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Living Waters of Grace 12.23.25 · 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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  Your boss, the owner of your company, Pray for them.
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  How much time do we spend criticizing?
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  I don't like what's going on in the country.
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  Then we need to pray more. I don't like the conditions at
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  work. Then we need to pray.
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  God is able to change any and everything, any and everything.
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  Talk more to God about them than you do to them, or even about
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  God. Pray now that is a powerful
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  exhortation. If you spend any time online,
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  you know it is a sea of opinions.
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  Facebook is littered with posts about disgruntled employees
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  ranting about how awful their bosses are.
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  My hope and prayer is that wasn't just describing you.
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  Pastor Lewis will encourage you to stop being a person who is
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  always complaining and start being the person who prays.
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  What can I actually do to change the things that are wrong in my
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  life that are outside of my direct control?
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  Pastor Lewis says pray now. Here's Pastor Lewis in the Book
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  of First Timothy, chapter 2, with today's edition of Living
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  Waters of Grace. We are in the 2nd chapter of the
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  book of First Timothy, and I would remind you that in the 1st
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  chapter, Timothy had come. Paul Heck written Timothy a
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  letter basically giving him instruction and direction.
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  Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to plant a church and after that
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  church was planted, he left Timothy there to give them
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  instruction, to give them commandments as to how that
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  church should function. We should also remember that as
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  we go through this, that Ephesus is a Pagan city, much like
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  Chicago or much like New York. It's a Pagan city.
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  So we have to remember that it was important for him to give
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  instruction on how to function in a Christian Church.
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  They were no longer going to be going to the Temple of Diana,
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  whatever, going to be doing sacrifices to idols and having
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  church their way. They were no longer going to be
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  doing that. They were now going to be in the
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  Church of God, which is the Church of the living God, the
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  pillar and and ground of truth. Amen.
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  So it was important for them to be able to get instruction.
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  And the first verse starts with therefore.
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  So because it starts with therefore, let's go back and
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  look at what He is therefore about and we live.
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  We would look at verse starting at verse 18 of the 1st chapter
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  of Timothy. It says this I charge, this
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  charge I commit to you. This charge I commit to you, son
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  Timothy. Timothy, this is what I want you
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  to do, according to the prophecies previously made
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  concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,
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  having faith in a good conscience, which some, having
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  rejected concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck.
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  So we understand that he's telling Timothy that it's
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  important. He already told him earlier that
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  teach that you ought to teach no other doctrine and you ought to
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  pass that word on to the elders there.
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  Teach no other doctrine other than the doctrine that I gave
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  you, Timothy, other than the doctrine that the other apostles
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  gave, the doctrine of Jesus Christ that's grounded and
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  rooted in the Word of God, that doctrine, the true doctrine, the
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  gospel of Jesus Christ. Teach no other doctrine other
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  than that. So he goes on here and said that
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  those who have swayed from that and that have gotten away from
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  that doctrine, they have suffered shipwreck.
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  They've suffered shipwreck of whom?
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  Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan, that they
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  may learn not to blasphemy. Therefore, Timothy, I exhort
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  you, or I urge you, I am strongly directing you, Timothy,
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  first of all, that supplication, prayers, intercessions, and
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  giving of thanks be made for all men.
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  So he is saying, Timothy, this first of all, doesn't mean that
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  on the list of things that I have to tell you to do, this is
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  number 1. And then this other thing will
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  be #2 that's not what he's saying.
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  He's talking about priority. First of all, the most important
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  thing, the most significant thing that you do with this
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  church is that they are to pray. So this section, this first
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  section is going to be geared toward the significance of
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  prayer. So as he's talking about prayer,
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  he said that there's four different ways to initiate or to
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  and count engage in prayer. And the first one, he said
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  supplications. And the supplications just
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  basically it emphasizes the urgent need.
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  It's a personal or urgent need, request for my urgent needs.
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  That's the supplication. We give supplications to the
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  Lord. And then he said prayers was
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  just an overall umbrella, which basically talks about worship.
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  Prayer is a is an act of worship.
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  Prayer is an act of worship. It's speaking to God with
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  reverence in our hearts and not just expression of wants and
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  needs, but it is an act of worship.
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  It's also an act of submission. It's an act of humility as we
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  come before the Lord in prayer. Those who are proud will not
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  pray. It's those who are humble who
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  will pray. So he says all prayers are
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  supplications, prayers and intercessions.
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  These intercessions have to deal with the expression of petition.
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  To put a a petition before a superior, That's what they call
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  intercessions. And that intercession can be on
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  behalf of myself or yourself or be on behalf of someone else.
