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Living Waters of Grace 02-02-2026 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
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Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
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County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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Paul is in this prison. You know, he's not eating well,
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and I'm sure he probably doesn't have a whole lot of physical
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strength at this point. And I'm sure they try to weigh
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him down as much as possible, try to wear him out.
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But the truth of the matter is, Paul says that at one point he
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felt strong. Even though his outward man was
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perishing, his inward man was being renewed.
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He felt strong in the Lord at one point, and even to the point
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where he was bold enough to stand up and in front of the
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rulers of a Pagan nation. Have you ever felt inadequate
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for the task in front of you? Sometimes it can give you
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butterflies in your stomach. Maybe it's a physical task that
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you just don't know how you're going to get it all done.
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Maybe you have to make a presentation in front of people
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where there's a lot hanging on the outcome.
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In today's message, Pastor Lewis shares with you that even when
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you don't have the strength in yourself, God will strengthen
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you. When God calls you to a task,
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his Spirit will empower you to do it.
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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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That is not of the Lord. When two people or how,
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regardless of how many people, have contentions for extended
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periods of time and they're never resolved, that is not of
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the Lord. That is not the Spirit of
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Christ. He was denied by Peter three
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times, yet after his resurrection he said go get
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Peter and bring him with you to Galilee.
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Don't leave him out. I'm not casting him out.
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I'm not forgetting about him. Go get him and bring him with
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you. I'm reconciling with Him.
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I want Him to know I've forgiven him and that's what we should be
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doing with each other. Either I need to call you or you
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need to call me, but we need to reconcile.
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We need not to be allowing this thing just to last forever and
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ever and ever. You talking to your people about
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what happened and somebody else talking to their people about
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what happened. Let's sit down and talk with
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each other and let's love on each other the way Christ
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intended so that we can do the work of the ministry.
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And that's exactly what happened.
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Paul is basically saying, he said I need, I have need of him.
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I have use for him for ministry. And that's exactly, and this is
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what gives the devil a black eye, because the devil knows
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that we have use for each other that we add to each other's
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ministry. Just the evil one knows that,
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our enemy knows that. And So what he's going to try to
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do is to keep us separated so that your ministry can't bless
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me and my ministry can't bless you, and we can't serve together
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to be a blessing to whomever the Lord has sent us here to be a
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blessing too. Paul says I have need bring him
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to me. I have need of him for ministry.
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But it took him a while to realize that.
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Let us not take us that long to realize that we need each other.
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So let's reconcile. Let's reconcile quickly.
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Is that one of the things that we would do today if we knew
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that we were short and we didn't know how long we would live?
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Well, guess what? We don't, we don't.
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We can reconcile quickly. And then he goes on.
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He says in in Tychicus, I have sent to Ephesus, Tychus.
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Tychus also was a beloved brother.
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He was a ministry, very faithful man in the ministry with Paul
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and he sent him to Ephesus. And the reason why he sent Ticus
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to Ephesus is so that he could free up Timothy to come to Rome
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to be with Paul. So Tychus would go to Ephesus
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and deal with the with the church at Ephesus, while Timothy
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would be traveling to be with Paul because Paul wanted Timothy
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with him. Paul needed Timothy to be with
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him. He had things he wanted to say
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to Timothy. He had things he wanted Timothy
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to understand before he left this world.
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And, and what's amazing about that is that he wrote this
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letter. The reason why he even wrote
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this letter in the 1st place was just in case Timothy didn't get
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there in time. So Timothy would have a record
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of the things that he wanted to say to him, to the things that
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he wanted to encourage him in, in the faith.
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This is a record. And then after he, he talked to
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about tigers, he sent him. But the amazing thing is all the
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men that Paul had access to because he had discipled these
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men, he has spent time with these men.
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So now he had a number of men that he was able to distribute
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into place in different places so that they could minister and
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they can go on with the work that Paul had began.
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It's one of the things that Clark is doing here in this
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church with us. And my heart is that there be
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men that continue to be raised up by the Lord so that in
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different places they can be distributed, be assigned to do
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the work that the Lord wants to do here.
