Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Circle of Honor and Dishonor │ Msg 1314 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A Circle of Honor and Dishonor │ Msg 1314 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: As we journey through the scriptures, we often come to
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Speaker 1: very emotional sections where it is wise to let our
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Speaker 1: imagination go, and we, as one of my mentors used
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Speaker 1: to say, we live out the text. Permit yourself to
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Speaker 1: do that. We all have imaginations, some a little bit
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Speaker 1: broader than others. But today would be a great day
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Speaker 1: to let your mind run free. To imagine the writing
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Speaker 1: of this section in two Timothy four nine through fifteen
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Speaker 1: in its original context, a dark, damp, depressing dungeon where
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Speaker 1: the man writing will soon put the final strokes on
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Speaker 1: the last thing he ever wrote that has been recorded
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Speaker 1: and preserved through time. Such words deserve our respect, our time,
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Speaker 1: and our trust. May we stand together out of respect
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Speaker 1: for God's word as I read for you two Timothy four,
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Speaker 1: beginning at verse nine, Make every effort to come to
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Speaker 1: me soon. For Demus, having loved this present world, has
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Speaker 1: deserted me and gone to Thessalonaika. Cressens has gone to Galicia,
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Speaker 1: Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up
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Speaker 1: Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful
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Speaker 1: to me for service. But Tichicus I have sent to Ephesus.
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Speaker 1: When you come, bring the cloak which I left at
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Speaker 1: Troaz with Karpus, and the books, especially the parchments. Alexander
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Speaker 1: the Coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will repay
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Speaker 1: him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself,
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Speaker 1: for he vigorously opposed our teaching. May God be honored
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Speaker 1: in the reading of his word and the preaching of it,
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Speaker 1: and then ultimately the living out of its truths. Please
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Speaker 1: be seated. May we bow together for prayer, Our Father.
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Speaker 1: We have already called upon you in this meeting of worship,
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Speaker 1: but it's appropriate we do so again. We want to
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Speaker 1: set apart this brief period of time, brief in light
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Speaker 1: of our entire lives and in light of the eternity
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Speaker 1: before us. And we pray that for this segment, during
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Speaker 1: this wedge of time, you will give us the ability
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Speaker 1: to concentrate our minds, to tune our hearts, to grasp
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Speaker 1: what is written, what is meant, and even what may
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Speaker 1: have been implied within the lines and between them. As
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Speaker 1: we join Paul and a Dungeon, May that visit be
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Speaker 1: meaningful for us in anticipating our final days and what
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Speaker 1: life might be like for each one of us. We're
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Speaker 1: grateful for a place where we can set aside time
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Speaker 1: for such us and thought you teach us things we
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Speaker 1: would not otherwise know. In fact, your son often said
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Speaker 1: to those around him, do you not know? Do you
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Speaker 1: not know? To enable us to know what we didn't
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Speaker 1: know when we came in, and then fill us with
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Speaker 1: such enablement that we can lead different people and without
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Speaker 1: announcing it, have others notice the difference, because what we
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Speaker 1: have known we now live. We remember today those in
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Speaker 1: places where your word is under threat and where it
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Speaker 1: is not allowed to be proclaimed. We pray for those
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Speaker 1: who are in those places who love you and would
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Speaker 1: give everything they have to spend one hour in a
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Speaker 1: place like this. Watch over them, take good care of them,
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Speaker 1: protect them, especially those this day who serve in the military.
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Speaker 1: We remember, as well, be grateful for the privilege of
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Speaker 1: giving to the ministry, and we do so with confidence
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Speaker 1: that these funds will be handled with integrity and use
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Speaker 1: for your greater glory. But first we give ourselves and
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Speaker 1: then our gifts, and we commit these quiet moments of
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Speaker 1: reflection to you as we give joyfully and generously in
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Speaker 1: the name of Christ, our Master. Everyone said, Amen. Leadership
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Speaker 1: and loneliness go hand in hand. That's a surprise to
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Speaker 1: people who are not leaders, have not been called to
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Speaker 1: fill leadership positions. Matter of fact, most would think that
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Speaker 1: every leader, if anything, has life pretty well wired and
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Speaker 1: really has very few needs for other people. Nothing could
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Speaker 1: be further from the truth. Loneliness stalks where the buck stops.
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Speaker 1: Aw Toeser put it well, most of the world's great
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Speaker 1: souls have been lonely. Samuel Taylor Coleridge captures this reality
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Speaker 1: in his Immortal Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner when he
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Speaker 1: pictures the scene at sea and writes alone alone, all,
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Speaker 1: all alone, alone, on a wide wide see not a
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Speaker 1: saint took pity on my soul. In agony, there's a
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Speaker 1: loneliness that accompanies the role of responsibility, where you make
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Speaker 1: decisions that aren't popular, and where you rarely have a
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Speaker 1: chance to convince the general public that your decision was
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Speaker 1: based on what you believe to be right. If you
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Speaker 1: are lonely, and certainly if you have recently been lonely,
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Speaker 1: you know the agony of loneliness can hardly be exaggerated.
