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.
So in order to prevent that danger, you can't lay hands on
people too soon. So a pastor should not be a
novice. You know, they can be gifted.
Often times they are. They're gifted.
They have a lot of abilities. Seen it.
But then as soon as adversity hits, soon as someone disagrees,
when you get a chance to witness someone in those situations,
that's when you find out exactly what the maturity level is,
where that person is at, mature wise.
If you put a gumball under a 50 ton hydraulic press, what
happens? You get gum everywhere.
Now put a diamond underneath that same pressure and what do
you get? Well, you'll still get bits of
diamond everywhere, but it will take a lot longer and a lot more
pressure. The point I'm making, and Pastor
Lewis will solidify today is that things under pressure
reveal a lot. You can learn a great deal about
a person when you observe them under pressure.
Today Pastor Lewis remind you that an elder is someone who is
seasoned and experienced under pressure.
Now here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of First Timothy, chapter
3, with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
So it wasn't, you know, far off that Paul talks about this, but
we should not be verbally or physically contentious.
We shouldn't be contentious with anybody and always looking for a
fight shouldn't be quick tempered in that way at all,
shouldn't be prone to that type of violence.
And then ten he says, not greedy for money, not greedy for money.
And you would think that this is something that you shouldn't
have to talk about. But you know, the desire to
obtain more and more money can happen before you know it.
You know, when money starts to be an object for you, before you
know it, almost everything that you do is geared around you
getting money is geared around you getting money.
You know, people talk about is it unlawful to gamble or to do
things of that nature? But when you think about it,
when someone is given to that to the point where they're losing
control, it's because the money has become almost, it's come
like an idol and they're constantly seeking more and more
and more of it. We also understand that the, you
know, the people who are in the ministry for money, you know,
are, are, are in it for the wrong reason.
I mean, if a person goes in to be a pastor because they're
trying to be rich, then they're going into it for the wrong
reason. We shouldn't run our churches
like corporations where we care more about revenue than we do
about souls. We can't do that.
It's about sharing the gospel and getting the gospel message
out for to win souls and once those souls are one to teach
them in the ways of the Lord to disciple those souls, not to
make money, not to make money. We don't even like pass around
plates and things of that nature, you know, trying to get,
you know, money or push people to get money.
I have been in churches where people have taken multiple
offerings because they didn't get what they wanted the first
time. So they take multiple offerings
to get what they want. I've seen that happen.
But in this church, I've never seen money be the main issue.
Won't teach about money as being the main issue.
If we feel like the week before, well the offering was a little
low. So this week I'm going to teach
on money. I've seen churches to do it, so
thank God we don't do that. We don't even have offerings in
here. You never want to see anybody in
here walking up to you asking you for money or pushing money.
That's just not something we do, and ministry shouldn't be about
that. That's like having a covetous
pastors who are always looking to make more money.
There's some pastors who are involved in schemes outside of
the church to try to make more and more money for themselves.
Well, if you're focused on that, it's very hard to be focused on
shepherding the flock. It's going to be hard to take
time to study and to be in prayer.
If you're always thinking about your next scheme to make money,
it takes over. It takes over.
And the more you get, the more you want.
That's just the trap of the devil.
That's the trap of the devil. And that's something that we
have to try to avoid so that we don't get in that trap.
And we it's, it's circular. It just keeps you moving and
going and going and going. And first Peter, in first Peter
chapter 5, chapter 5, it says the elders who are among you.
I exhort I am a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of
Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed.
He says, shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving
as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not by dishonest
gain. That means trying to do things
to bring money in so that I can gain more money, but eagerly,
nor as being Lords over those entrusted to you.
So we should not be always given to looking for and trying to
accumulate more and more money. Calvin had an interesting quote.
He says, I repeat, that the man who will not bear poverty
patiently and willingly will inevitably, inevitably become
the victim of mean and sordid covetousness.
So we become victims to covetousness when we do not
allow ourselves to just trust in the Lord, to make him our
Jehovah Jireh. And I can tell you by doing that
here that Lord has been faithful.
He has been faithful. He's taking care of this house,
He's taking care of the house and the needs of the house.
