(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen. All right. It's great to be here again. First, thank you, Pastor Shelley, as always, for sending me. It's great to see you guys. And man, the soul winning is awesome here. Small group, three groups in one hour and three salvations. That's really awesome how receptive Houston is. That's a great thing tonight. We're, uh, since it's Thursday, do a little bit of a Bible study. We're in second Timothy chapter one. Let's go ahead and dig right into it here. And in verse number one, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ, Jesus to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God, the father and Christ Jesus, our Lord. So the books of first and second Timothy are written from the apostle Paul to Timothy, who is his son in the faith. So this is actually somebody that the apostle Paul won to the Lord. It's his own convert. And he actually became a pastor. So this has to be a very special convert for the apostle Paul. And, and he obviously is because he calls him his dearly beloved son. So this is obviously a good friend to the apostle Paul. This is someone who's very close to him and someone that he, he cherishes greatly. Let's look at verse number three. 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, greatly desiring to see thee being mindful of thy tears, that I might be filled with joy. So now we see that Paul is praying for his friend here and he says that he's mindful of his tears. So it's obvious that, that Timothy's going through some sort of hard time. Timothy is going through some sort of low in his life, some sort of discouragement in his life. And the apostle Paul as his friend really cares about him. He's praying for him. He's saying, Hey, I'm being mindful of your tears. Now the title of my message tonight is helping a discouraged friend, helping a discouraged friend. Now this might not be the most exciting rah-rah type sermon in the world. You know what? This is a very important sermon because all of us throughout our lives are going to go through times of discouragement and all of us, you know, our friends are going to go through times of discouragement and God can use you in a special way to be able to help that person so that they don't fail in the Christian life so that they don't get so discouraged that they just quit or give up on serving God. You could actually end up having great rewards in heaven by helping a discouraged friend to stay in the fight and to keep fighting God's battles. So this is a very important topic. Go ahead and go to, I'll have you turn to Proverbs and I'll read for you Ecclesiastes 4-9. The Bible says, go to Proverbs 27. In Ecclesiastes 4-9 the Bible says, two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he fallen, for yet not another to help him up. So God created us to be in community. That's why we have the local church. God doesn't want us just out doing our own thing. No, we need each other because when we fall, we need somebody to help lift us up. And if you're strong and your friend is going through a time of weakness or discouragement, you need to be the person to help them up. So God created us to be in community. It's very important that we're in church and that we're helping each other. You're there in Proverbs 27, look at verse 17, iron sharpeneth iron. So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friends. So, you know, we need each other in church and church is not just preaching. Church is not just singing praises to God. Church is not just preaching the gospel to the lost. Obviously those are very important things. And those are the main things when it comes to the church. You know what church is also fellowship. Church is also a family and church is a place where you have, you should have your closest friends, friends where when they're going through a hard time, you could be mindful of their tears and care about them when they're going through a difficult time. And it's funny, you got to think, think about the situation that Timothy was in, you know, at this time, it was probably a lot harder for them to have fellowship than it is for us today. I mean, you've got to think about how much persecution Timothy and the apostle Paul were going through. So they weren't able to just, you know, freely meet up as easily as we can. Not only that, they lived far distances apart from each other without technology. You know, Paul's all over the world preaching the gospel, even though they're good friends, they probably don't see each other that often. That's why Paul says, Hey, I'm going to be filled with joy when I do see you. And even today, think about this. Where are all of our friends? Well, my friends are at Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver, Washington, a far away away. And in Boise, Idaho at Shield of Faith Baptist Church and in Sacramento at Verity, right? And at Faithful Word. And hey, even today, it's not like in Houston, Texas, there's just a huge plethora of IFB churches that want to fellowship with us and want to be good friends with us. Hey, it's hard to even find fellowship today. So imagine how much more was it for Timothy. And for Paul, it was probably very hard for them. They didn't have a phone. They didn't have Facebook. I mean, they had, being a Christian, being a disciple of Lord Jesus Christ at this time had to have been a very lonely thing at times. And even in our life, sometimes we can feel lonely in the Christian walk, but especially for them, you got to think it probably was worse for them than it is for us. So I can see maybe why Timothy was discouraged at this time, but, you know, this sermon is about how to help somebody that is discouraged. So number one, be a person that truly cares. Be a person that truly cares. You know, that seems simple, but a lot of people today are only absorbed with themselves. People today only care about their own lives and the problems in their own lives. You know what? We ought not to be like that as Christians. Go to Philippians chapter number two, Philippians chapter two, Philippians two. Well, I'll read for you Romans 12, 15. The Bible says, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. You know, you're not only supposed to just have the emotions that you feel, you know, you should love your brothers and sisters in Christ enough so that when they're going through a hard time, that you're sad with them. And when they're rejoicing, when something good happens in their life, when they get the new job, when they get married, when something great happens to them, when they have a child, that you rejoice with them too. You should be mirroring how each other are feeling. Look at Philippians chapter number two. Let's start reading in verse number two. Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love being of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So, the Bible says that the mind of Christ is minding the things of others, is caring about other people. And, you know, the Bible says that Jesus didn't come to be ministered to. He came to minister. Jesus came to be a servant. And, you know, you'll never be more like Christ when you're humbling yourself and caring about other people and taking other people's burdens upon yourself. That is an opportunity for you to be like Christ. Every time someone else is having a down time in their life, that's an opportunity for you to humble yourself like Christ did and to minister unto them. Let's look at, I'll read for you Romans 15 one. I'm sorry, go back to second Timothy one and keep your finger there throughout the sermon. We're gonna be studying this chapter, but second Timothy chapter one, you know, what's one way that you can carry someone else's burdens? Look at second Timothy one, verse three. I thank God whom I serve for my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy. So, Paul, I mean, he had more problems in his life than probably any of us. I mean, he went through a lot in his life. He was constantly getting persecuted. He was constantly having bad things happen to him. Yet, he cared so much about his friend Timothy that day and night he was praying specifically for his friend Timothy and being mindful of his friend's tears. You know, do you pray for each other like that? Do you pray for your spouse like that? Do you pray for the people in your life like that? That's real love right there. That's humbling yourself. That's actually taking other people's burdens upon yourself when the apostle Paul, he has every reason to be self-absorbed. I mean, he has a lot going on in his own life. He's a very busy man, yet night and day, he cared enough about his friend Timothy to pray for him. And that's one way we can show love to each other. That's one way that we can encourage people that are discouraged is by night and day being faithful to pray for each other. I'll read for you Romans 15 one. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, through approaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. No, if you're strong, if you're fine spiritually, if you're on a spiritual high, you're strong in the Lord, you're zealous, you know, you feel like you're walking the Christian life the way you should. Obviously, none of us are perfect, but if you feel like you're doing okay and your brother's down, okay, well, it's time for you that are strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. And it's time for you to pray for your brothers. If they're going through a bad time, if they're getting backslidden, you notice they're no longer showing up to church like they used to. They're not going soloing like they used to. That's a time for you not to ridicule not to berate them, but it's time for you to pray for them and to carry their burdens. And, you know, I'm thankful I do have a friend like this. I do have a friend like this. And, you know, I've just mentioned things in passing to him, and he'll come to me like six months later and be like, oh, how's this, you know, problem that you have? I've been praying for it every single day since you told me that. I'm like, wow. You know, I have a friend that he's done that to me so many times in my life. And I'm like, oh, that's funny because that problem actually got better. You know, it makes sense since you've been praying for me every single day. You know, I'm thankful for a friend like that. And I hope that I could be a friend like that to someone else. We should all strive for that level of friendship. You know what? That makes a difference in people's lives. That actually does help people. And, you know, you may think that you're doing well spiritually, but maybe it's because your friend's praying for you. Maybe it's because he's praying that you don't become discouraged. It's a great way to help other people. Let's go to James 5. James 5. James 5. Look at verse 13. Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any married? Let him sing Psalms. So, you know, if you're afflicted, if you're going through a time that's, you know, full of discouragement, you should be praying for yourself. You know, the sad thing is a lot of people don't. A lot of people get so discouraged that they don't pray. And that's where you can come in as a friend, as a brother in Christ, and fill in that gap for them. They should be praying for themselves. All of us should be praying all the time. But you know what? They may not be doing that. So if you see your friend struggling, pray for them. Try to encourage them by praying for them. Let's look at verse 14. Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And if you have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. You know, the Bible is constantly just emphasizing praying for others, praying for others, praying for others. So think about your own prayer life. What is your prayer life focused on? Is it always focused on yourself? It should be focused mainly on others. Pray for your needs. Jesus said to pray for your daily bread, right? Pray that God forgives you of your sins, all those things. You know what? It's very important to be praying for other people. The righteous and fervent prayer, or I'm sorry, the effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, the Bible says. Meaning it gets a lot of stuff done. That's why my friend that prays for me every single day for a six month period, when he asks me, how's that going by the way? And I'm like, wow, well, it's better. Hey, it's because the prayer of that man availeth much. And we can actually affect people's lives greatly by praying. Praying is not just chanting, like the Catholic church says. Praying is not just repeating something mindlessly. No, prayer actually gets things done. Prayer can actually move God to move in people's lives to do what you want him to do, if it's according to his will. So we need to be praying for each other. The sad thing is most people don't pray. Go to James chapter four, just back a page. The Bible actually says that you lust. Verse two, you lust and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight in war, yet