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Living Waters of Grace 01-28-2026 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
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Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
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County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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He's basically saying, OK, look, for me, it's just about over.
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I'm about to reach my goal, which is to be with Jesus
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Christ. But for you, Timothy, I'm
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passing the baton. And before I do that, there's
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another charge that I want to give to you.
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And he says, I charge you therefore before God and the
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Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead.
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It kind of gives you an idea of the weight or of the importance
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of this charge. I'm sure you've never done this,
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but you know, some people are pretty forgetful.
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I'm sure you've never forgotten to do something that you were
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asked to do by, say, your spouse or maybe your parents as a
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child. But what if you had something
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really important to do? What if you were given a task
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that was a bit more critical than just taking out the
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garbage? Today, Pastor Lewis wants to
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convey to you the weight of those things that have been
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commissioned to you from God himself in His Word.
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Now here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of Second Timothy, Chapter
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4, with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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I pray that you would speak, that you would preach to us,
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that you would teach us your doctrines today, Lord, that you
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would give us a picture of just what it is that you want to
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share with us today, Lord, that we would go home changed, that
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we will go home more in love with you, that we will go home
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looking more and more like your Son Jesus.
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Have mercy on us, Lord, extend your grace to us today.
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Manifest your spirit. We need you Lord, we need you.
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If you don't manifest your spirit Lord, then we have
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gathered for nothing. So feed us in Jesus name we
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pray, Amen. So we are in chapter 4.
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Let's just start to read there beginning at verse one.
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Paul says I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus
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Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing
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and his Kingdom. Preach the word.
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Be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort
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with all long-suffering and teaching, for the time will come
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when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their
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own desires. Because they have itching ears.
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They will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn
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their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables or
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myths. But you be watchful in all
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things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist,
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fulfill your ministry. We're going to stop there.
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As we go back and begin to just make comments.
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I was just thinking about Paul as we get into this study.
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Paul's coming to the end of his life and he continues to really
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relish this time that he has. And, and he's alone at this
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time. And I'm sure he's with his
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thoughts and his thoughts are bombarding him about his life
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and he's thinking about the things that he's experienced.
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And even more so, he's thinking about the things that he can
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impart to his son in the faith, Timothy.
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And I was just thinking about Paul.
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You know, if Paul was, if we were to see the highlights of
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Paul's life in ministry, what would that look like?
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Well, it would look, it would look entirely different from
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what we see with these, with these athletes and, and, and the
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people, the coaches and the people that are involved in the
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NFL. It will look totally different.
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Their highlights all glorify them.
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It, it, it, it, it makes them look grand.
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It makes them look great. Paul's highlights would probably
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not be the same. When you watch the highlights of
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a athlete you're thinking about, wow, wouldn't it be great to be
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able to do that? Wouldn't it be great to
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experience that? Wouldn't it be great to have
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that in my in in my repertoire? But I don't think you would feel
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that way about the things that Paul had to go through in his
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life. You know, his highlights would
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be glorious to the Lord and glorious to to heaven.
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But to the common man, his highlights wouldn't be anything
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that we would run into trying to do.
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You know, we always say here, I always say here that, you know,
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the Bible is not about great men who do great things for God.
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It is not about that. The Bible is about a great God
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who does great things through mere men.
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That's what the Bible was about. So we don't glorify men as we
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talk about the Bible, but we acknowledge the power of God
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working through these men, just like we acknowledge the power of
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God who works through each and everyone of you in your
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ministries. Paul was a special brother.
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There's no question about that. We call him the gospel
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globetrotter. Paul's the one that went from
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place to place and spread the gospel every single place he
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went. But his highlights would be
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about his stoning, getting stoned.
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His highlights would be about enduring his persecutions.
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It would be about being imprisoned.
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It would be about being beaten, being scores.
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It would be about him being dragged out of synagogues when
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he's preached the gospel. His highlights would be about
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calling out demons and calling out devils and preaching the
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gospel to people and people getting saved under his
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ministry. It would be about him setting up
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churches and developing elders and all these special things
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that Paul has done in the ministry.
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And all these things didn't glorify him.
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It glorifies the God who works through him.
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And if we see how special Paul is, we have to acknowledge the
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fact that Paul was working through the power of the Holy
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Spirit. Every time he preached, every
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time he prayed for somebody, every time he called out a
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demon, every time someone was healed, he did it through the
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power of the Holy Spirit. And we need to understand that
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we too need the Holy Spirit in our lives and whatever ministry
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it is that we are in. So Paul comes to the end of his
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life now. And this is probably the very
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last chapter that Paul will write ever that he will write.
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This is it. This is it.
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Paul knows that he's looking at his mortality, but yet his
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charge was to a young man who he's going to be passing the
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baton to. He's basically saying, OK, look,
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for me, it's just about over. I'm about to reach my goal,
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which is to be with Jesus Christ.
