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Living Waters of Grace 01.01.26 · 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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I'm happy with being able to go in there and wipe down the table
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because I'm doing it as unto the Lord, because I'm doing this
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unto the Lord. I'm happy to get my brother a
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cup of coffee or to take their plate up after they're finished
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eating and throw it away so they don't have to.
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I'm happy doing that. And there was a time when I
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expected somebody to do that for me.
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What a boldness that gives us in the faith to see this is the
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work that God did in me. This is the power of God working
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in me. What changes when you start
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doing even the smallest task as unto the Lord?
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In today's message, Pastor Louis shares the joy of wiping tables,
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fetching coffee, or clearing plates simply because it's done
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for Jesus. Once he expected others to serve
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him, but God transformed his heart.
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Now every humble act brings happiness because it's offered
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to the Lord. Boldness and faith grows when
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you see what He's done inside. How do you serve others today,
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knowing every act is unto the Lord?
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Well, let's join Pastor Lewis in First Timothy Chapter 3 with
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today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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Someone has an interest in being a Deacon, that's fine.
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Let's just observe for a while, that's all.
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It doesn't have to put them right in because we have a need.
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Just take some time, let's observe them.
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Let's get to know. The Bible says that we should
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know those who labor among us. So that's why it's important
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that they are use time for testing.
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In many ways and many times I've found that the men who are
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brought into this ministry or men who are ordained to be
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deacons or men who have been doing that anyway, they've been
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basically functioning that way anyway.
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They didn't have a title, but they were always doing it.
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There are always men who were walking around picking up and
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cleaning up behind the congregation or helping when
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something is broken and it needs to be fixed.
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They're always one of the people who are volunteering to do it,
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helping to set up tables when we have a feast or we have a lunch
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or a picnic or something like that.
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They're always involved in that, always one of the first people
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to say, what can I do to help? So they've always been doing it.
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That personality, that spirit have always been there.
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So it wasn't a reach to bring that person and to officially
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ordain that person as a Deacon. And what we found even in
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biblical, we see that men who are found faithful that have
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been promoted to other positions because as a Deacon doesn't mean
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that once you're called to the Deacon for this season, doesn't
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mean that these men are always going to be deacons.
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Some of these men are going to be called maybe to a pastor or
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elder position. Maybe they're going to be called
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that way. Maybe the Lord is already
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working in the hearts of some men because they have a caller.
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They sense God's calling. So it's not that they're because
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they're a Deacon today that that's going to be where they
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are forever. And the Bible record shows that
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men have been called to other ministries.
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For example, we know that Moses who was a shepherd, he was
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called to be a leader. David, who was a shepherd was
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eventually called to be a leader.
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Joshua, the same thing. He was a servant for Moses and
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eventually was called to be the leader of the people of Israel
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taking them into the land of Canaan.
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And even in the New Testament we see where one of the seven
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Philip who was initial Deacon or served in as one of the seven
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who was called out man who was filled with wisdom and knowledge
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in the in the Holy Spirit. We know that he preached in
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Samaria. It was Philip who was the one
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who actually went to Samaria and preached where many people got
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saved. God called him from that and
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took him to a lonely Rd. on the side of the road somewhere and
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preached to a eunuch and he received faith.
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So God used him in many ways. God can do that.
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In fact, Philip now is referred to in the Bible often as a
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evangelist. We also understand Stephen who
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was a Deacon or served in that capacity.
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And God used him to preach a sermon where the Pharisees were
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struck, hitting to the heart. Some believed, some believed,
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but it also caused him to be the first martyr of the church.
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But he preached before he left this world because that he was
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called to another order. So we have to understand that
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these men are called to a calling at that particular time
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doesn't mean that that's where everybody's going to stay.
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And that's the same with you. Whatever God has you doing, just
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be faithful in what God is have you doing right now.
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Just be faithful over that because you never know where God
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is taking you. Anything that we do, we got to
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keep this in mind. In God's economy, anything that
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he calls you to do is significant.
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We really have to not look at what the position is.
