So we're in 2 Timothy chapter 1, and tonight we are going to look at, there it is, when it responds to my little touch there, be faithful even when others are not. Have you ever noticed, maybe you have not noticed this in your Christian life, maybe you have, have you noticed that not everyone is faithful? Have you noticed that some people who were faithful are no longer faithful? People that maybe you served the Lord with and now you can't even get them in church? And that's going to be a difficult thing. And the longer you live for Christ, the more you see it, the more you notice it. And you say, well, what's it to you? It does matter to you. It plagues you. I'm not talking about just some casual person you see come on a Sunday morning. I'm talking about someone you went soul winning with, someone maybe you were co-teachers in a Sunday school class, maybe you were bus workers together, maybe you ushered together, maybe you worked in a nursery together, whatever it was. Maybe they were a vital part of some ministry and you guys worked it together, and now they're gone. And it does impact you, it does affect you. So how do we look at this? And this is what we're going to talk about tonight, because I think this is an important element about finishing strong. So we're in 2 Timothy chapter 1, and we're going to start in verse 15. This thou knowest," this is Paul now talking to Timothy, "...this thou knowest that all they which are in Asia," and just so you understand, Asia for them is not Asia for us. When I say Asia, you're thinking China, Japan. When they're thinking Asia, they're thinking Asia Minor, Turkey. If you read in Revelation, the seven churches in Asia, and all they are, they ring that where the sea is at Turkey. Okay, so that is what we look at is Turkey when they're mentioning Asia. So it's back to our text. This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me of whom is Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord give mercy into the house of Onesiphorus for he oft refresh me and was not ashamed of my chain. Now remember, he's writing this while he's in the Mammothine prison. So this is a very critical time in Paul's life. He's towards the end of his life, he's trying to finish strong, but he's mentioning those who are no longer faithful. And he mentions specifically that all they which are in Asia. Now Asia is not the only place that Paul was at. He was in Greece and Macedonia, but Asia was the first place he was at. When you read the book of Acts, when he went to Derbe and Lystra and Iconium, and those early, the first missionary journey, those are all churches in Asia. These are his converts. These are people, either his converts or converts of his converts. And he says about them, this thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. Now there's two possible explanations concerning this verse. This is a little bit of a troubling verse because we're not always sure exactly all that he was meaning. So there's two possible explanations. Most likely it's a blend of the two. So I'm going to give you two possible explanations and I'm going to tell you the most likely is that you look at both of them and kind of blend them together and you probably find out what's happening. Here's the first possible explanation of what's happening here in our text. Those believers who were from Asia were with Paul in Rome. This is the thought number one. So Paul is in Rome, he's in prison, and normally people traveled with them, and so there are people in Rome, they're not in prison, Paul's in prison. But they're there in Rome, and that's important because prison of those days is not like prison of our days. Sometimes they didn't feed you, they didn't take care of you, and so it was the people around you who would come to the prison and bring food, or bring clothing, or bring whatever you needed. And for you to survive in prison, you needed those people there, and they played a very important role. And so there's these believers from Asia. So here's Paul in Rome, and these believers from Asia are there with him in Rome. And for some reason they forsook him, most likely it seems, at fear of their own lives. As they're thinking about Paul being in prison, they're like, well, if we hang around here, they're going to put us in prison. And so they say, Paul, too bad, so sad, but we're out of here. And they forsake him. They're more concerned about their own selves than Paul. You can imagine what that means to Paul. Paul has no way of taking care of himself. And those whom he has loved, and those whom he has—maybe those are his own converts, at least some of them. And they're like, oh no, too bad, and they leave him. This meant that Paul had no one provide for him while he was in prison. That's explanation number one. There's a second possible explanation, and again it's most likely a blend of both of these. that the majority of believers throughout Asia, so it's not just he's in Rome and there's people in Rome with them from Asia and they leave, but he's looking towards Asia, those early churches that he had started, and converts of his, and converts of his converts, and places