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Living Waters of Grace 12.26.25 · 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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We're not living a double life. None of us are totally sinless.
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No, I realize that we all realize that none of us are
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totally sinless. We all fall, we all all come
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shorter of the glory of God sometimes.
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But when we do, because our hearts are given to the Lord, we
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repent for those things and we turn back to the Lord.
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But even though we're not sin less, but we should sin less,
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right? We should not sin as much as we
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did before we gave our hearts to the Lord, because it gives place
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to the devil. If you didn't listen carefully a
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moment ago, you might have gotten the wrong impression from
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Pastor Lewis. You might have thought he said
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that we have to be sinless as followers of Jesus.
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We all know that is completely impossible.
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No, Pastor Lewis said that we should sin less, meaning we
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should not sin as much as we used to.
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If your life looks the same as it did when you said you
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received Jesus, maybe that's all you did, just received Him.
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But you never made him Lord and master of your life.
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If you did, your life would look different now.
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Here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of First Timothy, chapter 3,
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with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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We've talked in first in chapter 2.
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Paul gave some instructions to his young pastor Timothy, who
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has been left in Ephesus to take over the Ephesian church, to
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pastor the Ephesian church. And Paul has given him
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instructions that he should pass on to them.
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And I just want to emphasize that in chapter 2, the first
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thing that he mentions and emphasizes is the need for
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prayer. And in that need, he talks about
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praying for a number of things. He talks about the intercessions
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and he praying in terms of the supplications and things of that
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nature. But there's so much to be prayed
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for in the church. So he starts off the teaching,
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talking about prayer. And as we move over into chapter
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3, we see the need for prayer. In fact, we as a church
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emphasize prayer as well. And the reason why is because
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it's through prayer that the church moves.
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It's through prayer that the church comes in order.
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It's through prayer that we can be good examples of the
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Christian faith and the things that the Lord is raising up in
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us to do that we would be that light, you know, that light
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doesn't come, but through prayer.
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It comes through the the power of the Holy Spirit.
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And it's when we have the Holy Spirit on the inside of us, we
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have a light that can shine. Without the Holy Spirit, we
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don't have a light. It's dim, it's dark, but it's
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the Holy Spirit that brings light to our life.
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Jesus says I am the light of life.
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And as long as he's in the world, we have light.
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But when we I leave, you know, then it will be darkness.
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But we have light because we have that spirit on the inside
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of us and thank you Jesus that we have it because that is what
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helps us to live the Christian life.
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So what we're going to be talking about today is going to
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be the example of why it's so important to have the Holy
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Spirit to live the Christian life.
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So in starting in verse 3 here, verse 1, he says this is a
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faithful saying. If a man desires the position of
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a Bishop, he desires a good work.
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So he said this is a faithful saying, this is a trustworthy
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saying. This is a saying that you can
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count on. This is a saying that you can
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believe in. This is a trustworth you can
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trust this that if a man desires the position of a Bishop, he
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desires the good work. So the word Bishop here and it,
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and you know, it's used here in the New Testament, Paul uses it
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and it's, it's a little different.
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I think we should talk about it just for a second because it's a
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little different than what we may have understood a Bishop to
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be. And I know when I was growing
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up, when I heard the word Bishop, I'm thinking of some
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powerful person walking in the church with this garb on that
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just looks untouchable. You know, he, he, he's like all
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powerful, all knowing and just like really like he's God's
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second cousin or something. You know, it was, it was, it was
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that kind of an attitude almost with these, these bishops in the
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New Testament church. And, and they had all this
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oversight and all this power. But the word Bishop here, when
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Paul uses it, it's the Latin word Episcopal.
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And the word Episcopal actually means overseer.
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So the word Bishop just basically means overseer.
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In fact, in the Word of God, the word Bishop, the word pastor,
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and the word elder, all three of those are used interchangeably.
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Often in the Word of God. They all refer to being an
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overseer. It's an overseer.
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I just want to take us to a couple of scriptures where
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you'll see all three of those terms are used.
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And the first one I'm going to go to is going to be to the book
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of Acts. If you'll go with me to the book
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of Acts, chapter 20, Chapter 20. In the book of Acts Now right
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there in verse 17, he starts and he says from the leaders he sent
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to Ephesians and called for the elders of the church.
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And then when you go over to verse 28, he says, therefore
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take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the
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Holy Spirit has made you overseers and and to shepherd
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the Church of God. Now this overseer is what we're
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talking about as being a Bishop and the shepherd is actually
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pastor. A shepherd is a pastor.