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This isn't like a corporate world where it's more status to
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be here than it is to be there. We've got to stop looking at
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things that way. That's not the way it is in
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God's economy. God is just as interested, and
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he finds his calling to someone who's done nothing.
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For example, we talked about the story of Athaliah, who was a
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very nasty queen who tried to wipe out, tried to wipe out the
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sons of David to try to take out that line.
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And you understand taking out that line with me and taking out
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the line of Jesus Christ, But God used Jehoshapha, a woman who
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you never even heard that name again, use this woman to
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preserve an entire nation. That woman is just as important
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to God is as David is to God when he was able to be one of
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the best kings, one of the most spiritual kings that Israel ever
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had. She is just as important to God.
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So anything that God calls us to is significant, and we should do
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it with all of our heart as unto Him, as unto him.
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So then we go on and we now look at verse 11.
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And in verse 11 he says that now he's talking about their wives.
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He said their wives should be reverent, not slanderous,
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temperate, faithful in all things.
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Now some believe that he's not only just talking about the
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wives of deacons, but also that this may even be a separate
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office of deaconess. And the Bible does talk about
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Phoebe, who was actually a Deacon, what he referred to as
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Deacon. It actually was the word
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minister in our translation in New King's version, it's
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minister. But in some translations in
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Romans chapter 16, verse one, where Paul talks about receiving
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them and being hospital to her, that's Phoebe.
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And she was actually a minister. She was she was a servant in the
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faith. She was a servant in the faith.
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So some think that this is talking about women who have
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taken on to position of a Deacon, that we don't have
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female deacons here. We do have women who serve.
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Do we have servants here? We have women who serve
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different capacities, just as Phoebe serve, but we don't call
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them deacons. But women who are the wives of
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deacons is what this is referring to here.
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Their wives must be reverent. That means that they must be
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women who are respected in the ministry and also women who are
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respectful in the ministry, not slanderers.
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And we must understand that word slanderers, It actually means
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devil, but it doesn't mean that that's the person of the devil.
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It's the character of a devil because a slanderers one who he
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speaks falsely about someone and God hates that.
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He hates that when someone speaks falsely about someone
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else. So he's a slanderer and God
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doesn't like slandering temperate meaning that she has
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to be a woman who has self-control over her passions
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and self-control over the way that she presents herself when
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she's in partly sober minded, making clear decisions and
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faithful in all things. She must be faithful to her
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husband, faithful to her children, faithful to building
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up her home, faithful to the ministry that she's in in the
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church. She must be faithful to these
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things. And then it goes on in verse 12,
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it said, let the deacons be the men of one wife.
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We already talked about that with the elders.
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Deacons have to be men of one wife.
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First of all, we know that they can't be polygamous.
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I mean that, you know, you can't walk around with seven and eight
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wives. And we, we, we, we don't do
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that. So no, we can't be polygamous.
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But it also means that if a man is married and he divorces his
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wife, if he divorces his wife and his wife is still with us,
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OK, this man is not to be remarried.
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But if a man's wife dies and she passes and he becomes a widower,
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yes, that man can then get married or get remarried.
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And again, this is for your elders, pastors and deacons.
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This is church order. This is just church order.
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And then he says at the bottom of that he had be ruling their
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children and their own houses well.
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Well, if they're going to take care of some of the
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administrative financial issues here in the church, we have to
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be secure that that person is able to take care of his own
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finances. Well, in his own home.
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He can run his own house. He can take care.
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He's paying his bills. He's he's taking care of
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expenses that he has. He's orderly taking care of
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those things. His children are in order.
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They are they are in subjection to him and to the faith that he
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is a good example and with the structure of his home, a godly
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structure of his home. And then in verse 13, it says
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for those who have, and this is a promise that God now gives to
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deacons for serving in his capacity.
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And this is really, this is really compassionate because I
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look at this and I say, well, you know, there are probably
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some people who may feel that, well, I'm only a Deacon.
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You know, I'm only on this committee or I'm only serving on
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that committee. And this is kind of a witness
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that God doesn't see anything as insignificant.