you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. Bible says the reason why you don't have things because you don't ask. So a lot of times, hey, if you're discouraged, maybe you just need to pray and ask God to fill you with the spirit. Maybe you just need to pray and ask God to strengthen you and to help you when you're down. He's the only one that can help you anyways. He's the only one that can help your friend too, when he's down. So we need to be people that actually care about our friends and actually care about our brothers in Christ and see when they have a need. And whether they ask you or not, go to the Lord in prayer for them. Hey, a lot of stuff can happen. A lot can be done through prayer. Go to Hebrews chapter four. Actually go to Exodus 17. I'll read for you Hebrews 4 16. Hebrews 4 16 says, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Prayer is the best place to find help. A lot of times it's the only place to actually find real help in this world is prayer. And it's funny because the world likes to make fun of prayer and say that it doesn't work and that it's stupid. And of course, you know, the world looks to the government to help them with all their problems, right? But the Bible says that you could actually find help by prayer. Whether people believe that or not is their own fault to not believe that. The Bible says it, and I believe that it's true. But remember, we're studying 2 Timothy 1. The context of this is a man of God, a pastor that's discouraged, a pastor whose tears are being brought into remembrance, the apostle Paul. So that tells me that, you know, even men of God can be discouraged and even pastors that are strong like Timothy. I mean, he's in the Bible. He's got to be a great pastor, right? Even people like Timothy can be discouraged to the point of tears. I mean, there's men of God in the Bible that asked God to kill them because they were so discouraged. So you know what that tells me? Hey, we ought to be praying for our pastor too. And I want to look at a story that illustrates that in Exodus 17 verse 8. Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. So what's happening is the Amalekites are fighting a battle against Israel. They're going to war. Verse 9, and Moses said unto Joshua, choose us out men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said unto him, excuse me, and fought with Amalek and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. So everything rises and falls on leadership, right? When Moses is lifting up his staff, Israel's winning the battle. When he puts it down, Amalek is winning. So he needs to keep holding up that staff, right? We need our leaders to be strong. We need our leaders to keep doing the job that God has appointed them to do. Look at verse 12, but Moses' hands were heavy. He's getting tired. They took a stone and put it under him. And he sat there on and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands. The one on the one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So what's happening? He's holding up a staff. He's getting tired. So they bring him a stone to sit on. And then Aaron's on one side of him, holding up his arm. Hur's on the other side of him, holding up his other arm, helping the man of God to be strong. And here's the thing. Pastor Shelley has a lot on his plate. Pastor Shelley is a pastor of three churches and he has to keep me in line. So he has a lot on his plate. You need to be praying for him because hey, no matter how strong you are, sometimes as a Christian, even as a pastor, even as a leader, someone in spiritual leadership, you can get weary. And you know what? When leadership gets weary and when leadership quits and drops the arm, the Amalekites win. Everything rises and falls on leadership. And there's already too much of a lack of men of God today in America for people to just be burning out, for pastors to be burning out and quitting. We need them. We need our pastors and our spiritual leadership. So you know what that means for us? We need to be praying for them. We need to be lifting up their hands in prayer and asking God to strengthen them, asking God to encourage them in the work that they have to do. They have a very, very difficult job. I mean, they go through a lot. It's not just preaching three times a week. It's getting the phone call that someone's spouse committed suicide. And then it's going and doing a wedding right after that. And then it's doing a funeral right after that. And then it's helping everyone with all their problems while writing a sermon. They go through a lot and they need prayer. They cannot just do it in the flesh. They need prayer from us. So number one, be a person that truly cares. It's simple. You know what? There's a lot of selfish people today and we need to care about other people. Number two, give them genuine, encouraging words. Genuine, encouraging words. Second Timothy chapter one, let's read verse four. Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother, Lois, and thy mother, Eunice. And I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. So notice I said, give them genuine, encouraging words. Okay. He's not going to lie to his friend here, but what is, what is this saying? He's saying, you know, I remember Timothy, that you have great unfeigned faith. Now Paul's saying this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He's not lying to him. He's telling him the truth. He's reminding Timothy, Hey, Timothy, here's a good thing about you. Here's a great quality that you have. You have unfeigned faith, meaning you have real faith, Timothy. And he's reminding him of a spiritual heritage with his grandmother and his mother. And then he's exhorting them, Hey, stir up the gift of God that is in you. And we'll get into a second what that gift is. But the thing is the world is more than ready to give tons and tons of positive affirming messages today. And the problem with that is not that they're giving positive messages. Positive messages is not the problem. It's that they're untrue positive messages. Okay. And you know what? It's not going to help your friend if you flatter them, if they're discouraged and you just tell them lies, you know, maybe someone's discouraged because they're being punished for their own sin. Okay. You're not going to be like, you're the greatest Christian ever. I know you just divorced your wife. And then now you just have this horrible health problem because God's chastising you, but you're a great Christian. You're you have unfeigned faith. No, that's