Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace 12.31.25

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Living Waters of Grace 12.31.25 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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  This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
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  Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
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  County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
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  continues teaching through God's Word.
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  I've heard someone say I was one way, I'm one way in business and
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  I'm another way in church with spiritual things.
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  I don't read with that soul in the word of God.
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  I don't read with that soul. He said we are to do all things
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  that's unto the Lord. Everything, every thought should
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  be brought into the captivity and obedience of Jesus Christ,
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  not be one way one place and then another way in another
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  arena. We are all servants of the Lord
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  first. What happens when you live one
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  way at church in another way everywhere else?
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  In today's message, Pastor Lewis confronts the idea that you can
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  be one person in business and another in spiritual things.
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  The Word of God never allows that split life.
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  The Scripture says to do everything is unto the Lord,
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  bringing every thought into obedience to Christ.
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  God can keep your heart undivided when you serve Him
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  first in every area. How do you make sure every part
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  of your life is lived 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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  Turning your Bibles to First Timothy chapter 3.
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  So why don't we pray and then let's go into the word of
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  Godfather. We do thank you for once again
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  we get opportunity to learn from you, Lord, to get into Your
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  word, the truth, the living Word.
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  Lord, Your word is living. And we thank you that we have
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  the privilege, Lord, to hear Your Word and to sit under that
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  word and have that word do its work in us.
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  We ask God now that you would bless us with the anointing that
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  comes from on high. Lord, if you're not speaking, if
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  you're not giving us what to say and what to hear, if you don't
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  open up our eyes and our understanding, our hearts to the
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  revelation of this Word, Lord, we will not receive anything.
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  So we ask God that you will pour out your wisdom on us.
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  Pour out your understanding Lord, and help us, O God, to be
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  able to receive from your word. We ask all these things in the
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  name of our Savior and our Lord. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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  We're in First Timothy and we are in chapter 3.
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  Now. Last week we did talk about the
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  elders and the qualifications of the elders.
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  And as we went through that list, I just want to remind
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  everybody that as we go through these, these qualifications,
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  these lists of qualifications, we're not going through this in
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  a way that it's religious or that it's legalistic or anything
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  of that nature. It's not that anybody is just
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  looking and watching and say, oh, OK, I'll check the box on
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  that. That's not what this is about.
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  None of this can be done without the empowerment of the Holy
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  Spirit, which is why in the book of Acts, before Jesus even sent
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  the disciples anywhere to do any ministry, to do any witnessing,
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  he said, wait, wait for the power to come and the Holy
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  Spirit will come upon you and then you will be witnesses unto
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  me in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to the other
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  parts of the world. We can't do any of that without
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  the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
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  So as we go through these qualifications, I just want you
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  to keep in mind that these are things that we are all, each and
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  everyone of us are seeking God to help us with.
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  These are the things that we are pressing into the Lord to help
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  us to attain. And we have to be like Paul.
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  And so I'm not yet obtained and I'm not yet apprehended.
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  I can't keep in mind what I've done yesterday.
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  I can't keep remembering how I fell short yesterday.
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  I got to look to what's ahead of me, man.
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  I got a press toward the mark of God, the high calling of God in
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  Christ Jesus. So this is what we need to do on
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  a regular basis. So this is not a religious or
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  legalistic list, but there are things that that Paul is saying
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  that as a Deacon or as a elder or a pastor, these are the
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  things that we are looking and seeking God to possess so that
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  we could be a blessing to the people in the ministry and also
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  be a good example to people who are outside of the ministry.
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  Amen. Amen.
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  Let's talk about the qualifications of the deacons.
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  Before we do that, let's go to Acts chapter 6.
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  We can turn back there just for one second.
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  This is the best description and this is actually the foundation
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  or the genesis of where the ministry of the deacons have
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  started and starting there in verse one, Acts chapter 6, it
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  says Now in those days when the number of the disciples was
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  multiplying, there arose A complaint against the Hebrews by
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  the Hellenists because the widows were neglected in the
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  daily distribution. Then the 12 summoned the
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  multitude of the disciples and said it is not desirable that we
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  should leave the Word of God and serve tables.
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  Now, when we say that it's not that Peter and the disciples
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  were saying that this work is beneath us, that's not what he
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  was saying. What he is saying is that by
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  doing this it does take away from the ministry that we are
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  called to. Everyone has a ministry that
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  we're called to, and by doing things that is actually a
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  ministry or a service that someone else could be called to,
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  it takes away from our own. But he is not saying in any way
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  that we are above serving tables.
