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Living Waters of Grace - 01.08.26 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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  This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
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  Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
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  County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
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  continues teaching through God's Word.
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  Paul was called to communicate the heart of God.
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  So Paul wasn't there to protest against slaves.
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  And we see the word slaves. This is not slaves the way that,
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  you know, certain groups of people had to endure.
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  Obviously I'm African American, so my experience and
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  understanding about slaves is much different.
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  He's not talking about a group of people who's being oppressed.
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  Slaves are actually people who serve other people, and some of
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  them give themselves to do it. What does it look like to speak
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  God's heart instead of just protesting the world's wrongs?
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  In today's message, Pastor Lewis explains that Paul was sent to
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  reveal the heart of God, not to March against every injustice.
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  When Scripture speaks of slaves, it's not describing the brutal
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  oppression some groups have endured.
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  It refers to servants who willingly bound themselves to
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  another. Paul's calling was bigger than
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  political reform. How do you focus on sharing
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  God's heart above every other 'cause now?
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  Here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of First Timothy, chapter 6,
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  with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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  First Timothy Chapter 6. Now as we go into First Timothy
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  Chapter 6, this is going to be more about instruction, more
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  instruction that Paul is giving to his young son, Timothy.
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  And as I asked you, what helps me because I'm kind of my wife
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  and myself are kind of visual people.
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  And I like to envision Paul not just handing Timothy a letter,
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  but I like to envision Paul sitting before Timothy and
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  instructing him. Much like the way that you have
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  mentors that you sit in front of or people that you spend time
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  with. And I like to envision Timothy
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  sitting before his father in the Spirit and receiving all these
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  truths and receiving these instructions and how personal
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  Paul is about giving those instructions, both corporately
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  for the church. Because Paul knew that this
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  would be read. It was intended to be read
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  before the church, just like it was intended in God's
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  foreknowledge that it would be read before this church.
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  Amen. But I'd like to imagine the fact
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  that Timothy is getting this first hand instruction, these
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  things that can have serious impact on his life and also on
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  the life of the church. So as we read through this,
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  we'll begin to see how God in his foreknowledge and in his
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  sovereignty, how he speaks to very important situations,
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  specifically giving instruction to his young pastor Timothy.
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  So we start with verse one, and he says, let as many bond
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  servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy
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  of all honor, so that the name of God and his doctrine may not
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  be blasphemed. And those who have believing
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  masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren,
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  but rather serve them because those who are benefited are
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  believers. And beloved, teach, teach and
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  exhort these things. Timothy.
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  So basically what we're seeing here is that Paul is now
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  speaking to those who are in the church or about those who are in
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  the church who are slaves. Now when we see the word slaves
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  and now a lot of people, you know, feel like, well, wait a
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  minute. Why is Paul giving him
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  instructions about how to act as slaves and not being a little
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  harder about the fact that there are slaves?
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  And it's a very simple explanation for that.
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  Paul wasn't called to do that. He wasn't called to protest
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  against being slaves or not being slaves.
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  Paul was called to preach the gospel.
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  Paul was called to teach doctrine.
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  Paul was called to communicate the heart of God.
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  So Paul wasn't there to protest against slaves.
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  And we see the word slaves. This is not slaves the way that,
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  you know, certain groups of people had to endure.
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  Obviously, I'm African American, so my experience and
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  understanding about slaves is much different.
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  He's not talking about a group of people who was being
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  oppressed. Slaves are actually people who
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  serve other people, and some of them give themselves to do it
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  because they can't pay debts or they can't feed their families
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  or or they can't take care of themselves.
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  Or maybe they owed something and because they couldn't pay it,
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  they were sold into this. So Paul is saying it doesn't
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  matter about the fact that you're a slave.
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  What matter is that you are demonstrating godliness in the
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  fact that you are being a slave. So as we look at this today, how
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  will we communicate this today? We all have employers and we are
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  employees, so it would be the same thing.
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  How do we act on our job? How do we treat our bosses?
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  How do we respond to things on the job?
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  Now, this is particularly personal for me because just to
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  give you a little quick illustration of how wrong we can
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  do this thing, there was a time many years ago when I worked for
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  a company and I was one of the only salespeople in that company
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  and I had a boss. She was a little younger than
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  me, but she was ambitious. She wanted to work her way up.
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  So as we were going through different things, there were
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  some misfilings, there were some sales that got dropped.
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  And it wasn't me that did it, it was her who did it.
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  But she was the one who met with the Home Office and she blamed
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  it on me. And when I found out about this,
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  I confronted her and I was saved at the time.