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It blesses me on Wednesday night when there's a rotation of men
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who teaches because that ministry is not dependent upon
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just one man being there. We have many men who can teach
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on a Wednesday night and teach us well, and that's our heart is
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that men be raised up for ministry, women be raised up to
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do the ministry that they do, and that there's depth with that
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ministry, but there's many who can do it, many that can do it.
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Whatever the ministry is, God give us more men and women who
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can step up and take over if need be.
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And this is what Paul was doing. It's a blessing that he had all
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these men that he had discipled. And then in verse 13, he says,
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bring the cloak that I left at car what I left with carpets.
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Bring it. He said he left.
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He left some things with with carpets when he was at tro ass,
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he said bring those things with me.
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And the things that he left, he left books and he left his cloak
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and he left parchments. Now his cloak, now as you know,
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cloak is a covering. It's around the circular
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covering. And it, you know, he's going to
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need it because, you know, he was in the maritime prison.
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And it is a, it's very bad conditions in this particular
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prison in Rome, very bad conditions.
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It was actually an old cistern of some sort and they turned
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into a prison. I think it's only like 2 cells
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or two blocks in that whole particular prison.
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I think there's a lower cell and an upper cell.
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I think it's only like 2, but the conditions are just
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terrible. Basically, they sent you there
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when they know they're going to execute you.
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So that's probably one of the other reasons why Paul knew he
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probably wasn't going to come out of there alive.
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But he says bring my cloak because it's damp there.
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It's wet there. And you know, those are probably
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just a milder conditions that he has to deal with there in that
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particular prison. But he says bring my cloak and
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also bring books in the parchments.
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Now books are going to be Old Testament scrolls and things
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that he has there that in the Old Testament and he probably
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left urgently. He probably left quickly.
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He's probably arrested there Troas and taken, you know, or
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taking the after he left Troas, he probably went to Roman, was
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arrested there, you know, but something caused him to leave
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all of these personal things. They're a troas and he said
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these books, these Old Testament scrolls.
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He wants those. You know, Paul has, I mean, my
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goodness, he wrote, you know, we know now that he wrote half of
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the, the, the, the, the New Testament, but yet he continues
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to want to be kept up in study. He wanted to continue to study
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the word of God. But I can imagine some of the
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things that he wanted to read out of the Old Testament sitting
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there in that prison. He probably wanted to read those
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scriptures that men wrote, that God inspired men to write, that
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would that would help him, that would comfort him, that would
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give him some sort of relief, some sort of hope.
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I would imagine he probably wanted to read some of the
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Psalms that were written by David and some of the other
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psalmist because these Psalms offer comfort.
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Can you imagine if he was just sitting there?
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He probably wanted to read Psalm 27.
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The Lord is my light and my salvation.
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Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
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life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
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He probably wanted to read that. He probably wanted to read Psalm
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46. God is my refuge and strength.
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He's a very present help in trouble.
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I'm sure those things will comfort him in that particular
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time. And he probably wanted to read
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Psalm 62. Truly, my soul silently waits
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for God. From Him is my salvation.
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For He only God only is my rock and my salvation.
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He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved.
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These are probably some of the things that he wanted to read to
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encourage his heart while he sat there in that dingy dudgeon
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prison, cold, damp. And like I said, those are the
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milder conditions that I would mention in this particular
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place. But he said bring nose.
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But then he said also bring the parchments.
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And those parchments are animal thin animal skins that were used
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for notebooks. And Paul probably has some
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things that he wrote out that he probably didn't even publish
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that didn't put them out there yet to everybody.
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Just some thoughts that he would have in different places that
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he's been. And he probably wanted him to
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bring nose as well, Bring those parchments.
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And then he gets to verse 14. He says Alexander the
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coppersmith didn't me much harm. May the Lord repay, repay him
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according to his works. Can you see how Paul will go
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back and forth? There are those that were a
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blessing to him even though he was still by himself.