he's preached, and people he's preached to, that the majority of believers throughout Asia had turned against Paul. Maybe because they're saying, if you're in prison, maybe you did do something wrong. You know, where there's smoke, there's fire. Maybe that's how they looked at it. And so they have turned against Paul. They don't want anything to do with Paul. They're not concerned about him. They quit engaging with him, quit, you know, sending letters to him, or responding to his letters. They've turned against Paul. They no longer hold him in the same regards as they had. It was the Apostle Paul. Hey, here comes Paul! And they're all gathering, they're all happy, but now they're like, oh, who's Paul? I don't know. Oh yeah, that guy, yeah, that guy. So the majority of believers throughout Asia turned against him, no longer hold him in the high regards or the same regards they had. Possibly, again, maybe out of fear. Maybe they're thinking if we talk about Paul, if we act like we know Paul, maybe they'll come and arrest us. Fear has a way of doing a lot of bad things for us. Possibly they were fearful that they too would be arrested if they were considered in agreement with Paul. Or maybe they were fair-weather friends. There's a lot of those. When you're on top, man, they're right there with you. And when you're not on top, you can't find them. You know, it doesn't matter, you can send out smoke signals, telegraph, telephone, text, satellite phone, doesn't matter. Ring their doorbell, beat on their door, you can't get a hold of them. Fair weather friends. And they only stayed faithful when it was convenient. Now it's one of those, or a combination of those two, is what we think happening when he says in verse 15, this thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. Now, regardless of which explanation is accurate, or if it's a blend of the two, here's the point. The point is, they were unfaithful while Paul was faithful. Paul hasn't changed. Paul hasn't given up. Paul hasn't quit. Paul hasn't turned. He's been faithful, and he's still faithful, but they're no longer faithful. They're unfaithful now. It wasn't simply—now watch this, because we'll delve a little deeper—it wasn't just that they turned away from Paul as a friend. but they turned away from Paul as an apostle. Paul wasn't simply just another person. He was the Apostle Paul. And by turning from Paul, it wasn't simply a breaking of the friendship, it was a pushing away, a turning away from the very teachings of Paul, of who he was and what it meant. There's a lot of people who do things like that. They'll say, well, you know, I still believe in God. They won't come to church, they won't go soul winning, they won't read the Bible, they don't pray, they do nothing for the Lord, but they want to say, well, but I still believe in God. Really, do you? Because true belief, true faith, has some evidence to it, has some works that come out of it. Again, the works don't save us, but true Bible faith has works attached to it. James says, I'll show you my faith by my works. And so here's these people, they're still maybe claiming that they're these godly people, but they've turned from Paul, turned from not just as a friend, but as an apostle, from his very teaching. So they're not just unfaithful to Paul, they're unfaithful to the biblical teachings that Paul had given them. Again, we're not ready for any application yet, we just still want to try to understand what's happening here. So we come to verse 15 again, it says, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me." Now it's important that we quantify this all that's used in 115, because as we make some application it's important to understand what does he mean when he says all they which are in Asia. Because that's what he says, that all they which are in Asia. Now this is not like all in Romans 3.23. So hold your place in 2nd Timothy. Let's look at Romans chapter 3. And the reason we know it's not the same is because of context. We've been teaching in my modular class, the better adult class. Everything's not a competition, but we're better. The better adult class out in the modular, we've been teaching about this idea about how to study the Bible. One of the things we've been talking about of late is comparing Scripture to Scripture. and looking things in context. And I'm sure whoever the other teacher is, I'm sure he tries, but you know, anyways, don't want to go down that path. So here's what happens. People will pick out one word, and they'll try to make a whole doctrine over the one word. And then they'll want to fuss with people, because they'll say, there are people, I'm sure I've never heard this, but knowing people, I'm sure there's people who say, well, if it says all they which are in Asia, he means every single person. That's not what he means. How do I know? Because we'll look at context in a moment. Look at a different context. Romans 3, look with me in verse 23. I'm stopping for a moment because I'm teaching within the teaching. I'm teaching you about how to look at the Bible and understand what the Bible says. So look at verse 23. The Bible says, for all have sinned. Does that mean all or most? It means every single person, which is different how he's using it the other place. How do I know it's different? Just because you say it's different? No, look at the context. Go back and look at verse 10. The context is going on, as is written, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. Notice the emphasis of none, zero. Verse 12, they're all gone out of the way, they are together becoming a prophet. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. So the emphasis in this chapter, chapter three, when we get down to verse 23, for all of sin is every single person's a sinner. Everyone is sinning against God. Okay, that's the context. Now let's go back to 2 Timothy. Notice the context here. Does it mean every single person in Asia? Well, it can't. Well, why can't it? Because the context wouldn't allow it. In 2 Timothy 1.15, all means many or most, a significant number that would make it appear that everyone is doing it. You're that way. Well, everyone is, and you don't mean every single person, you just mean it just looks like everyone's doing it. That's just the way we speak. How do we know that it's not every single person in Asia? Well, first of all, look at what he says in verse number 16. The Lord give mercy into the house of Onesiphorus. He mentioned someone who hasn't forsook him. So we know it's not every single person. Go back to chapter 1, look at verse 2. To Timothy, my dearly beloved son. Where is Timothy? He's in Asia. So obviously not everyone in Asia. So my point is this. Okay, you say, well Pastor Wright, are you just like making a big thing out of a little thing? No, I'm not. Let me think. No, I'm not doing that. Here is why it matters. This teaches that because it looks like all are unfaithful, there are still faithful people. We look at our nation, sometimes it looks like no one cares. No one cares about the Lord. No one's trying to live for the Lord. Everyone is doing their own thing, but I'm telling you there are still those who have not bowed the knee to the devil yet. there are still faithful believers. They maybe get fewer and far in between, but there are still faithful ones. And there are still faithful ones even in Paul's day. There's a lot who turn, there wasn't all. Not as far as every single one. So this teaches us that because some or many are unfaithful, you can still be faithful. There's never a time when you can't be faithful. Now there may be a time when you're not faithful, but you can always be faithful. You don't have to be unfaithful. You don't have to turn from the Lord. Every single person can be faithful. It's the Lord and not the crowd that's the basis of our faithfulness. I'm going to say it again because you'll see this now. running as a line through this lesson. It is the Lord and not the crowd that's the basis of our faithfulness. If you get to a point in your life and say, everyone in church is unfaithful, everyone in America is unfaithful, everyone in the world is unfaithful, even if that was true, except you, if you're the only one, which that kind of reeks of pride, doesn't it? If everyone but you, you're the only one, let me tell you this, even if that was true, you could still be faithful to the Lord. Now, it's nicer, it's easier, it's more funner when there's others serving the Lord, but you can serve the Lord if no one else does, because the Lord is faithful. Now, let's get into our lesson tonight. To finish strong in our Christian life is only possible if we stay faithful to the finish. You can't finish strong unless you finish strong, right? If we want to finish strong, then we got to finish and still be strong when we finish. Strong for the Lord, strong in our faithfulness. The strong part of finishing requires or means or comes from this idea of a faithful commitment to God and His work to the very end. And so from that now we're going to look at three applications or three observations from our text. So three things I want to give you tonight in this idea about finishing strong, being faithful even when others are not. So let's look at verse 15 again. So here's number one. Be aware that others won't be faithful. There's no reason to get all shocked and all surprised and like, oh, what's going on? There's unfaithful people. There's been unfaithful people for a very long time. So be aware that others won't be faithful. And some are maybe faithful to a different degree. Some may be 50% faithful, some 75% faithful. I never decide whether I'm coming to church or not based on who else comes to church. I never decide whether I'm serving God based on who else is serving God. I'm going to do it if I'm the only one. I don't mean this in an arrogant way. My faithfulness does not depend on your faithfulness, and your faithfulness should not depend on my faithfulness. We're faithful because the Lord is faithful. But we realize that others won't be faithful. Timothy—now watch this—Timothy knew about the unfaithfulness of others in Asia. Paul is not informing. It's not like Timothy's reading this going, What? There's unfaithful people in Asia? Okay, let me tell you. He's a pastor. He already