2nd Timothy chapter 1, beginning at verse 13
and down through 18.
And we're still thinking about a people of
action, and that's our theme for the fall.
And the Word of God says in 2nd
Timothy 1 13, hold on to the pattern
of sound teaching that you have heard from
me, in the faith and love that are
in Christ Jesus.
Guard through the Holy Spirit, who lives in
us, that good thing entrusted to you.
This you know, all of those in Asia
have turned away from me, including Phygelus and
Hermogenes.
May the Lord grant mercy to the household
of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me, and
was not ashamed of my chains.
On the contrary, when he was in Rome,
he diligently searched for me and found me.
May the Lord grant that he obtained mercy
from the Lord on that day.
And you know how much he ministered at
Ephesus.
Father, this is your Word, and as we
are gathered, we are longing, Father, for a
touch from your Spirit, through your Word, to
our hearts.
And as we think of the Scriptures this
morning, we ask that you would just take
them.
Father, that you would make it so practical
in our lives, that we would not just
receive the information, but that it would become
the very Word of God that changes us
on the inside.
And so we want to surrender these moments
to you, and ask you to speak to
us.
In Jesus' name, amen.
If you think about the theme of a
people of action, you never run out of
people in Scriptures of action.
I'm just gonna take an action at the
moment.
There are so many wonderful things about the
people of God, and they've always been a
people of action.
And as you think on the theme with
me this morning, there are things that we
see all the time.
The people of God sometimes take action by
being compassionate.
Things like Malawi, and so on.
Sometimes, excuse me, it's feeding the hungry.
And next week in our Thanksgiving service, we'll
be tying in with World Relief and the
work that they do through CAMA, our Christian
Missionary Alliance active wing that works in those
kind of settings in the world.
Sometimes it's as simple as loving those who
are hurting.
And you know, in fact, the church has
introduced to our society things that they never
get credit for.
Things like hospitals and schools, and the caring
and teaching kind of places didn't come because
of the world, they came because of the
church.
Because God's people have always been a people
of action.
Just thought I'd get mine in there a
little bit.
But I want to just look at one
person of action because there's one action that
is so missing today.
And I want to just dwell on it
for a few moments before we meet at
the Lord's table this morning.
And it's this man with a funny name,
Onesiphorus.
You know, I love this guy because I've
encountered a few of them in my life.
And they're amazing.
They have such an impact.
And let's just look at the subject of
encouragement.
That's an action.
And if I were to ask you this
morning, is there anybody here in our Glencairn
body today and you really don't want any
encouragement?
Now I don't see those hands.
You see, it's one of those living things
that we all need.
And yet so often it is missing, we're
busy, and we cannot go by it.
But one of the people in Scripture who's
a person of action, Onesiphorus, just in these
few verses we see some things about encouragement.
First of all, as you look at verse
16, you see that encouragement brings refreshment.
And again, who would say, I don't need
any refreshment?
And there are times in all of our
lives when spiritually things grow a little dry
and it's not quite as up as we
wish it once was, but it's encouragement that
brings refreshment to Paul.
He's the guy who wrote about a third
of our New Testament under the influence of
the Holy Spirit, but Paul here is in
prison.
I'm not sure he would go, woohoo, but
that's where he is, for preaching the gospel.
And he says so clearly in verse 15,
you know everybody turned away from me.
He's been deserted by his friends, by those
that he would have looked to to really
pick him up and to be there.
And again, if I were to ask you,
have you ever sensed that kind of experience?
Everybody here would say, oh yeah.
Yeah, I've had times when I wondered if
anybody was there.
And as you continue to look just at
verse 16, you see though as he's speaking,
his mind is calm because his faith is
not shaken.
Yes, people have deserted him, but he is
still quite calm, even though he knows that
the end of his prison life is probably
going to be death.
There's a wonderful thing here that just comes
to me as I read verse 16, and
as he says, there's one who didn't forget.
There's one.
This man, Onesiphorus, he didn't forget.
Others may have been too busy, they may
have had all kinds of reasons for not
being there, but despite all the turning away,
this man, Onesiphorus, is there.
Now, isn't that really the definition of friendship?
A friend is somebody who is there even
though there can be all kinds of problems
surrounding that individual.
A friend is somebody who is there no
matter what the conditions may be.
Onesiphorus is a man just like that.
And as you think about this, have you
had that kind of experience where you're feeling
maybe a little down, things haven't gone the
way that you thought that they should, and
as you're sort of licking your wounds from
the school day or the work week or
the family circumstance or whatever it may be,
there is one that walks in there and
just sort of knows your very heart and
soul.
I'll tell you what an experience that is.