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But there were those who were a blessing to him.
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And then there were those who he remembers did him harm.
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But unlike me, sometimes when people do me harm, I want to get
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back out of myself. I feel like I have a right to
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get back out of myself because I feel like I can, at the very
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least, I can get even. Because this is what we're
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taught in the world, right? Get even, you know, get back at
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people. Don't let people do that to you.
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Don't let people walk over you like that.
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You, you, you, you get back at them.
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Get even. But that's not what the Word of
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God says, because if you look in Romans 12, round verse 19, the
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Bible says avenge not yourselves, avenge not
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yourselves, but give place to wrath.
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And I always fill that in and say give place to godly wrath
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because we don't want to give place to our own fleshly wrath,
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our own, you know, human wrath, because we go overboard.
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God does it justly. He's the only just judge.
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He judges righteously. And then he says, you know, for
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vengeance is mine. Vengeance doesn't belong to me,
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although I think it should. I may think it should sometimes.
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Lord, did you see what they did to me?
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I don't have the right to respond to that.
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He says vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord.
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Says the Lord. Not Says Joe or Johnny says the
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Lord, so that's why we obey that and Paul did just that.
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Now some people get kind of stumbled with this one verse
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when he says may the Lord repay him according to his works.
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Paul is not he's not praying a a prayer of a curse upon, you
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know, Alexander the coppersmith. He's not praying that Lord judge
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him and and and and and just bring down fire upon him and and
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just do him in Lord. I mean, give him your best
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judgement. That's not what he's doing.
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He's actually giving it over. He's doing exactly what the
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verse tells him to do and give it over to the Lord.
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He's giving place to godly wrath, not his own.
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And that's what we should do. It's hard.
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It's very hard, and it's the Holy Spirit that helps us to do
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that. But that is what we are intended
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to do. That's what God intends for us
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to do. Now, one of the reasons why he
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says Alexander Coppersmith had harmed him or did a lot of
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things to harm him is because, you know, it's believed that it
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was Alexander Coppersmith was actually one of the witnesses
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for the prosecution. So he probably gave some very
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damaging witness against Paul, probably caused Paul.
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Some people didn't believe that he was the reason why Paul got
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arrested was because of this Alexander Coppersmith.
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But he also opposed the teachings of Paul and that was
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probably even worse. He opposed the teachings of
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Paul. He went against it.
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He was one of the ones that they mentioned earlier in the, in
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the, in first Timothy, second Timothy mentioned earlier when
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he said that there were people, you know, who were, you know,
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teaching blasphemy over here in first Timothy chapter one, verse
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20, I believe it is, he mentions the fact that it was Alexander,
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it was him. Now he believes that this is the
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same person. Some people say it might not be,
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but he believes that it is. But here in verse 20, he says
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that he's the one that made shipwreck of his faith.
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Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may
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learn not to blaspheme. So obviously they were teaching
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some things that were contrary to the teachings of the true
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faith, contrary to the teachings of the gospel, is what they're
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saying here. So he did Paul a lot of harm and
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he warned Paul, warned Timothy against that.
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He said you must be, you must also be aware of him, for he has
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greatly resisted our words. And then in verse 16, I think
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things get really interesting. Paul says here, he says at my
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first defense, no one stood with me, but all forsook me.
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No one stood with me at my first defense.
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Now we first read that. We say, oh, poor Paul.
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You know, he was, he was in a room with all Pagan Roman
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leaders. Everyone that was in that room
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was actually considered to be an enemy of Paul because they all
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wanted to see him dead. The people that they brought in
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as witnesses against them, the Roman leaders, Neo, you know,
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wanted to see these people, wanted to see him dead.
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Nero wanted to see him dead. And yet Paul says, no one stood
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with me. Could you imagine going to court
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and no one testifying on your behalf?
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Everybody's testifying against you.
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You don't have nobody there that can even say, hey, he's actually
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a good guy. No one can even do that.
