Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them

 SERMON NOTES FROM LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 25 OCTOBER 2020 am

Acts 13 verses 1 - 5

This is Reformation Sunday when Martin Luther nailed the thesis to the cathedral door.  That man changed the face of Christendom.  Thank God for the man who stepped out, took the word of God into a lost and darkened empire.  The thought of Acts 13 is the various movements of the church of Jesus.  The disciples who gathered in the Upper Room were filled with Holy Spirit, they then went out onto the streets of Jerusalem and preached the gospel.  Persecution began and the church began to spread out.  The commission of the Lord was to go out into all the world and preach the gospel.  They were not to go using their own ability or intellect, it was not of what they would do but what Christ would do through them.  The church is still the same today - that we can do something for him through the Holy Spirit.  "not by might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4 verse 6)  Luke 24 verse 49 "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."  Before they took the commission into the world the Lord told them to tarry in Jerusalem.  Why were they to tarry?  Until they would "be endued with power."  Then we read in Acts 1 verse 8 "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." That was the great commission and the power to carry that commission.  "without me ye can do nothing" (John 15 verse 5)  

The acknowledgement God makes - God accepts this fellowship.  Brings it to our attention because he is going to stir up this fellowship for the furtherance of the gospel of saving grace.  How is he going to do that today?  He stirred up the heart of the early disciples to go forth with the gospel.  God hadn't to be told about this little church.  God had knowledge of this fellowship.  God sees and knows, he is not someone who sits afar off and sees nothing.  It is God who looks into the heart of man.  "Man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart." (1 Samuel 16 verse 7)  He knows every name in the fellowship, he has intimate knowledge of everyone.  God knows them - "separate unto me Saul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them."  God knows our heart today.  He knows all that is going on in your life right at this moment in time.  Sometimes we like to take a back seat and God knows that.  Think of Acts 16 and the story of the Ethiopian eunuch.  Philip was told to go to a certain place.  God knew all about this eunuch, that he had been in Jerusalem and was now travelling home.  He needed help.  Philip knew nothing about him.  The God of heaven knew where he was and the position he was in.  He sends Philip down to where he was.  Cornelius in Acts 10 was sitting praying and pleading with God.  God came to him.  God sent his angel down to where he was with a message for Cornelius "send for Peter."  Cornelius didn't have to ask where Peter was.  God knew exactly where Peter was - in Joppa.  God knows everything about me.  God has such wonderful knowledge - Psalm 139 "thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off ... such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."  God knows what we are thinking at this very moment in time.  God knew the heart of Martin Luther back in the 1500's.  He saw a man seeking after God, a relationship with God.  He could not find it in the monastery he lived in.  He prayed on his knees until they were calloused.  He fasted and whipped himself but he still could not find a relationship with God.  It was only found in God himself.  God saved that man, set him apart, sent him into the world to change it at that time.  He wrote a commentary on the book of Romans, a preface to the book of Romans based on the phrase "The just shall live by faith."  John Wesley was reached by that commentary.  Jesus stood one day in the midst of a man with a withered hand.  Jesus asked "is it right to do good or is it right to do evil on the sabbath day, is it right to heal him on the sabbath day or leave him alone."  The Lord looked on everyone that was there.  He was 'grieved at everyone of them because he saw the hardness of their hearts." (Mark 3 verses 1 - 5)  

The assessment that God makes.  As God goes into the fellowship what does God see?  He sees the disciples that are willing to exercise their gifts of ministry.  Acts 13 verse 1 thy were gathered together and serving the Lord.  God sees a people using their gifts that the Holy Spirit had given them.  Are you using the gift God has given to you?  Have you found how and what that gift is?  In this church there were prophets and teachers, they were showing the people the scriptures.  Wouldn't it be awful to stand before Christ one day and have empty hands?  Simply because we never discovered what our talents are.  Service for God should be all we have.  Think of the man with one talent.  He hid his talent - why "I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed.  And I was afraid ..." (Matthew 25 verse 24)  Paul of Timothy 1 Timothy 4 verse 14 "neglect not the gift that is in thee."  Paul knew there was a danger of leaving his gift to one side and not using it.  Maybe you have been frightened, scared of being laughed at.  