not what Paul's doing. Okay. He's discouraged and he's giving him true, genuine encouragement. I'll read for you Jeremiah 8 11. The Bible says, for they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying peace, peace, when there is no peace. So the false prophets of Israel, the pastors that were teaching lies, what were they saying? Peace, peace. They were giving a positive message. The only problem was there is no peace. It was a lie. It was not true. And he says that, that they healed the daughter of my people slightly. So you know what? A fake false message. It's going to make you feel good. It's going to heal you slightly. You know, people, the world likes to say ignorance is bliss, right? If I don't know about it, no big deal, but you know what? Ignorance is only bliss until reality comes and drops the hammer on you. Then you realize ignorance is not bliss. So these false prophets, peace, peace, when there is no peace, you know what? That's going to make everyone feel really good until Babylon comes in and takes over. And you realize that Jeremiah was right. Okay. So when I say give genuine, encouraging words, I'm not telling you to just butter up your friend, to flatter your friend, to lie to your friend. You know what? There's nothing wrong with a positive message if it's true. You know, we, we, we harp on that. The Bible is mostly negative. We need negative preaching and amen to that. But you know what? There's nothing wrong with a positive message. It just needs to be a true positive message. The problem with Joel Osteen is not that he preaches positive messages, although he does preach too many, is that they're all lies. It's that you can just all have your best life now. And you're just going to be rich and healthy no matter what, as long as you just donate to me. That's a fake false positive message. Go to Proverbs chapter 26. But you think about, I mean, the messaging of the world is always positive. Even, you know, I've seen things where it's like, oh, don't be ashamed that you had an abortion. It's your body. It's your choice. You shouldn't ever feel any shame for having an abortion, you know, giving these positive messages to women that have committed murder, right? Or you know what? You, you know, you shouldn't feel bad about going to bed with someone before marriage, because as long as you love them, then it's okay, right? It's a positive message, but it's a lie. It's contrary to what the Bible says. Proverbs 26 verse 24. The Bible says something about a person that would willingly lie to you and willingly flatter you. He that hateth, dissembleth with his lips. So he that actually hates you is gonna, is gonna twist truth with his lips and layeth up deceit within him. When he speaketh fair, he's speaking a positive message. Believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart whose hatred is covered by deceit. His wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation. So the person that's constantly willing to tell you that you're great, and he's constantly willing to tell you all the positive things to you, but it's not true. Someone says positive, positive, positive things to you that aren't true. That person actually hates you. You know, ladies, if you're having a bad hair day and your friends just say, that's the greatest hair I've ever seen. You're looking at a 10 out of 10 today. It's like, whoa, is that person actually your friend? You know, if you got something on your teeth and they don't tell you about it, or is that person actually your friend? It looks so great. No, they're not your friend, actually. Someone's always wanting to tell you something positive that's not true because they actually hate you. You believe what the Bible says? That's what it says, that they actually hate you. Verse 27, whoso digget the pit shall fall therein, and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. How many times does the Bible have to tell us? No, you just got to get this in your head. A person that flatters you is a wicked person. I've seen it many times in my life. Someone that flatters you always, always, always ends up being a very wicked person. So don't be that way to your friends, please. Don't, when they're going through a hard time, don't just tell them what they want to hear. You know, tell them what they need to hear. And it's okay to tell them genuine, encouraging words, as long as it's genuine. That's what the apostle Paul is doing here. Let's go back to 2 Timothy chapter one. Verse number six. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in me by the putting on of my hand. So what is this gift? Go ahead and go to 1 Timothy chapter five. Let's see. Might not be chapter five. Hmm. It's not 1 Timothy chapter five. I have it in my notes. I'll just read it for you. Sorry about that. It's in 1 Timothy and it says neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. So when he's telling him to stir up the gift that's in you, he's talking about that when he was ordained as a man of God, he had his hands laid on him by other elders and he was given a gift. And if you've ever seen someone ordained, the pastor will usually pray and say, you know, I pray that a double portion of the Holy Spirit is upon this person. And that's what the gift is, is that it's an extra portion of the Holy Spirit given to a man of God that's had his hands, that's had hands laid on him. So, I mean, that's a very special gift, is it not? To be able to have an extra portion of the Holy Spirit. And I believe that that gift is what enables pastors and ordained men of God to do the work of the ministry because it's very hard and it's not something that you could just do in the flesh. It's not something that a man can just do. Now, false prophets do it all the time, but they do it poorly. They do it with deceit. They don't do it by actually preaching spirit-filled sermon after spirit-filled sermon and helping people's lives and building a church according to the Bible. The only way you're going to do that is with this gift. You know, I've seen this, you know, even with Pastor Shelley, like when we were doing the building construction, there were times where we're just working all day long till like 1 a.m. and I'm thinking, how does he have time to write a sermon? I have no idea. And then Sunday morning, he's just like, a great sermon. I'm like, what in the world? It's the gift. It's the laying on of the hands that's enabling him to do his work. You know, when I went to Church Foundation Baptist Church, I was very close to Pastor