It's absolutely incredible.
I was directing a crusade for the Billy
Graham people in a major Canadian city some
years ago, and we had some trouble, and
there was lots of criticism, and not that
Christians ever over-criticize, but you know it
happens, and there was lots of negativity.
Well, why didn't we do it this way,
and we should have done that, and we
could have done this, and I had an
invitation on the closing Sunday of that campaign
to go and preach in a small Brethren
assembly, and I saw the various preachers out
to go to other churches and so on,
and as I went to this little assembly,
there's about 30 or maybe 35 people there,
and you know in my heart I knew
the Lord wanted me to preach, I knew
I was there, I was seeking to be
obedient and so on, but in my heart
I was saying, Lord I feel so alone
in this, and the criticism and so on
sort of hangs around my neck, so Lord
would you give me the joy to get
up and talk about Jesus as he really
is, the King of Kings and the Lord
of Lords, and as I got up to
preach, I looked on, and here is Steve
Musto, he is the service leader in those
crusade services, and I thought, what in the
world is he doing here?
He didn't know where I was going, and
I said to the people, huh, we're honored,
we have the service leader Steve Musto is
here today, and he said, can I just
say a word?
Sure.
He said, you know, I just wanted to
come and say a word of encouragement to
my friend.
Oh, I tell you, I preached for 50
minutes.
What was it?
It was the effect of that encouragement.
Onesiphorus is a man like that, and I
would say, oh God, strike me with it,
you know, and strike us with it, because
we live in a world that constantly knocks
people down, puts them down, presses them off
to the side, marginalizes them, and I don't
want to be part of an assembly like
that.
I want to be part of a body
like this that cares about people.
Secondly, would you notice with me from the
text that encouragement is not ashamed of the
circumstances?
Onesiphorus knew that Paul was in prison, but
he is still out there, and he's part
of that greater kingdom and the greater kingdom
work.
Jesus is part of this group of encouragers.
Do you remember when Peter blew it?
I don't know him!
What was Jesus' response?
I don't know him either.
No, that would be Irish.
Jesus sent an angel to the women on
the day of the resurrection to say this,
Go and tell my disciples, and Peter, don't
you love it?
Thomas, I'll never believe in him unless I
put my finger in the hole and in
the spear mark in his side.
Jesus, as I said, not an Irish pastor.
He didn't walk into that upper room a
week later and grab him by the throat
and say, Dummy, here I am!
He just said, Thomas, don't be doubting, believe.
You see, encouragement goes beyond the circumstances, far
beyond them.
These little statements that just do so much
and have such significance in life are so
desperately needed today, don't you think?
You know that same crusade where I went
and preached in the Brethren Assembly?
Out of the Christian Life and Witness classes,
a deacon from a big Baptist church qualified
to be a counselor.
And he took his wife on the last
Sunday to the meeting, and the place was
packed, so he went early to get a
really good seat right in front of the
platform.
And as he came in with his wife,
and they sat in a section right in
front of the platform, a guy off the
street walked in and sat down right beside
him.
The guy, well, let's just say that Old
Spice was not a friend of his.
There was a terrible odor, and my deacon
friend said to his wife, God will forgive
us, let's move.
So they moved over two sections, and he
sat down again.
Would you believe the guy got up and
walked over and sat right down beside him
again?
You think God doesn't know what he's doing?
Sure he does.
And the guy moved again, now he's away
around the side where he can hardly see
the platform at all.
But there he is with his wife, and
that homeless guy got up and walked and
sat right down beside him again.
In the Christian parade, all through the service,
Lord, please don't send him forward because I
don't want to have to counsel with him.
Guess who was one of the first people
to answer the response that day?
Yeah, that guy right off the street.
And as he goes, he come to the
front, and he just fell on his knees
and started to weep.
And my counselor deacon friend said to the
Lord, I don't want to go.
Go.
But Lord, I don't want to go.
Go.
But Lord, you know, I don't want to
talk to him.
Go.
But Lord, he's on his knees.
Get on yours.
As he got down and got on his
knees beside the guy, he felt the Holy
Spirit saying to his heart, put your arm
around him.
He said, God, you're kidding me.
I don't want to be this close to
him.
I don't want to touch him.
He put his arms around the guy.
The guy went to pieces.
But the deacon got to lead him to
the Lord Jesus.
You know, the circumstances weren't very good there,
but real encouragement goes beyond that, and God
wanted to encourage that man that day to
the cross, and it changed his life.
And if you've ever been in Calgary and
visited a ministry called the mustard seed, it's
where people from the street come and they
are saved and find life and begin to
walk with Christ and serve him and go
out to be a very productive part of
society.