knows. He already knows there's unfaithful people. And most likely, pastors talk to other pastors, and they kind of know what's happening around them. And so he knows what's happening in Ephesus, but my guess is he knows what's happening in these other churches as well. Paul is his hero. Paul is his mentor. Paul is the one who has led him into the ministry and has trained him. And if people are turning against Paul, I'm going to tell you this, he knows. Just like, you know, Brother Howell's my pastor for eight years. I'm very much aware of the people who don't like him. Number one, because they like to tell me they don't like him. And number two is, every time I say something about Brother Howell, they always kind of, you know, you can kind of see it in their expression. So Timothy knew about the unfaithfulness of others in Asia. Paul was not telling him something he had not already known. Now watch, but Paul wanted to make sure that Timothy understood this lack of faithfulness in a proper mindset. He knew how to process it mentally. How do you process this? So we're aware that others won't be faithful, but how do we process it? Do we get discouraged? Do we quit? How do we process the unfaithfulness of others? Let me give you a couple thoughts about it. Now watch this. It wasn't just young converts or carnal believers who had turned from following Paul and his teachings. Because that'd be one thing. Well, you know, they're just young believers. Well, you know, a guy told me one time, this is years ago, he had started a church as well, and he was telling me about some, it's kind of funny how he said it, some family had come and joined his church and then they left. Because one time I talked to him, he said this family came and joined the church. Next time I talked to him, he said that family left. And he made this statement. He said, well, they were never really into it anyways. They never really got with the program. And so sometimes you know, you say, okay, these people are not with the program. So it doesn't surprise you they're unfaithful. Or this is a young believer, and you know, okay, it doesn't really surprise me they're unfaithful. It wasn't simply these young converts or carnal believers, but there are notable Christian leaders, people you look up to. Now I say this, and when I say these things, I hope you understand where I'm coming from. I'm not trying to be unkind or mean or hurtful to anyone. But when people who are, if I can say it this way, and you may not like it, but if they're lower in the food chain than me, okay, they're younger in their faith, or they're weak in their faith, and you kind of know it, and they're unfaithful, yeah, it bothers me, but okay, it doesn't bother me the same as someone who I looked up to and respected. and they become unfaithful. I remember years ago I heard someone who just went off in the left field, and I'm thinking, man, that guy, he had more character than me, had more talent than me, had more ability than me, I think he was a better Christian than me, and if he's unfaithful, man, I better really watch it because I think much higher of him, I do of myself. And so these are notable Christian leaders who become unfaithful. Now how do I know that? Because he mentions him there in verse 15. of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes." Now, we have some, there's some guesses. That's the only place they're mentioned in the Bible, and there's some guesses who they are. But in the way they're mentioned, they're mentioned as these people that everyone would know. I mean, if you mention, for example, if I say Billy Graham, regardless whether you like him or not, you know who Billy Graham is. Everyone knows. So this is a, these are names that when he mentions, people are like, those? Those people are unfaithful? Now, and I imagine you've done the same thing. If you're trying to teach this, the first question is, you know, we'll just call them P and H. Who is P and H? Who are these two guys? So, you know, you start reading about them. And here you find out, everyone says the same thing. And everyone, they say, the only place they're mentioned is right here. This is all we know about them. That there's some notoriety based on how they're mentioned, and they turn. But I was reading Barnes, and Barnes had, I think, the best way of expressing it. So I'm going to give you his quote, because I liked his quote, which is this. It is a sad thing when the only record of a man, the only evidence which we have that he ever lived at all, is that he turned away from a friend or forsook the paths of true religion. And yet there are many men of whom the only thing to remember of them is that they lived to do wrong." I like that quote. I'd hate that to be the only thing that I'm known for. I turn from the Lord. But what about so-and-so? Yeah, he backslid and he left and he turned from the Lord. I'd hate that to be the thing I'm known for. So beware that others won't be faithful. It is difficult when those whom you have discipled and lead turn against you and your teachings. But it should not surprise us. It happened to Paul, and it happened even to Jesus. Did