thatthey did much for Paul's
ministry.
But we also see this at thebeginning of verse 5: greet also
the church in their house.
What we see in this moment isthat Priscilla and Aquila also
hosted a congregation in theirhome.
As we think about the church atRome, we don't think about the
(11:31):
idea of a room like this whereevery Christian in Rome would
gather at one time.
You really think more in termsof house churches scattered
throughout the town.
And it says that Priscilla andAquila, they hosted one of these
house churches.
So there was a congregation thatmet in their home.
What that tells me is that theywere had at least a level of
(11:52):
affluence to be able to welcomea congregation into their home.
It's clear that they were upperclass, which that is important.
Because within Romans 16, whatwe're going to see is that
you've got uh upper class,people of great affluence,
people that even worked withinthe empire under the emperor,
all the way down to you even gotuh slaves and former slaves.
(12:15):
Everyone from every demographicin the life of the church.
Now, this is Priscilla andAquila, and then we continue.
Greet my beloved Epinatus, whowas the first convert to Christ
in Asia.
Epinatus, we imagine, is likelyfrom Ephesus, following right
behind Priscilla and Aquila.
(12:37):
So likely some carryover as hethinks about Priscilla and
Aquila's ministry.
So the first convert in Asia,you think about how Christ Jesus
has given the Great Commission,called the gospel to go forward,
go make disciples among allnations, Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria, the ends of the earth.
The gospel goes forward.
And who's the first convert inAsia?
This man in Ephesus.
(12:59):
Here he is, Epinatus.
Just right here in the life ofthe church at Rome, they can
look around at the man who firstcame to know Christ in Asia.
What a story he had to tell.
But what I love about this is itsays he's the first convert.
That word really is firstfruits.
He's the first fruits of Christin Asia.
(13:22):
What that tells me is that ifthere are first fruits, then
there are obviously more fruits.
And so he was the first, butmany more have come to Christ in
Asia.
Verse 6, greet Mary who hasworked hard for you.
There are obviously multipleMarys throughout the Gospels and
within the New Testament.
It's unlikely that this is oneof those Marys, but this is
(13:44):
another Mary, it's a commonname, who has worked very hard
for the church at Rome.
Worked very hard for the sake ofthe gospel.
And let us say unapologetically,once again, that women made a
massive impact in the leadershipand the life of the church at
Rome.
In fact, women make a massiveimpact in leadership and life of
any church that exists.
(14:05):
They play a massive role in thechurch of Jesus Christ.
We continue.
Verse 7.
Greet Andronicus and Junior, mykinsmen and my fellow prisoners.
They are well known to theapostles, and they were in
Christ before me.
Here's another husband and wifeministry team, Andronicus and
(14:27):
Junior.
First of all, we see this.
They are my kinsmen, so they tooare Jews.
Not only that, they are myfellow prisoners.
Now we don't know if that meansfrom Paul that they were
imprisoned at the same time andsame place as Paul.
He could just be meaning this,that they too have been
imprisoned for the sake ofChrist.
(14:48):
No matter what he means, we knowthis: that Andronicus and Junior
are so sold out for the sake ofthe gospel that they are ready
and willing to go to prison forthe sake of the name of Christ.
They have been imprisoned fortheir work in Christ.
It says this they are well knownto the apostles.
That among the apostles, as wethink about the eleven apostles
(15:11):
and Paul, these eyewitnesses ofJesus Christ, that they know
well of the ministry and work ofAndronicus and Junior.
Not only that, Paul says this,that they were in Christ before
me.
Now think about this.
Andronicus and Junior, they areJews.
They came to know Christ beforePaul came to know Christ.
(15:34):
And so when Andronicus andJunior, once they came to know
Christ, it very well may be thecase that they knew exactly who
Paul was, or should we say, whoSaul was.
They knew the threat thatexisted from Saul.
They knew that Saul wantednothing more than to hunt them,
or at least people like themdown, these Jews who, in Paul's
(15:58):
mind, had sold out and startedto follow Christ.
Because Paul formerly was thegreatest enemy of the church.
And yet now, this great enemy,these two that were at odds, at
least on Paul's end, looking atAndronicus and Junior, now they
are being lifted up by Paul.
They are working together forthe sake of the gospel.
Only the gospel message can dothat.
(16:20):
Only the gospel can turn enemiesinto friends by the blood of
Jesus Christ.
Verse 8.
Greet Ampliatus, my beloved inthe Lord.