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Speaker 1: How often Moses must have felt that when he was
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Speaker 1: leading the people of Israel for forty years between ages
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Speaker 1: eighty and one hundred and twenty, mind you, across a
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Speaker 1: wilderness that was bare and hot and dry, and they
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Speaker 1: were often complaining, arguing, and even considering mutiny. How lonely
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Speaker 1: he must have felt. And Joshua, who took up the
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Speaker 1: mantle after Moses in leading through the conquest of Canaan,
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Speaker 1: how many lonely nights he must have felt when the
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Speaker 1: odds were against them, and he led on right through
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Speaker 1: the loneliness. And David took the throne of his nation
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Speaker 1: at age thirty and held it until age seventy, And
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Speaker 1: all the time he was the king, he knew those
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Speaker 1: segments of time when loneliness haunted him and stalked his steps,
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Speaker 1: when he lost his son, he felt alone when Absalom
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Speaker 1: rebelled against him and in fact overthrew the throne, and
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Speaker 1: David was pushed out of the city he loved named
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Speaker 1: after him. How lonely he felt looking back over the
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Speaker 1: city of David, knowing that things seemed in chaos and
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Speaker 1: out of control, all seemed lost. How lonely he was
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Speaker 1: when he came back from the battle at Ziklag, and
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Speaker 1: their homes had been burned and their wives had been
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Speaker 1: taken and the warriors spoke against him and his leadership.
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Speaker 1: All alone, David stood like a steer in a blizzard.
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Speaker 1: And these great prophets that we read of, stronghearted and
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Speaker 1: outspoken for God, lived lives of quiet, loneliness, misunderstood, misrepresented,
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Speaker 1: and on occasion martyred. And so none of us should
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Speaker 1: be surprised to read what we read in verses nine
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Speaker 1: through fifteen in tewod Timothy chapter four, Paul's come to
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Speaker 1: the last days of his life. The dungeon is dark,
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Speaker 1: and it's damp. It's dismal and discouraging. And your mind
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Speaker 1: plays tricks on you when you're in a place like that,
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Speaker 1: and you're getting up in years and your friends have gone,
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Speaker 1: and you're left with time. There's an urgent plea that
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Speaker 1: appears in verse nine of chapter four. Well, you can't
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Speaker 1: miss the loneliness in the words. And remember this is
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Speaker 1: the man who just wrote, I have fought the good fight,
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Speaker 1: I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.
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Speaker 1: Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
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Speaker 1: which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me it
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Speaker 1: that day, and not to me only, but until all
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Speaker 1: those also who love is appearing, and before that ink
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Speaker 1: is dry. He's pleading with Timothy to come join him.
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Speaker 1: Make every effort to come. And if that isn't urgent enough,
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Speaker 1: he adds the word soon, come soon. Between the lines
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Speaker 1: are words that are saying, I miss you, my friend,
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Speaker 1: I miss the warmth of your companionship. Don't misunderstand. Paul
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Speaker 1: is still the clear thinking theologian. He is still the
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Speaker 1: rugged and courageous missionary. He's still the powerful preacher, the
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Speaker 1: brightest theological mind ha skept for Christ in the entire
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Speaker 1: first century. It's still Paul, but he's still one hundred
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Speaker 1: percent human. So don't let it startle you to read
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Speaker 1: words like verse twenty one. Make every effort to come
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Speaker 1: before winter. I like it, frankly, that as I am
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Speaker 1: preaching these words, we find ourselves right now in the
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Speaker 1: midst of autumn, my favorite season of the year, but
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Speaker 1: it can be a lonely season. It was autumn when
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Speaker 1: Paul wrote, and long for Timothy to get there before
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Speaker 1: winter fell. These words apply I wrote them years ago. Timothy,
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Speaker 1: drop everything, pack quickly, and catch the next ship out
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Speaker 1: of the Ethesian harbor. Come, my friend, find your way
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Speaker 1: to my Dungeon's cell. I miss you. Come before winter,
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Speaker 1: Come before the harsh winds of autumn strip the leaves
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Speaker 1: off trees and send them swirling across the fields and
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Speaker 1: through the busy streets above me. Come before the first
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Speaker 1: snowfall and the icy blast that will cover flat carts
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Speaker 1: and frozen ponds with its blanket calm, My friend, come quickly,
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Speaker 1: help me make it through these cold, dark nights. I
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Speaker 1: miss you. It's good for us on occasion to pause
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Speaker 1: and let the wonder in, to put ourselves in the
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Speaker 1: place of these people with very human feelings. Alone alone,
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Speaker 1: all all alone, alone in a dark, damp cell. And
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Speaker 1: not a saint took pity on me in this living hell.
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Speaker 1: Paul is left with his memories, and some of them
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Speaker 1: are pleasant, and a few of them are painful, which
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Speaker 1: is why I call this a circle of the honorable
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Speaker 1: and dishonorable. And he isn't hesitant to name a couple
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Speaker 1: who have brought him pain. They're different types of men
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Speaker 1: that they are named for us. First, his memories took
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Speaker 1: him back to days gone by, when he enjoyed the
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Speaker 1: companionship of a man named Demus. His name appears in
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Speaker 1: verse ten Demus. Demus once loved Christ. He once took
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Speaker 1: up his cross and followed Christ. He once had the
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Speaker 1: courage to serve alongside Paul. Paul refers to him in
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Speaker 1: another place in another letter as my fellow worker. But
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Speaker 1: no longer. No longer, Demus has experienced an inner erosion.
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Speaker 1: He's cooled off to spiritual things. The dynamic for Christ
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Speaker 1: has somewhere slipped, perhaps afraid of the dangers and risks
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Speaker 1: the following Christ, when Nero's finger would one day point
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Speaker 1: in his direction and he too would find his place
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Speaker 1: in a cell. Perhaps he by now misses the comforts
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Speaker 1: of home and desires the safety of anonymity. We don't know.
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Speaker 1: It's possible that Demus never really counted the cost, and suddenly,
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Speaker 1: when the cost became great, Demus fled. There's an old
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Speaker 1: love song years ago that Nat King Cole sang, and
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Speaker 1: I remember it because it was popular when I was
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Speaker 1: eight thousand miles from the one I loved alone and
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Speaker 1: a marine barracks, And I remember hearing the words from
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Speaker 1: this wonderful love song when I fall in love. There's
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Speaker 1: a line in it that says, and too many moonlight
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Speaker 1: kisses have been cooled in the warmth of the sun.
