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Living Waters of Grace 01-29-2026 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
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Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
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County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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Paul was saying I am already being poured out, I've already
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given everything. I've given all to the Lord ever
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since the day that he caught me into ministry back in Acts
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Chapter 9 when he first stopped me on the road to Damascus.
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From that point on, I've given it all to him, I've given it all
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to him. And that is such an inspiration
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for us to look at how we serve the Lord.
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Do we? Give it all to him, do we Give
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it off to them? Do we hold something back
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because in that cup for the drink offering, the whole idea
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was that totally empty the cup. I like to hear compliments,
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don't you? I don't really care for
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criticism. I know that I could lose a few
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pounds. I know that I can stand to lay
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off the sweets a bit. But isn't it good to have people
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in your life who tell it to you? Straight people who won't
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sugarcoat the truth. In his message today, Pastor
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Lewis warned you about Bible teachers who just tell you
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everything that makes you feel good about yourself.
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The Word of God should challenge you.
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It should convict you of sin, and it should push you towards
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holiness. Now here's Pastor Lewis in the
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Book of Second Timothy, Chapter 4, with today's edition of
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Living Waters of Grace. He says, and the words should
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convince or convict or correct. It should rebuke and it should
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exhort. Every time one of us comes up
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and teach this word, one of those three things should be
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happening. It should either correct us.
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It should either exhort us or encourage us or should warn us
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or caution us. But the word should always have
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impact is what Paul is saying. The word will always have
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impact. And this is to be done with
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long-suffering and teaching, or in other words, patience.
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Paul is talking about patience because he understands that as
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Timothy, as you speak to your congregation, everyone is not
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going to be at the same place spiritually.
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So people will need to be. You will need to be patient
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because people are going to mature at different levels.
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As we mature at different rates, we're going to mature
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differently. So, Timothy, be patient, but be
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patient through teaching. Don't always want to just call
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somebody out. Let the word change people,
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Timothy. So do it through teaching.
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Let the word help people to mature.
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That's the importance of teaching the Word with patience.
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And then he said for the time will come when they will not
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endure sound doctrine. And that's why you should teach
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the Word now, Timothy, because there's going to be a time when
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there's going to be people who will not want to endure sound
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doctrine. There will be a time when people
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will want to not hear a word that convicts them.
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They're not going to want to hear things that will hold the
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mirror up to their lives and cause them to be able to see
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what they look like or what we look like.
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They might not want to hear that, Timothy, after a while,
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they're not going to want to hear about righteousness.
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They're not going to hear about holiness.
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They only want to hear, you know, they're going to be
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looking for people who are only teach the, you know, the
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goodness of God or the mercy of God or the grace of God or the
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love of God. They don't want to hear people
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that's going to teach about the holiness of God and the law of
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God or the righteousness of God. They're not going to want to
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hear that. I want to hear people talk about
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sin, things that I want to do. Don't call it sin.
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That word sounds so bad when you call it sin, but it's things
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that I want to do. They don't want to hear that,
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Timothy. So preach the word because
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they're not going to hear sound doctrine.
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But because of but, but but according to their own desires,
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because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves
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teachers. They'll just listen to the
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teachers, Timothy, that they want to hear the ones that's
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going to make them feel good when they leave every time.
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They'll never hear about things that I need to change in my life
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or or never hear a word that convicts me or challenges me
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about things that I'm doing or things that I'm thinking about
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the way that I'm treating people about my unforgiveness.
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They don't want to hear a word that challenges that.
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They want to hear something that just makes them feel good, that
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just makes them feel good, something that just motivates
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them, you know, 5 steps to acquire, you know, to acquiring
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wealth, 5 steps to a good marriage, 5 steps to, you know,
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to, to really being able to excel in business, 5 steps to
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making myself a better person. Hear things like that instead of
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the things that the Bible teaches us about change, about
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holiness, about the things the Bible teaches us about
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obedience. They're not going to hear that,
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Timothy. And then they said they're going
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to turn away their ears from those things.