The access God has.  God speaks here to the fellowship.  It is the Holy Spirit speaking.  The Holy Spirit actually does speak.  The third person of the Trinity.  Have we an ear to hear what he has to say to us?  In Revelation 3 Jesus spoke to the little church of Laodicea in Asia Minor.  This church was doing really well, they stood in need of nothing.  In Revelation 3 verse 20 the Lord is seeking access in to the church but the door was firmly closed.  They didn't want to listen to the Lord.  Can it be said of us that we don't want to hear what the Holy Spirit has to say to us.  We need to seek God for his work, pray that we might be better used to use the opening he gives to us.  Are we prepared to serve the Lord?  The Lord had 2 disciples in mind and he names them.  He didn't just say "separate unto me 2 disciples", he had 2 distinct characters for the task he had in mind.  He wanted Barnabas and Saul to do the work.  God knows your name, your heart, whether you are saved or not saved today.  He is speaking directly to you today.  He calls out your name today as he did Samuel of old.  Maybe God is challenging you today.

Notice the answer God receives - "then sent them away."  God had access to this fellowship, spoke to the fellowship, they took it seriously and set about doing what he wanted them to do.  Sometimes we feel if God is calling someone out into the work, we are nearly afraid to send them forth, afraid to let them go.  Let's be serious today.  Pray for one another in the fellowship.  First for yourself that God would revive your heart before he speaks to anyone else.  

A LIFE TRANSFORMED

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 18 OCTOBER 2020 am

Judges 6 verses 11 - 16 - a life transformed

As we turn here to the Old Testament scriptures to the book of Judges we are going into the home of Gideon.  The spirit of the day of Judges was that every man did that which was right in their own eyes.  Men and women have turned from God, doing that which they wanted to do.  No-one would tell them what to do.  We want to think of a life transformed.  That is the experience of this young man Gideon.  That is what happened in his home.  That is what we need today.  We need a life transforming experience from God today.  Maybe you have never had that in your own life.  Maybe you have never trusted the Lord as your own Saviour.  God is giving you that opportunity today.  It is God's word that brings a transforming experience in our lives.  Maybe you have never invited the Lord to be your own and personal Saviour yet.  The Midianites had taken ovr Gideon's land.  Where is Gideon?  Threshing a little wheat, hiding it from the Midianites.  There came an angel of the Lord verse 12.  Most commentators would agree that the angel was the Lord in human form before he came to be born of the virgin Mary.  We get a gimpse of him here.  We need to be careful also in that this is a man's view.  Commentators say the best commentary on the bible is the bible itself.  In verse 13 Gideon was sure this was a divine person when he said "Oh my Lord" and then in verse 16 we read "and the Lord said unto him."  This is the Lord Jesus in human form meeting with Gideon.  One little thought comes to mind as we see this transforming experience.  The Lord is reminding Gideon that he is with him.  Verse 13 Gideon asked "why then is all this befallen us?"  Where is God in all of this, I don't see him, I cannot recollect him?  Why is he hiding from us, it would seem he has deserted us.  Many people are saying 'where is God?' today.