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  We do it all the time. It's not that we're above
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  serving table or serving tables is beneath us.
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  It is not. It's not beneath us to run the
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  vacuum sweeper in here. It's not beneath us to pick up a
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  broom. It's not beneath pastors to wipe
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  off tables and to serve people when we have our feast or our
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  fellowships together. It's not beneath us to do any of
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  those things. But what these men understood is
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  that God had brought forth a need.
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  He has shown a need. And when God does that, he's
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  doing that for a purpose because there's purpose and people who
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  are called to do those things. That's why even here, whenever
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  you see something that you sense is lacking and you come to
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  leadership and say, you know this is lacking, we should be
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  able to do this or, or is it possible that we can do this?
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  That's a ministry that God has probably laid on your heart.
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  We support you and pray for you to go forth and doing those
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  things. It's something that the Lord has
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  exposed. So anywhere this says here that
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  it's not that we should serve tables, but therefore, brethren,
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  seek out from among you 7 men of good reputation, full of the
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  Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
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  But we will ourselves continually.
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  And this is the ministry that the pastors and the elders are
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  called to do, is to give ourselves continually to prayer
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  and to the ministry of the Word. In other words, even the
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  oversight of the church. So that is the foundation, that
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  is the genesis of where the whole position of deacons have
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  come from. Now, it doesn't mention the word
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  deacons there, but the word Deacon in the diaconose is
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  actually Greek for servant or service minister.
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  It's a servant and which we all are.
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  But this particular service is geared toward helping the
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  physical matters of the church. And that's exactly what deacons
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  do. Just as the pastors and the
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  elders are given to the ministry of the Word and prayer and the
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  oversight of the church, well, for deacons, they are given to
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  the physical ministry of the church, the practical ministry
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  of the church. They take care of the structure
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  of the church, the outside and the inside needs of the church,
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  physical needs of the church. That's why we have deacons here
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  who will take care of lights if they need to be taken care of or
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  electrical issues that come up. And some of the other structures
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  that come. And you'll see them with ladders
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  and doing things that I may not be equipped to do or have the
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  understanding to do, but they just come right in and they do
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  it. They see the need, they come
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  right in and they do it. And that's the ministry of the
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  deacons. And in addition to that, they
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  also take care of a lot of the administrative things in the
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  church as well. You know, they deal with, you
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  know, when we used to do offerings, they would help to
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  take the offerings and a lot of the deacons will help in
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  counting the money in the offerings and things of that
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  nature to help to distribute to the people who have need.
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  A lot of times the deacons are involved in that service as
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  well. So it is a noble service and it
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  is something that men are called to do and they do it with
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  everything in them. Now, as we said last week, we do
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  have, I think I said 3, but we actually have 4 that are elders
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  and pastors. Myself and Clark are the two
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  pastors currently in George Pernis and John Morris.
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  Those are our two elders. But collectively we deal with
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  the oversight or the spiritual oversight of the church.
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  And then we have those who are the deacons in our church, and
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  that is Tom Brubaker, Brad Cheney, and Nick Steele.
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  And they deal with the physical needs of the church, the
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  structural needs of the church, including the financial and
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  administration. And some of them serve in a lot
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  of other ministries as well. A lot of those men teach.
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  These men are able to teach. That might not be one of the
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  qualifications under the name Deacon, but these men are
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  qualified men to teach. This church has been blessed.
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  I don't know if you're aware, but this church has been blessed
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  with many men who are able and qualified to teach, who go into
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  the Word of God and teach. It doesn't have to be me.
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  They could be a number of other men that'd be standing here
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  instead of me. There are many men in this
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  church who have a teaching gift and they are able to teach.
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  There are many women in this church who have a awesome
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  teaching gift as well. So this church has been blessed
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  with men and women who are qualified to teach the word of
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  God. And it's such a blessing because
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  the understanding of the doctrine is there and it's
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  evident throughout everyone who is here.
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  And I like it because I'm OK with being accountable to
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  someone. If I say something that's not
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  right, please let me know. And I know that these are men
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  and women who study. So if they were to pull me aside
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  and say that, I know I can trust it because these aren't just
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  people who just say, well, emotionally I didn't like what
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  you said. No, these are people were saying
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  I know that it wasn't right based on from the word of God
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  and they would be able to show that to me.