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  And I confronted her and I wanted to know why.
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  And she admitted that she panicked.
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  And then she threw me under the bus because it was convenient.
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  She admitted that. So I had to do a lot of praying
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  because at that particular time, my heart went cold.
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  It went very cold. And I said I will no longer go
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  above and beyond again. I'll only do the bare minimum.
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  I won't even speak to her anymore.
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  I'll just come in, go in my office and do what I'm supposed
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  to do. And at that particular time, I
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  had a friend that I was in very close contact with and we would
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  get together from time to time and get into the word of God.
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  And he called me out on that. He said, brother, you are wrong.
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  You are wrong and God is not going to do anything to move you
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  out of that situation until your heart changes hit me right
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  between the eyes. So I had to repent.
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  So Paul is saying here, look, it doesn't matter whether they're
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  believing or unbelieving. You are to honor them.
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  That means respect them. You're to respect your bosses or
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  your owners or your masters. You respect them.
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  Why? So that the name of God and his
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  doctrine is not blasphemy. I was not being a very good
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  witness for Christ. Why would this woman ever even
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  consider being a Christian or giving her life to Christ if
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  this is how a Christian acts? I was called on that.
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  So Paul is saying to you just like he's saying to me, we got
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  to be a witness no matter what situation we're in.
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  We got to be a witness for Christ.
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  We have to be an example of testimony so that the name of
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  God is not blasphemed, so that the doctrine of God, the gospel
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  is not blasphemed. So then he goes on in verse 2
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  and he says, and those who have believing masters, let them not
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  despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them
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  because those who are being benefited are believers and
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  beloved. You know, sometimes we can think
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  that if we're, if we're working for somebody who's a Christian,
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  you know, we think that we can slide a little bit, then we can
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  get some privileges that other people can't get.
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  You know, I can push things a little further to the to the
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  line. You know, I can push the
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  envelope a little further because hey, he's a Christian
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  just like me. You know, he ain't going to tell
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  on me or he's not going to come down hard on me or he's not
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  going to hold me accountable. Paula said no, no, we should
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  honor them and respect them as well.
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  In fact even more so, we should serve them even more because
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  they benefit. They benefit from our service of
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  them and they are brothers or sisters in the faith.
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  Why we wouldn't want to do anything that would bring or put
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  them in a position that they would have to make a tough
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  decision. Why put them in that position?
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  Why put them in a position where they may have to consider firing
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  you because you come in late all the time or because you're doing
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  things that you shouldn't be doing on company time, or
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  because you're disrespecting them or because your work is
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  half of what it could be? That's not a good testimony and
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  you're believing boss doesn't benefit.
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  So Paul deals with that right from the beginning and then he
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  goes into verse 3 and he says if anyone teaches otherwise and
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  does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our
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  Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with
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  godliness, in other words of the doctrine which conforms with
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  godliness or the doctrine that teaches godliness.
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  He is proud verse 4, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with
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  disputes and arguments over words from which come envy,
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  strife, revelings, evil suspicions, useless wranglings
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  of men, of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who
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  suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
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  Paul says from such, withdraw yourself.
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  So he says if anyone teaches otherwise, that means if anyone
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  teaches against the gospel, against the doctrine, against
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  the words of Jesus Christ, if anyone teaches against that, as
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  Christians we should not ever put ourselves in a position to
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  even listen to or to be persuaded by any doctrine or any
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  word that is contrary to the word of Jesus Christ, should not
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  even put ourselves in that position.
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  But Paul says if anyone teaches that way, you know, they're not
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  consenting to hold some words. So we shouldn't listen to them
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  if they're not consenting to hold some words, which are the
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  words of Jesus Christ and the things that he teaches and to
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  the doctrine which conforms with godliness.
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  We know what godliness is. Anything that someone would
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  teach that's contrary to godliness or God likeness should
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  not even be listening to that. We should not even be listening
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  at all. He says that.
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  Now this is the character of a person that does that.
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  Verse 4, He's proud. This is a person that's puffed
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  up with pride. They're teaching because they
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  want to just spell out their knowledge.
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  I'm deep, I'm deep. Listen, how deep this is, I'm
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  going to take another vantage point.
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  Look at this from another vantage point.
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  No, we only need to see it from 1 vantage point.
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  That's from the point of Jesus Christ.
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  So they start to talk about all these deep words and they get
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  obsessed. And this is a person who gets
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  obsessed over disputes. And really, when you study it
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  out, it's, it's really like a, a very sick desire to argue, a
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  very morbid desire to get into arguments.