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But for you, Timothy, I'm passing the baton.
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And before I do that, there's another charge that I want to
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give to you. And he says, I charge you,
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therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
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judge the living and the dead. It kind of gives you an idea of
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the weight or of the importance of this charge.
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It gives you an idea of just how significant this urging is that
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Paul is giving to Timothy. Look at the audience that he's
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giving this oath to that he's giving this this testimony to.
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He said, I'm charging you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now those are one, it may sound like it's two different people,
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but in this in the Greek, this is actually one God and the Lord
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Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead.
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In other words, Timothy, I'm giving you this charge.
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I'm giving you, I'm urging you to do something here.
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And you have to remember, the one that I'm urging you in front
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of is going to be the very same one that's going to come and
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judge you as he's going to judge me.
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So this is a very serious charge.
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And what is that charge? It's the same charge that he's
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been given Timothy all along. It's the same thread that goes
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through this entire book, throughout the entire Pastoral
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Epistles. It's the very same charge.
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He says preach the word, Timothy, preach the word.
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I can read this over and over and over again, and every time I
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read it, it has significance to me.
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Preach the word. He's telling Timothy, first of
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all, what to preach, Timothy, preach the word.
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Don't preach your experiences. Don't preach little short
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stories. Don't preach clever lines.
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Don't preach motivational speeches, preach the word,
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Timothy, don't preach a word, don't preach A sermon, don't
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preach a message. Preach the word, the word.
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And and he's like I said throughout the entire Scripture,
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this is what he's been encouraging Timothy to do.
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And in First Timothy chapter 1 he says teach no other doctrine.
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No other doctrine. In First Timothy chapter 3 he
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said leaders should be able to teach.
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In First Timothy chapter 4 he says, till I come, give
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attendance to reading, exhortation, and teaching.
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And then in Second Timothy chapter 1 he says, hold fast the
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pattern of sound words. Second Timothy chapter 2 rightly
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divide the word of truth and then in Second Timothy here in
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chapter 4, he says preach the word.
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So he has always encouraged Timothy to first of all stay
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with the word and to preach the word because this is what Paul
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did. No matter where he went, the
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first thing he would do was walk into a synagogue and he would
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preach the Word regardless of the circumstances.
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And then he gives Timothy the conditions in which he should be
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preaching. He gives him the conditions.
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He says be ready in season and out of season.
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There's two times, Timothy that you should be preaching this
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word. Preach it in season and preach
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it out of season. Those are the two times you
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should be preaching this Word. It's not always convenient to
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preach the Word, but you should preach the Word.
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It's not always easy to preach the Word, but you should preach
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the Word. The word that you're teaching is
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not always easy to hear. But Timothy, preach the Word.
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Preach the Word. Don't sugarcoat it.
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Don't make it easier to go down. Don't put bread with it or some
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other kind of sweet sauce to it to make it more palatable.
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Timothy, preach the Word, preach the word, He says, be ready in
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season and be ready out of season.
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Do it all the time, he says. And the word should convince or
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convict or correct. It should rebuke and it should
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exhort. Every time one of us comes up
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and teach this word, one of those three things should be
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happening. It should either correct us.
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It should either exhort us or encourage us or should warn us
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or caution us. But the word should always have
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impact is what Paul is saying. The word will always have
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impact. And this is to be done with
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long-suffering and teaching, or in other words, patience.
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Paul is talking about patience because he understands that as
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Timothy, as you speak to your congregation, everyone is not
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going to be at the same place spiritually.
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So people will need to be, you will need to be patient because
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people are going to mature at different levels.
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As we mature at different rates, we're going to mature
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differently. So Timothy, be patient, but be
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patient through teaching. Don't always want to just call
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somebody out. Let the word change people,
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Timothy. So do it through teaching.
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Let the word help people to mature.
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That's the importance of teaching the Word with patience.
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And then he said for the time will come when they will not
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endure sound doctrine. And that's why you should teach
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the Word now, Timothy, because there's going to be a time when
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there's going to be people who will not want to endure sound
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doctrine. There will be a time when people
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will want to not hear a word that convicts them.
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They're not going to want to hear things that will hold the
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mirror up to their lives and cause them to be able to see
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what they look like or what we look like.
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They might not want to hear that, Timothy, after a while,
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they're not going to want to hear about righteousness.
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They're not going to hear about holiness.
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They only want to hear, you know, they're going to be
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looking for people who will only teach the, you know, the
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goodness of God or the mercy of God or the grace of God or the
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love of God. They don't want to hear people
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that's going to teach about the holiness of God and the law of
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God or the righteousness of God. They're not going to want to
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hear that. Want to hear people talk about
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sin, things that I want to do. Don't call it sin.
