This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
continues teaching through God's Word.
Paul was saying I am already being poured out, I've already
given everything. I've given all to the Lord ever
since the day that he caught me into ministry back in Acts
Chapter 9 when he first stopped me on the road to Damascus.
From that point on, I've given it all to him, I've given it all
to him. And that is such an inspiration
for us to look at how we serve the Lord.
Do we? Give it all to him, do we Give
it off to them? Do we hold something back
because in that cup for the drink offering, the whole idea
was that totally empty the cup. I like to hear compliments,
don't you? I don't really care for
criticism. I know that I could lose a few
pounds. I know that I can stand to lay
off the sweets a bit. But isn't it good to have people
in your life who tell it to you? Straight people who won't
sugarcoat the truth. In his message today, Pastor
Lewis warned you about Bible teachers who just tell you
everything that makes you feel good about yourself.
The Word of God should challenge you.
It should convict you of sin, and it should push you towards
holiness. Now here's Pastor Lewis in the
Book of Second Timothy, Chapter 4, with today's edition of
Living Waters of Grace. He says, and the words should
convince or convict or correct. It should rebuke and it should
exhort. Every time one of us comes up
and teach this word, one of those three things should be
happening. It should either correct us.
It should either exhort us or encourage us or should warn us
or caution us. But the word should always have
impact is what Paul is saying. The word will always have
impact. And this is to be done with
long-suffering and teaching, or in other words, patience.
Paul is talking about patience because he understands that as
Timothy, as you speak to your congregation, everyone is not
going to be at the same place spiritually.
So people will need to be. You will need to be patient
because people are going to mature at different levels.
As we mature at different rates, we're going to mature
differently. So, Timothy, be patient, but be
patient through teaching. Don't always want to just call
somebody out. Let the word change people,
Timothy. So do it through teaching.
Let the word help people to mature.
That's the importance of teaching the Word with patience.
And then he said for the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine. And that's why you should teach
the Word now, Timothy, because there's going to be a time when
there's going to be people who will not want to endure sound
doctrine. There will be a time when people
will want to not hear a word that convicts them.
They're not going to want to hear things that will hold the
mirror up to their lives and cause them to be able to see
what they look like or what we look like.
They might not want to hear that, Timothy, after a while,
they're not going to want to hear about righteousness.
They're not going to hear about holiness.
They only want to hear, you know, they're going to be
looking for people who are only teach the, you know, the
goodness of God or the mercy of God or the grace of God or the
love of God. They don't want to hear people
that's going to teach about the holiness of God and the law of
God or the righteousness of God. They're not going to want to
hear that. I want to hear people talk about
sin, things that I want to do. Don't call it sin.
That word sounds so bad when you call it sin, but it's things
that I want to do. They don't want to hear that,
Timothy. So preach the word because
they're not going to hear sound doctrine.
But because of but, but but according to their own desires,
because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves
teachers. They'll just listen to the
teachers, Timothy, that they want to hear the ones that's
going to make them feel good when they leave every time.
They'll never hear about things that I need to change in my life
or or never hear a word that convicts me or challenges me
about things that I'm doing or things that I'm thinking about
the way that I'm treating people about my unforgiveness.
They don't want to hear a word that challenges that.
They want to hear something that just makes them feel good, that
just makes them feel good, something that just motivates
them, you know, 5 steps to acquire, you know, to acquiring
wealth, 5 steps to a good marriage, 5 steps to, you know,
to, to really being able to excel in business, 5 steps to
making myself a better person. Hear things like that instead of
the things that the Bible teaches us about change, about
holiness, about the things the Bible teaches us about
obedience. They're not going to hear that,
Timothy. And then they said they're going
to turn away their ears from those things.
They're going to turn away their ears from the truth.
And they're going to turn to fables, turn aside to myths, to
fables, to turn aside to things that are not lined up with the
word of God. Turn aside to prosperity
teaching or turn aside to, you know, it being OK to live with
somebody or turn aside to those things that say everybody's
going to heaven. You know, turn aside to teaching
like that because it's easier for them to listen to as opposed
to being challenged through the word.
But then in verse 5, he says, but you Timothy, so he's
switching gears here, Timothy. That's what they that that may
be what they want to hear. That may be where the false
teachers are. That may be where people were
the unbelievers are or people who are being challenged in
their faith. That may be where they are.
But you, Timothy, as a pastor, I want you, Timothy, to be
watchful in all things. In other words, that that that
that word means to be sober in all things to be sober.
And there's a lot of things that can be intoxicating to us that
causes us to not think clearly and a lot of things that causes
us to not have self-control. To be sober means to have to
think clear and to have self-control.