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  And this is a person who's spilling out false doctrine, but
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  then they want to argue about it.
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  They want to create division about it.
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  They want to dispute with you about it.
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  You're sharing the word of God. They're talking about their
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  doctrine and trying to argue, to try to justify it.
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  And Paul says it's an obsession, it's a evil desire.
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  It's a sick desire to dispute and argue over words, over words
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  that they take in A twist to mean what it is that they want
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  the word to say. Paul said be careful with that.
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  Now, from this, from someone who teaches that the only things
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  that come out of that, the result of that kind of teaching
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  is what follows envy, strife, revelings, which is basically
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  abusive language, evil suspicions or evil surmisings,
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  useless wrangling. That's constant friction,
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  constant friction. People constantly opposing you,
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  constantly opposing you. You're teaching the gospel and
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  they're constantly opposing it with their own thoughts, their
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  own ways, their own words, their own theories, he said.
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  These are men of corrupt minds. That means their minds are
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  corrupt. They're defiled corrupt minds
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  and destitute of the truth, robbed of the truth.
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  They're robbed of the truth because they've abandoned the
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  truth for so long. So they're robbed of the truth.
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  Who suppose that godliness is a means of gain?
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  This is nothing more than the bad teaching of prosperity
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  gospel, nothing more than that. To see godliness as a means of
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  gain. It's a way to get money for
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  them. It's not about building up
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  lives. It's not about building people
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  up spiritually. It's not about for them.
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  It's not about edifying people or bringing in souls.
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  It's not about that for them. It's about let's teach this
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  prosperity message because it entices people and they make
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  money from it and they're using the gospel as a means, a means
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  of gain. That is not what the gospel.
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  That's a covetous attitude. It's a covetous attitude.
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  And then he says here in verse 6, now godliness with
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  contentment is great gain. And I just want to talk about
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  contentment just for a second. Contentment is basically an
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  inner sufficiency that keeps us at peace despite outward
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  circumstances. Some people can only be content
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  if they have enough money. Some people can only be content
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  if they're with the person that they want to be with.
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  Some people can only be content if the circumstances are in
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  their favor. That's the only way they can be
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  content. Paul is saying contentment is an
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  inner sufficiency, not based on anything outside of me.
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  It's not based on my bank account.
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  It's not based on the size of my house.
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  It's not based on me driving the car I want to drive.
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  It's not based on me being with this person.
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  Not because I like what's inside of them, because I like the way
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  they look on the outside. Paul is saying that's not what
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  contentment is. Godliness in the heart is true
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  contentment. Wealth can't even purchase that
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  wealth. Can't purchase that kind of
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  contentment wealth can't purchase it no matter how much
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  money you get, you still won't ever achieve contentment because
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  you're going to always want more.
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  These who depend on your wealth and your riches for peace and
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  contentment will never be satisfied, will never be
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  satisfied. But Job looked at it from a
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  different way back in Job chapter 1 and verse 21, he had a
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  very healthy perspective of contentment and money.
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  He says, listen, naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked
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  I shall return there in the Ecclesiastes 5 and 15, Solomon
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  said as he came from his mother's womb, naked shall he
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  return to go as he came, and he shall take nothing from his
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  labor which he may carry away in his hand.
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  So contentment has got to be our godliness, because it's our
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  godliness that goes beyond this world.
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  Riches only go as far as this world goes.
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  But once we leave this world, riches does us no more good.
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  It only goes as far as this world goes.
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  And Paul says from such people, people who have that attitude,
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  people who preach those things, he said withdraw yourself.
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  And he said godliness with contentment is great game for
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  seven. We brought nothing into this
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  world and it is certain we will carry nothing out of it.
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  And having now this is what Paul is saying is that shows
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  contentment. He says having food and clothing
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  with fees, we shall be content having food and clothing.
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  Those are the particulars. Those are the necessary things
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  that we have. Even Jesus himself said, look,
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  you know foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but
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  the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his own head.
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  He has nowhere to lay his own head.
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  Matthew 633 said, But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his
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  righteousness, and these things, these necessary things will be
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  added to you. Contentment is being satisfied
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  with the situation ordained by God.
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  So then we go into verse 9, which begins to talk about two
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  types of people as it relates to wealth, Two types of people.
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  The first one is those who desire to be rich.
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  Now these are people here in the church.
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  We're talking about the church. We're not talking about the
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  world. The first group of people that
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  he's talking about are those who desire to be rich.
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  And he says, so those who desire to be rich fall into temptation,
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  in a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which
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  drown men in destruction and perdition.