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Speaker 1: For deem Us, too many, too many compromises cooled his
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Speaker 1: heart to the person of Christ. William Barclay writes, the
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Speaker 1: years have a way of taking our ideals away, of
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Speaker 1: making us satisfied with less and less, of lowering our standards.
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Speaker 1: There is no threat so dangerous, so insidious as the
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Speaker 1: threat of years to one's ideals. Remember, age can do
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Speaker 1: a number on any one of us. Not all the
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Speaker 1: aged are wise. Don't think you're safe because you've passed
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Speaker 1: middle years. Who knows how old Demus was when he
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Speaker 1: decided to go in another direction. The late great Richard
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Speaker 1: Sumy has a marvelous line for this. He calls it
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Speaker 1: the lure of a lesser loyalty. Paul has an eloquent
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Speaker 1: way of writing this. The original text reads, Demus has
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Speaker 1: forsaken me, having loved this now age. There's something alluring
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Speaker 1: about this now age that if you're not careful, the
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Speaker 1: moonlight kisses will be cooled in the warmth of that allurement.
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Speaker 1: I can testify to you, and I say this with
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Speaker 1: a sigh, that I've lived long enough to know men
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Speaker 1: who once walk close with me and served alongside me,
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Speaker 1: But something between then and now has changed them. And
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Speaker 1: not that they don't walk with me, that's important. It's
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Speaker 1: that they no longer even walk with Jesus. And I
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Speaker 1: sometimes wonder when I fall asleep at night, where they are,
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Speaker 1: and what they're doing, and what they've used to fill
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Speaker 1: the void up what was once a magnificent journey for Christ. Demus,
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Speaker 1: having loved this, now age has deserted me. There's a
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Speaker 1: sermon just in those words, isn't there second to tell
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Speaker 1: Paul's men memories take him to another that brought him pain,
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Speaker 1: which is the reason I have called this a circle
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Speaker 1: of honor and Dishonor. Here's another man who brought dishonor.
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Speaker 1: He names him in verse fourteen. Alexander, the copper smith
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Speaker 1: did me much harm. Alexander. Now he's different from Demus.
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Speaker 1: Demus slipped away as the silent toll of erosion took
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Speaker 1: him from Paul's side. Alexander hasn't left. He stands in
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Speaker 1: opposition with Demas. There was a quietness about his departure,
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Speaker 1: and he winds up in Thessalonika doing whatever Demus chose
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Speaker 1: to do, away from Paul. But Alexander verse fifteen vigorously
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Speaker 1: opposed our teaching. If you will take your time to
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Speaker 1: go back, hold your place here. Go to first Timothy,
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Speaker 1: chapter one. You'll see the name mentioned again. It's debatable
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Speaker 1: that these were the same Alexander's, but they may likely
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Speaker 1: have been the same individual Verses nineteen and twenty of
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Speaker 1: chapter one in the first letter, keeping faith in a
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Speaker 1: good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in
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Speaker 1: regard to their faith. Among these among whom, these who
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Speaker 1: suffered shipwreck or Hamonaeus. And here's our man, Alexander, whom
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Speaker 1: I have handed over to Satan, so that they will
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Speaker 1: be taught not to blaspheme that makes the hair on
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Speaker 1: the back of my neck stand up. Charles Riri's words
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Speaker 1: are worth repeating. This was a remedial discipline which excluded
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Speaker 1: such persons from the help and fellowship of the church,
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Speaker 1: a kind of last resort punishment. Back to two Timothy,
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Speaker 1: Let's spend a little time on Alexander, since Alexander still
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Speaker 1: lives today. One versus he didn't mean much harm Verse fourteen,
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Speaker 1: not a common word used for the verb does translated
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Speaker 1: here did. If you search it deeply in the Greek text,
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Speaker 1: you will find that it has reference to being an informant.
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Speaker 1: If you've ever spent time behind the Iron curtain, if
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Speaker 1: you've ever been in a communistic hell country, if you've
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Speaker 1: ever been in a place where you were a marked
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Speaker 1: person and there were those around you who informed on you,
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Speaker 1: you know the danger of an informant. Alexander was one
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Speaker 1: of them. Apparently he went to a with many false
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Speaker 1: accusations against Paul. You see how it's written. He didn't
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Speaker 1: mean much harm. The Greek says he informed many evils.
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Speaker 1: He informed many evils. His hope was to ruin Paul's
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Speaker 1: reputation in the eyes of the officials. For all we know,
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Speaker 1: he was part of the reason Nero said, that's enough,
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Speaker 1: lock him up. Paul doesn't say so, but perhaps the
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Speaker 1: informant Alexander came ultimately to an official who got through
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Speaker 1: to Nero, who locked him up. Which brings us to
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Speaker 1: the second criticism in verse fifteen. He vigorously opposed our teaching.
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Speaker 1: It wasn't so much here about his reputation as it
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Speaker 1: was concerned with his communication. Paul stood for truth, Alexander
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Speaker 1: stood against it. Paul stepped up, Alexander stood away, pointed
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Speaker 1: his finger interesting thing about these two individuals. They represent
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Speaker 1: the way those who fight the truth operate. Those who
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Speaker 1: fight truth deal with it in two separate carnal realms.
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Speaker 1: One false information against the one who is teaching, the
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Speaker 1: one who is preaching, the one who is leading. It's
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Speaker 1: designed to hurt us, and the other is vigorous opposition
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Speaker 1: to silence us, calling into question our word, our character,
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Speaker 1: our teaching. And Paul doesn't stop simply with exposing Alexander.
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Speaker 1: He warns Timothy, did you get that in verse fifteen?