Thompson and I saw him work, put in 60-hour week, 60-hour week, 60-hour week, preaching three times a week, running a church on top of working 60 hours a week. And I'm like, how in the world do you do this? The gift. That's how. It's a real thing. That's why these men of God are able to do their job. They couldn't do it without the help of the Holy Spirit. And so Paul is reminding him of this great gift that he's been given. He's saying, stir up that gift. You have the ability to do this job. You've had hands laid on you. God has ordained for you to do this job. You know, you can do it. Stir up that gift that is in you. You know, remember your spiritual heritage. You have great unfeigned faith, Timothy. And you know what else? You have a great gift. You know what? We all have spiritual gifts. Obviously, you know, we don't have that same gift of laying on of hands, but the Bible elsewhere talks about how some people have the gift of prophecy. Some people have the gift of discernment, the gift of tongues, the gift of being hospitable, right? You know, all of us in this room has a different gift or talent from God, and we need to stir that up. You know what? If your friends discouraged, one thing you could do, giving them genuine encouragement, is tell them, hey, you know, you've got the gift for preaching, brother. You know, if one of my friends, if I tell them good sermon, it's because I actually believe that they preached a good sermon. I'm not just telling them, oh yeah, great sermon. It was actually garbage. No, you know, it's like, it's like Manley Perry when he was talking about giving cards to sodomites. And he's like, love to have you at church sometime. Really don't. It's like, that's bizarre. You know, I'm not going to do that to my friends. I'm not going to say, hey, you're really great, but I really think you're trash. Be genuine with your words. If you're going to give encouraging words to someone, nothing wrong with that. Just make sure it's actually genuine. So number one, be a person who truly cares. Sorry, I'm losing my voice here. Number two, give them genuine encouragement. Number three, remind them of what the Bible says. This is a great way to encourage someone as well. Look at verse number seven of 2 Timothy chapter one, verse number seven, four, God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. So he gives them these encouraging words and then he tells them something from God. Right. And obviously he's speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He's literally speaking the word of God. He's not, you know, turning in his Bible saying, look, Timothy, God's not given us the spirit of fear, but he's actually speaking the words of God to Timothy. You know what? Obviously we should be careful with this because we don't want to be people that are just like giving unsolicited advice. Right. Obviously, you know, if you're close with someone, if you have a good relationship with someone, if you're really close to them, there's nothing inappropriate with just being like, hey man, do you ever think about this, showing them from the Bible? Right. Now you don't want to be the person that's just always giving everyone unsolicited advice because the person that does that is normally the person you don't want to listen to. It's like, hey guys, I've been married for three months. I'm going to start a series on marriage. What do you think? No, thanks. I'm good. I don't want that unsolicited advice. It's like, hey, I've been a parent for six months. I'm going to write a book about all the parenting methods. It's like, nah, I'm good. You know, like, but you know what? It's okay to show people what the Bible says. And it's, it's a good way to encourage someone. That's what he's doing here. He's saying for God, if not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And that also gives us an insight to possibly what Timothy was struggling with, because why would he just randomly bring up fear? You know, so that tells me Paul maybe knew that this is something that Timothy was struggling with. And I can see why being that Paul and Timothy were persecuted, persecuted heavily. It wasn't like our, you know, flowery, flowery, cushiony lives that we live where we just do our ministry freely. Although someday that may change for them. It was lots and lots of persecution. So he's reminding them, hey, God's not given us the spirit of fear or the power of love and of a sound mind. And, you know, we can use the Bible as well to encourage people when they're going through a vast array of different emotions. Let's go to Psalms 23. Let's look at a good passage in the Bible that could discourage someone who's struggling with fear. This is one of the most famous chapters in the whole Bible. Let's read the whole thing. Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Why did God give us these passages anyway? To encourage us. That's what the Bible is to be used for. This chapter is probably used every single day in the world to encourage somebody, because it's just so iconic. It's such a great chapter, especially verse 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Meaning, like, even if we're at the point of we're about to die, we can trust the Lord. He's with us. We don't have anything to fear. You know, that verse reminded me of another story where people thought that they were on the brink of death and they were afraid. Go to Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4. Here's another story that you could remind someone of if they're struggling with fear. Mark chapter 4 verse 36. When they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship, and there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. So the apostles and the Lord Jesus Christ are in a little ship, and they're in the ocean. There's a great storm, and the waves are coming into the ship. That's not where you want your waves. You want your waves outside of the ship, okay? And then it says that the ship is literally full, okay? Sounds like they're in the valley of the shadow of death right now. Can you understand maybe why they'd be a little afraid? Look at verse 38. And he, Jesus Christ, was in the hindering part of the ship asleep on a pillow. That's great. And they awake him and say unto him, Master, carest not that we perish. So the boat's just filling up with water, and the Lord Jesus Christ is just taking a nap because he's God of the universe. He's got nothing to worry about. He's got this completely under control, but they don't know it yet. They're like, whoa, the