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He pastors the flock. He he shepherds the flock and
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that's exactly what the overseer does.
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I'm going to take you to one other, if you'll go with me to
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first Peter chapter 5. First Peter chapter 5.
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Again we see these three titles mentioned in one place.
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You'll see first First Peter chapter 5, verse one.
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It says the elders who are among you.
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I exhort, So he uses the word elders there and then he says,
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and I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of
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Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed,
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verse 2, shepherd the flock. In other words, pastor the
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flock, oversee the flock, oversee the flock, pastor the
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flock, which is among you serving as overseers.
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So again, you see those 3 terms used, interchange, They all mean
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the same thing. Overseer, one who overseas, one
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who governs the flock, takes care of the flock.
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So this is what Paul said. I wanted to spend time doing
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that because here in Calvary Chapel, we don't necessarily
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have bishops. We don't have bishops.
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We, we, we, we have pastors and we have elders and we do have
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deacons also, but you know, but we also have pastors, but the
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ones who are like the spiritual oversight of the church is, is
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generally under the leadership of the pastors and the elders.
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So that's what a spiritual oversight of the church comes
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from. So then he says that if he
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desires a good, he desires a good work.
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If he wants to be a pastor, what that means?
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It's a noble work. It's an honorable work.
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It's a work of good reputation. Now, here in Calvary Chapel, we
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have three that serve as elders and pastors.
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OK Clark and I are the pastors of the church.
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And we have George and John who are the elders, and they all
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give oversight and to the leadership of the church.
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We work together to give oversight.
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We pray together to give oversight to the Church, but we
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don't have someone who comes in with a mitre on and call him
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Bishop. We don't have that.
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We don't have that. So he says that it is a
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trustworthy and faithful saying. And then and he says that it is
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a good work to desire the work of a Bishop.
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But then he says a Bishop then must be blameless.
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And I emphasize the word must be.
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He doesn't say that a Bishop can be, should be, might be, want to
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be. He says a Bishop must be
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blameless. And what does he mean by
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blameless? He means that, you know that
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nothing to take hold of. That means that there's that
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he's above reproach. This is a man who was above
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reproach. There is nothing to take hold
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of. There's nothing that people can
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point to or that people can criticize him for in his life.
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He's not a man that's living a double life.
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He's not a man that's here on Sundays and then when he leaves
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here, he's going to the local bars to hang out, to do all the
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things that the worldly people do.
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He is a blameless. The people couldn't come in if
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the world was to come in or if unsaved people was to come in.
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They could not point to him and say how is he the pastor?
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Because I just saw him the other day or the other night doing ABC
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or D. How is he your pastor?
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That brings a reproach or shame upon the ministry and it brings
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shame upon him as a church leader.
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So he must be blameless. You know, we know that Satan
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will always try to put people in a position to do things
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disgraceful or to do things shameful.
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Satan will always try to do that, to tempt, to tempt us and
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to put us in situations where we have to make a decision to do
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the right thing. And so we we want Satan to be
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cast out so that we can do those things that are approvable to
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the Lord. We're not living a double life.
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None of us are totally sinless. Or I realize that we all realize
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that none of us are totally sinless.
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We all fall, we all all come shorter of the glory of God
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sometimes. But when we do, because our
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hearts are given to the Lord, we repent for those things and we
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turn back to the Lord. But even though we're not sin
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less, but we should sin less, right?
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We should not sin as much as we did before we gave our hearts to
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the Lord, because it gives place to the devil.
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This is an interesting illustration of one who is
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blameless or one who is above reproach.
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And he says simply this. It's like a boxer, like a boxer,
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the word pugilist, you know, or a boxer, one who gets in,
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defends himself in a ring. A skillful pugilist or a
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skillful boxer is one who can defend himself in such a way
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that he gives the enemy absolutely no chance to hit him.
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There's no way you can hit him. No, he's defended.
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He's defended, so defended that he's not open for a hit anywhere
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to take a blow. And that's exactly what the life
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of a Christian or a Christian leader should be.
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It should be one who lives his life in a way that although we
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know that the devil is a accuser of men, we know that, but
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doesn't mean that those accusations have to be true.
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So there's no way that he can land a blow upon our character.
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This is what the thought here. I remember when I was younger
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and I watched the, I watched the young man and an old man.
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The, the young man was about 18 years old and the older man was
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about, I think he was like in the 70s and he was boxing.
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He gave a boxing demonstration and I'm watching these two guys
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in the ring and this young guy is trying everything he can to
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land a blow on a 70 year old man.