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They're going to turn away their ears from the truth.
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And they're going to turn to fables, turn aside to myths, to
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fables, to turn aside to things that are not lined up with the
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word of God. Turn aside to prosperity
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teaching or turn aside to, you know, it being OK to live with
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somebody or turn aside to those things that say everybody's
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going to heaven. You know, turn aside to teaching
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like that because it's easier for them to listen to as opposed
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to being challenged through the word.
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But then in verse 5, he says, but you Timothy, so he's
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switching gears here, Timothy. That's what they that that may
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be what they want to hear. That may be where the false
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teachers are. That may be where people were
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the unbelievers are or people who are being challenged in
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their faith. That may be where they are.
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But you, Timothy, as a pastor, I want you, Timothy, to be
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watchful in all things. In other words, that that that
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that word means to be sober in all things to be sober.
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And there's a lot of things that can be intoxicating to us that
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causes us to not think clearly and a lot of things that causes
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us to not have self-control. To be sober means to have to
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think clear and to have self-control.
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To be sober mean to not be under intoxicating influence.
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That's what it means to be sober, to think clearly, to act
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clearly. But there's things out there
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that we can listen to or things that we allow to get into our
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hearts that will cause us to not think clearly, that will cause
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us to not act under self-control, and it causes us
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to act like we're under the influence.
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We can be under the influence of bad things.
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Intoxicating teaching can put us under the influence and cause us
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to act that way. And he says, Timothy, be careful
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that. Be watchful, be watchful.
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The things that you allow to come into your ear gates.
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Be watchful. Parents, be watchful.
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The things that come into your kids ear gates.
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Be watchful the things that come into your eye gates, the things
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that you allow your eyes to look upon, David said in Psalms 119.
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Turn my eyes away from empty things because he knows that to
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look at things that are empty can be intoxicating and it can
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change you. And he says, Timothy, I want you
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to turn away from those things. Guard your ear gates, guard your
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eye gates, guard your heart. For out of it are the issues of
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life. So, Timothy, be careful and be
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watchful. Be aware of the things that
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people were saying around you, the things that people were
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teaching. Be aware of that.
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Be aware of the things that you listen to, the things that you
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read. Be aware of those things.
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You know, one thing I, I, I love, you know, Pastor Clark is
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very well read, very well read a lot more well read than I am.
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And there are books that can sometimes appear to be OK, but
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once you get into them, you read them, you'll find out that it
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that it's not that it does not line up with the word of God.
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It does not. And a lot of times before you
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even have to open up the book and be exposed to that, Pastor
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Clark will have known something about it in some degree.
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I mean, it's amazing how many times that he's been able to
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hear an author's name or hear a book that has that has come out
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and he's aware of where that book goes, how that book
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separates from the word of God. Very well read that way.
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We have to be careful of those things.
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That's why it's so much easier to just stick with the word of
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God. We don't have to worry about it.
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You know, if I swim in my swimming pool, I don't have to
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worry about, you know, having to worry about any drop offs or any
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surprises. You know, if I'm swimming in my
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own swimming pool, you know, I have to worry about anything
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that's going to surprise me. You know, I know what's in it.
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I know what's in my pool, so I don't have to worry about it.
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But if I'm swimming out there in some place that's open, where
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anything can have access to me, that can be a problem.
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That can be a problem. But he said be watchful in all
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things. Then he says, endure
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afflictions. And this is another thing that
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has been consistent throughout Timothy's life and throughout
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Paul's life as he has endured afflictions.
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Paul can definitely talk about enduring fictions.
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Back in Chapter 3, we just talked about the afflictions
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that he endured over in Antioch and in Iconium and in Lyster,
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where he actually. Suffered the stoning.
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That took his life or could have taken or we think that actually
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did take his life. So Paul knows a lot about
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enduring afflictions and these are all along with these, you
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know, the commands that Paul gave to Timothy.
