Tychicus: A Faithful Servant

1. By all accounts, Edward Kimball was really an NORMAL MAN.

a. He worked a normal job. Attended a normal church.

b. He even faithfully taught a normal Bible study class.

One day a young man named Dwight visited his class. It was clear Dwight didn’t know the Bible. One Saturday as Ed was preparing his Sunday school lesson, the Lord put a burden on his heart to visit the shoe store where Dwight worked and share the gospel with that young man.

That day a Boston shoe clerk to surrendered his life to Jesus. The clerk, Dwight L. Moody, eventually became an evangelist.

In England in 1879, DL Moody awakened an evangelistic zeal in the heart of Fredrick B. Meyer, pastor of a small church. F. B. Meyer, preaching to an American college campus, brought to Christ a student named J. Wilbur Chapman.

Chapman, engaged in YMCA work, employed a former baseball player, Billy Sunday, to do evangelistic work. Billy Sunday held a revival in Charlotte, N.C. A group of local men were so enthusiastic afterward that they planned another evangelistic campaign, bringing Mordecai Hamm to town to preach.

During Hamm’s revival, a young man named Billy Graham heard the gospel and yielded his life to Christ. YOU JUST NEVER KNOW!

NOTE: Oh how important are the Edward Kimballs of this world…

· Important & significant men… the vital & trustworthy women

· Without the Edward Kimballs… Without YOU!

· SO MANY would not hear the wonderful Words of God!

NOW: We hear often about the Dwight L. Moody’s, the Billy Sunday’s, the Billy Grahams… but Edward Kimballs?

· WELL they faithfully plug away BEHIND the SCENES & OUT of the SPOTLIGHT.

· There are millions of them… AND they get little attention.

BUT IF YOU ASKED THEM… THEY say they like it that way.

· While attention is turned to the GREAT EVANGELIST.

· Time is spent focused on the great MEGA-CHURCH Pastor.

· Magazine covers reserved for the great MUSICAL ARTIST.

· The faithful servant behind the scenes knows that he is the fuel of the church.

· CHURCHES are FILLED & FUELED

· BY the many who are faithful, those that can be counted on, and those that fight the good fight… BEHIND THE SCENES!

· FILLED & FUELED by The Unsung Volunteers… diaper changers, prayer warriors, chair stackers, phone callers, sign keepers…

· The workers… the soldiers… the PRIVATES!

· But Pastor Ed, I don’t want to be a PRIVATE! Just a private?

· I want to be a General with the stars and the fancy uniform and the ATTENTION and the POWER… AHH.. I’m A GENERAL!

General Eisenhower once rebuked one of his own Generals for referring to a soldier as "just a Private." He reminded him that the Army could function better without its Generals than it could without its foot soldiers. "If this war is won," he said, "it will be won by Privates."

AND AS the spiritual battle for the souls of men is won, it will be won by the privates, the servants… the faithful…

You see Satan looks at you, sizes you up, and whispers in your ear…

· You’re nobody. You don’t make a difference. If you never came back to church they would never miss you!

· They never cared anyway… That Calvary Chapel!!!

· That group of unkind, unfriendly, unwelcoming people.

· AND THEY CALL THEMSELVES BELIEVERS.

BUT It’s NOT TRUE… This fellowship (our church) is full of some of the KINDEST, FRIENDLIEST, and WELCOMING people I’ve ever met.

· You… and you… and you… all around this room are sinners saved by grace, growing more and more like Jesus!

We call our time together on Sundays a CHURCH SERVICE.

· Not a CELEBRATION GATHERING, or a HALLELUJAH HO-DOWN.

· It’s a CHURCH SERVICE and it does REQUIRE SERVICE.

· Tons of people doing tons of things for the glory of God!

Occasionally I’ll receive a phone call or an email from a dear person who left our church & It usually goes this way…

· I don’t go to Calvary anymore. You probably don’t even know who I am anyway. You guys are so unfriendly there.

· Nobody did this, and nobody said that.

· And this other church down the street… well they know what they’re doing so I’m going there.

You see if you come to Calvary Chapel and hang out for a few months, receive the Word, grab a few refreshments and then bolt out the door… it would be easy to NOT KNOW YOU.

· There is not a lot of interaction during the worship or Bible study because our main interaction is with Jesus Christ.

· It’s a time we reserve to elevate & exalt Him through worship.

· But if you do the same thing, & instead of bolting out the door, you are the last one to bolt the door after everyone’s gone.