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And it wasn't that he was so fast or quick or anything.
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He was just so well defended in the way that he held his body,
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the way that he held his hands, in the way that he defended
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against the blows. The young man could not land one
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blow and this 70 year old was getting a standing ovation
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because even though he didn't throw any blows, he didn't
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receive 1. It was interesting.
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So as I was reading this, I'm studying this, I'm thinking
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about this. That's exactly what Paul's
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saying, that we should, that we should be, we should be like
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this pugilist, this boxer who does not lend ourselves to take
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a blow from the enemy in any way or from people in the community
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in any way. So he goes on here.
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He says, so the Bishop must be blameless, but he also must be
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the husband of one wife, the husband of one wife.
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And it speaks to the faithfulness of a pastor.
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It speaks to his his faithfulness, his him giving
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himself all of himself to his wife and not having other wives
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on the side or he's not polygamous or anything of that
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nature. He has one wife.
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Now, it also does not mean Paul is not necessarily saying that a
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pastor elder has to be married or that he has to have children.
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He's not saying that he has to. But if he does, then he should
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be the man of one wife, one wife.
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He should be the man who, if he does, if his wife passes, if,
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you know, if he becomes a widower or something, he can
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remarry. This is not saying that he can
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never marry again if his wife passes.
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You know, if he becomes a widower, he can be married
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again, but if his wife is not past and he just divorces his
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wife, that is said in the word of God to disqualify him as an
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elder or a pastor. So Paul continues his point
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back. You know, that he that he talked
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about back in 212 when he talked about the fact that, you know,
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this should be the position of a man.
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And by clarifying that further here in verse 2, he says that a
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pastor is a man of he's he's a man.
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He's the he's the husband of one wife.
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Every husband I know is a man and every wife that I know is a
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woman. So it's not a position that's
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opened up for a woman. Now, there's other ministries in
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the church where women are definitely able to feel and
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function in, but the pastor or the elder position is not one of
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them. And here in Calvary Chapel, we
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don't have women pastors and women elders.
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We don't have them. We have women teachers who teach
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other women, who teach children, but we don't have pastors and
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elders who are women. And so he goes on and he says
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not given to wine. I'm sorry, before we back, we
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get to not to the wine part. I don't know why I ran there
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first. But anyway, he said he must also
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be temperate, OK, temperate. So that means that he must be
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vigilant or have self-control. He must be a sober someone who
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is sober. He's his mind is not clouded.
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He's not someone who is given to extremes.
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You know, he's not someone who has these drastic mood swings,
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quick tempered person, but he's under control.
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He can control himself, his temper and also his passions.
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He's a temperate man. He's reliable, trustworthy.
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He keeps his head in all situations and then he goes on.
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He says he must be sober minded, which is very similar to being
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temperate. But he approaches the work of
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the ministry with a seriousness. This is someone who understands
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the value of ministry. He understands the value of
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being a leader of a congregation, the leader of
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sheep. He understands what that means.
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Now, that doesn't mean that he's, you know, always, you
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know, a stern and ever laughs or you can't hold a regular
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conversation with them. That's not what this is.
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What he's saying here. What he's saying here is that he
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understands that the ministry that he is called to is a
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ministry of seriousness. It's about souls.
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It's about winning souls and teaching people who have given
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their lives to Christ the way of the way, the way of
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Christianity, to give instruction on instructional
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teaching on how to walk and live as a Christian.
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And that's serious. That's serious.
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So he understands the validity of that.
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So he upholds the gospel message with seriousness.
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And again, doesn't mean that he has to lack a sense of humor.
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You know, some of the funniest men that I know are pastors.
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You know, they're your sense of humor.
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Sometimes it could be a little dry, but it's still funny.
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You know, it's they're they're very pleasant to be around.
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Very pleasant to be around. Let's see the next one goes into
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now we're able to talk about the the good behavior.
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And this is really important because Paul almost talks about
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the person being a person of good behavior, almost the way
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that he talks about the women and the way that they dress over
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in first Timothy 29 over first Timothy 29.
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If you just turn back there just for a second here, it says in
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like manner also that the women adorned themselves in modest
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apparel with a propriety and moderation, not with braided
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hair or gold pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper
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for women professing godliness and good works.
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Paul's also is almost making that same distinction with the
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behavior of a pastor, and he is saying that just as a woman has
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to be modest in her dress, she has to be a woman who dresses in
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good taste, that it doesn't draw attention to her and doesn't
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deflect attention away from God. Neither should the man of God
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behave himself in a way that distracts or deflects the
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attention from God or the gospel and keeps his attention on him.