it not? Well, let's see. Mark 14. Mark 14 in your Bibles. Now, if you've never experienced this, this may be like, well, I don't see the big deal. But I'm going to tell you, it has happened to many believers and has shaken their faith. When people they looked up to, people they had respect in, people they served the Lord with, became unfaithful. Mark 14, verse 47. This is when Jesus is being arrested, and one of them that stood by drew a sword and smote a servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus answered and said to them, Are ye come out? These are the people getting ready to arrest Jesus and he's going to be put on trial and crucified. Are you come out as against a thief with swords and staves to take me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching and you took me not, but the scriptures must be fulfilled. Now notice verse 50. And they all forsook him and fled. Peter, yep. James, yep. John, yep. Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, they're out of there. All 11. The only one didn't for circumcision and flood was Judas Iscariot because he was betraying them. How do you think Jesus felt when that happened? Spent three years training you and the only thing I can see is your back end of you going that way and trying to get away from me as fast as you can. That's a heartbreaking time for a believer, but it's not a time to be unfaithful. You can still serve the Lord even in those type of times. When we talk about being like Jesus, maybe we should consider this part as well, being forsooken by others. A.B. Simpson wrote a hymn, it goes like this, Jesus is standing in Pilate's hall, friendless, forsaken, betrayed by all. Hearken, what meaneth the sudden call? What will you do with Jesus? That phrase, friendless, forsaken, betrayed by all. So be aware that others won't be faithful. Just be aware of it. It happens. If it happens to you, it's not like it's never happened to anyone. It's happened even to Jesus himself. That's number one. Second observation, second lesson, which is this. Be known for your faithfulness. Be aware that others won't be faithful, but you need to be known for your faithfulness. When they mention your name, people always say, that guy's faithful. Maybe he's a little touchy-headed at times, but he's faithful. You can always count on him. Be known for your faithfulness. So look at verse 16, back to our text in 2 Timothy 1. The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus. Now we don't know a whole lot about him either, but notice he's spoken differently than Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my shame. But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. So be known for your faithfulness." Being faithful starts with a decision and a commitment. That's where it starts with. People are faithful, they come to a decision point, and they make a commitment. But when it takes sorry, but then, better if I read my words carefully, but then it takes work and sacrifice to make it happen. So it starts with a decision, okay, I'm going to be faithful, a commitment, this is what I'm going to be faithful to, but then understand it's going to take some work and some effort, some sacrifice, if you're going to make it happen. People aren't faithful because it's easy to be faithful. People aren't faithful because they just, you know, well, there's nothing else to do, I'll just be faithful. Faithful people are people who do it on purpose. You're going to be faithful on purpose. If you're not faithful on purpose, you're not going to be faithful. So what do I mean by that? Well, notice what it says in verse 16 about Onesiphorus. The Bible says, "...for he oft refreshed me." So here's the first thing we can draw from that. Faithfulness requires ongoing and continual action. He often, refresh me, this is something he often did. So he mentions three men, this man Onesiphorus, and he mentions Phygelus and Hermogenes. It seems then, from what we read, all three men, these all three men at one time were all involved. All of them were serving, all of them were doing something. But two of them have become unfaithful. It was only Onesiphorus who was still involved. Onesiphorus, when the others quit, he kept going. When they became unfaithful, he stayed faithful. He just keeps at it. Faithfulness is not determined by either a singular or limited action, but by the ongoing action within that commitment. There are people who say, well, I'm a faithful tither. What they mean is they tithed one time last year. You were faithful that one week? Yeah. But what are the other 51 weeks? They say, I'm a faithful soul winner. They come out once a month. Do you know there's more than one week in a month? There's more than one soul winning opportunity in that month? So it's this ongoing activity, this continual activity. You're not faithful unless you're faithful. You're not faithful unless you just keep at it and keep doing it. If it's singular or limited, that's not faithfulness. True faithfulness is ongoing. I just keep at it. So, faithfulness requires this ongoing, continual action. Then he says this, again in verse 