Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace - 01.12.26
Transcript
- 0:04This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
- 0:08Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
- 0:12County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
- 0:16continues teaching through God's Word.
- 0:37It's also important that we remember that the gift is in
- 0:41you. You're not the gift, he said.
- 0:47The gift that's in you. We're not the gift.
- 0:50Don't let people think you're the gift.
- 0:53Don't let people make you believe that you are the gift.
- 0:57The gift is in you. It's in US.
- 1:00Whatever that gift is. Teaching, praise and worship, AV
- 1:05leadership, whatever the gift is, administration, it doesn't
- 1:08matter. The gift is what's in you.
- 1:12Maybe you were born with some natural talent.
- 1:15You can sing with little to no effort.
- 1:17Your whole life people have admired your gift and poured out
- 1:20compliments and encouragement. If that's you listening right
- 1:24now, thank God for that gift. But it is easy to start to let
- 1:28some of that gifting go to your head, to begin to think that you
- 1:32are the source of that gift. Today, Pastor Lewis challenges
- 1:36us to remember the giver of the gift and focus our attention on
- 1:40glorifying him rather than exulting in our gift.
- 1:44Now here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of Second Timothy Chapter
- 1:481, as he begins his message Last Words.
- 1:52Let's turn in our Bibles, please, to Second Timothy
- 1:55chapter 1. Let's pray and go into the Word
- 1:58of God. Amen.
- 1:59Father, We thank you, Lord, once again for your faithfulness to
- 2:02this house, and not only to this house, but for all those who
- 2:06call upon your name. Father, we thank you for the
- 2:09things that our eyes have seen, Lord, and the things that our
- 2:12ears have heard. We thank you that we are in the
- 2:15country, Lord, that has been defended by men and women who
- 2:19have a heart, Lord, for freedom, and we thank you for our
- 2:22freedom. We can stand here today and
- 2:25teach Your word and sit together, Lord, under Your word
- 2:29and not be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ
- 2:32because of the freedoms that we have.
- 2:34And we thank you for that Lord, in Jesus name.
- 2:37Now, Father, as we listen to your word, I pray, Father, that
- 2:41you open your mouth and speak to us.
- 2:42Lord, no one came here to see me.
- 2:44All came here to hear from you. So I pray, Lord, that Your Holy
- 2:49Spirit would just be upon each and every one of us, that you
- 2:52would use me, Lord, just as a, as a tool in your hand, Lord, as
- 2:57a vessel. Speak through me, Father, in
- 3:00Jesus name we pray, Amen. So over here in Second Timothy
- 3:04chapter one, we have already just completed First Timothy and
- 3:10what we've seen is that Paul is giving instruction to his young
- 3:13protege Timothy, and he met Timothy back in Acts chapter 16.
- 3:18You can read about when they initially came together on
- 3:21Paul's missionary journey through Ephesus.
- 3:25And what we find is that Paul Wood took a real liking to
- 3:28Timothy because of Timothy's faithfulness.
- 3:31Even as a young man, he was faithful.
- 3:33And, and as we move into now, the second chapter or the second
- 3:37book of Timothy, like you said last week, there are three
- 3:41pastoral epistles, first Timothy, second Timothy, and
- 3:45also Titus. Even though it's not necessarily
- 3:47in that order, it is actually the correct order is actually
- 3:51First Timothy Titus. And then Second Timothy is
- 3:54actual order. And I'll tell you the reason why
- 3:57it's important for us to talk about that or to mention that is
- 4:00because it's here in Second Timothy where Paul realizes that
- 4:04he is facing impending death. So this is probably the last
- 4:10letter that Paul not probably it is the last letter that Paul
- 4:14will write and he understands that and he's dealing with it
- 4:18from the perspective of a man who knows that he is facing his
- 4:22death. So we're dealing with that.