Firstly Gideon reflects on his situation.  I feel for this young man.  He had no role model, no influence in his home.  His father has given himself over to the worship of Baal, a false religion.  Further down the chapter we read that Gideon's father has made an altar to Baal and sacrificing to him.  Verse 12 "the Lord is with thee."  The task he was doing should have been done in the open air.  Threshing wheat was done on the hill top when they would flail the wheat and the chaff would have blown in the wind.  Threshing the wheat would have been done with great rejoicing.  Gideon is harvesting a few sheaves, then carried them into his house less any would see him.  He is working within the cellar of his home.  We read in the New Testament "the god of this world (the devil) has blinded the minds of them which believe not." (2 Corinthians 4 verse 4)  We are claiming back something from the devil today.  Verse 3 "And so it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up and the Amalekites and the children of the east, even they came up against them." "For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude, for both they and their camels were without number and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord." verses 5 and 6  It was a day of great confusion and fear.  Is that not reminiscent of the world we are presently living in?  There are no foundations in Gideon's home, no godly influence at all.  We want to serve the Lord today in our homes with our children and grandchildren, instil into them the things of God.  Remember Moses in the palace - he no longer wanted to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.  Where did his teaching come from?  His mother.  She would teach him about the creator God and the children of Israel.  We see it also in the life of Daniel.  He was only a young man when taken captive into Babylon.  A feast was set before them.  All the others never saw anything like this before.  What did Daniel do - he reflected, 'I cannot do this, eat of the king's meat and drink of his wine.'  He turned his back on all that.  Daniel got that standard from his own home, from his father and mother.  He turned his back on that which would defile him.  So many today are leaving home and have no basis for forming relationships, following God himself.  Paul said of Timothy "from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation."  He was taught by both his mother and grandmother.  It is our responsibility to teach the next generation, to tell them about the Lord.  In Psalm 42 the Psalmist spelled out his frustration.  He had a deep desire for God's presence.  The enemy knew how to inflict the wound "as with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me, where is thy God?"  Gideon looked around him and said "if God is for us then why have all these things befallen us?"  Many people are asking that question today.

Notice his reflection but also his recollection.  Verse 13 "where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of".  This young man couldn't turn to his father to tell these stories.  He had to turn elsewhere.  He found no help in his own home.  His father was worshipping a false god, idolatry worship.  A false religion.  Years had passed since the Israelites had crossed the River Jordan and settled in the land.  Gideon had to hear those stories from another person.  Gideon was raised by teachers who taught the scriptures.  The seed was sown in his heart.  As the Lord talked with Gideon that day Gideon was able to recall the stories he had heard of.  He would have heard of that night in Egypt when God delivered his children, the Israelites out.  How the lamb was killed, the blood was poured into a basin, hyssop was dipped into the blood and spread on the doorposts of the houses.  The firstborn was saved that night.  He would have heard how the blood delivered them.  He would have been told of how the manna fed the children of Israel in the wilderness.  These things were instiled in his mind.  Do you see the value of being taught the scriptures?  I am sure Gideon was told of the Red Sea and how it opened up before them so they could walk across on dry ground.  He would have been told of the presence of God day after day.  How they had the cloud by day and fire at night.  God would not desert his children, he reassured them continually day after day.  Gideon still asked "but where is God now?"  As we gather today is God searching our hearts today?  Or are we just treating it as another mundane Sunday.  This is a truth Gideon must face up to, he must prove God for himself.  We need to prove God for ourselves today.  Gideon couldn't look back on the basis of past blessing, he couldn't live in the light of them.  We cannot live in the past.  We used to have churches flooded with people but we have to prove God for ourselves today.  What is God doing in our day today?  We too could be like Gideon, we could read of the great awakening in Ulster in 1859 and might well say "well we don't have days like that any more."  We could read of the work in the Hebrides in Scotland and the Welsh revival but where is that today?  We might well ask the question "were are the men and women of God for revival today?"  Elisha followed Elijah before he was taken up into heaven, through the various cities, until they came to the Jordan River when it separated and they walked across.  Elijah was taken up in the whirlwind but his cloak was left behind.  When Elisha went back to the Jordan River he asked "Where is the God of Elijah?"  God was right there.  He had to prove God for himself.  He couldn't depend on Elijah any longer.  We cannot live in the days of Nicholson, we have to prove God for ourselves. God is still waiting for us to get down to pray for revival once again.  Gideon's people had turned from God and rebelled.  Now God had given them into the hand of the Midianites.  The challenge now comes to prove God for himself.  We too need to prove God today.  God told Gideon "I will send you to save the nation."

Gideon's reaction - verse 15.  Gideon had to accept that responsibility.  We have to go in the strength of what God has said in his word.  Elisha's young servant went out and looked up to the hills.  All he could see were the enemy forces coming down.  Maybe that is all we can see today.  Despair and gloom.  Elisha's servant wondered how they would survive.  Elisha told him that there were more with them than against them.  Elisha prayed for the servant's eyes to be opened and when he did he realised that God was on their side.