16, "...for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain. But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me." Now, if you're looking for a person who's in Ohio, incarcerated, you can go online, type, do a little search here, put their name in, it'll tell you exactly where they're at, why they're in there, how many years they're going to be in there, what exactly prison they're going to be. Onesiphorus couldn't do this for Paul. He couldn't find it on his phone, he couldn't find it in a computer. It took work to find out. My guess is this, if Paul's in prison, you're not in prison because you're going to be there for a few years and left out. You're in prison because they're about to kill you. They weren't treated well. So you didn't just go up to the prison and say, hey, Mr. Prisoner, is there a Paul here? Why? Are you his associate? Should you be in here too? I mean, it was very dicey when you're dealing with someone who's in prison in those days. But Emnesiphas did the work. He talked to everything he talked to. He put his, maybe, life on the line. He sought him out. He made the effort. So what do I mean by that? Here's what I mean. Faithfulness requires initiative and thoughtfulness. You're not going to be faithful just because you just go through the motions. You're going to have to put some thought to it. What does it mean? If I'm going to be faithful to something, what does that mean? What do I got to do? How do I make this happen? When someone is unfaithful, they always have an excuse. I know, sometimes things happen you have no control over. There are some times. But if you're generally unfaithful, and I mean it's not just those in the room, obviously. I'm talking about believers. If you're generally unfaithful, it's because you have not ever planned really to be faithful. You haven't put the work in. What is required of me to be faithful? What do I need to do? Maybe I need to get up a little earlier. Maybe I need to stay up a little bit later. Maybe I need to put a little more effort to it. Maybe I can't just give up every time it gets hard. It's going to take initiative and thoughtfulness. Some effort. And that's what Eunicius did. He sought me out very diligently, but effort. I'm going to be faithful. It's going to be hard now, but I'm still going to stay faithful. Paul still needs me. I'm still going to be at what I'm supposed to be doing. Faithfulness means that your commitment is of more importance than your comfort or convenience. Well, I'd be faithful, but it's hard. That's why you need to be faithful, because it is hard. Because if it was easy, you wouldn't have to be faithful. You would just do it. It's a piece of cake. But you need to be faithful when it's hard. If you're only going to be faithful when it's easy, you're never really going to be faithful. You must make the effort to be faithful. That's what Onesiphus did. So he was known for his faithfulness. The other two weren't. The other two turned, but Onesiphus, no, I'm going to do it. I'm going to be at it. I'm going to make it happen. So be known for your faithfulness. And then number three, and this brings us back to kind of what we were talking earlier. Number three, in fact, let's look at verse 18. Number three is this. Regardless of the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of others, the Lord is sufficient for you. Now, my guess is most people get to some point, people who are, okay, let's look at Brother Royalty. Do you think Brother Royalty has ever been discouraged by other believers? Most likely plenty of times. Well, how does a guy who's, I think he's 76, how does a guy who's 76, and if you're around him, I mean, he has such a good attitude, such a good spirit about things, such an encouraging type person to be around. How does he get to that point? Did he always just have it easy going through ministry? Well, when you sit down and talk to him and talk about different stories, he has some things that the Lord did, but he also has some things he had to get through. So how was he faithful the whole time? He was faithful the whole time because he learned this, the Lord is sufficient. People are discouraging, that's it. Sometimes purposely discouraging, sometimes not purposely. You deal with people, it can be a very discouraging thing. But the Lord is sufficient. And if you're discouraged because of people, here's what I'm going to tell you, your eyes are in the wrong place. Well, you know, I see this person, I see that person. Right, but do you see the Lord? Because that's the sufficiency. The Lord is what gets us through this. I'm not excusing other people's unfaithfulness. I'm not saying that's okay. I'm just saying for you to get through your little issue there about dealing with it, you've got to put your eyes on the Lord. The Lord is sufficient. Never make your ability or your willingness to serve God contingent on what others are doing. It may be easier to serve God when others are faithful, and that's true. And it may be harder when others are unfaithful, and that is true. But it is always possible to serve God because God is faithful. Let's look at some verses about this. Philippians 