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And he says here in verse 13 for those who have served well as
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deacons obtain is 2 things that he says that they receive when
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they serve well as deacons. The first thing is that they
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obtain a good standing, and that's a good standing of
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respect in the congregation which in which they serve.
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And a lot of these men also have good reputations in their
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communities. I grew up with a man who was a
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Deacon, and we actually called him Deacon every day that we saw
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him. And this was a man who was well
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respected, very well respected, not only in church, but also in
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the neighborhood in which we we live.
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People had a lot of respect for them.
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So there's a respect there. And they obtained that good
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name, that good that, that he's that respect.
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But there's also eternal rewards that comes with that as well,
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eternal rewards which are greater than rewards that
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they'll receive here. And that is for their faithful
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service at the judgment seat or the Bema seat when Jesus Christ
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will judge all of what we've done in this body.
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One thing I've learned is that God rewards faithfulness.
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He rewards it either here or He reward it when we see Him in
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glory. But He rewards faithfulness.
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It's always worth it to be faithful and to be named
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faithful, to be seen as faithful.
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In Romans 1410, he said we should all stand before the
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judgement seat of Christ. And then in First Corinthians 5
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and 10 says, for we must all appear before the judgement seat
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of Christ, that each one may receive the things that are done
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in the body according to what he has done, whether it's good or
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bad. And this is something I want to
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emphasize here, faithfulness, it is rewarded and it's rewarded.
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If it's not rewarded here, it will be rewarded when we see the
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Lord. And I want to just emphasize the
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fact that at that particular time that we see the Lord, it
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won't matter what the position was that we served in our
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church. When we stand before the Lord
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and he looks at me, I want trust me.
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We want him to say well done, faithful servant, right?
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We want him to say well done, faithful servant.
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He's not going to say well done, Pastor Louis Harris.
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He's not going to say that. He's not going to say well done
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Gina, worship leader. He's not going to say that.
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He's not going to say well done, Dylan, you know, mighty man of
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the technology of Calvary child, he ain't saying all of that.
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He's going to say well done, good and faithful servant.
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That's what we all are. We are servants.
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Take away the title or the position name.
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We're servants and that's the way that we should be doing
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every single thing that we do in the House of God with the heart
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of being a servant. And that just blesses the entire
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body. People see that.
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It blesses them to see someone serving with nothing in their
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heart, personal things in their heart of trying to be seen or
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trying to be accomplished or trying to get fame or be
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popular. None of that's in the heart.
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Just serving, looking after each other, helping each other
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selfishly for whatever the needs may be.
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That's a blessing. And then he goes on here, the
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bottom of that verse, it says, and it also gives good standing,
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but also great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
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When we serve faithfully, we do have a level of confidence in
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the Lord. Not in ourselves, but it's a
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level of confidence in the Lord. It's a security that we have in
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the Lord that gives us boldness to talk about our faith to other
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people and to walk out that faith.
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It's a boldness I can seek God for more.
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God did this in me if He humbled me to the point where I used to
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work in jobs where I was the boss, I was the district
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manager, I was the CEO, I was this, I was owner.
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And now I'm happy with being able to go in there and wipe
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down the table because I'm doing it as unto the Lord, because I'm
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doing this unto the Lord. I'm happy to get my brother a
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cup of coffee or to take their plate up after they're finished
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eating and throw it away so they don't have to.
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I'm happy doing that. And there was a time when I
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expected somebody to do that for me.
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What a boldness that gives us in the faith to see this is the
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work that God did in me. This is the power of God working
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in me. So I get boldness to go out and
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share the gospel with other people.
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The gospel will change your life, and I have proof, right?
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Look at what He did for me. So then we go to verse 14.
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We're about to wind down verse 14.
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It says these things. I write to you, though I hope to
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come to you shortly. But if I am delayed, I write so
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that you may know how to conduct yourself in the House of God,
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which is the Church of the living God, pillar and ground of
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truth, the blessing here. And this is something that we
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have to look for because we can read over this and say that,
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yeah, Paul is just writing another letter.
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But the way we have to look at this is the fact that God made
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it. So Paul would have to write the
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letter just like he did with the Thessalonians.