- 4:24So as we read through this, please keep in mind that we're
- 4:28listening to a man who knows that his in is imminent as we
- 4:33read through this. And maybe you'll be able to just
- 4:35pick up and we want to point some things out, but you'll be
- 4:38able to pick out certain things that he says that I think are
- 4:42just amazing to be able to say at his end.
- 4:45And you can just take a second to think, If you knew that you
- 4:48only had a couple days to live, what would be the thing on your
- 4:51mind most? What would be the thing on your
- 4:54heart the most? Who would you want to talk to?
- 4:56Who would you want to speak to? Who would you want to ask
- 4:58forgiveness of? Who would you want to forgive?
- 5:01Who would you want to reconcile with?
- 5:04What would you want to correct in your life if you knew?
- 5:07You knew you only had a few days to live?
- 5:10Not many of us have the privilege of knowing when we're
- 5:14about to go. Not many of us know that, which
- 5:18is why it's so important that we live every day like it's our
- 5:20last. Because it very well could be.
- 5:24You heard people say here today and gone tomorrow.
- 5:27That's actually not true. You could be here today and gone
- 5:32today, so you might want to live your life.
- 5:36We all should be living our lives in a way that we are
- 5:39mindful of the fact. I think it was in the book of
- 5:42Psalms where it is written, that we ask the Lord to teach us to
- 5:46number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
- 5:52So we live like we don't have forever to live, but we live
- 5:56that we know and we understand that we too have impending
- 6:00death. And it was even more significant
- 6:03for Paul because even his surroundings was dark and it was
- 6:08cold. He was in a Roman prison.
- 6:10This is a second imprisonment. He was in a Roman prison.
- 6:13He was basically lowered down through a hole in the ground.
- 6:16He was in a dungeon. Wasn't even a prison.
- 6:19Compared to the things that we see today as a prison, Paul was
- 6:23probably in some of the worst conditions you can think of.
- 6:26He was in a hole in the ground where he was around all of his
- 6:30own waste, along with probably others that was there too as
- 6:33well before he got there. And not only was he beaten, but
- 6:38Paul was in shackles. He was in chains, as we'll see
- 6:42later. He mentions his chains.
- 6:45Why would a man need to still be in chains if he's already been
- 6:48beaten and in prison? But this is what Paul suffered
- 6:51and he suffered it for the Gospel.
- 6:54And he was during the time of the Nero era, you know,
- 6:57Christians were blamed at that particular time for burning down
- 7:00Rome. Rome had burned down and and
- 7:03Nero, because he hated Christians, he blamed the
- 7:06Christians for doing it. Most people think that Nero was
- 7:09the one that did it because he wanted to kind of change Rome.
- 7:13He wanted to do a renovation project in Rome.
- 7:17So he chose to torch the place and he blamed it on the
- 7:20Christians. And it was with harsh, harsh
- 7:25treatment of the Christians that he began to execute believers in
- 7:30that area. At that particular time, he'd
- 7:32already killed Peter by crucifying him upside down.
- 7:36And now Paul was awaiting his own execution in prison.
- 7:41So it was a really dark time. So it was during this time that
- 7:45Paul began to pen a letter. Now, people believe that he
- 7:48dictated the letter and it was Luke who was with him at that
- 7:51time that actually wrote the letter, but it was definitely
- 7:55God used Paul to do this. And the other amazing thing that
- 7:58I have to point out, and I know we talked about this before
- 8:01before we can get into this, but I have to mention the fact that
- 8:05God's sovereignty cannot be topped.
- 8:08It can't even be compared with God's sovereignty.
- 8:12He's asking in this letter that Timothy come to him quickly.
- 8:17Timothy, come quickly. I got things I want to say to
- 8:19you, Timothy. It would be just like someone
- 8:22who was passing and they know they're passing and they're
- 8:24calling out to you and they're asking you to come quickly
- 8:26because I, I don't know how much time I have.
- 8:31And Paul is saying, Timothy, come quickly.