How did it come about?
It came about because of one deacon who
wasn't all that keen to start out with,
but who eventually got it together with God
and encouraged that man that nobody wanted to
the cross.
I better hasten.
Look back with me at the text.
Notice encouragement searches out the downcast.
He says, on the contrary, when he, Onesiphorus,
was in Rome, he diligently searched for me
and found me.
It wasn't that he didn't have to put
out a lot of effort.
He had to actually go and look and
find, search for him.
Just like Jesus in John chapter 9 and
verse 35, you'll find that Jesus discovers a
man who's been put out of the synagogue.
He's a man that Jesus healed and he's
been kicked out because of his testimony for
Christ.
And who is it that goes to find
him?
Jesus.
And as Jesus finds him, he reveals himself
to him.
It's a beautiful passage.
For time's sake, I won't take us there
this morning, but just think.
Here is this encouragement that searches out the
downcast.
I'm gonna ask you to do something this
morning before even you go downstairs for potluck.
There's a fear in our society that if
you really reach out, people will say you're
too gushy.
I want to tell you something.
Most of us are longing for a word
of encouragement.
And today, we could start a revolution.
Have you seen the ad for IKEA on
TV?
I love it.
The guy comes home from work and he's
saying, what a day!
I hate my boss.
I hate my job.
I'm so sick and tired.
And all of a sudden, this lovely music
starts to play.
And she is hearing him say, you know,
sweetheart, I'm so blessed that you made this
meal for me.
Oh, my darling, I appreciate just what you've
done to look so beautiful for me.
Oh, my sweet one, I'm so excited to
get the night with you tonight.
Just the two of us.
It perfectly illustrates exactly what I'm getting at.
In the world, there's all this crud, and
it's all about me.
It's like a couple that I talked to
one night, and I said to him, when
did you last say I love you to
your wife?
He said, she knows that.
I said, when did you get married?
Seven years ago.
I said, so seven years ago, you told
her that you loved her?
He said, if there's any change, I'll let
her know.
I would say she needed some encouragement, wouldn't
you?
That's the kind of thing.
Encouragement searches out the downcast.
And as you think about this, just keep
your finger there in Timothy and go back
over to the Acts of the Apostles for
a moment, chapter 23.
And let me just show you again the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is an encourager par excellence.
In Acts chapter 23 and verse 11, here's
what it says.
The following night the Lord stood by him
and said, have courage, Paul, for as you
have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you
will testify in Rome.
Paul was sitting there thinking, it's done, it's
over, I'm finished.
And Jesus walked into that cell and said,
buddy, have I got news for you.
Sorry, that's a McGregor paraphrase.
You see, there's so much that the Lord
would have every one of us do, and
this action of encouragement just has such an
impact.
I used to have a charitable organization called
Free Grace Ministries, and when I went to
work for the Billy Graham people, I wasn't
doing my own evangelistic services quite so much,
and so it was just sitting there.
And in Victoria, British Columbia, when we did
a crusade, there was a group who decided
they would take and go into all the
seniors' homes and just sort of sing, you
know, and say hello.
And one guy in that group said, is
there somebody that I could visit while I'm
here?
And the matron said, you see that lady
sitting in the wheelchair by the window?
We get her up in the morning, we
put her clothes on, we feed her breakfast,
we try to feed her through the day.
At nighttime, we take her back to her
room, we take her out of the wheelchair,
we put her night clothes on, we put
her in bed.
The matron said, I've been here seven years
and I've never seen a visitor, and I
know her family lives in this city.
And the guy said, I went over and
I stopped at the window where she was
sitting and I said, I just came over
to say hi and wanted to talk to
you for a minute or two.
And he said, the lady went like this,
and he realized she was turning her head
away not because she didn't want to listen
to him, but because she was crying.
Seven years, nobody had bothered to be an
encouragement.
There it is.
Encouragement searches out the downcast.
Encouragement demonstrates faithfulness.
Look at verse 18.
May the Lord grant that he obtained mercy
from the Lord on that day.
And you know how much he ministered at
Ephesus.
You see, Onesiphorus wasn't just an encourager on
Sundays, he made a lifestyle out of it.
An absolute lifestyle.
Paul is saying, you know what this guy
has done.
It has been there all the way through
his life and ministry.
God is so faithful, and encouragement demonstrates faithfulness.
What legacy will you and I leave?
Now I am a little older than most
of you, and so I feel the liberty
to ask that question this morning.
And you know, it's a question that I've
been thinking about for a while.
What legacy will I leave?
Years ago, I thought my legacy would be
that I would be the forerunner for David
Beckham, because I was going to be a
soccer great.