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He couldn't go back to the Thessalonians because of the in
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the Thessalonians couldn't go back there because of the
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persecution. So he wasn't able to go back
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there. So he had to write a letter to
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him, and that letter that he wrote to them is not just read
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by the Thessalonians, but it was read to us.
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The same thing is here when he says here that I write these
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things. So that though I hope to see you
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shortly, he knows that there's a chance that I might not get back
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to you. Because the devil was always
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throwing things in Paul's way. Whether it's persecution or
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shipwrecks or imprisonment or something, he's always throwing
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something at Paul. And Paul realized that I might
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not be able to get back. But the good thing about this is
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that what the devil meant to be for evil, him not getting back
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to the Ephesian church, God used it for good.
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So not only is there Ephesians reading this letter, not only
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are they understanding what the church order is, many
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generations after Paul is getting this letter, including
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us today. So the devil didn't stop
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anything. He just helped it and he thought
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he was doing it for evil. Thank God there's things that
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God is doing in your life. Enemies coming and he said man,
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I'm under attack and Satan things that Oh yeah, I got them.
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I got them I got them frustrated I got them scared, I got them
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fearful, but all that's doing was pushing you closer to the
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Lord. You were getting on your knees
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longer you were getting in your word longer you were studying
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deeper. You were seeking God at levels
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that you had never saw them before.
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All the devil did was bring you closer to the Lord and then he
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goes on he says I write this and say that you know how to conduct
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yourself in the House of God, the Church of the living God,
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the pillar of ground and truth. So he gives us three pictures of
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the Church of God. First of all, he says the House
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of God. This is not the House of God.
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What I'm standing on where you're sitting at, the structure
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that we come into every week, this is not the House of God.
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The House of God are the people who are in this structure.
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We are the House of God. And first Peter, he says that we
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are the spiritual house. We are the stones built up, a
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spiritual house unto God. We are the House of God.
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And he then he says that in any House of God, if we're a House
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of God, then we are a family. And thank God that we are family
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because that's why we treat each other like brothers and sisters.
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We're family. It tells us that in the word of
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God that we are like family. That's why we over in the book
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of Titus, I believe, where he talks about how we treat the
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older adults. We treat them like fathers,
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older men, we treat them like fathers and we treat the the
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older women like mothers. And we are to treat the younger
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men of the church like brothers and we treat the younger women
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of the church like sisters because we're family.
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We're family. That's why we said to pick up
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the phone and call anybody, said, look, I need you to pray
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for me and I'm praying for you like I'm praying for my own
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sister or brother. I need help.
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No one ever needs to be. Somebody gets pregnant in here.
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And we've had some little experience with that.
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Somebody gets pregnant in here, they can pick up the phone.
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And there are people who bring mill trains that will get them
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mill trains. People have problems with
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different issues that come up and people in this church will
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bring them food. That's a family.
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That's a family. So then he goes on, he says, the
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Church of the living God. We don't serve a dead God.
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We serve the living God. We don't serve an idol.
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See, this comes from the fact that they were serving Diana.
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She's a statue, you know, out in front of the the temple, the
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temple of Diana. And that's what they were
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serving. Paul said, no, we serve the
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living God. You can call Diana all day long.
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She ain't going to be able to say nothing.
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She can't hear what you're asking her.
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She can't respond to you. She can't do none of that.
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But I dare to call on the Lord. He is a prayer answering God,
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and we've seen those prayers and hear many times those answer
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prayers. And then he says the Church of
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the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
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And that's what the church is. The church is the pillar and
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ground of the truth. Pillars hold up things.
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It holds up structures, and the church holds up the word of God.
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It holds it up and it holds it forth and it's a ground of
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truth, the foundation of truth. It's in the church, in the
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church body in US. And he says great is the mystery
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of godliness and that means God likeness.
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Great is a mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh.
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And we read about that back in John chapter 1 when he talked
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about the word was with God and the word was God and in the
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beginning the word was God and words was with God in the
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beginning. And then the word was made flesh
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in John chapter one verse 14, and the word was made flesh.
