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Now, let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: Look at verse nine of chapter four. He says to Timothy, be diligent to come to me quickly. He knew that he was going to be dead soon. So be diligent to come to me quickly for Demus has forsaken me having loved this present world and has departed for Thessalonica, Christians for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.

Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you for he is useful to me for ministry. And skip down to verse 16. At my first defense, no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. All these people are bailing on Paul. Everybody is forsaking him. They are ashamed of Paul because they are ashamed of the Gospel that he preached and they're fearful of their lives.

Paul was arrested. If Paul was arrested, then maybe we're next. That's when you need friends. That's when you need friends showing up. Not just once, but again and again and again.

In Proverbs 20, verse 6, it says, most men will proclaim each his own goodness. But who can find a faithful man? You always get somebody, well, I've done this, I've done that, brag about themselves. But who can find a faithful man? Paul found one, his name was Onesiphorus.

Because faithfulness is not doing the right thing once, it's doing the right thing over and over and over again. William Carey, do you know that name? Missionary to India. When he first felt called to go to India, he told his father, his dad tried to talk him out of it, telling his son that he lacked the academic qualifications for that task.

Look, son, you don't know the language in India, you don't know the history of India, you don't know the culture of India. You are not qualified to be a missionary in India. William Carey shot back and he said, but I can plod. PLOD, I can plod. I may not know the language, I may not know the culture, I may not know the history, but I can put one foot in front of another, in front of another, in front of another. I can just trudge. I can plod.

And he did plod very successfully in that country. And so here is somebody who just kept showing up, kept showing up, plodding, showing up when Paul needed it the most. And then in our text, go down to verse 18. And he says at the end of verse 18, you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus.

In other words, this guy, Onesiphorus, he's been serving for years. He's been doing it before he came to Rome, he's been doing it in Ephesus. By the way, many believe that Onesiphorus was a deacon of the church in Ephesus, because the word here in verse 18 for ministered is the word diakoneo, where we get the word deacon, so he deacond in Ephesus.

Paul is simply pointing out that here is a guy who faithfully served the church at Ephesus, faithfully served the Apostle Paul, and now he is in Rome serving him.

One Sunday morning, a pastor addressed his church very blatantly. And he said this. All I ask is that we apply the same standards of faithfulness to our church activities that we would in other areas of life. That doesn't seem too much to ask.

Consider this, if your car started one out of three times, would you consider it faithful? If you didn't show up at work two or three times a month, would your boss call you faithful? If your refrigerator quit a day now and then, would you excuse it and say, oh well, it works most of the time?

If your water heater greet you with cold water one or two mornings a week while you're in the shower, would you say it's faithful? If you miss a couple of mortgage payments in a year's time, would your mortgage holder say, oh well, 10 out of 12 ain't bad? And if you attend church often enough to show you're interested, but not enough to get involved, are you faithful?

Jesus said, whoever is faithful in little will also be faithful in much. Here is Onesiphorus, a friend who showed up time and time and time again. Promises will get you friends, faithfulness will keep those friends. He was a friend to the Apostle Paul.

So two words, refreshing, repetitious. Third word, risk-taking, risk-taking. Notice what he writes. Verse 16, The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and here's the phrase, he was not ashamed of my chain. It's just simply a way of saying, he's not ashamed of associating with a prisoner.

Now, that's an important idea. There was a lot of shame in associating with a Roman prisoner. And here's why. In Roman society, that society was driven by honor and public perception, honor and public perception. To be in custody as a prisoner was considered very dishonorable. And Paul has been in prison a lot. Not only twice in Rome, but in a lot of other places.

So, he's been jailed so many times to be stigmatized as a repeat offender. This guy's a career criminal. When the biggest hero of your faith is a convicted criminal, that's not a recipe for winning. And besides that, they are following their savior by the name of Jesus Christ, who was himself a convicted and executed criminal by the Roman justice system.

That's why Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthians, said, we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness. So, the Romans were already suspicious of Christians to begin with. And it's risky, it was risky to openly acknowledge that you follow Christ. But to say I follow Christ and I'm associated with one of your prisoners would be very, very risky.

Did you know that the Romans accused Christians of all sorts of things from being occultic to being cannibals? You know why they said they were cannibals? Because they took the Lord's Supper, where Jesus said, this is my body broken for you, this is my blood. And so the rumors were going around Rome that Christians were eating people.

And another rumor around Rome is that Christians were having incest orgies. Because they referred to themselves as brother and sister. And so the Romans took that and ran with it.