Verse 9, greet Urbanus, ourfellow worker in Christ, and my
beloved Stachis.
So you've got these three (16:39):
my beloved, my worker, my beloved.
We continue.
Greet Apellus, who is approvedin Christ.
I love that phrase, and we don'tknow much about Apellus, but we
know this.
He is approved.
That phrase really meaning this.
He has shown himself approved.
He has shown himself faithful.
(16:59):
We don't know Apellus' story,but we do know this.
He has gone through the fire andhe has come out the other side
and proven once and for all thathe is dedicated to the cause of
Christ.
Greet Apellus.
He's approved in Christ Jesus.
Would it be said of us too?
Greet those who belong to thefamily of Aristobulus.
(17:20):
Maybe two options here.
Number one, Aristobulus was notyet a believer, or Aristobulus
has passed away, and yet hisfamily is still in the church.
Greet the family of Aristobulus.
Greet my kinsman, verse 11,Herodian.
This is interesting.
This name Herodian likelyimplies that this individual had
(17:42):
a high up position in the houseof Herod.
And so as you think about thelevels of society that the
Christian church has somewhatinfiltrated all the way up to
Herod, we're going to seeanother one in just a second as
we look at this.
Greet those in the Lord whobelong to the family of
Narcissus.
(18:02):
Once again, likely someone whohas passed away, but greet their
family.
Who is Narcissus?
We can't say for sure, but therewas a very well-known Narcissus
who, under the reign ofClaudius, was really the lead
secretary of Claudius.
Basically, anything thathappened in the empire, it went
(18:24):
through Narcissus to get toClaudius.
You think way back in Egypt, aswe talk about Pharaoh, and
remember when Joseph rises up tosecond in command?
This is basically the positionNarcissus was in.
High up in the empire of Rome.
Now, when Claudius dies in A.D.
54, Nero comes to town and hecomes to reign, and to put it
(18:48):
nicely, Narcissus is permanentlyremoved from his position or any
position, but his family stillexists in the church at Rome.
And I just can't help but think,once again, Herodian and now the
family of Narcissus, that notonly is Christianity in Rome in
(19:10):
this day at this grassrootslevel of affecting even the
lower class and middle class,even all the way up within the
empire, within the house ofClaudius, within the house of
Herod, within the house of Nero.
It is almost like you can feelthis covert secret agent,
(19:33):
Christianity, on the move inRome, and it's happening, and
it's here, and God's doing agreat work.
Verse 12.
Greet those workers in the Lord,Triphina and Triphosa.
Greet the beloved Persis who hasworked hard in the Lord.
Don't you love Trifina andTriphosa?
(19:55):
Likely Trifina and Triphosa aresisters.
Their names mean this, and Ilove it.
If we were to translate them tosound similar in the English, we
could say it like this (20:07):
delicate and dainty.
That's their names.
These two sisters.
Sisters, delicate and dainty.
And yet, what does Paul sayabout them?
They are workers in the Lord.
That you may call them delicateand dainty, but don't mix that
for, don't mistake for who theyreally are.
(20:27):
They are workers in the Lord.
I would argue we have some amongus, some faithful women in our
own congregation, and maybe theworld calls them delicate and
dainty, but God calls them greatworkers in the Lord.
(20:58):
I think you're gonna love tohear a little bit more about who
Rufus is.
You know, I love hearing storiesfrom every one of you.
I love hearing stories from yourlife, from your upbringing.
Uh today of all days, abeautiful day for it.
We've got these flowers downhere in memory of Marvin Cole,
and I think this week would havebeen his 99th birthday, and Miss
(21:22):
Gay and Miss Sheen and theirhusbands are with us.
And I think about just a yearago sitting in Mr.
Marvin's living room hearing hisstories, and I think about just
sitting with him, and he grew upin North Louisiana, and he told
me stories, and this is alltrue, and it just blows me away
that he was on the school busthe day that just like two or
(21:42):
three miles from the bus uhwhere Bonnie and Clyde were was
captured.
Like the day they got Bonnie andClyde, uh, Mr.
Marvin was on the school bus.
His sister was at school, andthese are just stories they've
got.
Like I tell you stories about,you know, what I did, you know,
for lunch last week.
Mr.
Marvin tells you about Bonnieand Clyde.
(22:03):
These are the stories they have.
But even Mr.
Marvin and even many of youamong us who have these stories,
I think even Mr.