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And then he talks about the fact and that's the godliness.
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That means the whole character of God was made flesh in Jesus
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Christ. And then he said justified in
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the Spirit. When Jesus got baptized in
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Matthew 4, the Spirit came down and it settled upon Jesus Christ
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and he was seen by angels. And there was several times that
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Jesus was seen by angels. The one time he was seen by
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angels is when he was in Matthew chapter 4, when he went through
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the temptation. He was seen by angels because
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after Satan left him, it was an angels that came and ministered
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to him. He was seen by angels when he
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was in the garden, when he was praying, according to Luke 22
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and 43. They came and minister him
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afterwards. And then in the resurrection he
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was seen by the angels that had actually witnessed him coming
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out of the tomb. He was seen by angels and then
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he was preached on among the Gentiles.
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And that's exactly but the apostles did.
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They went and preached in all these Pagan and Gentile areas.
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They preach the word of God, they preach Jesus Christ.
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And who is it that we preach Jesus Christ?
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And we are Gentiles. We were preached too.
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As Gentiles. We were preached too.
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And now we go out and we share the gospel with others and then
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it goes on and says he was believed on in the world.
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And that's the response. We are the example of him being
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believed on in the world. And then of course, he was
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received up into glory. And you know what?
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One day we too are going to be received up into glory.
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Jesus was received up into glory because he was righteous.
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He was righteous and he had did all that God had called him to
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do. We are going to be received up
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in the glory because we have the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
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because it was given to us. We are declared righteous.
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We were justified in the faith. We are declared righteous and we
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to the church, the believing church is going to be called up
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and received up into glory. And not only that, but Jesus
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Christ is coming back, you guys. He's coming back and he's coming
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back with power, and in the same way that he left, he left here
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in the clouds. They saw the clouds receive him
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up. The same way the other righteous
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men were received up. Elijah who was received up, and
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also we know Enoch was received up.
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He walked with the Lord and he was no more.
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The Bible says they're received up.
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We're going to be received up. The Bible says we're going to be
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risen up. The dead is going to rise first,
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but then we are going to come together and be received up into
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Jesus Christ and meet Him in the air.
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We don't sorrow over death like others who have no hope.
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We don't sorrow like that because if we believe that Jesus
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died and rose again, he's going to bring with him those who died
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in Christ Jesus. So we don't sorrow over that.
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We have a future, and that future is when Jesus comes back
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for his church to bring us into the clouds to where he is.
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We remember that Jesus was taken up into glory.
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The whole character of God was manifested in the flesh and we
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remember, Lord, that you were justified by the Spirit.
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Lord, you were filled and the Spirit indwelled you.
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Just like we pray and we look for the Spirit to indwell us the
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many things that Jesus did, through the Spirit of God, we
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too are able to be empowered to live holy through the Spirit of
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God. We know that He was seen of
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angels. We know that He was preached on
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among the Gentiles and we thank God that there was someone who
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preached to us as Gentiles. They didn't keep the gospel away
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from us because we weren't Jewish, but we were preached to
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and it was Jesus Christ that was preached to us.
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Amen. Lord bless you.
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You've been listening to Pastor Lewis Harrell here on Living
23:52
Waters of Grace. We're digging into all that Paul
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shared with Timothy in the books of First and Second Timothy.
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Timothy was commissioned to do the following, fight the good
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fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were
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also called, and have confessed the good confession in the
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presence of many witnesses. Timothy would be carrying on
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what Paul had taught him and continuing on in ministry, even
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though Paul knew that more hardships would come for
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Timothy. This is the Christian life.
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It's not glamorous. It's not some celebrity status,
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It's hard fought, it's gritty, it's unpopular, but it's worth
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it. Do you believe that today?
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Are you willing to fight the good fight even at the cost of
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earthly pleasures? Living the life of a follower of
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Jesus will have its heavenly rewards.
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To be a part of a community that's looking forward to that
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heavenly reward, we invite you to join us at Calvary Chapel
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Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
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area, come be with us this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E
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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
25:24
members who want to tune in, encourage them to listen on
25:27
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.