4. Philippians 4. Again, I'm not excusing other people's lack of faithfulness. I'm just dealing with you and trying to get through that situation. How do you do that? You've got to put your eyes on the Lord. I'm not saying their unfaithfulness is okay, but it should not be a reason for you to be unfaithful. Philippians 4 verse 10, But I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at the last your care of me has flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned Which means he did not know it, but now he knows it. This is something he's learned in his Christian life. For I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and 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 who strengthens me. This is part of what he's learned. notwithstanding you have well done and that you did communicate with my affliction." So he commends him on him, but he says, I've learned I can do all things through Christ. If I'm hungry or if I'm full, if I have friends or don't have friends, I can because it's Christ who does it through me. When others become the basis of whether you serve God, then you're not truly depending and trusting in God. That's a powerful statement. I've had people say this, well I just quit because everyone else quit and I got tired doing it by myself. What do you mean doing it by yourself? Where was the Lord at? If the Lord was with you, then you weren't by yourself. And your eyes were on people and not on the Lord. So what is our faithfulness based on? Our faithfulness should be based on God's faithfulness. Let's look at one more place, 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Chapter 1, verse 4. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything you are enriched by him, in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you, and to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." Notice what he says now in verse 9. God is faithful. by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Those three words are very powerful. God is faithful. Whatever you're going through, if it's through a heartache, a heartbreak, someone in your family has passed away, someone is suffering some severe issue, or maybe it's a financial catastrophe that's coming in your life, or maybe the world around you is on fire, it seems like, I'm just telling you God is faithful. And we can be faithful because of that. He is faithful. He is sufficient. Now, if we bring it to a conclusion. Obviously, the unfaithfulness of the Asian believers impacted Paul. He mentions it. He doesn't mention it because it was nothing. He mentions it because it was something. So their unfaithfulness did impact him. I'm not saying when people are unfaithful, just get over it, don't worry about it. Okay, it does bother you, but the way you deal with it is keeping your eyes on the Lord, not on them. So the unfaithfulness of these Asian believers did impact Paul. Paul was very much aware that they had turned away from him. That he no longer had the influence or the leadership in their Christian life he once had. I don't know how you think about that. I think about it in my position as pastor. In my entire adult life I've tried to live for the Lord, tried to serve the Lord in ministry, my entire adult life. And as I think about going into, you know, some years later in my life, you know, okay, I'm not trying to paint any type of picture other than I'm trying to imagine how Paul felt. If I came, let's say, down the road, now I'm, you know, 15 years down the road, and I came in here, And hopefully, most people here are still here, unless you're in heaven. Other than that, you should be here. And so, I come into the church, and people don't even want to talk to me. They're like, oh yeah, it's you again. Or they say, um, you're back. Do you think that would bother me? Of course it would. Now, knowing me and my personality, I wouldn't show it. And I would respond in a way that would be a little more provocative against them. Could you imagine how that must have crushed Paul? I went to your city. There was no one there who knew Christ. I started that church. If I didn't win you, I wasn't the person who won you. You would be on your way to hell if I hadn't come to your city and started that church. and you are turned away from me, you don't want to hear me, you don't want to be around me, you don't want to talk to me. That had to bother Paul. Paul was a human being. So Paul knew about those who turned from him. Paul was very much aware of it. He knew what that meant. But here's the flip side now. Paul was also impacted by those believers who still remain faithful. He's like, it's not all of them. All of Asia forsook of me, but let's talk of Onesiphus here. He offered fresh me. He sought me out. I'm not going to forget him. So here's what we bring out by way of conclusion. Regardless of who was faithful and who was not, it remained Paul's commitment to finish strong and stay faithful to the end. I'm not quitting. I'm not turning back. y'all can do what you're gonna do, I'm gonna finish strong. That was Paul's way of approaching the Christian life. All right, let's pray and we'll get ready to be dismissed.