To be sober mean to not be under intoxicating influence.
That's what it means to be sober, to think clearly, to act
clearly. But there's things out there
that we can listen to or things that we allow to get into our
hearts that will cause us to not think clearly, that will cause
us to not act under self-control, and it causes us
to act like we're under the influence.
We can be under the influence of bad things.
Intoxicating teaching can put us under the influence and cause us
to act that way. And he says, Timothy, be careful
that. Be watchful, be watchful.
The things that you allow to come into your ear gates.
Be watchful. Parents, be watchful.
The things that come into your kids ear gates.
Be watchful the things that come into your eye gates, the things
that you allow your eyes to look upon, David said in Psalms 119.
Turn my eyes away from empty things because he knows that to
look at things that are empty can be intoxicating and it can
change you. And he says, Timothy, I want you
to turn away from those things. Guard your ear gates, guard your
eye gates, guard your heart. For out of it are the issues of
life. So, Timothy, be careful and be
watchful. Be aware of the things that
people were saying around you, the things that people were
teaching. Be aware of that.
Be aware of the things that you listen to, the things that you
read. Be aware of those things.
You know, one thing I, I, I love, you know, Pastor Clark is
very well read, very well read a lot more well read than I am.
And there are books that can sometimes appear to be OK, but
once you get into them, you read them, you'll find out that it
that it's not that it does not line up with the word of God.
It does not. And a lot of times before you
even have to open up the book and be exposed to that, Pastor
Clark will have known something about it in some degree.
I mean, it's amazing how many times that he's been able to
hear an author's name or hear a book that has that has come out
and he's aware of where that book goes, how that book
separates from the word of God. Very well read that way.
We have to be careful of those things.
That's why it's so much easier to just stick with the word of
God. We don't have to worry about it.
You know, if I swim in my swimming pool, I don't have to
worry about, you know, having to worry about any drop offs or any
surprises. You know, if I'm swimming in my
own swimming pool, you know, I have to worry about anything
that's going to surprise me. You know, I know what's in it.
I know what's in my pool, so I don't have to worry about it.
But if I'm swimming out there in some place that's open, where
anything can have access to me, that can be a problem.
That can be a problem. But he said be watchful in all
things. Then he says, endure
afflictions. And this is another thing that
has been consistent throughout Timothy's life and throughout
Paul's life as he has endured afflictions.
Paul can definitely talk about enduring fictions.
Back in Chapter 3, we just talked about the afflictions
that he endured over in Antioch and in Iconium and in Lyster,
where he actually. Suffered the stoning.
That took his life or could have taken or we think that actually
did take his life. So Paul knows a lot about
enduring afflictions and these are all along with these, you
know, the commands that Paul gave to Timothy.
The first was preach the Word and the second is be watchful in
all things. And now the third here is endure
afflictions and endure patiently, not just go through
them complaining, not go through them, you know, murmuring, not
go through them, you know, with a bad attitude, but endure
afflictions, endure it in a way that it brings glory to God.
When you go through changes on your job that may afflict you,
that may cause some discomfort to your may interrupt the way
that you do things on your job. How do you do it?
Do you do it with by complaining and murmuring?
Do we talk about the boss? Do we, you know, do we get with
the water cooler crew and, and put down the people who are
making the decisions? Or do we go through it
patiently, just trusting the Lord that he will work it out,
that he will work it out. That's what makes us different.
And so he says endure
afflictions and then he says do the work of an evangelist, do
the work of an evangelist. Now the word evangelist is only
mentioned three times in in the Bible.
The first time it's mentioned is in the book of of Acts in
chapter 21 where he refers to Philip as an evangelist.
The next time it's mentioned is over in Ephesians chapter 4,
when, when, when, when Paul talks about the gifts that Jesus
left with the church and one of those gifts was an evangelist
for the purpose of equipping the Saints.
And then of course, here in second Timothy chapter 4, he
mentions the evangelists or, or, or evangelism.
Now evangelism is very important.
It's very important to the whole gospel.
It's the what they call the pre salvation preaching is what they
call evangelism, pre salvation preaching because it's the, it's
the word. It's the one that introduces you
to the gospel. People were introduced to the
gospel through evangelism. And then of course, once they
become believers, they are discipled through the word of
God and they're learning the doctrines and they're coming
here and they're being taught the gospel are coming other
churches and are being taught the, you know, how to live the
life that they were just birthed into.
But the purpose of evangelism is to equip and encourage believers
to share the gospel, to share that good news and to live that
gospel out. He preaches the gospel and calls
for repentance is what an evangelist does.