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  So we're we're blessed with that concern.
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  So anyway, it says here verse starting at verse 8.
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  It says likewise deacons must be reverent, not double tongue, not
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  given too much wine, not greedy for money.
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  OK, so he says they must be reverent and that just simply
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  means there must be men who are worthy of respect, men who carry
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  themselves in a way spiritually that they are worthy of respect.
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  People see their lives and respect them as men of God.
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  And that is a blessing because even children, and that's one
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  thing that you cannot fool. You can't fool children.
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  They know when you have the right heart.
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  They know when you have a heart for God, a heart that's tender,
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  a heart that's even when you're correction of a child, they know
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  that there is God in you. They know that there's a spirit
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  of kindness, a spirit of goodness in you, a spirit of
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  love and protection. They know that, They know that.
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  So when they too are respectful of deacons or and when the
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  adults respect these men, that is what exactly a Deacon should
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  be. They should be men who walk in
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  respect. Not only are they respected, but
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  they're also men who respect others.
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  And so we also understand that this character that a Deacon
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  has, it's worth imitating. And I can tell you the truth
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  that the men that we have here that serve as deacons, I would
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  have no problem if my sons were to look at these men as examples
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  of spiritual or Christian character.
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  I would have no problem with that.
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  The the men who have been serving here as deacons have
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  been men that we have been able to, I've been able to watch over
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  my time being here. Many of them were here before me
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  and I can tell you that I've seen that they love their
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  families, they love God, they love God's Word, and they love
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  God's people and that's important.
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  That is very important. They've demonstrated honesty,
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  they've demonstrated knowledge of the Word and love for Jesus
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  Christ and God and his Son Jesus Christ.
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  Their families are here in the church and they are men who are
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  faithful to their families. These are men that I have,
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  again, I have no problem watching them and seeing them as
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  good examples. And at the same time, while they
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  are respected, they respect, they're not double tongue.
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  That means they're not 2 faced. Anybody remember the, the name 2
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  faced it, the term 2 faced it. We don't hear that much anymore,
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  but that person is 2 faced it. What does that mean?
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  You know, these are men who are not double tongue or they're not
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  2 faced it. That means that they're not
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  gossips. They're not saying one thing to
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  one person and saying something totally different to someone
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  else. So it's almost like it's two
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  different people. They come out of a meeting, they
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  tell some people, oh man, that was a great meeting.
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  That person did a really good job explaining that.
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  And, and that was that was awesome.
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  I, I feel like I understand, I feel like I've learned.
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  Then they go to someone else. Did that person prepare?
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  They didn't sound like they made any sense, you know, and it's,
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  it's just like they're double tongue.
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  They say one thing about one way and one thing another way.
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  And these are the kind of things that inner church can cause
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  discord. You know, when people are saying
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  different things to different people can cause discord.
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  But it also takes away from the character of the man who would
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  do it, because people then come to the point where they can't
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  trust what that person is saying.
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  But a Deacon is a man who does not gossip, first of all.
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  And when he does say anything that needs to be said, it's the
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  truth. And so he's saying it the same
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  every time. He's not changing it.
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  But a Deacon is also a man who was dependable.
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  He's dependable and he has no intent to deceive anyone.
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  In his heart. There's no God found in him.
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  There's no selfish intention in these men who are serving as
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  deacons, but they're reliable. They're reliable.
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  When they say that they're going to take care of something, they
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  take care of it. They say they're going to do
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  something. They do it.
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  And that's very important in terms of a man who serves as a
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  Deacon. Now here it says not giving too
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  much one. Now, this is interesting because
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  the elders, they were not to be given to wine at all.
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  So I guess the deacons don't have to be given to no wine, but
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  they can be given to some wine, just not much wine.
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  But actually even the elders are due to are called to to walk in
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  moderation whenever it is that they were to, to drink wine.
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  You do it in moderation. And the deacons are the same.
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  And we've already talked about those things last week
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  concerning drinking wine, not being given too much wine.
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  But I do want to say one thing. I just want to look at one thing
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  back here there in Ephesians, it kind of gives a good, actually a
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  very good description of the attitude that should be taken
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  when it comes to an alcoholic beverage like wine.
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  And that's mainly what the what the Bible talks about in the New
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  Testament, it's talking about wine.