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That word sounds so bad when you call it sin, but it's things
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that I want to do. They don't want to hear that,
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Timothy. So preach the word because
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they're not going to hear sound doctrine.
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But because of but, but, but according to their own desires,
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because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves
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teachers. They'll just listen to the
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teachers, Timothy, that they want to hear, the ones that's
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going to make them feel good when they leave every time.
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They'll never hear about things that I need to change in my life
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or or never hear a word that convicts me or challenges me
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about things that I'm doing or things that I'm thinking about
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the way that I'm treating people about my unforgiveness.
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They don't want to hear a word that challenges that.
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They want to hear something that just makes them feel good, that
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just makes them feel good, something that just motivates
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them, you know, 5 steps to acquire, you know, to acquiring
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wealth, 5 steps to a good marriage, 5 steps to, you know,
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to, to really being able to excel in business, 5 steps to
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making myself a better person. Hear things like that instead of
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the things that the Bible teaches us about change, about
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holiness, about the things the Bible teaches us about
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obedience. They're not going to hear that,
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Timothy. And then they said they're going
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to turn away their ears from those things.
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They're going to turn away their ears from the truth.
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And they're going to turn to fables, turn aside to myths, to
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fables, to turn aside to things that are not lined up with the
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word of God. Turn aside to prosperity
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teaching or turn aside to, you know, it being OK to live with
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somebody or turn aside to those things that say everybody's
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going to heaven. You know, turn aside to teaching
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like that because it's easier for them to listen to as opposed
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to being challenged through the word.
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But then in verse 5, he says, but you Timothy, so he's
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switching gears here, Timothy. That's what they that that may
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be what they want to hear. That may be where the false
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teachers are. That may be where people were
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the unbelievers are or people who are being challenged in
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their faith. That may be where they are.
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But you, Timothy, as a pastor, I want you, Timothy, to be
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watchful in all things. In other words, that that that
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that word means to be sober in all things to be sober.
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And there's a lot of things that can be intoxicating to us that
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causes us to not think clearly and a lot of things that causes
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us to not have self-control. To be sober means to have to
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think clear and to have self-control.
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To be sober mean to not be under intoxicating influence.
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That's what it means to be sober, to think clearly, to act
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clearly. But there's things out there
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that we can listen to or things that we allow to get into our
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hearts that will cause us to not think clearly, that will cause
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us to not act under self-control, and it causes us
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to act like we're under the influence.
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We can be under the influence of bad things.
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Intoxicating teaching can put us under the influence and cause us
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to act that way. And he says, Timothy, be careful
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that. Be watchful, be watchful.
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The things that you allow to come into your ear gates.
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Be watchful. Parents, be watchful.
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The things that come into your kids ear gates.
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Be watchful the things that come into your eye gates, the things
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that you allow your eyes to look upon, David said in Psalms 119.
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Turn my eyes away from empty things because he knows that to
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look at things that are empty can be intoxicating and it can
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change you. And he says, Timothy, I want you
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to turn away from those things. Guard your ear gates, guard your
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eye gates, guard your heart. For out of it are the issues of
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life. So, Timothy, be careful and be
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watchful. Be aware of the things that
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people were saying around you, the things that people were
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teaching. Be aware of that.
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Be aware of the things that you listen to, the things that you
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read. Be aware of those things.
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You know, one thing, I, I, I look, you know, Pastor Clark is
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very well read, very well read lot more well read than I am.
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And there are books that can sometimes appear to be OK, but
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once you get into them, you read them, you'll find out that it
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that it's not that it does not line up with the word of God.
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It does not. And a lot of times, before you
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even have to open up the book and be exposed to that, Pastor
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Clark will have known something about it in some degree.
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I mean, it's amazing how many times that he's been able to
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hear an author's name or hear a book that has that has come out
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and he's aware of where that book goes, how that book
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separates from the Word of God very well read that way.
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We have to be careful of those things.
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That's why it's so much easier to just stick with the Word of
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God. We don't have to worry about it.
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You know, if I swim in my swimming pool, I don't have to
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worry about, you know, having to worry about any drop offs or any
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surprises. You know, if I'm swimming in my
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own swimming pool, you know, I have to worry about anything
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that's going to surprise me. You know, I know what's in it.
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I know what's in my pool, so I don't have to worry about it.
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But if I'm swimming out there in some place that's open, where
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anything can have access to me, that can be a problem.
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That can be a problem. But he said be watchful in all
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things. Then he says, endure
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afflictions. And this is another thing that
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has been consistent throughout Timothy's life and throughout
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Paul's life as he has endured afflictions.
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Paul can definitely talk about enduring fictions.
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Back in chapter 3, we just talked about the afflictions
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that he endured over in Antioch and in Iconium and in Lyster
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where he actually suffered the stoning that took his life or
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could have taken or we think that actually did take his life.