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  Inter sessions. It it it's coming before the
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  Lord with a, a confidence. It's a fellowship before the
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  Lord. It's inter sessions.
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  I can ask of these things because I know you are God and
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  you're able to do it. You're able to do it.
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  So I intercede on behalf of myself where I intercede on
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  behalf of someone else. You know, he says, when you come
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  to God, you should believe that he is God.
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  So when we make intercession, we're coming with a confidence
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  that the one that we're praying to is able to do it.
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  So he said come with with supplications and inner and
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  intercessions. And then he says also he says
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  also Thanksgiving. Now Thanksgiving should be a
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  part of every prayer. But I want to also admonish or I
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  want to encourage you that there are times that we can pray when
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  it's just for Thanksgiving. Sometimes we can go before the
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  Lord and say, Lord, I don't want to ask you for nothing today.
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  I just want to thank you for everything that you've already
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  done. I don't want to ask you for
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  anything. I just want to thank you for
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  what you have done. We need to always have our
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  Thanksgiving and included with our prayers, but sometimes we
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  can just go before God and just have a prayer session of just
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  Thanksgiving. Lord, thank you, thank you,
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  thank you, thank you, thank you. Lord, thank you.
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  I would dare you to try to run out of things to thanking for.
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  You can't do it. You can't do it, Lord.
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  Thank you for waking me up this morning.
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  Thank you for the roof that's over my head.
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  Thank you for the shoes that's on my feet.
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  Thank you, Lord, for the food that's on my table.
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  Thank you for your protection, Lord.
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  Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for your knowledge.
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  Thank you for helping me to get around the snares of the enemy.
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  Thank you for saving me. Thank you for redeeming me.
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  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I dare to try to run out of ways
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  or things to thank him for. You can't do it.
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  So Thanksgiving should always be a part of our prayers.
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  Who do we pray for? He says here in the bottom of a
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  verse 1, he says pray for all men, all men.
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  That's male and female. That's not just men in general.
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  It's male and female. But pray for everybody.
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  Those we know, Pray for those we don't know.
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  Pray for those who like us, Pray for those who don't like us.
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  Jesus was on a cross and he said, Lord forgive them for they
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  know not what they do and they're trying to kill him.
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  Stephen did the exact same thing.
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  They were stoning him. He was near death and he said
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  forgive them for they know not what they do.
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  Pray for all men. But then he gets specific here
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  in verse 2 and he says for kings and for all who are in
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  authority, pray for kings and all that are in authority, that
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  we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
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  and reverence. So he says here, pray for kings
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  and all who are in authority. I was recently convicted.
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  After I started studying this, I was convicted and I was
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  convicted because I was not obeying this.
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  I was not praying for my president.
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  I was not praying for this Congress.
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  I wasn't praying for people that I consider had an ungodly
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  platform. I wasn't praying for them.
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  But as I started studying this, it came to my heart that how in
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  the world could we ever expect, How can we ever think, how can
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  we ever, how can we ever think that these people are going to
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  change on their own except that the Lord comes in and changes
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  their heart? How much can it happen?
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  And the way that that happened is through prayer.
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  Us praying, us interceding on their behalf, us putting
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  supplications before them, us coming with hearts of
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  Thanksgiving and prayers to them, Praying for even the
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  people that we think are ungodly presidents or ungodly leaders.
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  He says pray for all leaders and everyone that's in authority.
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  He's not just talking about church leaders, but please pray
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  for us. Please pray for us.
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  Pray for church leaders. Pray for leaders that are head
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  of other ministries. Pray for those who are in
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  Congress. Pray for your manager at work,
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  your boss, the owner of your company.
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  Pray for them. How much time do we spend
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  criticizing? I don't like what's going on in
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  the country. Then we need to pray more.
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  I don't like the conditions at work.
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  Then we need to pray. God is able to change any and
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  everything, any and everything. Talk more to God about them than
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  you do to them, or even about God.
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  Pray. And he's telling us here that we
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  should pray for our pastors and pray for church leaders, for
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  parents, for teachers. Pray for the secular people,
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  Pray for believers and pray for unbelievers, people who are
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  close to you. Pray for people who are far away
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  from you. He says pray for all men.
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  And when we do that, then we can lead a quiet and peaceable life.
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  Quiet meaning that we, we, we have a, a calm life, a life
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  that's not causing division or, or disruption.
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  It's a life that allows us to not care about getting in
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  someone else's issues or someone else's concerns or someone
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  else's business. It's, it's, it's a, it's a quiet
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  and peaceable life. And then he says peaceable,
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  meaning a life without contentions, a life without
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  being quarrelsome. It's a peaceable life.
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  That means it's a calm, not only calm within us, but also calm
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  around us. We pray for that.