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Speaker 1: Bey on guard against him yourself. You see, Paul will
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Speaker 1: soon Alexander isn't dying. Paul will be gone. Alexander isn't
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Speaker 1: going anywhere. He's going to take on another teacher of
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Speaker 1: the truth because people like this don't stop with one.
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Speaker 1: They make a career out of it. To borrow a
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Speaker 1: line from Martin Luther's era, these are bores in God's vineyard,
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Speaker 1: and every pastor, every spiritual leader, every woman of God
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Speaker 1: can give you a short list, Hopefully it's short of
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Speaker 1: bores in God's vineyard who made their lives miserable. People
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Speaker 1: liked must break your heart. People like Alexander drain your
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Speaker 1: energy because your great tendency is to set the record straight.
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Speaker 1: That takes time. That also gets you dislodged and displaces
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Speaker 1: you from your calling. That's the insidious nature of people
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Speaker 1: like Alexander. They move you away from center, and they
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Speaker 1: get you in aged in things that are not anything
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Speaker 1: to do with your major purpose in ministry. So Timothy, Timothy,
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Speaker 1: listen to me, be on guard against this man. He's
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Speaker 1: still on the loose, he's still informing, he's still slandering. Now, Thankfully,
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Speaker 1: that isn't the end of the list. Thankfully, there's a
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Speaker 1: list that goes into these faithful friends and they become
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Speaker 1: a part of the pleasant circle. These are in the
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Speaker 1: circle of honor, and we can sort of click them
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Speaker 1: off one after another because we really do not know
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Speaker 1: a whole lot about most of them. Take the first one,
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Speaker 1: who is mentioned in the end of verse ten, Cressns
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Speaker 1: has gone to Galatia. Aside from this reference, in no
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Speaker 1: other place of the Bible as Cressns named. So for
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Speaker 1: me to add more here would be mere speculation. It
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Speaker 1: would be a waste of of your time and a
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Speaker 1: waste of mind. We know nothing more than Cressons, who
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Speaker 1: had been close to Paul Is now on his way,
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Speaker 1: or has gone on to Galatia. Look at the next
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Speaker 1: name in the verse ten. Titus has gone to Dalmatia.
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Speaker 1: Now there's a name we're familiar with. You remember Titus
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Speaker 1: one five. Paul left Titus on the island of Crete
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Speaker 1: that he might set in order the things that were missing,
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Speaker 1: and also appoint elders in all the villages, in all
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Speaker 1: the cities of the island. Titus has been a companion
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Speaker 1: of the Apostle. They've been close as friends, and Paul
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Speaker 1: misses him and makes his absence makes him long for
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Speaker 1: him all the more so. Crestons and Titus. And then
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Speaker 1: he moves to Luke, doctor Luke. He's named in Colossians
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Speaker 1: four fourteen as the beloved of physician, the beloved physician.
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Speaker 1: What a faithful man. And Luke is only Luke is
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Speaker 1: with me. What a dependable companion, What a faithful advocate.
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Speaker 1: The physician also a writer of the Gospel of Luke
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Speaker 1: and the Book of Acts. I don't know the last
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Speaker 1: time you took any time to think on the extent
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Speaker 1: of Paul's sufferings, but it's really worth a journey there,
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Speaker 1: and you will understand why he needed a physician to
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Speaker 1: travel with him. If you will for a moment, turn
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Speaker 1: back to Second Corinthians, chapter eleven. You'll see a litany
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Speaker 1: of the aches and pains and sorrows of his past.
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Speaker 1: Second Corinthians, chapter eleven, Verse twenty three. Right in the
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Speaker 1: center of the verse, I have been in far more imprisonments.
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Speaker 1: Just stop right there, multiple imprisonments. I've been beaten times
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Speaker 1: without number. Who knows how crippled he became because of it?
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Speaker 1: He could have walked with a lip, He could have
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Speaker 1: lost the use of an arm. Beaten times without number,
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Speaker 1: often in dangers of death. Five times I received the
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Speaker 1: jews thirty nine lashes. Think of the physical toll that
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Speaker 1: took on his body. You've never been beaten once with lashes,
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Speaker 1: most likely five times thirty nine times each the apostle Paul.
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Speaker 1: Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.
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Speaker 1: Most who were stone never lived to tell the story.
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Speaker 1: God graciously and miraculously brought him through the stoning at Listra.
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Speaker 1: Who knows what he suffered as a result of the stony,
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Speaker 1: the blows of the stones on his body. Three times
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Speaker 1: I was shipwrecked a day and the night. I've spent
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Speaker 1: in deep I have been on frequent journeys in dangers
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Speaker 1: from rivers and robbers and countrymen, from the gentiles and
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Speaker 1: from the city, and in the wilderness, on the sea,
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Speaker 1: and among false brethren. I've been in labor and hardship,
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Speaker 1: through many sleepless nights, and hunger and thirst, often without food,
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Speaker 1: in cold and exposure. He needed a doctor, and Luke
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Speaker 1: was there. May I say to you who are physicians,
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Speaker 1: that we need more from you than your medical practice.
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Speaker 1: We need your understanding of the body. I had a
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Speaker 1: physician come to me following the first morning service today
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Speaker 1: and he said, your first line in the outline describes
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Speaker 1: and he gave me the medical term for how this
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Speaker 1: can happen when one reaches the end of his life.
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Speaker 1: Things pass in review, and he gave me the medical
29:59
Speaker 1: term for it. It's very helpful insight. But let me
30:02
Speaker 1: say more to you who are physicians. We need your comfort,
30:06
Speaker 1: We need your warmth, We need your understanding when you
30:10
Speaker 1: give us the hard news that it's terminal. We need
30:15
Speaker 1: good bedside manners. We need you to feel our pain.