And as I climbed the ladder and got
to play in the Irish League Division One,
I said, ah, next step, Europe.
And three weeks later, the team boss said,
we don't need you.
And you know, I thought my legacy would
be maybe as a writer.
The books I could write!
The problem is I haven't had the time
to write any of them yet.
And I thought, well, maybe my legacy would
be as a great preacher.
And you know, as I've worked with some
great preachers, I just want to say this.
There are no great preachers.
There's only a great Savior.
When we planted the church out in Alberta
some years ago, they farewelled us as we
moved on to the next one.
And I thought, somebody's gonna say, I remember
when you preached about this or you spoke
about that.
Wasn't one word in that farewell about a
sermon.
Not one.
Do you know what they said?
John, I remember when we were hurting.
And you came.
And you were there.
You see, it's not always about the big
things that we do.
It's not even always about the big things
that we say.
It's having a heart like Jesus that's just
there.
One of the guys I used to get
when we directed Crusades for Billy Graham was
a man to come and teach on prayer.
His name was Jack Cousins.
When I think about leaving a legacy, I
think about Jack.
He had a cleft palate.
You know what that means when he talks?
He talks with a little extra.
And I'd pick Jack up in the airport
after airport after airport, and I'd take him
to the hotel where we're staying, and we'd
get into his room, and I'd set his
suitcase down, and he'd say, it's great to
be here.
Let's pray.
And he dragged me down on my knees
beside him, and we would pray till I
knew the glory was in that room.
That is a legacy, friends.
That is a legacy.
Encouragement demonstrates faithfulness.
Ah, John, hurry up, man.
Okay, here we go.
Last one.
Encouragement reveals Christ-likeness.
Jesus gives our lives significance and acceptance.
Those are two things that every human being
is longing for, significance and acceptance.
And they're found at the cross of Christ,
and they're found in a daily walk with
him, just trusting him.
Encouraging others reveals Christ in us.
So in these days, when so much of
Christianity in North America has become driven by
the program and driven by the fad and
driven by whatever else we decide we want,
and we cannot understand why we cannot reach
people, could I humbly suggest there is a
disconnect, and this thing of encouragement is so
missing.
What are we to encourage?
Well, in Hebrews 10, 22 to 25, it
says, let us do three things.
Let us draw near to God.
We ought to encourage nearness to God, and
I have lots of conversations.
I repent of them because I didn't encourage
somebody near to God.
Second thing that's in there is keep a
strong testimony.
Talk about Jesus.
Hold him before people.
Stimulate one another, or some versions say provoke
one another to love and to good deeds.
That's something we can encourage one another to
do.
And then there's one other little thing in
that passage.
Let us not forsake the assembling together.
That's church, and that's why we need one
another, because we need that encouragement, don't we?
You know, when you think about Jesus, he's
the ultimate encourager in so many, many things,
but let me just quote one last verse
as I close before we come to meet
at the Lord's table.
Jesus said, come to me, all you that
are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.
You know, so often we run here and
there, and we're looking for answers that people
should be able to supply, and people don't
know very much when you get right down
to it.
Come to me, Jesus said that.
That's the greatest and strongest encouragement, and as
we close our message part this morning, maybe
you need a word of encouragement that is
beyond what any human being can give you.
Oh, how I recommend Jesus.
Come to me, he said.
Let's just close our eyes and pray for
a moment.
Am I speaking to someone this morning, and
there's trouble in your home and in your
marriage?
Encouragement that is led by the Holy Spirit
will bring healing to that.
Am I speaking to someone in your downcast
because of circumstances?
Jesus said he'd give you peace, rest.
So in the quietness of this moment, may
I just encourage you, open your heart to
Jesus.
Bring those burdens, maybe you've carried them for
years, but bring them to Jesus.
Father, I want to pray for us as
a body this morning.
Encouragement does so many things.
It brings refreshment, it lifts us up, it
gives significance and acceptance.
I pray, Father, you would teach us how
to encourage one another to love and to
good works and to a strong testimony and
to assembling together to meet with you.
Father, if there's someone this morning in this
assembly who has never experienced the rest and
the peace that Jesus gives, my dear friend,
this morning right where you're sitting, you can
come to the one who's given you that
invitation, who said, come to me and I
will give you rest.
He will not turn you away, but you
come to him by crying out from your
heart to his heart, God, I need you.
I recognize that I'm a sinner and I
ask you to forgive me for my sin.
Come, take up your residence in my heart.
Help me to learn to walk with you.
Now, Lord Jesus, as we come to think
about the Lord's table, would you continue to
minister to our hearts a word of encouragement
in Jesus' name, amen.