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  But in Ephesians chapter 5 and in verse 18, it simply says and
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  do not be drunk with wine, which is in dissipation or debauchery,
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  but be filled with, I'm sorry, be filled with the Spirit.
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  OK, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual
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  songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
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  So not to be filled with wine, which does speak to moderation,
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  but to not do it excessively, but to be filled with the
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  Spirit. So I guess sometimes it comes to
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  a point where we have to make a decision, am I going to be
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  filled with this wine or am I going to be filled by the
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  Spirit? I'd rather be filled with the
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  spirit. Let's walk in the spirit.
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  So then it says here, the next one he mentions is not to be
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  greedy for money. Don't be greedy for money.
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  And we talked about that too with the elders, but it's a
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  little bit different with the deacons because the deacons
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  actually are involved in the counting of money.
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  They're pretty close. They work pretty closely with
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  the money. I never see the money.
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  I never see the money. But the deacons, they count the
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  money and they can be involved in distributing money to other
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  people who have need. So it's important that they are
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  responsible in that area and that they're not greedy for
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  money. Because if they are greedy for
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  money, they could be tempted. They could be tempted if they
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  have a need, if their bills aren't being paid and they have
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  financial needs that need to be taken care of and and they don't
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  see how they're going to be able to do it.
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  If they don't have a control, they don't have control on this
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  being greedy for money and have that control that they need to
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  have that self-control, the spirit in them that helps them
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  to, to deal with these things with the level of integrity that
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  the church requires or that the Lord requires, not the church
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  the Lord requires. It can be tempting for them to
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  steal money or to use the, the months for the money for
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  personal needs. So we need to make sure that we
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  observe that the people who are involved with the money are men
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  who have the integrity and the women who have the the integrity
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  to do that without having to worry about any impropriety.
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  Now, I can say that as long as I've been here, in fact, I've
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  never heard anything here concerning any impropriety
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  financially here. You know, the men and women who
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  have dealt with the money and it's mainly been men, but the
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  ones who have dealt with the money, they have done it with
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  the highest level of integrity, highest level of integrity.
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  I have no problems about giving to this church and wondering
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  about where it goes. We don't never have any issues
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  with that. There are two, I've learned when
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  I was growing up, there are two ministries that we have to be
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  particularly careful of putting people.
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  You know, when we select people to go into ministries, there's
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  two in particular that we have to be very careful of.
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  One ministry is always going to be the finance ministry because
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  that's the money. And again, for the reasons why
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  we just stated, you know, the temptation for someone who has a
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  need. But the other is a children's
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  ministry. Got to be careful with the we
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  got to protect our babies. Got to protect our babies.
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  So we have to be careful and we have to be maybe a little bit
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  more a little bit more scrutiny, maybe involved and looking at
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  the background of people in those two positions before they
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  are appointed and let go to deal in those of the functioning
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  those ministries. So verse 9 now verse 9 says a
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  holding the ministry of the faith with a pure conscience,
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  the ministry of the faith holding the ministry of the
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  faith. What is the ministry of the
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  faith? Well, the, the mystery is always
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  a hidden truth. Mystery is a hidden truth.
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  Something that's healed, that's not something that's hidden,
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  that's not been revealed. And a Deacon must hold the
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  mystery of the faith, must hold it before them.
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  It must be something that's out in front of them.
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  So what is the mystery? That God came in the flesh and
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  died for our sins. For a lot of people, that's a
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  mystery. Those who are outside the church
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  don't understand that. They don't believe that They
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  can't reconcile that in their hearts, you know, it's something
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  that they just can't grab a hold of.
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  But those who are inside the church, those of us who are
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  believers, we understand that. And we believe that and we
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  receive that. And that's the mystery of the
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  truth. That's the mystery of the faith.
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  You see, the mystery of the gospel was once hidden.
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  There was a time that was sent. It was even hidden from the
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  prophets who spoke it at that particular time.
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  They never really saw it to come to be.
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  But we, those things have been revealed to us.
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  It's been revealed to us. We have seen this come to be so
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  deacons are to not only understand the doctrine of that
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  faith, but also to obey it. So they walk in that faith with
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  sincere with a sincere conscience.
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  Sincere conscience meaning that they understand the difference
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  that between good and evil and able to make decisions between
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  good and evil. And if there is some violation
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  of whatever behavior, if there's been some sin, that person is
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  still keeps a pure conscience because they go and bring it to
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  the Lord and they repent. Confession is made, they're
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  purified by the blood of Jesus. So as deacons that facilitate
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  the matters of the church, church building or the church
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  business, they have to do it based on the word of God.