water's filling up the boat. We're about to die. Jesus, do you not care that we're about to perish here? Verse 39. And he rose, probably stretched a little bit, yawned, I don't know, and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? How is it that the God of the universe, God in the flesh, is here in this boat with you and you're afraid of what's going to happen to you? You think that God's going to let this boat sink, right? You know what? God is always with us. Jesus said that I'm with you to the ends of the world. Yea, though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, thou art with me. We know that God's with us. And if God is with us, why are we afraid? Is any storm of the ocean more powerful than the God of heaven? No. Is any storm of life that you're in more powerful something that God can't handle? No. So why are you afraid? In verse 41, and they feared exceedingly and said one to another, what manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? So they still were really, really afraid, but at least they shifted their fear to the right person. Now they were afraid of the Lord Jesus Christ because he just rebuked the winds and the wave. And I can understand that as well. You know, this is the Bible is a very human book because we could really see what they were going through. You know what? God gave us all these stories to encourage us. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with if your brother in Christ is going through a time of fear to lovingly bring up these stories and be like, hey, remember the story of Jesus rebuking the waves? That's a great encouragement for us. I'll read for you John 14, 26, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Notice the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. Sounds like he's a great person to help somebody that's discouraged. And what does the Holy Spirit do? He brings all things into our remembrance whatsoever is in the Bible. That's what I mean. So the Bible is our comfort. So this is a great method to encourage somebody that's down. And that's exactly what the apostle Paul is doing to Timothy. He's speaking God's words to him, which is always an encouragement. Go to First Thessalonians chapter four. Let's look at another encouraging passage. First Thessalonians chapter four. This passage is often used to encourage people if they, you know, lost a family member or something like that. Verse 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them with him look at verse 18 wherefore comfort one another with these words again the Bible's telling you to comfort with his work saying that hey if your if your loved one is saved God's going to bring them with him someday you're going to see that loved one again and that could be a great encouragement to us if we're going through a time of mourning you know what if somebody you know had a miscarriage you could read him I'll read for you second Samuel 12 23 after King David's son died he said but now he is dead wherefore should I fast can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me saying that hey someday I'm going to go to heaven and I'm going to see that child again he's not going to come back but at least I will see that child again you know whatever situation it is the Bible covers that topic whatever emotion that someone's going through whatever is causing someone to be discouraged the Bible has the remedy for them the Bible is the answer what was the question that is true the Bible is the answer what is the question no matter what you're going through the Bible can help you and you know what you should encourage others using the word of God maybe someone's just going through general trials and it just seems like nothing's going right in their life here's a great verse Romans 8 28 and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose that's a verse that always comforts me knowing hey if I'm doing my best if I'm putting God first if I'm loving him and keeping his commandments no matter what happens to me I know it's going to work out for good that's a great encouragement in God's word you know what the Bible is full of these things so if you haven't read your Bible full cover to cover you're missing out on some great encouragement in your life you need to be reading the Bible and read the whole thing cover to cover let's go back to second Timothy look at verse number eight so remember he gives them genuine encouraging words he reminds them what the Bible says now look at verse eight be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our lord nor of me his prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God now he's he's exhorting him to do something he's exhorting him to be a partaker of affliction wait a second that doesn't sound very encouraging hey you know I want to encourage you partake in my affliction okay but let's look at what the Bible says go to second Corinthians chapter one because on the surface it does not sound very comforting second Corinthians one verse one Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy our brother so this is both of them speaking under the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints which are in Achaea grace be to you and peace from God our father and from the lord Jesus Christ blessed be God even the father of our lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comfort us comforted us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also bounded by Christ notice he uses that word us at the beginning of the chapter it said Paul and Timothy so Timothy has been through a lot already as we know that Paul went through a lot a lot of hardships well so has Timothy but he says as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also abounded by Christ I love how Paul is always looking on the bright side he's saying you know even though our sufferings abound that causes our consolation to abound hey we get to be consoled more because we suffer more I love how Paul just like always has that great positive attitude you know I love people like that verse number six whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer or whether we be comforted it is for your consolation and salvation and our hope of you is steadfast knowing that as ye are partakers of the suffering so shall ye be also of the consolation so he's saying hey good news if you partake of the suffering with us you'll get to be consoled with us so come on let's go let's go be suffered together right he's like he makes it into a positive thing you know it is a