Marvin would tell you, even mystories he might say would fall
short of the story Rufus has totell.
Who is Rufus?
His name is mentioned one othertime in the New Testament in
(22:24):
Mark 15, 21.
And it's fascinating that it'sin the Gospel of Mark because
most believe Mark wrote hisgospel from Rome.
Most believe that Mark'soriginal audience for his gospel
was the Christians in Rome.
(22:45):
And so it's fascinating thatMark inserts two names into his
story that are largelyunnecessary unless you know
these two individuals.
And so in Mark 1521, there's alot happening in Jerusalem.
There was a man named Simon ofCyrene.
(23:06):
Simon of Cyrene, Cyrene, whichis in North Africa.
Simon from North Africa wasminding his own business, had
come up to Jerusalem forPassover, thought it would be a
normal event.
We're going to go to Passover,we're going to provide our
offerings, and we're going tohead back to Cyrene in North
Africa.
That's what he thought.
And yet as he gets to Jerusalem,there's a lot of commotion in
(23:28):
town.
You can read about it in Markchapter 15.
There's a man who is carrying across through town, heading out
to a place called Golgotha.
And as that man is going toGolgotha, the crowd looks at
Simon the Sirene, who's justthere for Passover, and calls
(23:49):
upon Simon to help Jesus carrythe cross.
And out of nowhere, Mark 15, 21,Mark says this that this is
Simon the Sirene, who has twosons, Alexander and Rufus.
And so if this is the sameRufus, within the church at
(24:14):
Rome, just as you and I sit herenow, they can look around the
congregation, and there is a manamong them who can tell them the
stories that his father told himabout when his father helped
Jesus carry the cross toCalvary.
And Rufus might say somethinglike this I gotta tell you, I
(24:36):
just believed the gospel, andlet me tell you why.
Because I can tell you thestories I grew up hearing about
my father telling me about thesplinters in the wood, about the
weight of the cross, about thesweat and the blood mixing
together, and I can tell youabout the weight of that cross
as we carried it to Calvary.
And Rufus might just say this: I've got nowhere else to go but (24:56):
undefined
to Jesus because I've just seentoo much and heard too much
about the sake of the gospel,because my dad's told me exactly
what it means to carry the crossof Jesus Christ.
These are just the stories amongthe church at Rome.
These are just the stories ofthe people as you would go to
(25:20):
church on a Sunday morning andyou'd show up at Prissa and
Aquila's home, you might hearthese kinds of stories.
From Herodian who works high up,from the family of Narcissus who
works so high up, from Rufus whosaid, My dad carried the cross.
You get these kinds of stories.
(25:40):
Church family, we have the samestories in here.
You say, Taylor, no, we don't.
There's no one in here thattheir father helped Jesus carry
the cross.
Let me tell you.
Every story in this room ofsomeone who has come to know
Jesus Christ personally, don'tmiss this, is a story of someone
who has moved from death tolife.
(26:04):
I'm gonna tell you, if you wentto any cemetery in America today
and you were out there on yourown, and suddenly you were not
on your own, and everybody justgot up and started walking,
you'd have a story to tell.
In fact, you'd tell that allover the place.
Let me tell you, when you walkinto this room, you walk into a
place filled with people whoonce were dead but now are
(26:26):
alive.
That's an even stronger story ifyou think about it than my dad
helped carry the cross.
I'm not downplaying that in anyway.
But more than my dad carried thecross, my savior raised me to
life.
(26:48):
That's where I get caught up,and I've said this before when
people are tempted to say, my mytestimony's boring.
I've talked about this before,hadn't I?
My testimony, you know, ITaylor, I just I grew up in
church.
Uh, you know, I grew up inchurch.
I, you know, I wasn't doinganything like crazy, sinful out
in the world.
You know, I wasn't doing allthis.
I is my testimony, will it countfor anything?
(27:09):
No, your testimony is you weredead and now you're alive.
Your testimony is resurrection.
That's your story.
These are the stories that existin church.
Verse 14.
Asyncretus, Phlegon, Hermes,Patrobas, Hermas, and the
brothers who are with them.
Some of these are likely namesgiven to slaves or former
(27:33):
slaves.
Greek philologist Julia Neurusand his sister, and Olympus and
all the saints who are withthem, these others in the life
of the church.
We've got these 15 verses now ofall of these names that Paul is
greeting, that this is noteverybody in the church at Rome,
obviously, but Paul is greetingthese in the life of the church
(27:55):
at Rome.