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The first was preach the Word and the second is be watchful in
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all things. And now the third here is endure
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afflictions and endure patiently, not just go through
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them complaining, not go through them, you know, murmuring, not
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go through them, you know, with a bad attitude, but endure
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afflictions, endure it in a way that it brings glory to God.
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When you go through changes on your job that may afflict you,
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that may cause some discomfort to your may interrupt the way
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that you do things on your job. How do you do it?
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Do you do it with by complaining and murmuring?
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Do we talk about the boss? Do we, you know, do we get with
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the water cooler crew and, and put down the people who are
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making the decisions? Or do we go through it
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patiently, just trusting the Lord that he will work it out,
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that he will work it out. That's what makes us different.
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That's what makes us different. And so he says endure
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afflictions and then he says do the work of an evangelist, do
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the work of an evangelist. Now the word evangelist is only
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mentioned three times in in the Bible.
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The first time it's mentioned is in the book of of Acts in
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chapter 21 where he refers to Philip as an evangelist.
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The next time it's mentioned is over in Ephesians chapter 4,
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when, when, when, when Paul talks about the gifts that Jesus
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left with the church and one of those gifts was an evangelist
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for the purpose of equipping the Saints.
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And then of course, here in second Timothy chapter 4, he
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mentions the evangelists or, or, or evangelism.
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Now evangelism is very important.
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It's very important to the whole gospel.
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It's the what they call the pre salvation preaching is what they
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call evangelism, pre salvation preaching because it's the, it's
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the word. It's the one that introduces you
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to the gospel. People were introduced to the
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gospel through evangelism. And then of course, once they
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become believers, they are discipled through the word of
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God and they're learning the doctrines and they're coming
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here and they're being taught the gospel are coming other
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churches and are being taught the, you know, how to live the
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life that they were just birthed into.
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But the purpose of evangelism is to equip and encourage believers
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to share the gospel, to share that good news and to live that
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gospel out. He preaches the gospel and calls
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for repentance is what an evangelist does.
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He calls for repentance. He, he causes us or lets us know
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that we can repent and we can turn from that old lifestyle
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and, and, and, and anyone who's listening who have not given
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their hearts to the Lord or not trusted Jesus Christ for your
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salvation. Repentance is open for you.
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It's available for you. Evangelism is, is what we're
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doing right now is just sharing the gospel.
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Jesus Christ died for your sins and we are all sinners and Jesus
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Christ died for those sins. He died for those sins and we
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all are sinners. Everyone of us have sinned and
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I've come short of the glory of God and that sin will have to be
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dealt with. The wages of sin is death
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according to the word of God. That's the wrath that
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unrepentant sinners have to face is death.
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But Jesus Christ came and died for our sins.
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He was buried three days, He laid in the grave, and then he
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arose. And that gives us our hope for
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eternal life. Anyone who's listening who have
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not trusted Jesus Christ for your Savior, you can repent
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right now. You don't even have to say it
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out loud. You can.
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Repent at home. But it's available through the
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grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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So he says, do the work of an evangelist and then he says,
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fulfill your ministry, fulfill your ministry, finish your
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ministry. You know, have your ministry,
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you know, whatever it is that the Lord called you to do,
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fulfill it. I remember when I was first.
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Being called to the. Ministry, I personally kind of
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ran away from it. Actually.
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I was called from very early age initially, and I definitely ran
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away from that. And then when I got older, the
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Lord began to beckon to me again.
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He began to reach out to me again.
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And, and, and, and I can remember during the time when
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different people were, you know, asking about my calling and was
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talking to me about my calling. And I always ignored the fact
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that, you know, that I was called to be a minister and
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definitely did not want to acknowledge being a pastor.
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I remember when I was being called to be a pastor, I
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definitely did not want to do that.
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I, I wasn't a pastor until I came here.
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Clark is the one that ordained me to be a pastor.
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Him and the elders that are here, I did not look for that at
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all. But in fulfilling your ministry,
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it's acknowledging that call and completing it.