positive thing it is a positive thing to suffer for Christ and that's why he says hey after he's encouraging him he says be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel to him because guess what you get to be consoled by the Lord there's always a bright side of things but in a very literal sense we should be happy when we suffer for Christ we should be happy when we go through hardships for him go to Matthew chapter five Matthew chapter five and Jesus covers this topic in Matthew chapter 5 verse 10 blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous and sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you you know it's hard to remember this during the time you're going through it when you're going through the suffering it's hard to remember that you're supposed to be rejoicing you know what when your family comes after you and says that you're so hateful or that you're in a cult you know you should really be happy because you're just racking up rewards in heaven when people at work make fun of you or think that you're weird or whatever because you're a disciple of Lord Jesus Christ you know that actually should just make you jump for joy because you're racking up rewards in heaven and you know that's all very minor stuff you got to think about what these guys went through in the bible when they are being stoned shipwrecked beat imagine their rewards in heaven you know that's why the apostle paul had this great attitude is because he had an he had eternity in his mindset and he's saying hey great we're going to be partakers of the constellation too it's a great attitude to have let's keep reading in verse nine who have saved us and called us within holy calling i'm sorry us back to second timothy one not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in christ jesus before the world began verse 10 but now made manifest by the appearing of our savior jesus christ who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel where into i am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the gentiles for the which cause i also suffer these things nevertheless i am not ashamed for i know who i have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which i've committed on him against that day so he cares about him he's praying for him he's giving him genuine encouraging words he's telling him to be a partaker of the affliction and then you notice that paul kind of changes here to talk about himself and he's talking about how he has suffered these things he's not ashamed he's knows who he is believed in right and that leads me to point number four so number one be a person who truly cares number two give genuine encouragement number three remind them what the bible says number four lead by example lead by example paul is not just telling him hey go be a partaker of the afflictions here hey i know what the bible says here's what the bible says but he himself is not living that life no he's saying god has not given us the spirit of fear but a power and of love and of a sound mind and paul actually has that mind he's actually living that life he actually has a great attitude about all the suffering and affliction that he's been through which makes him the perfect candidate to help his discouraged friend because he's leading by example because he's actually living the life he's actually living a real victorious christian life by enduring sufferings for christ and having a great attitude doing it let's look at some of the things that happen to the apostle paul some of it are listed right here in this chapter let's look at verse 13 hold fast the form of sound words which thou has heard of me in faith and love which is in christ jesus that good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the holy ghost which dwell within me this thou knowest that all they which are in asia be turned away from me of whom are fight jealous and homogeneous what's one thing that happened to the apostle paul everybody forsook him everybody turned away from him he had experienced that loneliness too he knew what it was like to be serving christ alone seemingly and to be doing it all on his own but you know what did he have a bad attitude about that no he did not i'm sure he went through seasons of depression and seasons of discouragement but overall he was serving the lord joyfully let's flip the page and go to second timothy chapter four second timothy four verse 16 and my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me i pray god that it may not be laid to their charge notwithstanding the lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the gentiles might hear and i was delivered out of the mouth of the lion so all forsook him but you know what he had a great attitude because he said but the lord stood with me the lord encouraged me so you know what this is a perfect man to encouraged his discouraged brother here because he's been through these things and he he responded correctly he went through the trials and tribulations and he didn't fail when he was tested by god he responded the right way making him able to help other people and we're going to remember that it's going to become important here in a second but let's go to second crinthians chapter 12 let's look at some other things that the apostle paul went through let's look at verse seven unless i should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of satan to buffet me lest i should be exalted above measure so another thing that happened to the apostle paul is he was given a very bad physical ailment and i mean that's the worst when you go through physical problems when you have surgeries when you have illnesses that's the worst thing that could happen and that happened to the apostle paul let's look at verse eight for this thing i besought the lord thrice that it might depart from me so he's not happy that he has his physical ailment he's he's beseeching the lord three times and i don't believe that's three quick prayers this is like three seasons in his life of begging god that this would be removed from him verse nine and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore i will rather glory in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon me so why did god give him this challenge why did god give him this time where he maybe felt discouraged or depressed it was because god wanted to make sure that the apostle paul was fully leaning on god and he actually said that hey when he's weak in the flesh he's strong and that the spirit of christ is resting upon him as a