Gideon's refreshing company - "have not I sent thee?" verse 14  "Surely I will be with thee" verse 16  God said to Joshua some 200 years before "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1 verse 9)

God's rewarding promise - verse 16 "thou shalt smite the Midianites."  Reassurance was in his heart for the way ahead.

The sower and the seed

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

HARVEST THANKSGIVING - SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER 2020 AM

MARK 4 VERSES 3 - 9, 14 - 20

I was greatly encouraged this week by this sermon preached out in the open air by the Lord himself.  I trust that you will be like Mary of old.  Martha was so busy preparing something to eat but Mary sat at the feet of the Lord listening to what Jesus had to say.  May we sit at his feet today.  The Lord took the simplest of things to make deep spiritual applications.  This sermon was on the farmer sowing the seed in the field.  Jesus spoke as no other man spake.  He had no letters to his name, he had no formal education yet no man spake like this man.  There is a great emphasis on education today and it is good to have every opportunity but when a man is lying on his deathbed and needs someone to tell him the truth of God's word, he needs someone who can tell it simply.  A sower going forth to sow.  Jesus explains the outcome.  Mark says in chapter 4 verse 3 "the sower went forth to sow.  In Luke 8 we read "the seed is the word of God".  Jesus is explaining it all here.  The sower is sowing the seed of the word of God.  A man or woman sharing the word of God.  Matthew dwells more on the fruit that comes forth.  I want to think today of the sower.

The sower's priority.  We need to think of the year in which Jesus taught this parable.  There was no machinery, the seed was scattered by hand.  He carried an apron around his waist with the seed in it.  He scattered the seed near and far.  The sower was the Lord Jesus but also represents anyone who shares the word of God.  We need to sow the seed  - that was the sower's priority.  "You have nothing to do but see souls saved" John Wesley said to those he was sending out to preach.  You can share the word of God with whoever you come into contact with.  1 Corinthians 1 verse 17 "Christ sent me ... to preach the gospel."  Chapter 9 verse 16 "woe unto me if I preach not the gospel."  Remember the church in Jerusalem, Paul was a great opponent of the disciples who shared the word of God.  He sought to put them down, to close the church down, to quieten this message.  He would arrest people and put them into prison for their faith so much so that the disciples had to flee from Jerusalem not for their own safety.  However it would open up to them a brand new avenue of service.  Acts 8 verse 4 "they were scattered abroad (and they) went everywhere preaching the word (of God)."  Are you sowing today?  Have you sown any seed in the past week?  The disciples did not forget the command of Jesus "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel."  We all have a responsibility.  Paul said to Timothy "preach the word be instant in season and out of season". (2 Timonthy 4 verse 2) When you don't feel like it or when you do.  Why did Paul say this?  Because he was looking forward to the day when he would see the fruit of his labours and the harvest would be brought in.

The practice of the sower.  "He goeth forth to sow."  Sometimes we think we should be giving out a track, speaking to someone about salvation but we never do it.  Psalm 126 verse 6"he that goeth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing."  Going out with one priority to sow, tries to cover as much ground as possible, unaware of what is happening beneath the surface.  There were no fences or hedges, just wide open space.  He scattered as far as he could.  What is unknown to him is the seed falling here it did.  Perhaps some fell on hard ground, an area covered with stone underneath.  Maybe it was an area full of weeds.  Don't be put off by spreading the gospel because some people are hard.  They appear as they don't want to know but we do not know what is going on beneath the surface in individual's lives.  They may be hungry for the gospel.  Maybe there are people who really want to hear the gospel but it could be hard for them to do that.  In Acts 17 Paul was preaching about Jesus' death and resurrection but at this point, some people mocked, while  some said "we will hear you again on this matter" but then there were those who believed.  In the Old Testament scriptures Hezekiah was a godly king who sat on the throne.  His father was very ungodly who stopped the religious services.  Hezekiah opened up the temple doors, it took a week to carry out the rubbish and to set up all the golden vessels.  Hezekiah sent messages throughout all the land to come back to Jerusalem because they were going to celebrate the Passover, the delivery from Egypt under the hard bondage of the taskmasters, how God had provided for a lamb to be the sacrifice, the substitution for their sins.  The practice - they went out with the message.

