06/14/2026
“But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going to you of his own accord. With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. And not only that, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us, for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our good will. We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us, for we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of man. And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men.” ~ 2 Corinthians 8:16-24 ESV
Yesterday morning about 8:15 our espresso grinder went down. If you’ve ever been by on a Saturday morning you know how busy it is. People lined up inside. Cars lined up in the drive thru. After trying all the usual tricks, we had to go to plan B. Now plan B means we’re still making drinks and keeping the line moving. But it’s only ok. And we expect to be amazing. As you should expect us to be. I do want to pause here and say what an incredible job my team did under some very stressful circumstances. The fact that many of you didn’t even know we were on plan B speaks volumes.
A little before 10 am in walks Kevin from Blue Jazz Coffee Roasters. He’s carrying a shiny new espresso grinder for us. He’d interrupted his Saturday morning to bail us out. I’m proud every single day to be a Blue Jazz coffee shop. Yesterday, I also felt blessed to have a friend and partner like Kevin.
My passage above has a point. We’ve talked about Paul and his ministry before. He is likely responsible for planting more churches and converting more Gentiles (non-Jews) to Christianity in the history of the church. But Paul didn’t do it by himself. He had amazing help from people like Titus and Timothy. He trusted them to steward the churches he was building. In this instance he’s also referring to trusting his partners to carry large sums of money back to Jerusalem for the good of the church.
You see, Paul knew that to be successful, you have to align yourself with people who understand and support your mission. It’s all about values and priorities. Much in the way Jesus hand picked his disciples (or chose them if you’re into the show), Paul selected his partners very carefully.
The lesson we can learn from Paul today is to choose our partners carefully. Paul trusted Jesus to guide him in his selection process. That served him well. It will serve us equally well. It certainly did yesterday. So trust Jesus to guide you. Gather up your crew. And get out there and share the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone else.
Drive thru is open 8:00-1:00. Have a blessed Sunday, everyone.
