Be An Encourager

November 16th, 2003

Let us pray

Welcome...

If you missed Bible Class last Wednesday, you missed a blessing. By the way, no one

called me to say they could not make it, so it might have been because it was windy, and

maybe you had no lights. Bro. Holloway’s topic was, "Don’t brag - it wasn’t you." Last

Sunday Bro. Jones spoke on Spiritual Growth, and that was a blessing. If you are not

growing spiritually, who do you blame? Do you blame the pastor? Do you blame the

minister? Do you blame the church? or do you say, it might be me. That’s something to

think about....

With God’s help, I would like to en-courage all of you. It is so very easy to put people

down. It is so very easy to walk all over people. It’s so very easy when some-one is down,

to want to see them stay down, even though they are trying to get up before the count of

ten. My to-pic for to-day is, Be an en-courager. The word en-courage means, to give

courage or con-fi-dence; to ad-vise and make it easy for some-one to do some-thing;

be some-body’s coach. That baseball player when he is not doing well, he needs a coach

to en-courage him that he can do better. We all need en-courage-ment; we all need a

coach to tell us, child you can make it; just hold on a little longer; don’t you give up; it’s

going to be alright. I want some-body to know today, if God is guiding you, every-thing

is going to be alright.....elaborate...

Please turn with me in your bi-bles to 2 Timothy 1 verses 1

through 7. Let’s all stand and read together. Please tell some-one, hold on a little longer.

In our text for today, I believe the apostle Paul was an en-courager to his son Timothy in

the faith. This Epistle or letter which has been well described as "the last will and tes-ta-

ment," of the apostle, "written as it was under the very shadow of death, opens with a

touching evidence of personal interest in Timothy. The text starts off by saying, "Paul an

apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." Paul was made an apostle not by the will of

man, not by his own will, but by the will of God, he was a chosen vessel of God. Paul was

out there destroying God’s people when God chose him. Paul was not thinking about God,

but God was thinking about him, and God chose him.................elaborate...we too were

out there living our own way, but God chose us......

The design of his apostleship was "according to the promise of life which is in Christ

Jesus." Its design was to make known this promise, a promise which was life eternal,

promised in Christ Jesus before the world began.

This letter was addressed to Timothy whom he calls his dearly beloved son. Paul loved

Timothy, he was Paul’s son in the faith, and when he speaks to Timothy there is a warmth

of loving affection in his voice, my beloved child; my dearly beloved son. Most men

don’t really show love in the things they say, they are very cautious in the words they use,

but here we find Paul calling Timothy is dearly beloved son, and goes on to say, " grace,

mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." This was an ex-tra-or-

din-ary greeting from Paul, but I am sure it was a greeting that would enourage Timothy.

Some-body to-day need to hear a kind word from you; some-body needs to hear an

uplifting word from you, so be an en-courager........elaborate.....

In verse 3 of our text, Paul is thanking God for the love and re-mem-brance of Timothy’s

faith (read verse 3) Paul was saying, Timothy as I re-mem-ber you, as I think about you,

night and day I am taking the time to pray for you. You can’t pray for some-one if you

don’t love them, but here we find Paul was praying for Timothy whom he loved as his dear

son....elaborate.....How much time do you spend praying for others? Paul was

encouraging Timothy and wanted him to know that he was taking the time to pray for

him. We say it so very easily, I am praying for you, but is that always true?..........

In verse 4 of our text. Paul is saying to Timothy, I am longing to see you. There was a

longing in Paul’s heart to see his son Timothy in the faith. Some-how he re-mem-bered

Timothy’s sorrow at their last parting. He had commanded Timothy before to stay in

Ephesus, but now he desired to see him, because he is alone in prison. Timothy was sorry

to part with Paul, he wept at parting, and therefore Paul desired to see him again, because