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So Paul knows a lot about enduring afflictions.
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And these are all along with these, you know, the commands
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that Paul gave to Timothy. The first was breach the word
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and the second is be watchful in all things.
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And now the third here is endure afflictions and endure
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patiently, not just go through them complaining, not go through
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them, you know, murmuring, not go through them, you know, with
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a bad attitude, but endure afflictions, endure it in a way
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that it brings glory to God. When you go through changes on
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your job that may afflict you, that may cause some discomfort
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to your may interrupt the way that you do things on your job,
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how do you do it? Do you do it with, by
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complaining and murmuring? Do we talk about the boss?
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Do we, you know, do we get with the water cooler crew and, and
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put down the people who are making the decisions?
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Or do we go through it patiently, just trusting the
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Lord that he will work it out, that he will work it out.
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That's what makes us different. That's what makes us different.
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And so he says endure afflictions and then he says, do
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the work of an evangelist, do the work of an evangelist.
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Now the word evangelist is only mentioned three times in in the
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Bible. The first time it's mentioned is
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in the book of of Acts in chapter 21 where he refers to
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Philip as an evangelist. The next time it's mentioned is
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over in Ephesians chapter 4. When, when, when, when Paul
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talks about the gifts that Jesus left with the church and one of
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those gifts was an evangelist for the purpose of equipping the
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Saints. And then of course, here in
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second Timothy chapter 4, he mentions the evangelists or, or,
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or evangelism. Now, evangelism is very
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important. It's very important to the whole
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gospel. It's the what they call the pre
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salvation preaching is what they call evangelism, pre salvation
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preaching because it's the, it's the word.
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It's the one that introduces you to the gospel.
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People were introduced to the gospel through evangelism.
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And then, of course, once they become believers, they are
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discipled through the word of God and they're learning the
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doctrines and they're coming here and they're being taught
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the gospel are coming other churches and they're being
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taught the, you know, how to live the life that they were
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just birthed into. But the purpose of evangelism is
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to equip and encourage believers to share the gospel, to share
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that good news and to live that gospel out.
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He preaches the gospel and calls for repentance is what an
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evangelist does. He calls for repentance.
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He, he causes us or lets us know that we can repent and we can
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turn from that old lifestyle and, and, and, and anyone who's
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listening who have not given their hearts to the Lord or not
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trusted Jesus Christ for your salvation, repentance is open
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for you. It's available for you.
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Evangelism is what we're doing right now is just sharing the
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gospel. Jesus Christ died for your sins
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and we are all sinners and Jesus Christ died for those sins.
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He died for those sins and we all are sinners.
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Everyone of us have sinned and I've come short of the glory of
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God and that sin will have to be dealt with.
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The wages of sin is death according to the word of God.
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That's the wrath that unrepentant sinners have to face
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is death. But Jesus Christ came and died
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for our sins. He was buried three days, He
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laid in the grave, and then he arose.
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And that gives us our hope for eternal life.
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Anyone who's listening who have not trusted Jesus Christ for
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your Savior, you can repent right now.
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You don't even have to say it out loud.
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You can repent at home, but it's available through the grace of
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our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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So he says, do the work of an evangelist and then he says,
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fulfill your ministry, fulfill your ministry, finish your
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ministry. You know, have your ministry,
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you know, whatever it is that the Lord called you to do.
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Here on Living Waters of Grace, we're in the books of First and
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Second Timothy. Pastor Lewis Harrell is walking
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us through these letters written from Paul to Timothy.
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Toward the end of these letters, Paul is anticipating that his
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time here on earth is coming to a close.
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He's giving some final words of advice to his mentee.
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Paul writes in Second Timothy 4, verse seven.
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I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race.
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I have kept the faith. Wherever you are in your journey
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of faith with God, our hope is that you have the willingness to
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fight for what's true, not compromising, but holding fast
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to the Word of God. Paul was reminding Timothy of
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this, and it's a good reminder for you and for me today, too.
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For helpful input throughout this series, why not listen to
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all of these teachings from First and Second Timothy on our
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website? Go to calvarychapelonline.com to
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access teachings, download our app, and more.
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If you'd like to visit us this weekend, we'd be delighted.
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Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel
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Westmoreland in Greensburg, PA Come to our service held at
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10:30 AM on Sundays. We're located at 400 E
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Pittsburgh St., Ste. 6B. For any other information on our
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weekly service, visit calvarychapelonline.com.
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You can also join our e-mail list, give online, or submit a
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prayer request right from the site.
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If you can't make it in person, be sure to tune into Calvary
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Chapel Westmoreland's YouTube channel.
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Subscribe so you never miss new teachings.
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We thank you for tuning in today and ask that you come back for
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more solid and biblical teaching from Pastor Lewis right here on
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Living Waters of Grace.