30:22
Speaker 1: We would like to feel like something other than case
30:24
Speaker 1: number thirty five today because we have waited a long
30:28
Speaker 1: time to see you. We need you to be a
30:32
Speaker 1: modern day Luke who is here in the dungeon with Paul,
30:37
Speaker 1: And he simply says, only Luke is with me, a
30:42
Speaker 1: friend in need, and even better if he's a medical doctor.
30:48
Speaker 1: One wonders how often he must have said to Paul. Now,
30:50
Speaker 1: remember a little wine for your stomach sache. Remember, Paul,
30:56
Speaker 1: and remember you need to do such and such. Haven't
31:00
Speaker 1: seen you doing your exercises lately, Paul, Paul, you're pushing
31:05
Speaker 1: yourself a little hard. Slow down. All of that is
31:09
Speaker 1: counsel without cost, but it's wisdom. Only Luke is with me,
31:16
Speaker 1: and implied how I need him. I love the next name.
31:20
Speaker 1: Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he
31:25
Speaker 1: is useful to me for service. Good for you, Paul,
31:28
Speaker 1: good for you. You say, what are you excited about, Chuck?
31:32
Speaker 1: It just says, bring Mark with you, and he's useful
31:34
Speaker 1: to me for served. Oh, you've got to know Mark.
31:37
Speaker 1: Mark and Acts Chapter thirteen, Verse thirteen turned back when
31:40
Speaker 1: they got to Pamphilly, and the going got rough. In
31:42
Speaker 1: the first journey, Paul and Barnabas and young John Mark
31:48
Speaker 1: were together, and night came hard and maybe the mosquitoes
31:54
Speaker 1: were there in swarms, as you'll often see them in Alaska,
31:59
Speaker 1: and they were malarial carrying mosquitoes, and maybe Paul got
32:03
Speaker 1: sick and Mark panicked. The leader of the groups, he
32:08
Speaker 1: is not able to lead like I thought he would lead.
32:10
Speaker 1: And the nights are long, and I missed my mother
32:16
Speaker 1: and I miss home, and he deserted them. That's John Mark.
32:24
Speaker 1: Months passed, they were ready to go on another journey,
32:27
Speaker 1: and Barnabas said to Paul, let's take John Mark with us.
32:33
Speaker 1: What you got to understand is that they were family members.
32:37
Speaker 1: Funny how blood mixes like that, isn't it. Paul said no,
32:41
Speaker 1: Barnabas said yes. Paul said no, Barnabas said yes. Paul
32:47
Speaker 1: said no, Barnabas said yes. And there was a sism.
32:52
Speaker 1: The Greek word is sism. At the end of Acts fifteen,
32:55
Speaker 1: there was such an argument as they stood toe to
32:57
Speaker 1: toe on whether they're going to take Mark or not.
33:00
Speaker 1: Barnabas said, he's older, he's more mature, he's learned this lesson.
33:03
Speaker 1: He'll make a great missionary with us. Give him a
33:05
Speaker 1: second chance. I'm not going to give him a second chance.
33:11
Speaker 1: So they split Barnabas took Mark and they sailed for Cyprus.
33:16
Speaker 1: Barnabas is a Cypriot. He went back home and Paul
33:19
Speaker 1: chose another companion, Silas, and they traveled north, and Barnabas
33:23
Speaker 1: and Paul never worked together again. Now let's go back.
33:28
Speaker 1: Some of you are saying, well, Paul, good night. Why
33:33
Speaker 1: would you do that? I mean, after all, and by
33:37
Speaker 1: the way, I'm sure both Barnabas and Paul quoted old
33:40
Speaker 1: Testament verses to help support their position. Well, let me
33:48
Speaker 1: ask you. If you had loaned your car to someone
33:50
Speaker 1: and they erecked it, and you got another car and
33:52
Speaker 1: they wanted to borrow it, would you be quick to
33:54
Speaker 1: loan it? I mean months may have passed. What about
33:58
Speaker 1: loaning someone a thousand bucks and they said that pay
34:00
Speaker 1: you back, and you're still waiting for that thousand bucks
34:03
Speaker 1: and they come to your day after tomorrow and say, hey, Moore,
34:05
Speaker 1: times are hard, I sure could use you don't even
34:08
Speaker 1: wanted to finish the sentence. So now you're not quite
34:11
Speaker 1: as compassionate as you thought you were. But what if
34:15
Speaker 1: we were all like Paul and we gave no one
34:17
Speaker 1: another opportunity? You see, there's a lot of humanness in
34:24
Speaker 1: this there's a lot of real life stuff. But look
34:29
Speaker 1: at what he says. He says, Timothy, when you're on
34:31
Speaker 1: your way from Ephesus to here, pick up Mark, oh man,
34:36
Speaker 1: he would be useful for service. Ah, good for you, Paul.
34:40
Speaker 1: Time is passed. Mark, by the way, is the one
34:43
Speaker 1: who wrote the Gospel of Saint John Mark. Aren't be
34:50
Speaker 1: glad that they received him back into the fellowship of
34:53
Speaker 1: their companionship? And he would be useful for service. Be
34:59
Speaker 1: careful about writing anyone off who has failed, just writing
35:04
Speaker 1: them off. Be careful about that. I know we need
35:07
Speaker 1: to be discerning, and I know certainly we need to
35:10
Speaker 1: guard the flock. But if you have a John Mark
35:14
Speaker 1: who didn't come through as you thought he would, just
35:17
Speaker 1: remember we're not all brave and strong over every mile
35:22
Speaker 1: we travel. I handed to Paul, and one wonders what
35:30
Speaker 1: they did when they met again, if they did Tikikus.
35:36
Speaker 1: Look at verse twelve. Sounds like a disease, doesn't it. Tikikus.