Now, go back with me in chapter one to verse 8. Verse 8 of chapter one. Now Paul is addressing Timothy and look at his wording. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me as his prisoner. But share with me in the sufferings for the Gospel according to the power of God. It would seem by that, that Paul recognizes Timothy himself is sort of feeling ashamed to be associated with Paul.

But he's pointing out, Onesiphorus was not. He took a risk. Can you think of somebody who took a risk on you? Who stood up for you? And then follow that question up with this, is there somebody the Holy Spirit might be tapping on your heart about that you should take a risk on them?

There's a lot of people I've taken risks on in my ministry career. I've been burned by some, I've been blessed by others. They're worth it. So refreshing, repetitious, risk-taking. A fourth word that describes Onesiphorus, he was resolute. Resolute, verse 17. Look how Paul writes it. When he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me.

Other translations say, he took great pains to find me, searching everywhere until he was successful. This guy was unrelenting. First of all, he left Ephesus to go to Rome, that's over 800 miles. That's quite a trip. It would take him weeks to go from Ephesus to Rome. Then when he gets to Rome, he can't find Paul. It's not easy to find Paul. Government officials probably were not cooperating.

Christians were laying low, they were scared because of persecution. But Onesiphorus was not the kind of guy to take no for an answer. Somebody said no to him, that was simply the first step to a yes. He'll work his way to a yes. So he hunted Paul down. He sought him out. He kept looking for him until he found him. That's the idea that Paul was saying. He kept looking for me till he found me.

Skip Heitzig: Proverbs 17 says, a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity.

Guest (Female): You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Everyday friends like you help connect people around the world to the life-changing truth of God's Word through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. Our world constantly tells us we need something more, but the book of Colossians reminds us that everything we truly need is found in Jesus Christ.

That's the heart of Pastor Skip's resource Expound Colossians. As he walks verse by verse through this powerful New Testament book, you'll discover why Christ is supreme over all things, how to recognize truth in a world full of competing voices, and what it means to live each day firmly rooted in Him. We'll send Expound Colossians as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/offer.

Now, let's return to today's teaching.

Skip Heitzig: Back in the 1800s, in London, England, newspaper ran a little advertisement. I think it was in the London Times. And it was an advertisement from the famous Arctic Explorer, a man by the name of Sir Ernest Shackleton. He was actually from Ireland, but he was known for his Arctic exploration. So he took out a little ad in the newspaper.

And this is what he said. Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success. Now you would think somebody would read that and he wouldn't get anyone sign up. Actually, thousands of young men applied.

Why? Because they all wanted to be associated with that famous name, Sir Ernest Shackleton. Do you want to be associated with that name? Are you willing to sign up for the task that he has for you to commit to his cause? And is there somebody that you need to hunt down in order that you might cheer up?

Because that's what Onesiphorus did for Paul. He was resolute. Refreshing, repetitious, risk-taking, resolute. Let me give you a fifth word that describes him. He was renowned. He was a man who had a reputation. Notice in verse 18, the Lord grant to him that he may find mercy in the Lord in that day. Now look at this, and you know very well, he writes to Timothy, you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus.

In other words, you know this by experience. That's what the word means. You know by experience very well about this character. He's renowned, he's well known to Timothy, well known to the church at Ephesus. He had a reputation.

Now there's a difference between a person's character and their reputation. But actually one should be like the other. So let me tell you what I mean by that. You have a reputation and your reputation is your image and that's what usually social media is all about, your image. It's what people think you are, it's your how you are perceived by other people, that's your reputation.

Your character is what you really are. So your reputation is who you are when people are looking, your character is who you are when nobody's looking. Or as one person put it, reputation is what you are while you entertain your friends, character is what you are when you're behind the steering wheel of your car. Onesiphorus had a good reputation because Onesiphorus had a great character.

How do you get a good reputation? Have a good character. How do you have a good character? Keep your promises. Meet your deadlines. Honor your commitments. Show up. Be there. Be all there. And the word will get out. The reputation will follow the character.

So we have, we have five words that describe this man. Refreshing, repetitious, risk-taking, resolute, and renowned. Finally, the sixth word that describes him, rewarded, rewarded. Now, go back to verse 16 and you'll notice really this is a prayer, a wish, he's saying, the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me.