- 8:33Come, be diligent to come. But what's amazing, what's
- 8:39really amazing about that is the fact that this letter or these
- 8:44instructions that Paul gives to Timothy was meant to be directly
- 8:49to Timothy. He wrote this just in case
- 8:53Timothy didn't get there in time.
- 8:56This was just in case Timothy didn't get there in time.
- 8:59And because of this, God set it up so that we could all benefit
- 9:04from this letter that he gave to Timothy.
- 9:07Paul gives him 5 instructions throughout this letter.
- 9:10There's five things that Paul gives him as instructions for
- 9:13Christian living. And the point of the matter is,
- 9:16is that again, because of God's sovereignty and his love, he
- 9:20knew that we need to know these five things.
- 9:26That's the sovereignty and the love of God.
- 9:28So let's move into this. We're in Second Timothy chapter
- 9:311. And right here in verse 1 of
- 9:35chapter 1, Paul says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the
- 9:39will of God according to the promise of life which is in
- 9:43Christ Jesus. What's amazing here is that as
- 9:46he opens up all of his letters or most of his letters, he
- 9:49always talks about the fact that he has authority to write this
- 9:53because he is an apostle not of himself, not an apostle of
- 9:58himself, but apostle by the will of God.
- 10:02He's apostle of Jesus Christ, of the will of God.
- 10:05He is a sent servant. He was sent by the will of God.
- 10:09So he reminds us that Paul was one who was sent.
- 10:13He was not one who just went. So Paul understood that his
- 10:17authority came from God. And he's saying that right up
- 10:21front. So everything that he says to
- 10:23Timothy, it bears that weight. And he says according to the
- 10:28promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus.
- 10:31And that's really important to him right now because Paul was
- 10:34facing impending death. So his heart, his heart was to
- 10:39focus on the promise that God has given to him through Christ
- 10:44Jesus, which is the promise of life.
- 10:49And that's exactly what he was hold on to while he was there in
- 10:52that dark, cold, dingy, smelly, stinking cell.
- 10:56That hold. He was focusing on the fact that
- 11:01he had a promise from God of life, and every one of us have
- 11:06that promise as well. And that's the message that not
- 11:09only did Paul go out and share with everyone, but that's the
- 11:12message that we have, which is why we should be confident with
- 11:17the message that we have to give to other people.
- 11:19We have the promise of life. No one else has that promise, no
- 11:26one else. We have the promise of life
- 11:29through Christ Jesus. And then he says in verse 2 to
- 11:34Timothy, a beloved son, a beloved son.
- 11:38Paul always talked about his passion, his love for Timothy.
- 11:42And Timothy was a son in the faith.
- 11:44And Paul always acknowledged that.
- 11:47And then he says, and here's when he talks about what I call
- 11:50the divine triplets, he mentions, he says grace, mercy,
- 11:54and peace from God and the Father of Jesus Christ our Lord.
- 12:00James, it's interesting that he talks about mercy and all the
- 12:04pastoral letters. We notice that he mentions the
- 12:06word mercy and he mentions that because Paul understood that as
- 12:10a pastor, there's no one that should be before the mercy seat
- 12:13more than pastors. There's no one else that should
- 12:17be hastening to come before the mercy seat more than pastors.
- 12:21We need mercy, and we should know that we need mercy.
- 12:27And he understands that. In fact, in James 31, it says
- 12:31that instructors or teachers will be held to a stricter
- 12:35judgment. So we need the mercy of God.
- 12:40We need the mercy of God. All of us need God's mercy.
- 12:44And if it wasn't for God's mercy, we wouldn't be here today
- 12:48in Christ Jesus if it wasn't for his mercy.
- 12:54And he goes on in verse 3, and we're now about to get into what
- 12:58is probably the meat of this, but he says, I thank God whom I
- 13:02serve with a pure conscience as my forefathers did.
- 13:08He talks about a pure conscience and now he's not saying that he
- 13:12did everything perfect when he served God, He didn't do
- 13:16everything perfect, but he had a pure conscience because he was
- 13:19able to take everything that he did before the Lord.