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So Paul's in this room and he's before all of the leaders of the
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Pagan world, of one of the biggest nations of the Pagan
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world. But then Paul says may it not be
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charged against them. No one came to identify
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themselves with Paul. No one came to associate with
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Paul. Again, probably out of fear if I
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will come and identify myself, then I'm next, I'm next, I'm
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going to be executed next after Paul.
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So no one came to do that. But he says may it not be
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charged against them. Just as when when Jesus was
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forsaken and when he was on the cross, he said forgive them for
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they know not what they do. He interceded on behalf of the
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people. Stephen also interceded on
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behalf of his persecutors when they were stoning him.
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Stephen said forgive them for they know not what they do.
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And Paul is saying the exact same thing here.
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He's saying, look Lord, may it not be charged against them.
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He had the right to be angry, but he wasn't.
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But he wasn't and it actually opened up a door for Paul
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reading verse 17, he says with the Lord stood with me and
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strengthened me. That's interesting because you
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say, wait a minute, Paul is in this prison, you know, he's not
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eating well, and I'm sure he probably doesn't have a whole
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lot of physical strength at this point.
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I'm sure they try to weigh him down as much as possible, try to
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wear him out. But the truth of the matter is
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Paul says that at one point he felt strong.
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Even though his outward man was perishing, his inward man was
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being renewed. He felt strong in the Lord at
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one point, and even to the point where he was bold enough to
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stand up and in front of the rulers of a Pagan nation, he
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stood up and shared the gospel. So maybe it was better that no
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one came because he had time to do all the talking and he took
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it. The Lord gave him a window, he
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said, But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that the
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message might be preached fully through me.
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He didn't just mention parts of the gospel, he said it was
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preached fully through him. He was able to preach the whole
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gospel to these unbelievers. What a blessing.
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If you have a desire to have an opportunity to teach the gospel,
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to share the gospel, to to speak with someone about Jesus Christ,
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He will give you that divine appointment.
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He will give you an opportunity to do it if you really want to
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do that, because He knows that that is a desire that you have
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and it is surely His desire that you share the gospel.
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So we go, we, we, we get, we get to the point we're closing to
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the end now. And he says here that the gospel
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was preached to that all the Gentiles might hear it.
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And I also was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
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He wasn't executed that day because of what he taught the
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people were thinking on those things and they were able to get
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more time. And then in verse 18, he says,
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and the Lord will deliver me. He was delivered from the lion
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at that particular day, meaning symbolic for he was delivered
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from Nero and from those who wanted to take his life.
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He was delivered from those and he says in 18, and the Lord will
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deliver me. That was just like the three
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Hebrew boys right back in the book of Daniel where he said,
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look, you know, I'm not going to bow before your golden, your
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golden image. I'm not going to bow before you.
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And even if you throw me in this, if you throw us in this
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fiery furnace that you're threatening us with, even if you
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throw us in there, it don't matter because God is able to
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deliver us. I want you to know he's able to
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do it. But even if he chooses or he
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wills not to, I am. We are still going to be
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delivered from you. Rather we delivered in life or
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in death, we will still be delivered.
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That is a blessing of the Lord. And he said he will preserve me
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or he will keep me for his heavenly Kingdom, and then he
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goes down. Paul went into a praise and
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worship service right there. He started saying glory to God
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forever, you know, to him be glory forever and ever, Amen.
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He he, he himself began to feel the spirit raising up in him.
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And then in verse 19 he talks about, you know, come before
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winter. He says Greek Prisca and Aquila,
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they are from Ephesus and they worked with Paul.
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They were Akeelah was a tent maker just like Paul was a tent
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maker. And they met with each other and
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they were blessed by each other's ministry.
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He says give them, give them a greeting from us and the
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household of Onisphorus. Onisphorus back in chapter 1
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again, Onisphorus was one of the people who zealously came from
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Ephesus and sought out Paul, so that while Paul was imprisoned
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there in Rome. Artnisophus was one of the
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people who came and ministered to him, kept him company,
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blessed him. Erastus was actually one of the
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other Co laborers with Paul and he end up staying in Corinth.