And I want us to think aboutsomething for a second.
As you look at all these names,there's some things you get.
Number one, you get Jews and youget Gentiles working together,
loving each other, coming tochurch together.
You get men and you get women.
You get enslaved or formerslaves and you get those who are
free.
You get uh upper class andmiddle class and lower class and
(28:18):
everyone in between.
What you get here is really thefulfillment of one, God's
covenant with Abraham.
I will create a people, I willsend them out, I will bless
them, and they will bless thenations.
The nations will come in.
You get the fulfillment ofGalatians 3.28, that in Christ
there is no uh Jew, Gentile,man, woman, slave free.
(28:40):
You see that here.
You you get the uh fulfillmentof 80s and 90s sitcoms.
From 1982 to 1993 for 270episodes, the sitcom Cheers
aired, and you know the jingle,and I do too, that sometimes you
just want to go, what is it,where everybody knows your name.
(29:02):
I'll tell you, it's good andit's true on TV.
Let me tell you where it's evensweeter in the church.
That there is this place in theworld that exists at 200 West
Main Street, that when you walkin this room, you're not a
number, you're not a statistic,you're not just a body to sit on
(29:22):
a pew, you're a name.
You have a story.
You have gifts, God-given gifts,that you bring to the church.
This is the place where we knowyour name and you know ours.
And we want to even more andmore get to know your story and
you get to know ours.
This is what the church is.
(29:43):
And I just want to ask, why dowe go to church?
Because where else do you getthis?
Where else do you get this?
That every person in here, we'rewe're we're here voluntarily
actually.
Actually, we give of tithes andofferings.
In a sense, we're we we've gotskin in the game to be here.
(30:08):
But we want to.
Because there's just this placewhere, like we talked about from
Romans 14, we may thinkdifferently, we may have
different ideas, differentupbringings, but we just come
into this place and we'refamily.
And that's what the church is.
That's what the church was inRomans 16.
That's what First Baptist Churchof El Doredo is.
(30:29):
That's what the Church of JesusChrist is.
And so, why do we come tochurch?
Because we just want toexperience that.
This kind of family.
And so now I just want to closewith this.
What does it mean?
Really, I think in three ways.
What does it mean to be a partof the church?
Number one, it means this thatall hands are on deck.
All hands are on deck.
(30:49):
You think about the characters,the people in the church at Rome
that are named.
Again, I'll say it again, fromdifferent uh upbringings,
different walks of life, allcoming together, and they all
have purpose and meaning andreason to be there.
We all have gifts that we bringto the table here at this
church, and all hands on deck.
(31:09):
And I want you to know this notonly can we not do it without
you, we don't want to do itwithout you.
We are begging that we don'thave to do it without you.
Because we want to walk towardsJesus with you.
So this is the kind of placewhere all hands are on deck.
And whatever we have to do tomake much of Jesus, we're just
(31:32):
gonna do it.
And we're gonna do it together.
Number two, what does it mean tobe part of the church that all
are worthy of honor?
Upper class, middle class, lowerclass in Rome.
Priscilla and Aquila owned ahouse that could bring a whole
congregation in, and then therewere those who were enslaved
that that couldn't do much ofanything, and yet we are all
(31:54):
honored.
And every member of this churchis so worthy of honor.
Why?
Because you are a redeemed uhson or daughter of Jesus Christ,
you are a child of God, you haveso much honor and dignity, you
have so many gifts to offer tothe church, you are worthy of
(32:16):
honor.
I just think, and and again,yeah, you almost hate to tell uh
stories like this because Icould just go around the room
and just tell them all, butthere's just not time.
But as I just think about a fewpeople worthy of honor, and
there are many.
I think of Maggie Grace and andJosie Kate Williamson for just a
second.
Do you know they've they'vethey're entrepreneurs?
(32:39):
They've gone out on their ownand they've started a business.
And here's what the business is.
They released this just uh a fewweeks ago online.
They've got a business right nowthat uh, you know, uh your
pumpkins this time of year,they're starting to get gross.
Your pumpkins, they got youthrough Halloween, they're gonna
be beautiful for maybe a weeklonger, but Thanksgiving,
(32:59):
they've got to go, okay?
And they kind of get gross.
Uh these two girls, they'regonna come to your house and
they are gonna remove thosepumpkins uh from your front
porch, and all you have to do isgive a donation.
Look at this, to the globalmissions offering.