He calls for repentance. He, he causes us or lets us know
that we can repent and we can turn from that old lifestyle
and, and, and, and anyone who's listening who have not given
their hearts to the Lord or not trusted Jesus Christ for your
salvation. Repentance is open for you.
It's available for you. Evangelism is, is what we're
doing right now is just sharing the gospel.
Jesus Christ died for your sins and we are all sinners and Jesus
Christ died for those sins. He died for those sins and we
all are sinners. Everyone of us have sinned and
I've come short of the glory of God and that sin will have to be
dealt with. The wages of sin is death
according to the word of God. That's the wrath that
unrepentant sinners have to face is death.
But Jesus Christ came and died for our sins.
He was buried three days, He laid in the grave, and then he
arose. And that gives us our hope for
eternal life. Anyone who's listening who have
not trusted Jesus Christ for your Savior, you can repent
right now. You don't even have to say it
out loud. You can.
Repent at home. But it's available through the
grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
So he says, do the work of an evangelist and then he says,
fulfill your ministry, fulfill your ministry, finish your
ministry. You know, have your ministry,
you know, whatever it is that the Lord called you to do,
fulfill it. I remember when I was first.
Being called to the. Ministry, I personally kind of
ran away from it. Actually.
I was called from very early age initially, and I definitely ran
away from that. And then when I got older, the
Lord began to beckon to me again.
He began to reach out to me again.
And, and, and, and I can remember during the time when
different people were, you know, asking about my calling and was
talking to me about my calling. And I always ignored the fact
that, you know, that I was called to be a minister and
definitely did not want to acknowledge being a pastor.
I remember when I was being called to be a pastor, I
definitely did not want to do that.
I, I wasn't a pastor until I came here.
Clark is the one that ordained me to be a pastor.
Him and the elders that are here, I did not look for that at
all. But in fulfilling your ministry,
it's acknowledging that call and completing it.
And I can remember a phone call that I got from someone who
didn't even know what I was dealing with in my heart
concerning pastoral work or ministry work.
They called me and they gave me a scripture.
And today that scripture is still very important to me.
It's Colossians chapter 4 and verse 17.
And what it says is and say to Archopus, take heed to the
ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may
fulfill it, that you may fulfill it.
That word was so powerful. I actually had to stop the car
and pull over because I was, I was tearful.
I was tearful because I know that it was the Holy Spirit that
was working in my heart concerning that.
Couldn't even believe that that person even said that to me.
The point of the matter is, is that we have a ministry to
fulfill. Each and every one of us do and
God wants us to just do we have to fulfill what it is that God
has called us to do. And there's someone, you know,
there may be someone out there today that God is working on
your heart. God is already acknowledging in
your heart or you know that the Lord is giving you a passion for
something concerning ministry, regardless of what it may be.
I would just suggest that you don't ignore it because he's
pretty much 100% he's, he's undefeated in terms of getting
people to follow him. He that he goes after, it's
pretty much undefeated. So I would suggest that if you
know that the Lord is tugging at your heart and he's calling you
into something, regardless of what it is, doesn't have to be
pastoral, doesn't have to be ministry that way, but or
teaching ministry, but there's a lot of different ministries.
They all, they all, whatever the ministry is, they're all
important and they all add to the body of Christ and they all
supply at every joint supplies in the body of Christ.
So I would just strongly encourage.
You to acknowledge that. Call and allow the Lord to do a
work in your heart concerning it.
And then we go to verse 6 and he says, for I am already being
poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is
at hand. I want to stop there for a
second because this is really significant.
Paul described himself as being poured out as a drink offering
back in the Old Testament, back in the book of Numbers, around
chapter 15, the Old Testament priests, when they would give a
sacrifice, they would, at the end of the sacrifice, they would
pour out a drink offering to the Lord.
They would pour out a drink offering on the altar and that
would actually be a sign that the service was completed.
The offering was given, the service was complete.
And Paul now describes himself as being that drink offering
that is already being poured out.
And he's signifying that. He's symbolizing the fact that
his service is complete and he has totally poured himself out
to the Lord. Totally.
Jesus Christ was a drink offering for us.
Jesus Christ was not only the drink offering, He was also the
Lamb that was slain. He was the sacrifice and he was
the drink offering. When his, when his side was
pierced and the blood came out, when he hung on the cross and
the blood dripped down, that was him emptying himself as a drink,
offering to us, to the Lord for us rather.
And Paul was saying, I am already being poured out.
I've already given everything. I've given all to the Lord ever
since the day that he caught me into ministry back in Acts
Chapter 9 when he first stopped me on the road to Damascus.
From that point on, I've given it all to him.