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  We pray for that. You see, we are told actually in
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  the book of Matthew that we should be peacemakers.
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  And in order to be peacemakers, to be peace, we got to live
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  peaceable. If we're going to be
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  peacemakers, we first of all got to be peaceable.
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  And we pray to become peaceable. And then in verse 4, verse
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  three, first of all says, for this is good and acceptable in
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  the sight of God our Savior. And I think I remember telling
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  you the last time, the reason why he's emphasizing God our
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  Savior is because we must remember that Nero was actually
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  the the, the emperor at this particular time.
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  And he was requiring, he was requesting for people to call
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  him Savior. That's why they needed to pray.
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  That's why they needed to pray. And he said, who desires all men
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  to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth?
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  All men to be saved. That means justification.
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  Now keep in mind, he's saying he desires all men to be so He
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  desires all men to be saved. That doesn't mean that he has
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  willed or decreed or determined all men to be saved.
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  He is. He said he wants all men to be
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  saved or he will have all men to be saved.
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  Some you may have that translation instead of he that,
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  you know, desires all men to be saved.
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  But the point here is that being emphasized is that God wants, he
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  would like for everybody to be saved.
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  But we also understand that everybody is not going to be
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  saved. There are some people who are
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  not going to accept the truth of the gospel.
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  There's some people who are going to refuse to believe, but
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  he would like for all people to be saved.
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  Very clear here. He said it's not his desire that
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  any should perish, but that all coming to repentance.
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  He doesn't want people to go to hell.
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  But will people go to hell? Yes.
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  Will people not be saved? Yes.
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  But it's not because he doesn't want all people to be saved.
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  So this isn't a decree because some people might think, well,
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  if he desires or if he wills for all people to be saved, then how
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  come everybody's not saved? He doesn't decree that he wants
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  that to happen. Now also please keep in mind,
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  because no, like, like Paul is saying here, you know, teach no
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  other doctrine. So we got to be true to the
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  doctrine that's being taught. There are people out there that
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  take this verse and start preaching a universal salvation.
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  See, there it is right there that proves it.
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  God wants everybody to be saved. So everybody eventually is going
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  to be saved. Everybody.
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  Ain't nobody going to hell. Everybody's going to be saved.
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  No, not so not so. It's clear that there are going
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  to be people who will not be saved.
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  Even Jesus himself said whoever believes shall not perish.
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  Whoever believes or whoever will be saved with those who believe,
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  all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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  Everybody's not going to do that.
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  Everybody's not going to do that.
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  So when he says all men, you know, be saved, this is not
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  saying that all men, as in all men without exception, will be
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  saved. That's not what he's saying.
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  He's saying that he, he desires that all men without distinction
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  be saved. This is all men without
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  distinction. That means he doesn't care if
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  you're a Jew, if you're a Gentile, if you're a woman, if
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  you're a man, if you're black or if you're white, if you're a
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  Pagan, A Gentile Jew. He doesn't care about that.
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  Oh, man can be said, the gospel goes out to everybody.
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  It goes out to everybody. So it's not a distinction by
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  what a person is. Doesn't matter if it's man or
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  woman, everyone, the gospel is there for them to be able to
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  believe and receive. That's all men.
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  And then he says and come to the knowledge of the truth after you
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  get saved, then we need to be sanctified, right?
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  We need to move on and grow in, in God.
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  We need to grow in God sanctification.
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  That means we, we're, we're working toward being set apart
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  for God, for the use of God. It's our growth.
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  It refers to the Christian growth after being saved to
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  become a disciple of Jesus Christ and not to be LED astray
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  by the false doctrines of false teachers, the doctrine of false
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  teachers. We can't be LED astray by that
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  if we are growing in Christ. Second Peter 318.
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  It tells us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
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  Savior Jesus Christ. So why are we doing that?
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  Why are we doing that and how and how and what is the means to
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  be saved? Well, he says that in the next
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  line. Look at verse 5 for this.
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  For there is one God and one mediator between God and man,
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  the man Christ Jesus. So what is the means for all men
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  to be saved? Or what does it mean for men to
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  be saved? First of all, because of one
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  God. We have one God.
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  We don't have many gods. There's one God, one true God,
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  one true and living God. A lot of people like to say God,
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  and then he, they talk about all these things that God is not.
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  If it's not the God of this, the God of the Bible, then he's not
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  a true God. It's an idol.
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  This is the one and true God, the living God.
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  And he gave us his word so that we know who he is.
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  He wants to be found of us when he says seek me and and you'll
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  find me because he wants to be founded.
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  But he's not hiding from us. He's not planning hide and go
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  seek from us. He wants to be found of us.
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  He wants us to know him so that we're not LED astray.