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  Very important that we do it based on the word of God.
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  Now everybody has constitutions, everybody has man written rules
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  or bylaws and things of that nature.
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  And that's fine, that's fine. But none of those things are
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  more important than the Word of God.
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  When we make a decision, it must be made based on the Word of
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  God, not a bylaw, not a constitution.
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  And in the church, the bylaws and constitutions or whatever is
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  written to try to govern or manage the ministry, that should
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  be done based on the Word of God.
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  I've heard it spoken before and it never sat right in my spirit.
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  I've heard someone say I was one way.
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  I'm one way in business and I'm another way in church with
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  spiritual things. I don't read with that soul in
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  the word of God. I don't read with that soul.
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  He said we're to do all things. That's unto the Lord.
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  Everything, every thought should be brought into the captivity
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  and obedience of Jesus Christ, not be one way one place and
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  then another way in another arena.
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  We are all servants of the Lord first.
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  So that is so important that when we do business or when we
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  have meetings and things of that nature, that what we discuss or
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  what we decide, it's all based on the word of God and not
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  someone's good idea, not some strategy in business that works
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  for the world. We should not sit into a
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  business meeting in the church and feel like we're sitting in a
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  Fortune 500 corporate business meeting.
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  Should feel that way. We should understand that we're
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  sitting with brothers and sisters who fear, acknowledge,
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  and uphold the Word of God. Amen.
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  Then in verse 10, it says it talks about being tested, he
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  said, but let these be tested first.
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  Then let them serve as deacons being found blameless.
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  This testing means be to prove them.
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  They should be proved and we should be watching their lives
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  and seeing how a man conducts himself in different situations.
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  You know, we can see the best of people here in church every
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  Sunday. We can see the best of people.
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  Everybody's wearing a smile, everybody's shaking hands,
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  everybody's hugging. But what we need to see in
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  ministry, when you put someone in a position like this, So what
• 23:30
  happens if somebody disagrees with you?
• 23:32
  What happens when adversity hits?
• 23:34
  How do you deal with that? How do you deal with a situation
• 23:37
  when you're offended? How do you deal with that?
• 23:39
  So we have to see people in different than decision making.
• 23:41
  When you have to make a decision, how was that dealt
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  with? Do you do it based on your
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  knowledge of the word of God or do you do it based on worldly
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  knowledge? All these are things that has to
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  be taken under consideration. That's why people need to be
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  proved or tested. Here on Living Waters of Grace,
• 23:59
  we're in the books of First and Second Timothy.
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  Pastor Louis Harrell is walking us through these letters written
• 24:05
  from Paul to Timothy. Toward the end of these letters,
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  Paul is anticipating that his time here on earth is coming to
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  a close. He's giving some final words of
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  advice to his mentee. Paul writes in Second Timothy 4,
• 24:19
  verse seven. I have fought the good fight.
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  I have finished the race. I have kept the faith wherever
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  you are in your journey of faith with God, our hope is that you
• 24:29
  have the willingness to fight for what's true, not
• 24:33
  compromising, but holding fast to the Word of God.
• 24:37
  Paul was reminding Timothy of this, and it's a good reminder
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  for you and for me today too. For helpful input throughout
• 24:45
  this series, why not listen to all of these teachings from
• 24:49
  First and Second Timothy on our website and go to
• 24:52
  calvarychapelonline.com to access teachings, download our
• 24:57
  app, and more. If you'd like to visit us this
• 25:01
  weekend, we'd be delighted. Living Waters of Grace is a
• 25:05
  ministry of Calvary Chapel Westmoreland in Greensburg, PA.
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  Come to our service held at 10:30 AM on Sundays.
• 25:14
  We're located at 400 E Pittsburgh St., Ste. 6B.
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  For any other information on our weekly service, visit
• 25:23
  calvarychapelonline.com. You can also join our e-mail
• 25:28
  list, give online, or submit a prayer request right from the
• 25:32
  site. If you can't make it in person,
• 25:35
  be sure to tune into Calvary Chapel Westmorelands YouTube
• 25:38
  channel. Subscribe so you never miss new
• 25:41
  teachings. We thank you for tuning in today
• 25:44
  and ask that you come back for more solid and biblical teaching
• 25:48
  from Pastor Lewis right here on Living Waters of Grace.