- 13:24So if he did slip up, in fact, he talked about in Romans 7, he
- 13:27talked about slipping up quite a bit.
- 13:28He said the things that I want to do, I don't do the things
- 13:30that I should do, you know, things I shouldn't do, those
- 13:32things I do. So he realizes that he still
- 13:35sins. Paul still sins, but he had a
- 13:38pure conscience because he was he would acknowledge that sin
- 13:41and take it before the Lord and he would become pure just as we
- 13:46can serve with the pure conscience.
- 13:48It doesn't mean that we don't do anything that we don't need to
- 13:50repent for we do. But the pure conscience coming
- 13:53to the fact that we don't hold long accounts with God.
- 13:56I love the way Clark always say that, you know, keep short
- 13:58accounts, you know, with the Lord and we do that by when we
- 14:02do slip up, the Holy Spirit prompts us and lets us know that
- 14:05we slip up and we hit our knees and ask for forgiveness.
- 14:08Acknowledge it. We come into agreement with God
- 14:11that we have sinned. And this is what Paul was
- 14:15saying. So Paul was saying, I served
- 14:16with a pure conscience. Ain't nothing lingering.
- 14:19Ain't nothing lingering, nothing lingering.
- 14:21The things that I've done, I acknowledged it.
- 14:24I acknowledged it. And he says also as my father's
- 14:27did. So he goes back to thinking
- 14:28about the patriarchs that are in his life that served before him,
- 14:32the Abrahams, The Isaacs and the Jacob who had faith in God and
- 14:37they served with faith in God. And Paul said, I served in that
- 14:41same way. And he says as without ceasing,
- 14:44I remember you in my prayers night and day.
- 14:48You know, sometimes it's a thought that when someone gets
- 14:51saved, oh, don't have to worry about them now, Don't have to
- 14:53worry about them now. I ain't got to pray for them as
- 14:55much as they had to pray when they were out there in that
- 14:57street. Oh, I ain't got to.
- 14:58No, it's the other way around. When someone gets saved, those
- 15:01prayers should not diminish. They should intensify.
- 15:05They should intensify and especially if they get into
- 15:09ministry, intensify those prayers, don't diminish them,
- 15:14need them. And Paul understand that there
- 15:16was a need to pray for Timothy because Timothy was called to
- 15:19the pastorate. He was saved and called to the
- 15:21pastorate. And Paul understood that it was
- 15:24necessary to pray for that young man night and day.
- 15:28There's nothing good that happens in this church that
- 15:30doesn't come through your prayers.
- 15:33Your prayers for Clark, your prayers for me, your prayers for
- 15:36the other ministries in this church.
- 15:39Anything that happens of any significance is coming through
- 15:42your prayers, whether it's corporately by praying together
- 15:46or praying on a Thursday night prayer or or the Monday or the
- 15:49other Thursday night prayer that people are holding, or whether
- 15:52it's individually your prayers. Your prayers are the helps that
- 15:57holds this place together. It holds it together and the
- 16:02Lord honors the prayers of the Saints.
- 16:05Then he goes on in verse 4 and he says greatly desiring to see
- 16:10you, and that follows up with what he's going to say in
- 16:12chapter 4, verse 9, when he when he tells him to please
- 16:15diligently, diligently come quickly because he knows he
- 16:19doesn't have but a short amount of time to be able to share with
- 16:23him. And then he says, being mindful
- 16:25of your tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to
- 16:28remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwell
- 16:32first in your grandmother, Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am
- 16:37persuaded is in you also. Paul says being mindful of your
- 16:43tears. He's sitting there in the prison
- 16:45and he's thinking about Timothy's tears.
- 16:47We don't know exactly what it was that he's referring to.
- 16:50He could be referring to the fact that the last time he saw
- 16:53Timothy, Timothy wept because Timothy may have realized that
- 16:56this could be the last time that I'm seeing my spiritual father.