35:41
Speaker 1: We know very little about Tikkus. He was part of
35:44
Speaker 1: the original Gentile delegation who accompanied Paul to Jerusalem as
35:49
Speaker 1: he delivered the collection to the poor. Acts twenty verse four,
35:54
Speaker 1: when Paul was in Rome, chained to the Roman prisoner
35:56
Speaker 1: and writing Collaisius. He'd mentioned us as being there with
36:01
Speaker 1: him as he wrote the letter to Colossi. He's another
36:04
Speaker 1: of the bright young disciples of Paul. Hard to have
36:08
Speaker 1: him leave his side now he misses Tickacus. Perhaps he
36:11
Speaker 1: brought an energy and a youthfulness that was wonderful. I
36:16
Speaker 1: think it's remarkable, men and women that Paul, at this
36:19
Speaker 1: age and stage of life, sitting in a dark dungeon,
36:22
Speaker 1: could call to mind one, two, three, four, five, including Timothy,
36:26
Speaker 1: six individuals by name, and remember in his mind those
36:30
Speaker 1: scenes that had passed. But that happens to you when
36:33
Speaker 1: you come to this stage of life. Older teachers, remember
36:38
Speaker 1: the great students of the past, older pastors, remember marvelous
36:44
Speaker 1: friends from congregations gone by, those who have been faithful
36:50
Speaker 1: as teachers, Remember those who served well as their pupils
36:55
Speaker 1: and ultimately became models of what they had taught. That's
37:00
Speaker 1: where we are with Paul. And before we think he's
37:04
Speaker 1: run out of his practical side, look at the three
37:06
Speaker 1: requests he makes. I love this, I just love this section.
37:10
Speaker 1: Look at verse thirteen. And when you come how's that
37:13
Speaker 1: for faith? Earlier he said, come, Timothy, come before winter,
37:17
Speaker 1: and always says when you come, that great I know
37:21
Speaker 1: you're coming. So when you come, I make three requests.
37:29
Speaker 1: Bring the cloak which I left at Troaz, and bring
37:34
Speaker 1: the books, but especially bring the parchments scrolls of the
37:41
Speaker 1: Old Testament text. Isn't that movie again? Not too long ago?
37:50
Speaker 1: I sat down and wrote it in these words, Timothy,
37:52
Speaker 1: I need my cloak. I must have left it in
37:56
Speaker 1: the abode of carpass and tro Az. You'll have no
37:59
Speaker 1: trouble spotting, Timothy. It's an old thing, but it's been
38:03
Speaker 1: on my back through many a bitter winter. It's been
38:06
Speaker 1: wet with the brine of the great Sea, white from
38:09
Speaker 1: the snows of the rugged peaks of Pamphylia, gritty and
38:13
Speaker 1: brown from the dust of the Ignation Way, and crimson
38:17
Speaker 1: with my own blood from that awful stoning at Lystra.
38:20
Speaker 1: Bring that cloak. Winter's coming, and I need the warmth
38:25
Speaker 1: it will provide. I also need my books, Timothy. Don't
38:30
Speaker 1: forget my books. You remember them, the ones I read
38:35
Speaker 1: under candlelight as we wrote out the rough rough waters
38:38
Speaker 1: of the Aegean and endured the rigors of Macedonia, together,
38:42
Speaker 1: those scrolls that fed my mind and stretched me with
38:46
Speaker 1: fresh bursts of hope and stimulating ideas. Bring along my books,
38:50
Speaker 1: my friend, Ah, but especially tuck away a few of
38:57
Speaker 1: the scrolls of the parchments. Those are my most treasured possessions.
39:03
Speaker 1: How I need the comfort of King David's songs, the
39:06
Speaker 1: fortitude from the prophet's pens, the insights and perception from
39:11
Speaker 1: Solomon's proverbs. Yes, the parchment's, Timothy, the parchments, surely they
39:16
Speaker 1: will help keep my heart warm and my hopes high
39:19
Speaker 1: in this desolate place. But Timothy, I need you make
39:24
Speaker 1: every effort to come before winter. Now what do I
39:31
Speaker 1: take the time to read that to you? Because I
39:33
Speaker 1: want you to start doing that. Long enough have we
39:38
Speaker 1: read words on a page, just black print on white sheets,
39:41
Speaker 1: and we go on about our ways. We never put
39:43
Speaker 1: it into our words. Put them in your journal, put
39:48
Speaker 1: them in your own words, as you ignite your imagination,
39:51
Speaker 1: and put yourself in the sandals of the person who's writing.
39:54
Speaker 1: Feel what he feels, weep as he weeps, grown as
40:01
Speaker 1: he groans under the labors of his current painful situation.
40:10
Speaker 1: Now all of this would leave us rather blank if
40:12
Speaker 1: we didn't take time to see it in light of
40:14
Speaker 1: where we are today, allow me I see four timeless
40:20
Speaker 1: reminders for every one of us. No longer talking about Paul,
40:25
Speaker 1: but we're talking about you and me. When you and
40:28
Speaker 1: I are lonely, when you and I are hurt, when
40:31
Speaker 1: you and I are loved, or when you and I
40:33
Speaker 1: are needy. Let's go there. Here's the first. When you're lonely,
40:40
Speaker 1: you need caring, close friends. When you're lonely, you need
40:47
Speaker 1: caring close friends. You may feel bulletproof right now, I mean,
40:53
Speaker 1: given your position at the company, who needs friends? Reminds
40:58
Speaker 1: me of the words of Sophie Tuck when she turned
41:01
Speaker 1: at sixty nine. From birth to eighteen, a girl needs
41:04
Speaker 1: good parents. From eighteen to thirty five, she needs good
41:08
Speaker 1: looks from thirty five to fifty five. She needs a
41:10
Speaker 1: good personality.