Then in verse 18, the Lord grant to him that he may find mercy. Mercy, he just means special kindness. May God bless him, basically he's saying. Okay. Paul's on death row. Paul knows he's not getting out of prison. Paul knows he's not going to live long enough to be able to reciprocate all the kindness shown to him by Onesiphorus. So he's going to commit all of that rewarding to God.

May the Lord reward him. I can't, I'm going to die soon. But God can and God will. May the Lord be merciful, may God bless him and his household. And God will. There's something the Bible calls the judgment seat of Christ. If you don't know about that, you need to know about that. The judgment seat of Christ is not where you are judged to see if you're going to get into heaven or not, because you've been a good boy or a bad boy.

The judgment seat of Christ is a reward-giving opportunity. So you are saved by faith because you believe in Jesus Christ, period. It's a gift. But then you will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, the Greek word is Bema seat, it's where people were given rewards for running a race in the Olympics. Where you will be rewarded, gold, silver or bronze, basically.

For the service rendered to the Lord while on earth. God will reward you. And people will get different rewards, same salvation, same heaven, same free gift, but the the status you might say, the rewards will be different depending on your service on earth. Jesus illustrates this in a parable in Luke 19. He will say, well done, good and faithful servant, because you were faithful in very little, you will have authority over 10 cities.

To another one he said, you were faithful in these things, I'll give you authority over five cities. Now this is not about earning salvation. This is about being rewarded for faithful service to Christ and his people. You get, you get heaven, all of you by faith, not earning it, a free gift. But then you might say you get a tip.

You get rewarded for your service. Just like Olympics as I said, you get gold, silver or bronze. Believers will be rewarded based on how they ran the race of the Christian life. And you'll never know the value of Christian living until you're at the judgment seat of Christ. When you're at the judgment seat of Christ and you're getting those rewards, all of the hardships you went through on earth, all of the risk-taking you went through on earth, all of those hard times and sacrifice will vaporize.

When you hear, if you hear these words, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. Well, Onesiphorus would be rewarded by his Lord. Paul couldn't do it, so he trusts that God would. Okay. This is Paul's last letter. The letter ends in chapter four, shortly thereafter Paul is executed.

Would you just go with me to chapter four since we're dealing with Onesiphorus and and Paul in his last letter. Let's look at chapter 4, verse 6, as he winds it down. He says he knows he's going to die soon. I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.

The letter ends. Shortly after it's over, the letter's done. He is taken to the Basilica Julia from the Mamertine Prison. 100 yards away. He would stand to hear his death sentence read publicly. And then he was taken out to be executed.

I'm going to close by reading to you the words of A. T. Robertson, a great scholar and another one, another author, so I'm borrowing from them of what it would have been like. The crowds flowed into town. Some were going out. Paul was only a criminal going to be beheaded. Few if any of the crowds would know or care anything about him.

At a good place on the road, some miles out, the executioner stopped. The block was laid down. The executioner stood ready, ax in hand. The men stripped Paul, tied him, kneeling upright to the low pillar which exposed his back and his neck. The lictors beat him with rods for the last time. He groaned and bled from his nose and his mouth.

And then without a hint of hesitation, the executioner frowned as he swung the blade down swiftly. Hitting its mark with a dull thud and the head of the greatest preacher of the ages rolled upon the ground. It was a brutal moment. But in that brutal moment, the soul of this great apostle went from the imperial city of Rome to the eternal city of heaven in an instant.

At that moment the prisoner was set free. At that moment to use his own words, he was absent from the body but present with the Lord. And that prisoner died knowing the love and the refreshment of a friend named Onesiphorus. It's a good way to die.

In Proverbs 18, we are told, he who has friends, ready for the next part, must himself be friendly. You want friends, be friendly. He who has friends must himself be friendly, but then it closes by saying, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. And that's what I want you to hear as we're closing this message. There's a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

There's a friend who risked it all for you. There's a friend who has been repeatedly, unrelentingly trying to get your attention for some time. There is a friend that if you come to him, you will be refreshed over and over again. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. If you don't have a relationship with that friend of sinners, this would be an excellent opportunity to get that fixed.

Guest (Female): Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Now, here's how to pre-order an exciting resource from Pastor Skip that's coming next month.

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Guest (Female): Before we go, remember, your generosity helps share God's Word with people around the world through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. And this month, when you give $50 or more, we'll send you Expound Colossians as our thanks. In this five-message study, Pastor Skip explores one of the Bible's clearest pictures of the supremacy of Jesus Christ and shows how being rooted in Him changes the way you live every day. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888.

See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.

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