I've given it all to him. And that is such an inspiration
for us to look at how we serve the Lord.
Do we? Give it all to him, do we give
it off to him? Do we hold something back?
Because in that cup of the drink offering, the whole idea was
that totally empty the cup so that nothing was held back.
And that's exactly what Paul says of himself.
Then he says, I've fought the good fight, I'll finish the
race. I've kept the faith.
Paul says. Just like, just like in the old
days of Israel, they fought many battles.
They fought many battles as they were on their way to the
promised land. And even in our life we fight
many battles, but there's only one good fight.
There's only one good fight, and that's the good fight of faith.
That's the only good fight. Jude said.
That we are to contend for the faith or we are to strive for
the faith which was once delivered to the Saints, once
for all delivered to the Saints. We're to strive for that and it
is going to be a battle. Now in this battle are the
weapons of our warfare. They're not carnal, they're not
Spears, they're not bows, they're not clubs, but they're
still mighty through God. It's prayer, it's the reading of
the Word, it's the giving of ourselves in ministry.
Those are the weapons that we now have that we give to the
Lord. And then he says, I finished the
race. This Christian race, this
Christian battle is a race. This Christian life is a race,
and it's not necessarily the one that's rewarded, is not
necessarily the one who crosses the finish line first.
It's not a race in that way. It's not a race in that way.
The idea is to finish, finish. He said I finished the race.
He didn't say I won the race. He said I finished the race.
And that's what we need to do, is to finish the race.
What we've started. Whatever you've started in the
Lord, finish it. Finish it, be able to say like
Paul, I've I've, I've fought the good fight and I have finished
the race and I've kept the faith.
I've held on to it. I haven't strayed from it.
I haven't gotten off into myths and I haven't gotten off into
other wild things. I've kept the faith and he says
there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness.
Finally there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the righteous judge will give to me on that day, and
not only to me, but on all those who will love his appearing.
And what he is saying here is that there are two crowns.
There are two crowns that that people can talk about.
The one crown is a, is a royal crown and that's given to the
king. We won't get that crown that's
given to the king, but the other crown is a victor's crown.
And that's the one that we will be rewarded, the victor's crown.
And the victor's crown is given to like in the Greek games or
the Roman games. It was given to the one, OK, who
would run the race well and he would get a reef.
If he won the race, he would get a reef and it would be olive
leaves or oak leaves that would be on this, this reef, this,
this head thing that would go around his head.
That would be the reward. Now those things faded.
Those things will fade. But the reef.
But the, the, the, the reward, the victor's crown that we get,
it doesn't fade. It's a crown that does not fade
away. And it's not just given to us,
but it's given to all who will love his appearing.
That is what Paul is looking forward to during his time, his
last minutes. He's looking forward to the
victor's crown. He knows he has one and pretty
soon he's going to be able to have it on his head and he's
looking forward to that. He's not looking at his
condition, he's looking beyond it.
He's not looking at his circumstances and feeling bad
about himself. He's looking beyond it and
that's where we should be. Yes, things are bad here.
Yes, we got challenges here. Yes, things are crazy.
But we have a hope. We have a hope we can finish
this race. We can keep the faith.
We just have to continue to fight the good fight and not let
temptation take us out, not let the enemy derail us, not be
pulled aside or pulled out of what it is that God wants us to
do. Not be convinced to give up and
give out. Fight the good fight, finish the
race, keep the faith. You've been listening to Pastor
Lewis Harrell here on Living Waters of Grace.
We're digging into all that Paul shared with Timothy in the books
of First and Second Timothy. Timothy was commissioned to do
the following fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on
eternal life, to which you were also called, and have confessed
the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Timothy would be carrying on what Paul had taught him and
continuing on in ministry, even though Paul knew that more
hardships would come for Timothy.
This is the Christian life. It's not glamorous.
It's not some celebrity status. It's hard fought, it's gritty,
it's unpopular, but it's worth it.
Do you believe that today? Are you willing to fight the
good fight even at the cost of earthly pleasures?
Living the life of a follower of Jesus will have its heavenly
rewards. To be a part of a community
that's looking forward to that heavenly reward, we invite you
to join us at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, come be with us this
Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St., Ste. 6B.
Check out Calvary Chapel online.com For more information
on directions and any other details you might want to know.
You can also download our mobile app from our website
thatscalvarychapelonline.com. If you have friends or family
members who want to tune in, encourage them to listen on
Grace FM 91.7. One last thing, this radio
ministry relies on your support to keep things going.
If you're willing to donate financially, send gifts to Grace
FMPO, Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601.
Thanks for prayerfully considering this, and thank you
for listening to Living Waters of Grace.