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And I can remember a phone call that I got from someone who
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didn't even know what I was dealing with in my heart
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concerning pastoral work or ministry work.
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They called me and they gave me a scripture.
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And today that scripture is still very important to me.
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It's Colossians chapter 4 and verse 17.
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And what it says is and say to Archopus, take heed to the
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ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may
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fulfill it, that you may fulfill it.
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That word was so powerful. I actually had to stop the car
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and pull over because I was, I was tearful.
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I was tearful because I know that it was the Holy Spirit that
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was working in my heart concerning that.
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Couldn't even believe that that person even said that to me.
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The point of the matter is, is that we have a ministry to
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fulfill. Each and every one of us do and
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God wants us to just do we have to fulfill what it is that God
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has called us to do. And there's someone, you know,
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there may be someone out there today that God is working on
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your heart. God is already acknowledging in
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your heart or you know that the Lord is giving you a passion for
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something concerning ministry, regardless of what it may be.
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I would just suggest that you don't ignore it because he's
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pretty much 100% he's, he's undefeated in terms of getting
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people to follow him. He that he goes after, it's
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pretty much undefeated. So I would suggest that if you
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know that the Lord is tugging at your heart and he's calling you
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into something, regardless of what it is, doesn't have to be
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pastoral, doesn't have to be ministry that way, but or
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teaching ministry, but there's a lot of different ministries.
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They all, they all, whatever the ministry is, they're all
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important and they all add to the body of Christ and they all
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supply at every joint supplies in the body of Christ.
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So I would just strongly encourage.
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You to acknowledge that. Call and allow the Lord to do a
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work in your heart concerning it.
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And then we go to verse 6 and he says, for I am already being
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poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is
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at hand. I want to stop there for a
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second because this is really significant.
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Paul described himself as being poured out as a drink offering
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back in the Old Testament, back in the book of Numbers, around
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chapter 15, the Old Testament priests, when they would give a
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sacrifice, they would, at the end of the sacrifice, they would
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pour out a drink offering to the Lord.
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They would pour out a drink offering on the altar and that
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would actually be a sign that the service was completed.
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The offering was given, the service was complete.
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And Paul now describes himself as being that drink offering
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that is already being poured out.
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And he's signifying that. He's symbolizing the fact that
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his service is complete and he has totally poured himself out
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to the Lord. Totally.
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Jesus Christ was a drink offering for us.
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Jesus Christ was not only the drink offering, He was also the
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Lamb that was slain. He was the sacrifice and he was
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the drink offering. When his, when his side was
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pierced and the blood came out, when he hung on the cross and
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the blood dripped down, that was him emptying himself as a drink,
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offering to us, to the Lord for us rather.
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And Paul was saying, I am already being poured out.
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I've already given everything. I've given all to the Lord ever
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since the day that he caught me into ministry back in Acts
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Chapter 9 when he first stopped me on the road to Damascus.
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From that point on, I've given it all to him.
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I've given it all to him. And that is such an inspiration
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for us to look at how we serve the Lord.
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Do we? Give it all to him, do we give
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it off to him? Do we hold something back?
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Because in that cup of the drink offering, the whole idea was
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that totally empty the cup so that nothing was held back.
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And that's exactly what Paul says of himself.
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Then he says, I've fought the good fight, I'll finish the
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race. I've kept the faith.
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Paul says. Just like, just like in the old
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days of Israel, they fought many battles.
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They fought many battles as they were on their way to the
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promised land. And even in our life we fight
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many battles, but there's only one good fight.
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There's only one good fight, and that's the good fight of faith.
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That's the only good fight. Jude said.
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That we are to contend for the faith or we are to strive for
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the faith which was once delivered to the Saints, once
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for all delivered to the Saints. We're to strive for that and it
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is going to be a battle. Now in this battle are the
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weapons of our warfare. They're not carnal, they're not
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Spears, they're not bows, they're not clubs, but they're
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still mighty through God. It's prayer, it's the reading of
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the Word, it's the giving of ourselves in ministry.
