Pressley encourages Southwesterners to learn from examples of New Testament believers

Southern Baptist Convention President Clint Pressley encouraged Southwesterners to never stop learning or growing in Christ during chapel on Jan. 28, using believers Paul mentions in Colossians as examples believers can learn from and then imitate or avoid.

“I thank God that He gives us examples,” Pressley said, recalling when he was first learning to preach and would listen to other preachers and mimic them. “God gives us examples in this life to know and to imitate and be like. … I’m thankful that God gives us people we can pattern our lives after.”

At the end of Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, he mentions various fellow-workers that discipled, encouraged, comforted, traveled with, and even suffered alongside him. Pressley examined these individuals and shared a list of things believers can learn from those men and women in Colossians and other descriptions of them found in Acts or other epistles.

“Learn to be dependable,” Pressley began as he spoke of Tychicus, who Paul described as a faithful minister and servant who he entrusted his letter to. “You’re going to serve the church, you’re going to serve the Lord, you need to learn to be somebody that actually I can depend on, that the people around you can depend on.”

Just as Tychicus remained faithful and served with no prominence the Scriptures mention, Pressley said all believers should strive to be dependable and faithful in life.

Pressley also pointed out Paul’s inclusion of Onesimus in his letter, saying believers can learn to find their specific purpose just as Onesimus, a slave, did as he followed the Lord and served with Paul.

“Regardless of your station in life, your purpose is to live your life to the glory of God,” Pressley said.

Like Aristarchus, who Paul called a fellow prisoner and who in Acts was abused during the riot in Ephesus, Pressley said believers must learn to be tough through difficulty, within and without the walls of the church.

“Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you are going to serve the church … you’re going to have to learn to be tough in mind, body, and soul,” Pressley said. “To resist, to endure, to make sure personally you’re growing in your faith, that the joy of the Lord becomes your strength, that there’s a deep-seated contentment in Christ. You learn to endure and not complain.”

Pressley also said followers of Christ and those called to ministry need to learn to grow up, just like Mark who, though he initially abandoned Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey, would later write a Gospel and becomes a faithful servant and minister of the Gospel.

Similarly, Pressley encouraged youth and church leaders to be patient with those young or immature people they are trying to disciple and teach, because in time they also might grow up in their faith and be used by God as they become serious about their walk with the Lord and disciple-making.

Pressley continued by encouraging Southwesterners to learn to be disciple-makers like Barnabas, who discipled both Paul and Mark; generous like Nympha, who hosted a church in her home; good stewards of their gifts like the physician Luke, who traveled with Paul and wrote both the Gospel of Luke and Acts; and a leader who struggles in prayer for other believers as Epaphras did.

“We spend so much time studying,” Pressley pointed out, adding that knowing the Word and teaching it faithfully is important. “Let us not forget we need God to do something. To actually pour your heart, to pray and pray and pray, to plead.”

Pressley also pointed out Demas as a cautionary tale. While mentioned positively in Colossians, Paul would later say in 2 Timothy 4:10 that Demas deserted him because “he loved this present world.”

“Learn to be faithful,” Pressley said, while also encouraging believers to persevere even when they themselves are deserted by others. “… Take some weird comfort in knowing the greatest leaders in the world had someone close to them abandon them. Jesus had Judas. Paul had Demas.”

Finally, Pressley told his listeners to learn to finish what God has started, referencing Archippus, who Paul encouraged to fulfill the ministry he received from God.

“What has God called you to do?” Pressley asked “Who are you discipling? Who is discipling you? What is the ministry you are giving yourself to? Where are you growing in grace? What sins that are secret in your heart that you need to repent of? What are the commitments you need to go ahead and make? … What are the stands you need to take?”

With the New Testament promise that “he who has began a good work in you will bring it to completion,” Pressley said believers in Christ should never stop learning and growing in Christ.

Pressley was elected as the SBC president in 2024 and has served as pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the past 15 years. He also pastored Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama. He met his wife Connie when they were both students at Southwestern Seminary.

Pressley’s entire message can be viewed here.

Chapel is held every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 11 a.m. (CT) in MacGorman Chapel on the campus of Southwestern Seminary and TBC. Chapel may be viewed live at swbts.live.