The patience of the sower.  We need patience as we sow the seed.  James 5 verse 7 "be patient therefore unto the coming of the Lord.  Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain."  Don't give up - in other words maybe you have been praying for someone and would love to see them saved but they are not saved yet, as if they don't want to be saved.  The sower scattering the seed sees the birds carrying the seed off.  This pictures is of someone who is listening to the gospel message, God wants to save them but they never come to Christ.  They have never trusted him as Saviour and Lord.  Putting these things to the back of their mind.  Something they didn't understand and they are not going to try and understand.  The devil is like the fowls of the air.  He comes in and picks up the seed and carries it away lest people hear and accept the seed.  Underneath the surface there is hard stony ground.  Seems as if there is no fruit.  The sun comes up and the winds blow and the seed falls away.  That is what happens today.  Sometimes the gospel is preached, people step forward but in a few weeks there is nothing there.  There is no root in their lives.  Maybe as the sower goes forth underneath there is a bed of thorns.  Some seed falls to the ground.  As it grows up the weeds choke it up.  Maybe sometimes someone is genuine and really trusts the Lord as Saviour but something happens in their lives - promotion, new responsibilities in their life, family, car, need extra time to work.  All of this takes them from the word of God, meeting with God's people and prayer time.  They are choked by the word of God.  No fruit.  We need patience.

The prize of the sower.  He sees that which he has laboured for bringing forth a harvest.  Is our priority sowing the seed?  What is your practice - are you doing it today?  Do you need that patience to wait.  Maybe we feel like giving God a helping hand but we should be waiting on the Lord to work.  Some fell on the hard ground.  Some fell on the stony ground and withered away.  Some of the seed was choked.  Then he sees a harvest - "bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty and some an hundred."  He forgets about the hard times when he sees the results.  "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenth." (Luke 15 verse 10) Paul spoke in Thessalonians "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?"

A call to remembrance ... of faith

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 4 OCTOBER 2020 pm

2 TIMOTHY 1 VERSES 1 - 6

The apostle Paul is writing to this young man Timothy out preaching the gospel.  Paul was in prison and these were his last words recorded for us.  His last letter was to this young man to encourage him.  Maybe he saw him under tremendous pressure.  In verse 4 he remembers well the day they parted company, shed tears with one another then looked forward to the day when the opportunity would come to meet again.  He calls to remembrance the spiritual wellbeing of this young man Timothy - verse 5.  He was concerned about his physical wellbeing but more importantly his spiritual wellbeing.  The Lord in our midst is interested in your spiritual wellbeing.  He didn't ask how he was getting on in the world, whether he was climbing the social ladder but was concerned about his spiritual wellbeing.  The Holy Spirit is here to search your heart, ask you the question "are you saved or not?"  "Are you going to heaven or into a lost Christless hell for all eternity?"  Paul says here in verse 3 "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day."  He used the word persuaded or convicted.  "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee."  Does that statement bring a challenge to your heart?  Does it bring the thought to your mind that perhaps you are not saved?  Is that faith in your heart and life today or have you missed out?  Have I neglected the invitation to get right with God?  

Timothy had a great example lived out in his home.  "I am convinced this faith was in your grandmother and in your mother also."  There was a time when they were not saved.  They needed a Saviour, they were lost in sin.  Under the ministry of the apostle Paul these dear souls made their way to Calvary, bowed their knees and were saved.  They witnessed to Timothy and Paul said he could see that same faith in him now.  We are saved by grace through faith, it is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God.  Are you saved tonight?  In Acts 14 when Paul preached in Lystra that family was gathered there.  The invitation was given out and Lois looked to the preacher.  She acknowledged her sin before God, she went beyond to the cross of Calvary for that work of grace.  She saw Jesus suffering and bleeding, giving his life for her.  She accepted the Lord as her Saviour.  There was a transformation in the home then Timothy saw his mother trusting the Lord as well.  A tremendous example to him.  Isn't that a challenge to you tonight?  That we would be living a life before our children, that they would hear and see something of saving grace in our lives.  Paul said to the Corinthians "ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men."    Maybe you have seen someone in your life coming to faith.