They've set up that business forthe sake of the global missions
offering.
They will come get your pumpkinsoff of your porch, and you and
(33:22):
you can just give them a littledonation for the global missions
offering, whatever amount.
I think of the Kennedys,Adeline, Elise, and maybe
Margaret's helping as well, butbut uh we got a loaf of bread
from them just yesterday, justtwo days ago.
They're baking bread right now,and in return, what are they
asking for?
Donations for the globalmissions offering.
(33:43):
I think of Connie Marsh, shedidn't ask me to say it, doesn't
want me to say it.
But just last week, twodifferent days, she had me come
down to the pool through, andwhen I say her car was full,
floor to ceiling, there wereboxes that uh we about had to
get the jaws of life to get themout because we couldn't we
couldn't get them out.
But but boxes full, why?
(34:04):
Because she thought about thekids at Yokum Primary and she
just made a Sams order.
And you know, Sam's they sendyou a lot of things.
And she just made a Sams order,and two days in a row, we went
down to the pool through and wejust got boxed after boxed out,
and right now that room up thereis so stocked up with goods.
These people are worthy ofhonor.
I think of just little things.
(34:26):
Did you know this?
That up until eight or ten yearsago, uh Bob Merkel used to still
climb up in the attic up thereto change every light bulb you
see.
And now I'll tell you this: Craig Bonzel is now his disciple (34:36):
undefined
that now goes up.
And Craig Bonzel now has theprivilege of going up there when
he sees one of these lights out.
You didn't know that happened,but there's people worthy of
honor among us.
Do you know there are first aidkits all around our church?
Do you know uh Elizabeth Prattthat every few weeks she goes
(34:57):
and checks the defibrillators?
I hear it because the alarm goesoff while I'm working on a
sermon or something, but uh thealarm goes off and she makes
sure those first aid kits arefull.
There's just people around hereworthy of honor.
And they're not seeking it.
Not a soul I just mentionedemailed me, said, Taylor, can
you mention this?
(35:18):
No, no, no.
I just can't wait to mentionthese things.
Because it's just who our peopleare.
It's the kind of people, andthey're all over this room that
when you're writing a letter,you just want to send a
greeting.
You just want to say, thinkabout so-and-so, beloved in the
Lord.
Think about delicate and dainty,these workers in the Lord, think
(35:41):
about these servants of thechurch.
Think about these you wouldn'texpect, you would have never
known, but they're just makingmuch of Jesus.
All hands on deck, all worthy ofhonor.
And lastly, is this I forgotthere's one more.
I was closing the Bible.
All welcomed as family.
(36:04):
All welcomed as family.
Verse 16.
We didn't cover it, but here itis.
Greet one another with a holykiss.
All the churches of Christ greetyou.
How literally do we take that?
I hope not very.
(36:40):
That when we come into thisplace on a Sunday morning, it's
more than just a church service.
What it is, is a family reunion.
We had a family reunion lastSunday.
We all went our different waysto be on mission for Christ
Jesus, and now there's a familyreunion going on right now.
(37:02):
Welcome one another as family.
You're home, you're here, you'reone of us, you are welcome.
If you don't have a church homethis morning and you want to
come be a part of this churchfamily, I want you to know you
will be welcomed as family.
(37:23):
If you don't know Jesus Christpersonally, and this morning you
say, I want to know that I knowthat he died for me, that he
forgives my sins, you can cometo know Christ even now, and you
will be welcomed as family.
Because that's what we are.
That's what the church at Romedelighted to be, the family of
(37:46):
God.
That's what the first Baptist ElDoredo delights to be, the
family of God, but even morethan us.
That's what the Church of JesusChrist delights to be, the
family of God.
Would you pray with me?
Lord Jesus.
I thank you so much for thefamily.
(38:07):
I thank you for the familyreunion that takes place every
week.
Every week in this room, I thankyou for the gifts, the God-given
gifts and ability that you bringto this church family.
Thank you for the privilege ofus getting to come together and
make much of your name.
(38:28):
Lord, even now, if there'ssomeone that wants to come be a
part of this family, if there'ssomeone that wants to know Jesus
for the first time, someone thatwants to be baptized and let the
world know that they know Jesus,someone that wants to uh just
have a pastor pray over them.
Lord, whatever it may be, Lord,we give this time to you.
We pray this in Christ's name.
(38:48):
Amen.
Would you stand?
We'll worship together, and I'llbe down front as we do.
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