41:11
Speaker 2: Beyond fifty five, she needs cash.
41:23
Speaker 1: When you're where Paul was, you don't need cash. If
41:28
Speaker 1: you've given him a thousand shekels, it wouldn't have done
41:31
Speaker 1: him any good. He's at the end of the trail.
41:34
Speaker 1: He needs a friend. But let me give you a tip.
41:37
Speaker 1: Now is the time to cultivate them. They won't suddenly
41:40
Speaker 1: emerge when you get lonely. If you're not careful, you're
41:45
Speaker 1: not spending enough time cultivating friends. I just finished Tom
41:49
Speaker 1: Rat's interesting book Vital Friends. In it, he gives the
41:53
Speaker 1: statistic during our teenage years, we spend nearly one third
41:57
Speaker 1: of our time with friends. For the rest of our lives,
42:01
Speaker 1: the average time spent with friends is less than ten percent.
42:07
Speaker 1: Less than ten percent. And you wonder why you're not
42:13
Speaker 1: surrounded by those who care when you are lonely. You
42:16
Speaker 1: haven't cultivated them. They don't know that they have a
42:20
Speaker 1: place in your life. Take time for friends. Paul could
42:26
Speaker 1: have named fifty and he chose five here when you're hurt.
42:32
Speaker 1: When you're hurt, you need loyal advocates. That's more than
42:38
Speaker 1: a friend. Webster says. An advocate is one who supports
42:42
Speaker 1: or defends a cause, one who pleads in another's behalf.
42:49
Speaker 1: Every person who goes on trial needs an advocate who's
42:52
Speaker 1: called an attorney, and the attorney speaks for him or
42:56
Speaker 1: her and defends us. The judge will tell us you
43:00
Speaker 1: don't speak to me, your lawyer speaks to me, and
43:03
Speaker 1: your lawyer then becomes your go between. When we are hurt,
43:08
Speaker 1: we need a go between. Who are they? They are
43:11
Speaker 1: those who understand us and support us regardless. They are
43:15
Speaker 1: in our corner. Faithfully, they lift our spirits. They also
43:20
Speaker 1: help us see things more objectively than we would see
43:23
Speaker 1: on our own. Luke was an advocate for Paul, as
43:28
Speaker 1: was Timothy. When you are loved, here's the third. You
43:35
Speaker 1: need to be grateful. If you are loved by a
43:39
Speaker 1: circle of people, you are rich. Indeed share the wealth.
43:47
Speaker 1: Why are you keeping all that love to yourself. When
43:50
Speaker 1: was the last time you looked at another individual outside
43:52
Speaker 1: that circle using the first person singular eye and said
43:57
Speaker 1: I love you? Well, Chuck, this is Texas. Texans jump
44:09
Speaker 1: with that. Others need to know you love them, and
44:15
Speaker 1: they need to hear the word. I don't just say
44:17
Speaker 1: love you. You say that to your dog, love you
44:23
Speaker 1: love you. You say I love you to people. You
44:31
Speaker 1: share the wealth when you do that, and you need
44:36
Speaker 1: to do that with a person who is your partner
44:38
Speaker 1: in life. Don't think he or she ever hears it enough.
44:44
Speaker 1: Every night, before Cynthia and I are asleep, I hear
44:48
Speaker 1: her say I love you, sweetheart, and I say to her,
44:55
Speaker 1: I love you. I'm often convicted because I didn't think
44:58
Speaker 1: to say it first. And I love you. What great
45:03
Speaker 1: words to hear the last moment of nightfall. I love you?
45:12
Speaker 1: And when you're needy, here's the fourth You need to
45:14
Speaker 1: admit it. You know why we don't admit it because
45:19
Speaker 1: we're stinking proud the last time you picked up a
45:23
Speaker 1: phone and called someone and said, Hi, today's a really
45:26
Speaker 1: tough day for me. I need you right now. When
45:29
Speaker 1: the last time you did that? As if anybody would
45:32
Speaker 1: answer out loud, you can't remember the last time I
45:38
Speaker 1: need you? Let me tell you why I can't do
45:42
Speaker 1: it on my own. How often during the last two
45:46
Speaker 1: and a half three years my wife and I have
45:48
Speaker 1: said to a number of people, I need you right now.
45:53
Speaker 1: I need you right now. Hardest years of my ministry
45:59
Speaker 1: have been. The last two half years has been lonely tough.
46:08
Speaker 1: Oh this has kept me going our worship times and
46:10
Speaker 1: our time with our staff. But what difficult days. But
46:16
Speaker 1: that's when I earned the right to be heard. Because
46:20
Speaker 1: when I speak of hurt and loneliness and being needy
46:23
Speaker 1: and needing an advocate, I know whereof I speak loneliness,
46:32
Speaker 1: stalks where the buck stops. Allow me a few moments
46:36
Speaker 1: with the story You'll never Forget and We'll be through.
46:45
Speaker 1: Some time ago, I was watching television and I saw
46:48
Speaker 1: something very, very amazing. The one who was speaking on
46:53
Speaker 1: this interesting PBS program was Sir Hugh Weldon, who the
47:00
Speaker 1: former Chairman of the Library of Congress. Listen carefully. He
47:06
Speaker 1: was standing in front of a forest of card index files.