- 17:00This could be the last time he may have been there when Paul
- 17:04got arrested and was put in prison, and he may have known
- 17:07that this is going to end in his execution.
- 17:10The Holy Spirit may have prompted him to know that the
- 17:14end is near. Or it could be because Timothy
- 17:17was left in Ephesus to be a pastor of a church where people
- 17:23were older than he was and was dealing with him like he was a
- 17:27kid instead of dealing with him like he's a pastor.
- 17:31The ministry, the persecution, he sees Paul getting arrested
- 17:37and about to be executed, and he's in the same ministry.
- 17:40He is testifying to the same name that Paul was testifying to
- 17:44that's leading to his impending execution.
- 17:47Maybe that caused Timothy to weep.
- 17:51We don't really know what caused Timothy to weep.
- 17:54But Paul says I'm mindful of those tears, that I may be
- 17:58filled with joy when I call into remembrance your genuine faith,
- 18:03Timothy, your faith is not hypocritical.
- 18:08Your faith does not come from surface belief.
- 18:13Your faith comes from the real, the real source.
- 18:18Your faith is based upon your knowledge and your belief in
- 18:21Jesus Christ. That is genuine faith.
- 18:25It's faith in the face of fear. It's faith in the face of all
- 18:29things of persecution. It's faith in the face of
- 18:32danger. That's genuine faith, Faith and
- 18:36temptation. Timothy, your faith is not
- 18:39hypocritical because your examples were good.
- 18:43First, it was in your your grandmother, your grandmother
- 18:46Lois, she was a faithful woman. And that was passed down to your
- 18:52mother, Eunice, who was a faithful woman.
- 18:55They pray for you, Timothy. And now you have genuine faith.
- 18:59I'm going to tell you something. Most of us, and I know I am,
- 19:03chief, I am definitely one who are here as a result of the
- 19:09faithful prayers of someone who pray for us.
- 19:13Maybe it was your grandmother, maybe it was your grandfather,
- 19:16maybe it was your father, maybe it was your mother.
- 19:21For me, it was mother, grandmother, and my older
- 19:25sister. They desperately prayed for me
- 19:28to come out of those streets, and maybe somebody did that for
- 19:32you. So we have evidence that the
- 19:36fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much, and Timothy
- 19:41understood that. So if you're praying for
- 19:43somebody that's not in here yet, if you're praying for somebody
- 19:47that you want to see, walk in with the Lord before you leave.
- 19:52Don't stop praying. Regardless of what you see,
- 19:58regardless of what you see. It's not about what we see.
- 20:02It's what we believe. We serve a God that is able to
- 20:07change hearts, to change lives, to change the destiny of men and
- 20:12women. He is able.
- 20:15So don't give up your prayers. Don't give up your prayers.
- 20:18And then he goes on and he says in verse 6, he says, therefore,
- 20:23I remind you now this is his first.
- 20:25If you're taking notes, this is his first instruction to
- 20:28Timothy. He says, therefore, I remind
- 20:30you, stir up the gift of God that is in you through the
- 20:35laying on of my hands. Stir up the gift.
- 20:37That's instruction #1 Timothy, stir up that gift that is in
- 20:41you. Every one of us have a gift
- 20:43that's in us that came to us at the time that we got saved.
- 20:47When the Holy Spirit came to dwell on the inside of us, it
- 20:51brought gifts. So we all have a gift, but non
- 20:55use, fear and other things can cause that gift to go dormant.
- 21:02Circumstances, frustrations, problems in ministry, it can
- 21:07cause that gift to go dormant. Non use of that gift.
- 21:12And Paula said, Timothy, stir up that gift.
- 21:16Fan those embers into a flame. Timothy, don't let your ministry
- 21:21die. Don't let your faith die.
- 21:22Don't let your testimony die. Stir it up.
- 21:26And that's what he's saying to us.
- 21:27He sent it to me and I know he's saying it to you as well.