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The Bible know what we learned about him is that he is actually
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a treasure. He works on the treasury in
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Corinth. And then there's Trufflemis.
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Trufflemis was it was another Gentile who was with Paul.
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He was actually one of the reasons why there was this big
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anarchy back in Jerusalem. You know, the riot that actually
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led to Paul being forced out of there was because of Trophimus,
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he said, but he left him in Malita's because he was sick.
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OK, so this young man was sick and he needed healing.
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So Paul left him in a place where he was able to get care.
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And then in verse 21, he says do your utmost to come before
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winter, Timothy. Do your utmost.
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Do as much as you can to try to come before winter.
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And the reason being is because the the the ships were in harbor
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in the winter, they couldn't go out.
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It was too dangerous for ships to travel over the winter.
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So they harbor the ships in the winter.
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So if Timothy didn't come before winter, he would not get there
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before Paul would be executed. It would delay his coming.
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And then he says also Ubilis greets you as well as Putin's
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Linus, Claudia and all the brethren.
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And then he goes into his farewell.
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This is the last line that he goes into.
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He says, the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
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Again, it goes back to the same thing we were talking earlier.
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If this was your last day, what would be your parting line?
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What would be your parting line to someone that you cared about?
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What would be the line that you would give?
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What would you say? Well, Paul's heart was toward
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them. He say, may the Lord, may the
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Spirit, may the Lord be with your spirit.
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And then just as he started his letter, and just like every
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other letter, he started with grace and he ends it with grace.
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Just as we started our journey with the Lord and grace, by
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grace we are saved through faith.
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We start this journey with grace and when we end, we will end in
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God's grace and everything we do in between.
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The time that we start and the time that the Lord gracefully
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takes us out of here, everything that we do in between will be by
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his grace. So grace be with you all.
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Amen. I just wanted to say imparting,
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just wanted to mention that as we think about this last letter,
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Paul's last time ever being able to talk with Timothy, ever being
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able to to be any kind of help to Timothy.
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Paul is just emphasizing one thing.
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He's saying look, finish, finish what the Lord has given you to
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do finish. He said, I have fought the good
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fight. I've I've finished the course.
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I finished and I kept the faith. Paul is just saying finish,
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finish, finish strong. If you need help, a body of
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believers is of good help. People can pray with you, people
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who can encourage you, people who can help build you up.
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That's the way you want to finish.
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You want to finish faithfully, finish the race that is set
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before us. That's what Jesus Christ did.
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He finished. In fact he said at the end of in
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his prayer to the Father, he said, I have finished the work
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that you have given me to do. I finished it.
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Thank you for tuning in to Living Waters of Grace with
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Pastor Louis Harrell. We're currently in the books of
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First and Second Timothy. Some of the things included in
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these New Testament letters from Paul are that the young and
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newly established Pastor Timothy was being encouraged to hold
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fast to what was true. He was challenged to confront
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and address the false teachers that were rising up.
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He was also reminded to accept his calling to the ministry with
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gratefulness and to address the happenings going on in the
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Ephesian church. Paul was imparting his
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experience and knowledge to the next generation.
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Timothy was receptive to learning and gleaning what he
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could from Paul's wisdom. This is how it should be in
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ministry across multiple generations.
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Those who have lived a little more life should be open to
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sharing their successes and also things they've learned along the
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way that we're not a wind. The younger generations coming
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up can learn and appreciate much from those ahead of them and
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perhaps avoid some of the same pitfalls that their mentors work
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through mentoring. It's a beautiful relationship
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when the hearts are in the right place to learn and grow.
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We trust that you're in a community where this is
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happening. Older ones providing advice and
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wisdom and each side learning and growing from one another.
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This certainly was the case for Paul and Timothy as they were
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comrades for the sake of the gospel.
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For more information on where this teaching came from, go to
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calvarychapelonline.com. There you can also learn about
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our service times to join us in person.
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This has been living waters of Grace.