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  That's a very interesting picture when you think about
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  that, being a pitcher person. It says that those who desire to
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  be rich, they fall into temptation and a snare.
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  And we know that those things all have to do with what's going
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  on the inside of us. And the snare are pitfalls that
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  we fall into. And it says and have fallen to
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  many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction.
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  Now it's the picture of a man being taken down underwater,
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  being taken down and held down, weighted down by destruction by
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  their lusts and by perdition by their lusts.
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  They got so many things that they're lusting for.
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  It's like a weight on them because they can never attain it
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  all. So it's just constant, constant
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  worrying and constant striving for something that they can
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  never really achieve and be satisfied with.
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  And it's like a weight that takes them down and holds them
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  and drowns them in it. And then it says here in verse
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  10. And this is a very well used
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  scripture, but probably one of the most quoted scriptures.
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  That we have in the New Testament, it says for the love
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  of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
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  Now, money is not evil. God created money, Money is not
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  evil, he said. The love of it is what's evil.
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  Because once we develop a love for money, it becomes an idol
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  and we put it in a position that's even higher than we put
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  God, and we begin to do all the kind of things in order to
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  obtain money because of our love for money.
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  And it said it is not the root of all kinds of evil.
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  The Bible says it is a root of all kinds of evil.
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  There are many different paths and ways to end up on an evil
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  path. Money is just one of them, money
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  is just one of them. But it is indeed a way to end up
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  on an evil path. The love of money for which some
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  have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced
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  themselves through with many sorrows, The love of money.
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  And what is so sad about that? Because the love of money leads
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  men into many, many ways of air, many ways of air, the desire of
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  riches are traps. It leads us into bondages and it
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  causes the word of God to become unfruitful.
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  It being choked out the cares of this world and the deceitfulness
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  of riches and the desires of other things.
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  That's the word speaks about in Mark chapter 4, verse 18, which
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  in the parable, the sober, it chokes out the truth of the word
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  and instead people focus on the cares of this world and the
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  deceitfulness of riches and riches are deceitful and the
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  desire for other things. These foolish and harmful lusts
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  will take us down. And it has destroyed many of
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  people. It's the love of money that has
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  destroyed marriages. It's destroyed companies, it's
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  destroyed relationships. It destroys families.
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  Someone gets a trust or something and and you know,
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  someone passes and when it's time to go read the will, Oh my
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  goodness, people begin. I mean, they stop speaking
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  because they got more than they got.
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  It breaks up families. People stop speaking for years
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  over money and the bad thing about it and I've watched this
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  happen before when it says here for some have strayed from the
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  faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with
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  many sorrows. There's so many people that I've
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  seen I've witnessed myself that has a gift given by God to
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  either sing. There are great musicians or
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  very gifted communicators of the word of God, and they may start
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  out using that gift to serve the Lord.
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  They start out using that gift to serve the Lord.
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  But as the love of money creeps into their hearts, because
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  somebody said to them, you could be making so much more money.
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  You could be driving so much of A better car.
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  You could be living in such a bigger house, You could be
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  having so many more things at your disposure, and they begin
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  to leave the faith and begin to sing for the world.
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  And I've watched people as their lives crumble as a result of
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  that. This has been another
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  encouraging edition of Living Waters of Grace.
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  Pastor Louis Harrell has shared some good reminders for us to
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  learn and walk in today as he's teaching through the books of
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  First and Second Timothy. There are useful practices and
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  advice that the apostle Paul offers to Timothy in these books
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  from a fellow pastor, Paul imparts some wisdom to Timothy
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  about solid leadership and what some of the criteria should be
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  for leadership. There are specific passages
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  directed toward men and women, respectively, and All in all,
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  there's much to gain in coming to an awareness of God's heart
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  for each person and God's purposes for each one.
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  We're happy that you've taken the time today to listen.
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  We invite you to come here the next edition.
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  In the meantime, when you have some time to spare today, go
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  check out our website, calvarychapelonline.com.
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  There you'll find additional messages as well as a variety of
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  resources and information about how to meet with us in person.
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  We're also on Facebook, so you can be a part of what we share
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  there as well. You can stay plugged in with
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  this ministry via YouTube to watch previous teachings or tune
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  into our live stream. Living Waters of Grace is a
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  ministry of Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
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  Before we go today, we ask that you share this program with
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  others and invite them to listen on Grace FM at 91.7.
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  That's all we have for today, but we're so glad that you've
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  been with us. There's more to dig into here in
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  First and Second Timothy, so let's gear up for some more
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  great teachings from Pastor Lewis next time here on Living
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  Waters of Grace.