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  So he says, so he says here, first of all, there is one God
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  and one mediator. Now, there may be some people
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  out there that might even agree with us and say, yeah, there's
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  one God. But when you say there's only
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  one way to God, when you say there's only one mediator
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  between man and God, there's only one way that you can get to
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  that God, that's when you have problems.
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  People hate us for that. People call us names for that.
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  People ridicule or they slander us because of that.
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  They call us intolerant because of that.
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  Narrow minded. We're narrow minded by thinking
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  it's only one way. How fair is that?
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  It's true, there's one way, and that way is Jesus Christ the
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  man. And he said the man because the
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  reason why he said the matter is because he's truly God and he's
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  truly man. He's fully God and he's fully
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  man. But we but he's the mediator
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  between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, because it was the
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  you humanity of Jesus Christ that died for us on the cross.
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  It was in his humanity that he died.
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  And in his humanity he was yet without sin.
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  That's why he was the accepted sacrifice.
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  He was a man without sin. And he's the only mediator
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  between God and man. There is no other.
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  There is no other. I don't care what argument they
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  try to make to try to make it seem like there's other ways to
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  the Father, there is none. Jesus Christ himself said it was
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  only one way. He said and John 14, six, I am
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  the way, the truth and the life. And John 10/7, he says I am the
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  door. And then in Hebrews 9 and 15, he
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  said the Bible says he's the only mediator of the new
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  covenant, the only mediator of the new covenant, the man Jesus
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  Christ. And how is it that this mediator
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  works? What is the work of this
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  mediator? Look at what he says here in
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  verse. In verse 6 he says Who gave
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  himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time he gave
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  himself a ransom of all. That word is actually in the
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  Greek called anti lutron, anti lutron.
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  The word anti actually refers to the substitutionary.
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  It's the substitute. And of course, Lutron refers to
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  the fact that it is the ransom or the price of freeing a slave
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  anti Lutron and, and, and, and that's how he is the work.
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  That's the work of the mediator. The fact that he gave himself,
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  he died for our sins. He paid the cost of what we
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  could not pay. So He was the full cost to
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  substitute for us for sin. Galatians 313 say that it tells
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  us that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.
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  The law held us captive in its in its condemnation.
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  And no one but Jesus Christ could have paid the price to
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  free us from that bondage. No one but Him.
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  Thank God for that. Huh?
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  That He sent his Son to die for us?
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  That was costly. That was costly.
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  And we talked about on Wednesday night that, you know, that this
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  was not just, it was not a pretty crucifixion, it was a it
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  was a true sacrifice. A true sacrifice, just like all
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  the animals in the Old Testament was a sacrifice.
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  And how bloody those sacrifices were.
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  That's how bloody the cross of Jesus Christ was.
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  It's not the cute little pictures that we see where He
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  has a little blood on his around his head or a little bit of
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  blood on his hands. Little bit.
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  No, it's not that. We're talking about a brutal,
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  brutal sacrifice. He took on the sins of the whole
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  world. He paid the sins of the entire
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  world, of everybody. You want a reason to be
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  thankful? There's another one.
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  Think about Him on the cross and then think about the fact that
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  it was meant for you. Because we were guilty.
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  He wasn't even guilty. We were guilty of the same.
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  Bless your name. This has been another
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  encouraging edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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  Pastor Lewis Harrell has shared some good reminders for us to
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  learn and walk in today as he's teaching through the books of
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  First and Second Timothy. There are useful practices and
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  advice that the Apostle Paul offers to Timothy in these books
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  from a fellow pastor. Paul imparts some wisdom to
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  Timothy about solid leadership and what some of the criteria
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  should be for leadership. There are specific passages
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  directed toward men and women, respectively.
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  And All in all, there's much to gain in coming to an awareness
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  of God's heart for each person and God's purposes for each one.
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  We're happy that you've taken the time today to listen and
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  invite you to come here the next edition.
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  In the meantime, when you have some time to spare today, go
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  check out our website, calvarychapelonline.com.
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  There you'll find additional messages as well as a variety of
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  resources and information about how to meet with us in person.
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  We're also on Facebook, so you can be a part of what we share
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  there as well. You can stay plugged in with
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  this ministry via YouTube to watch previous teachings or
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  TuneIn to our live stream. The Living Waters of Grace is a
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  ministry of Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
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  Before we go today, we ask that you share this program with
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  others and invite them to listen on Grace FM at 91.7.
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  That's all we have for today, but we're so glad that you've
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  been with us. There's more to dig into here in
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  First and Second Timothy, so let's gear up for some more
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  great teachings from Pastor Lewis next time here on Living
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  Waters of Grades.