47:12
Speaker 1: The program had all the makings of a slow moving,
47:15
Speaker 1: dull documentary until about halfway through, Doctor Daniel Borston, the
47:21
Speaker 1: Librarian of Congress, brought out a little blue box from
47:26
Speaker 1: a small closet that once held the Library's rarities. The
47:33
Speaker 1: label on the box read contents of the President's pockets
47:39
Speaker 1: on the night of April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five. Since
47:47
Speaker 1: that was the fateful night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, every
47:52
Speaker 1: viewer's attention around the country, I'm convinced, was seized. My
47:56
Speaker 1: mouth dropped open, and then proceeded to remove the items
48:02
Speaker 1: in the small container and display them on camera. There
48:07
Speaker 1: were five things in the box. A handkerchief embroidered a Lincoln,
48:17
Speaker 1: a country boy's penknife, a spectacle's case repaired with string,
48:27
Speaker 1: a purse containing a five dollars bill Confederate money. I
48:34
Speaker 1: love it. Some old worn newspaper clippings stay with me.
48:44
Speaker 1: The clippings, said Borsten, were concerned with the great deeds
48:48
Speaker 1: of Abraham Lincoln, and one of them actually reports a
48:52
Speaker 1: speech by John Bright which says that Abraham Lincoln is quote,
48:56
Speaker 1: one of the greatest men of all times. Today, that's
49:03
Speaker 1: common knowledge. The world now knows that British statesman John
49:10
Speaker 1: Bright was right in his assessment of Lincoln. But back
49:14
Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty five, when half the country hated him,
49:21
Speaker 1: millions shared quite a contrary opinion. The President's critics were fierce,
49:27
Speaker 1: and many his was a lonely agony that reflected the
49:31
Speaker 1: suffering and turmoil of his country, ripped the shreds by hatred,
49:36
Speaker 1: and the cruel, costly war between the States. There's something
49:42
Speaker 1: touchingly pathetic in the mental picture of this great leader
49:47
Speaker 1: seeking solace and self assurance from a few old newspaper
49:52
Speaker 1: clippings as he reads them under the flickering flame of
49:55
Speaker 1: a candle, all alone in the Oval office. Loneliness stalks
50:05
Speaker 1: where the buck stops. The loneliest people hearing my voice
50:19
Speaker 1: right now are you who are trying to make it
50:21
Speaker 1: on your own without a Savior. You pretty well convince
50:28
Speaker 1: yourself you can do it, but you haven't reached the end.
50:33
Speaker 1: You don't know all the future holes, and you will
50:37
Speaker 1: come to the day when you'll breathe your last and
50:41
Speaker 1: you will be out of hope to get you from
50:44
Speaker 1: there into eternity with God. In fact, you won't go there.
50:54
Speaker 1: In the loneliness of this moment where you admit your need.
50:58
Speaker 1: It is your opportunity to Lord Jesus Christ fill the
51:03
Speaker 1: void and emptiness in my soul. I cannot make it
51:09
Speaker 1: on my own. I am lost, I'm sinful. I've made
51:13
Speaker 1: a mess of my life. Look at what I've done.
51:17
Speaker 1: Nothing would hold up through eternity to get me to you.
51:20
Speaker 1: So I trust Christ who died on that cross, and
51:25
Speaker 1: I believe his death was sufficient from my sins, and
51:28
Speaker 1: I believe in him. Now let's bow our heads together.
51:37
Speaker 1: This is an epical moment in the morning we've spent together,
51:41
Speaker 1: and I don't want to miss this opportunity. If you've
51:46
Speaker 1: never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible describes
51:49
Speaker 1: you as lost. You're a lost sinner. Doesn't mean you're
51:57
Speaker 1: immoral necessarily or you don't have any thin because it
52:00
Speaker 1: just means you are not ready to meet God. Because
52:04
Speaker 1: to be that ready, you must be as righteous as
52:07
Speaker 1: God is. And the only one who can make it
52:09
Speaker 1: happen is the one who was as righteous as he is,
52:13
Speaker 1: and his name is Jesus. Believe in him, you will
52:19
Speaker 1: be declared righteous. You may think, Chuck, I don't know
52:25
Speaker 1: how to do this on my own. Then connect with
52:27
Speaker 1: us and we'll help you. We have friends here in
52:31
Speaker 1: Soul Care who are a part of our ministry, filling
52:34
Speaker 1: every prayer room, standing at most of the exit doors,
52:37
Speaker 1: and they're there to help you. Each one of them
52:40
Speaker 1: would consider it an honor to have you put your
52:43
Speaker 1: hand in theirs and say I need you. I need
52:46
Speaker 1: you to help me know how to have forgiveness and
52:51
Speaker 1: hope and a reason to go on. Or you may
52:58
Speaker 1: simply desire to pray, Lord Jesus Christ, come into my life.
53:06
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, thank you even for the aloneness on that wide,
53:11
Speaker 1: wide sea. We're not a saint, took pity on our
53:15
Speaker 1: souls in agony. Thank you for meeting our needs when
53:22
Speaker 1: there was no one else to do that. Thank you
53:25
Speaker 1: for being our friend, our advocate, the one who has
53:31
Speaker 1: loved us all the way to the end. How grateful
53:37
Speaker 1: we are for you. We pray that you will be
53:41
Speaker 1: honored in the words that were spoken, and we will
53:45
Speaker 1: not soon forget the words of a man who, shortly
53:48
Speaker 1: after writing them died. May we live differently because of
53:53
Speaker 1: what we have heard today. May we learn to say
53:58
Speaker 1: I love you, and may we say it often. May
54:03
Speaker 1: we admit our need without any pride or self sufficiency.
54:10
Speaker 1: And may we father live lives of vulnerability and openness
54:15
Speaker 1: before a watching world it continues to look for authenticity
54:22
Speaker 1: and hope. In the name of Jesus, we pray, and
54:28
Speaker 1: everybody said amen. The preceding message, A Circle of Honor
54:38
Speaker 1: and Dishonor, was copyrighted in two thousand and nine and
54:41
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
54:45
Speaker 1: fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
54:50
Speaker 1: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.