The evidence he saw.  "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things have passed away, all things have become new."  Paul could see the evidence of salvation in their lives.  Evidence seen of the grace of God.  "By their fruits you shall know them."  Think of Zacchaeus in Jericho.  After his conviction he said "the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation I restore him fourfold."  Needed to get right with God but also with the people around him.  The Philippian jailer - the evidence in his life when he trusted the Lord as Saviour.  He brought them into his own home, washed their stripes, gave them food to eat.  He was genuine, sincere, not hypocritical but real.  That is what Paul was saying to Timothy.  Have you a salvation that is real, has changed you, means that heavens door is open to you tonight?

An experience that was real  It didn't matter what his grandmother or mother did.  He had to have a personal experience of saving faith in his life.  "He came unto his own and his own received him not."  A transaction of God.  Not something half hearted.  It matters not whether your parents are saved, that cannot get you into heaven.  Maybe you have had the privilege of being born into a home where the scriptures were read, when you were taught the gospel faithfully in a church or in a Sunday School.  Think of Paul's conversion on the Damascus road.  What an experience that was.  Zacchaeus' experience - he was sitting up a tree, no-one knew where he was.  The Lord stopped at that tree, bid him to come down in front of everyone.  Nicodemus came to Jesus at night because he didn't want anyone to see him.  Each experience was individual to each of them.  Have you had that personal experience?  On the day of Pentecost 3000 souls were saved.  The Holy Spirit began to convict them of their sin.  Everyone was individually and personally saved.  They all called on the Lord individually and they were saved.  It is between you and the Lord tonight.  You can trust the Lord as your own Saviour tonight, admit you have sinned, acknowledge the fact that you are a sinner.  Only Christ can save and only through his work on Calvary.  You can be saved if you repent of your sin, confess your sin, turn from your sin and be saved.

The expression of this young man's faith.  Maybe you have someone you know who has experienced this faith and you know you need that same faith.  Will you come and trust him as Saviour?  Timothy was preaching the word - Paul told him "stir up the gift that is within you."  The Ethiopian eunuch realised that the waters of baptism were available.  He showed he was following the Lord Jesus.  He identified with the death and resurrection of the Lord and went down into the waters of baptism as a result.

An encouragement to Paul

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SUNDAY 4 OCTOBER 2020 AM

2 TIMOTHY 1 VERSES 15 - 18

Today we are thinking of Onesiphorus.  These are uncertain days.  When Paul wrote this last letter to Timothy I am sure that he didn't know what lay ahead.  I am sure not one of us thought this year would be like it has been.  Last week we were thinking of encouragement.  Jesus spoke to his disciples who were concerned and worried.  He told them not to be worried for their heavenly father knew the things they needed before they asked for them.  Onesiphorus was an encourager to Paul.  Is there someone you could be an encourager to today?  Maybe someone who has been forgotten about, has been isolated, out of the way for a while  Paul was going through a dark time in his life.  He hadn't a friend in the world - verse 15.  "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. ... I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." (Phillipians 4 verses 11 and 13)  "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." (2 Corinthians 3 verse 5)  Paul was not depending on his friends.  King David encouraged himself in the Lord.  In this passage in 2 Timothy Paul thought of some fair weather friends - Phygellus and Hermogenes.  These are the kind of friends who will leave you in some desert situations but there are others who will stick with you through thick and thin.