- 21:30Stir up that gift that's in you. God placed something in you.
- 21:34I don't know what it is, but he placed a gift that's in each and
- 21:38every one of you who believe. Stir it up.
- 21:43Don't let it sit and go dormant. Don't let the enemy be able to
- 21:46celebrate because you are not serving the Lord in the way that
- 21:50God has called you to do it because your gift went dormant.
- 21:53Stir it up. Stir it up.
- 21:58But it's also important that we remember that the gift is in
- 22:03you. You're not the gift, he said.
- 22:08The gift that's in you. We're not the gift.
- 22:11Don't let people think you're the gift.
- 22:14Don't let people make you believe that you are the gift.
- 22:18The gift is in you, It's in US. Whatever that gift is, teaching,
- 22:24praise and worship, AV leadership, whatever the gift
- 22:28is, administration, it doesn't matter.
- 22:30The gift is what's in you. So he goes on.
- 22:35That was necessary just to put out there before we move on then
- 22:38verse 7 he says for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but
- 22:41of power and of love and a sound mind that was must have been
- 22:44necessary to say Paul would not have made that admonition if it
- 22:49wasn't necessary somewhere along the line.
- 22:52Timothy must have became timid somewhere along the line.
- 22:58Somewhere along the line, Timothy must have become pretty
- 23:01silent about his gift and was not teaching the word of God or
- 23:05doing what he needed to do with the gift that was placed in him.
- 23:08Somewhere along the line, something was going on where
- 23:11Timothy was becoming fearful. Otherwise Paul would not have
- 23:15made that admonition to him. He would not have brought that
- 23:18up. And it was right after he said,
- 23:20stir up the gift. And then he says, for God has
- 23:23not given us a spirit of fear. So you put those two together,
- 23:28that tells us that Timothy somewhere along the line became
- 23:32fearful. Maybe it's because he was seeing
- 23:34so many people executed around him.
- 23:36Maybe it's because he was seeing the treatment.
- 23:38Maybe it was because he was getting threats from Nero.
- 23:41Maybe he was because the older people that was around him was
- 23:44just disrespecting him so much that he become fearful.
- 23:48But whatever the case was, he must have become fearful.
- 23:51And Paul said God did not give us a spirit of fear.
- 23:56Here on Living Waters of Grace, we're in the books of First and
- 23:59Second Timothy. Pastor Lewis Harrell is walking
- 24:03us through these letters written from Paul to Timothy.
- 24:06Toward the end of these letters, Paul is anticipating that his
- 24:09time here on earth is coming to a close.
- 24:13He's giving some final words of advice to his mentee.
- 24:16Paul writes in Second Timothy 4, verse seven.
- 24:19I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race.
- 24:22I have kept the faith wherever you are in your journey of faith
- 24:26with God, our hope is that you have the willingness to fight
- 24:31for what's true, not compromising, but holding fast
- 24:35to the Word of God. Paul was reminding Timothy of
- 24:39this, and it's a good reminder for you and for me today too.
- 24:43For helpful input throughout this series, why not listen to
- 24:47all of these teachings from First and Second Timothy on our
- 24:50website? Go to calvarychapelonline.com to
- 24:54access teachings, download our app, and more.
- 24:59If you'd like to visit us this weekend, we'd be delighted.
- 25:03Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel
- 25:06Westmoreland in Greensburg, PA Come to our service held at
- 25:1110:30 AM on Sundays. We're located at 400 E
- 25:16Pittsburgh St., Ste. 6B. For any other information on our
- 25:21weekly service, visit calvarychapelonline.com.
- 25:25You can also join our e-mail list, give online, or submit a
- 25:30prayer request right from the site.
- 25:32If you can't make it in person, be sure to tune into Calvary
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- 25:42We thank you for tuning in today and ask that you come back for
- 25:45more solid and biblical teaching from Pastor Lewis right here on
- 25:50Living Waters of Grace.