result of it god wanted to make sure that he was trusting him and as a result how did he respond to that he goes i'll glory in my infirmities then if i'm able to do more for christ hey i'll glory in my physical infirmities if it makes me spiritually strong so when he was going through his test of being forsaken by everyone he had a good attitude when he was going through his test of having physical ailments he had a good attitude let's look at what else happened to the apostle paul second corinthians chapter 11 let's read a good bit here about what happened in verse 23 are they ministers of christ i speak as a fool i am more in labors more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft of the jews five times received by 40 stripes save one thrice i was beaten with rods once i was stone thrice i suffered shipwreck a night and a day i've been in the deep and don't just read over this think about if this kind of stuff was actually happening to you how you would respond verse 26 in journeyings often in perils of water in perils of robbers in perils by my own countrymen in perils by the heathen in perils in the city in perils in the wilderness in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren in weariness and painfulness and watchings often in hunger and thirst in fasting often in cold and nakedness besides those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily the care of all the churches who is weak and am i not weak who is offended and i burn not if i must needs glory i will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities so think about that if all this stuff happened to you just be honest with yourself would you quit probably most of us would probably quit if we went through this much and he went through all of these things and he says you know what i'm gonna glory in my infirmities that's a strong man of faith right there that's why this man was able to write one of the most challenging verses in the bible therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the lord for as much as you know that your work is not in vain in the lord that's a that's a powerful you know verse right there saying that no matter what happens to you be steadfast and continue doing the work of god hey he had the right to write he had he earned the right to say that verse right because he actually was steadfast and he actually did it not only just enduring it but he actually did it with a good attitude and here's the thing go to go to uh uh philippians chapter four philippians chapter four let's look at one more uh statement from him of how he responded to his trials philippians chapter four verse 11 not that i speak in respect of one for i've learned in whatsoever state i am therewith to be content he's happy he's pleased verse 12 i know both how to be abased and i know how to abound everywhere and in all things i'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need i can do all things through christ with strengtheneth me also in acts chapter 20 you know he's about to go through more persecution he says but none of these things move me neither can i my life dear unto myself right so the apostle paul truly was a very very strong man one of probably probably the best christian that ever lived was the apostle paul because of how much he went through and he not only just endured it but he did it with a good attitude but here's the thing you have to think the apostle paul he could have just had all those things happen to him and he could have just complained like a lot of us do he could have just wore his emotions on his sleeve he could have used all of these things that happened to him as an excuse to be discouraged as an excuse to not serve god but instead he actually responded correctly and he was able to use his experience of his suffering to help other people and this is the main truth that we need to understand is that every single trial that comes in our lives every single time we feel discouraged every single time something negative happens to us it's an opportunity to respond correctly so that you can help someone else someday and the apostle paul he was not just telling timothy hey be a partaker of the affliction simothy you can do it yay but he actually wasn't doing it himself no he was leading by example and if you actually want to be someone who can effectively encourage other people because here's the thing like i said we're all going to be discouraged from time to time don't you want to be able to actually help your friend when they go through that time well guess what you need to be doing the work now you need to be building a credible life of serving god and doing it with a good attitude now because that's how you could actually help someone in the future you know if you go through a horrible situation like miscarriage you know i hope to god that that never happens to me and my wife and i can't imagine how hard that would be i know people that have been through it and have had that good testimony of praising god continuing to serve the lord continuing to love the lord and those people are going to be the people that help other people someday when they go through that same thing you know people who who go through losing a child or losing family members or just anything bad that happens to them when you respond correctly you're able to help other people someday so i hope that can help you guys in the future like i said this isn't the type of sermon where you know it's like a red hot sermon or anything like that but you know sermons like this are important because this is you know this is how we keep each other in the christian life for the long haul we don't want to be just doing this thing for one or two years we want to be serving christ the rest of our life you know what you're not going to do it if you quit because you get discouraged so you need to be able to help each other when you notice your brother in christ or your sister in christ is going through a hard time hey follow these steps to help them number one be a person who truly cares number two give them genuine encouraging words number three remind them what the bible says and number four lead by example let's have a word of prayer lord thanks so much this day thank you god that you've led us by example that you were tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin this is a great example to us lord i pray that we would just read your word every day and that we would be encouraged that we'd be able to encourage other people we love you lord in jesus name we pray amen