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He shouldn't be boisterous. He shouldn't be loud and
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obnoxious. He shouldn't be someone who is
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rude. He shouldn't be someone who is
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disgraceful or does disgraceful things.
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So he should do nothing to deflect the glory of God.
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Deflect off the glory of God for people who are looking at him,
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but they should see Christ in him and in his behavior.
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He should be a person of good behavior.
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Then he goes on into hospital. We should be hospitable.
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And I remember when I was younger and always refer back to
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that because the church was just so was kind of different than
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the way it is now. And I'm sure a lot of you can
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relate to that. But when I was younger, when it
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came to hospital, you know, hospitality, there would be
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times when other churches would come into the area to attend
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services at our church, and they would bring in, you know,
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busloads of people. And a lot of those people didn't
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have anywhere to stay. So the Christians in that town
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that was going to the church, they would open up their homes
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for these people to stay. Up their homes, they are being
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hospitable. I know here when people come
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here to visit to, whether it's the teach here or the
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missionaries come to give their reports and to share with us
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there, we always accommodate them.
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We accommodate them. We set them up in a place to to
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be either rather it's in someone's house or we pay for
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the accommodations at A at an inn.
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We pay for their meals, we take care of them, make sure that
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they're fed and that they have what they need.
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You know, we're hospitable toward people who come and
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visit. And that's really important
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because we have to be willing. A pastor should be willing to
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open up their home. Now that term hospital literally
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means loving the stranger. That's what literally means
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loving the stranger. So it's loving somebody that you
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don't really know anything about.
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Now these people are Christians. We're talking about Christians,
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other Christians, but they may be coming from other areas and
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you are hospitable to them. But we're also hospital to
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people who have need, who have not given their lives to Christ.
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We have helped people in that way as well.
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We've helped people have find housing or or help people
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accommodate them for a couple nights in a inn for a couple
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nights if they're homeless. So we have been hospitable
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towards both those that are inside the church and those who
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have been outside of the church. Romans 12 and 13 says it talks
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about the distributing to the needs of the Saints and being
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given to hospitality. Hebrews 13 and two says that you
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we're not to forget to entertain strangers for by so or for by
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doing so we unknowingly entertain angels.
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So we need to also look at being hospitable.
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How important that is. Now there was a case in 3rd John
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where the atrophis was a man who was not hospitable.
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In fact, he refused to receive the missionaries and actually
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denied or did not permit anyone else in his church to receive
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them. So Paul said that this person
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will be dealt with. That is not the way of the Lord.
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That is not the Christian way is to deny hospitality to a brother
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or a sister. So we should be hospitable.
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And then of course #7 says we got to be able to teach.
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We got to be able to teach. Now that able to teach is not
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just to be skilled in teaching. For there's a lot of people who
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are able to stand up here and project words with clarity or
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communicate in a way that's eloquent.
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There's a lot of people who are able to do that.
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But when he's talking about being able to teach, he's
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talking about being able to teach the Word of God, to study,
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to show yourself approved someone who is a student, a
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careful student in the Word of God, but not in their own
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strength. Again, it has to be someone who
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is willing and who knows that the teaching power does not come
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from themselves, but it comes from the Holy Spirit.
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You have to be someone that's given to prayer, someone that is
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always calling on the help of the Holy Spirit to help you to
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teach the Word of God. That's where the power is.
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That's where the power is. It's not the words that come out
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of my mouth by myself, but it's when the words that come out of
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my mouth is empowered by the Holy Spirit.
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That's what touches hearts. You've been listening.
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To Pastor Lewis Harrell here on Living Waters of Grace, we're
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digging into all that Paul shared with Timothy in the books
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of First and Second Timothy. Timothy was commissioned to do
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the following fight, the good fight of faith, lay hold on
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eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed
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the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
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Timothy would be carrying on what Paul had taught him and
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continuing on in ministry even though Paul knew that more
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hardships would come for Timothy.
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This is the Christian life. It's not glamorous.
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It's not some celebrity status. It's hard fought.
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It's gritty, it's unpopular, but it's worth it.
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Do you believe that today? Are you willing to fight the
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good fight even at the cost of earthly pleasures?
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Living the life of a follower of Jesus will have its heavenly
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rewards. To be a part of a community
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that's looking forward to that heavenly reward, we invite you
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to join us at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
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If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, come be with us this
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Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
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Ste. 6B. Check out Calvary Chapel
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online.com For more information on directions and any other
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details you might want to know. You can also download our mobile
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