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Those are the weapons that we now have that we give to the
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Lord. And then he says, I finished the
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race. This Christian race, this
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Christian battle is a race. This Christian life is a race,
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and it's not necessarily the one that's rewarded, is not
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necessarily the one who crosses the finish line first.
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It's not a race in that way. It's not a race in that way.
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The idea is to finish, finish. He said I finished the race.
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He didn't say I won the race. He said I finished the race.
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And that's what we need to do, is to finish the race.
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What we've started. Whatever you've started in the
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Lord, finish it. Finish it, be able to say like
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Paul, I've I've, I've fought the good fight and I have finished
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the race and I've kept the faith.
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I've held on to it. I haven't strayed from it.
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I haven't gotten off into myths and I haven't gotten off into
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other wild things. I've kept the faith and he says
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there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness.
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Finally there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which
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the Lord, the righteous judge will give to me on that day, and
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not only to me, but on all those who will love his appearing.
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And what he is saying here is that there are two crowns.
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There are two crowns that that people can talk about.
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The one crown is a, is a royal crown and that's given to the
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king. We won't get that crown that's
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given to the king, but the other crown is a victor's crown.
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And that's the one that we will be rewarded, the victor's crown.
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And the victor's crown is given to like in the Greek games or
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the Roman games. It was given to the one, OK, who
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would run the race well and he would get a reef.
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If he won the race, he would get a reef and it would be olive
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leaves or oak leaves that would be on this, this reef, this,
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this head thing that would go around his head.
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That would be the reward. Now those things faded.
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Those things will fade. But the reef.
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But the, the, the, the reward, the victor's crown that we get,
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it doesn't fade. It's a crown that does not fade
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away. And it's not just given to us,
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but it's given to all who will love his appearing.
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That is what Paul is looking forward to during his time, his
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last minutes. He's looking forward to the
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victor's crown. He knows he has one and pretty
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soon he's going to be able to have it on his head and he's
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looking forward to that. He's not looking at his
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condition, he's looking beyond it.
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He's not looking at his circumstances and feeling bad
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about himself. He's looking beyond it and
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that's where we should be. Yes, things are bad here.
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Yes, we got challenges here. Yes, things are crazy.
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But we have a hope. We have a hope we can finish
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this race. We can keep the faith.
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We just have to continue to fight the good fight and not let
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temptation take us out, not let the enemy derail us, not be
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pulled aside or pulled out of what it is that God wants us to
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do. Not be convinced to give up and
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give out. Fight the good fight, finish the
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race, keep the faith. You've been listening to Pastor
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Lewis Harrell here on Living Waters of Grace.
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We're digging into all that Paul shared with Timothy in the books
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of First and Second Timothy. Timothy was commissioned to do
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the following fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on
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eternal life, to which you were also called, and have confessed
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the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
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Timothy would be carrying on what Paul had taught him and
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continuing on in ministry, even though Paul knew that more
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hardships would come for Timothy.
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This is the Christian life. It's not glamorous.
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It's not some celebrity status. It's hard fought, it's gritty,
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it's unpopular, but it's worth it.
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Do you believe that today? Are you willing to fight the
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good fight even at the cost of earthly pleasures?
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Living the life of a follower of Jesus will have its heavenly
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rewards. To be a part of a community
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that's looking forward to that heavenly reward, we invite you
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to join us at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
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If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, come be with us this
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Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St., Ste. 6B.
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Check out Calvary Chapel online.com For more information
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on directions and any other details you might want to know.
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You can also download our mobile app from our website
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thatscalvarychapelonline.com. If you have friends or family
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members who want to tune in, encourage them to listen on
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Grace FM 91.7. One last thing, this radio
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ministry relies on your support to keep things going.
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If you're willing to donate financially, send gifts to Grace
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FMPO, Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
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Thanks for prayerfully considering this, and thank you
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for listening to Living Waters of Grace.