The sympathy in which he acted.  Onesiphorus showed an interest in Paul who had fallen on hard times.  Paul had been arrested, accused, placed in prison.  He could see his friends leaving him but one.  He was in this terrible prison and it was down to him to get himself out of it.  Onesiphorus had concern for Paul.  He hadn't heard from him for a while.  The news was he had been arrested and placed in prison.  Somehow he had fallen on hard times.  These 2 men are named here has having departed from him.  The sympathy we should have on our hearts today.  Think of the Old Testament and the house of Naaman.  Naaman was a mighty warrior, a great soldier, well respected but he had a problem - leprosy.  It had taken over his body.  Naaman had a maid in his house, every time she saw Naaman she saw him as he really was.  There was a sorrow in his heart.  Behind closed doors his life was falling apart.  He didn't know what to do.  There was sympathy in that maids heart.  She had been taken captive from Israel and placed in Naaman's house.  She said to her mistress "if Naaman would go to the prophet he would be healed."  Joseph also was sold into slavery in Potiphar's house then cast into the prison house.  The warden could see that the Lord was with him and put him in charge of the prison.  One day Joseph meets the butler and the baker from the king's palace.  He had an interest in these men who had fallen on hard times.  He had a sympathy for them.  Think of the Good Samaritan.  A man left for dead on the road side.  The priest and the Levite came by but both passed over on the other side of the road.  They looked but didn't do anything.  No sympathy for the man.  Maybe they were in a hurry or maybe scared in case he was a decoy and if they stopped to help they would be ambushed too.  Then there comes a Samaritan and he had time for the man.  He went over and took care of the man.  1 Corinthians 13 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."  Have we time to encourage someone else today?  The reason we meet together is to encourage others as well as listening to God's word.  The Psalmist David said "I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me; refuge failed me, no man cared for my soul." (Psalm 142 verse 4)

The search that Onesiphorus makes - "he sought me out very diligently and found me."  His heartfelt sympathy was now turned into action.  Maybe we have concern for someone but never turned it into action.  He wanted to see Paul for himself.  "he oft refreshed me" verse 16 and "how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus" verse 18.  Why were these other 2 men named?  Maybe they tried to justify themselves.  We get those kind of people, they are with you until hard times come but then they filter away.  Maybe that is why Paul pointed them out.  Onesiphorus said 'I want to see this man face to face.'  He had heard enough from others but he wanted to see him for himself.  Think of David - he had cared for his men, listened to their complaints, worked with them, fed them, comforted and tried to do everything possible for them but there came a day when they turned against him and were ready to stone him to death.  David had to encourage himself in the Lord.  Onesiphorus went to find Paul.  It meant leaving his family, his loved ones, his workplace.  A sacrifice because he wanted to go and encourage Paul.

The sincerity of his search.  Here he was now in Rome.  It was not going to be easy to find Paul.  He was "not ashamed of my chains".  Paul was in prison for preaching the unsearchable riches in Christ.  He preached of a Saviour who came into the world to save that which was lost  God's son left heaven's glory and stepped into this world to die on a cross to save mankind.  Jesus came not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved.  It is only through him that we have the means of salvation.  Paul could say "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ."  When Onesiphorus came to Rome he searched the various prison houses.  He put in time and effort to find Paul.  No doubt there were those who were walking away from Paul, they were ashamed of him.  Are you going to search for someone today who has been left behind?  Imagine this man going around askng for Paul the evangelist.  People turned away from him.  Joseph in the prison house encouraged the butler and the baker as they considered their dreams.  Joseph drew alongside them and asked them "why are you so sad?"  He had the welfare of these men on his heart.  The Good Samaritan had the same welfare on his heart.

The succour that it brought.  Put yourself in Paul's shoes.  He is lying in a cold, wet, prison cell.  Imagine the encouragement he received.  Only company he had were the Roman soldiers he was chained to.  Imagine being told there was someone to see him.  "He oft refreshed me"  Imagine the meeting that day.  That was such an encouragement to Paul.  Would you encourage someone today?  Maybe there are those sitting behind closed doors today.  Maybe God is asking you to go and encourage someone today.  Matthew 25 verses 34 - 40 "Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in; Naked and ye clothed me; I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came unto me.  Then shall the righteous answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?  When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me."