As long as we, I've heard, you know, years ago, I was always
taught that when we take care of God's business, he'll take care
of ours. And I found that to be true.
I found out to be true. So we go on.
He says 1. He says not dumb, he said not
greedy for money, but gentle. He should be gentle.
You know, not someone who is impatient or someone who is not
approachable, but he should be gentle.
It should not be a problem to approach a pastor.
He should be able to listen to others and listen to others
opinions, listen to criticisms, opposing views without
overreacting or reacting in a defensive or an aggressive
manner. But to be gentle with people, be
gentle with each other, be gentle with the flock.
He also says they try to allow others to serve in the church.
And this is one of the things that I really love about here at
Calvary Chapel that we give those who we see that God is
putting a passion on your heart for ministry.
We give you the room to be able to go and to serve in that
ministry. And not only do we not interfere
with your serving, but we are a covering and not a lid.
We support you and encourage you in that ministry, but we don't
stunt your growth in that ministry.
We don't stunt how big that ministry can grow to or the
things that you can do in that ministry.
We don't stunt the growth of your ministry.
We encourage you long as it's a blessing.
It lines up with the Word of God.
People were being blessed by it. Souls are being touched by it.
People were getting into the Word of God through it.
We have no issue only want to know what can we do to help How
can we assist you? What resources can we give you,
but we not going to be a lid and try to stop your progression and
then in #12 says that he's not quarrelsome.
The man of God shouldn't be course, when we talked about
that a little bit and that's talking about fighting, but this
is more verbally fighting, always being contentious with
someone verbally getting into arguments and things of that
nature. And that that's that that's it's
kind of prideful. You know, when, when, when a man
of God is always being defensive and getting into arguments with
people, whether it's about the word or about something that's
happening here, you know, like we can't listen to hear.
If you feel like you have an idea about how to do something a
little better than what we're doing it, you know, absolutely,
of course, through prayer, through much prayer and
supplication, that's when we actually move on doing things.
But absolutely we listen and hear what people want to share,
what people want to share. We want to do that.
So we're not being argumentative, but the people
who are being argumentative always getting into disputes
that nature, that can be a problem.
Wheresby says this, he says short tempers do not make for
long ministries. You know, you got a short
temper, you'll probably have a short ministry as well.
In verse three, he says do not be covetous.
And we talked about that and that has to do with someone who
is a lover of money. And we know what it says in
First Timothy that, you know, if you're a lover of money, that
can cause problems, a lot of problems, causes you to suffer
many things. But it's the love of money
that's the root of all evil, not money itself.
It's the love of it that's the root of all evil.
And then he goes on here in verse four.
He says one who rules his own house well, having his children
in submission with all reverence.
Verse 5 says if a man does not know how to rule his own house,
how will he take care of the House of God?
So we have to look at a couple things here.
First of all, when he talks about ruling, he's talking about
managing his house well or stands before his house or
presides over his house, governs his house well.
A pastor and elder must be able to manage their own house, must
be able to have his own children in subjection to be able to
minister to anyone else. Now, we're not talking that we
know that people know children. They grow up, they get older,
they leave the house. You know, you don't always.
We don't have control over people that leaves your house
anymore. They make their own decisions.
That's part of growing up and growing out.
They make their own decisions. But the children who are in the
house with you, how well do we manage the house with the with
children, you know, that are in the house?
And that's not to say that every again, that's not to say that
every pastor has to have children.
Doesn't mean that they have to have children.
But if they do, the children should respect the man of God.
They should have respect for you because see, if there's
something going on at home that's different than going on
here, The first place that you'll detect that is going to
be in the face of the children. It's going to be in the lives of
the children. They're going to be able to tell
you the law and I ain't the same God that we live with.
Yeah, I know who that is. Stand up there teaching because
I ain't the same God that we go home with, you know, I mean, you
know, it, it, it, it's, it's, it's again part of that double
life. And and kids don't respect
hypocrisy no more than adults respect hypocrisy.
They can see it, they can sense it.
And if you know, and if and if you're doing it at home, then
how are you going to manage the House of God?
Our children should be respectful.
They should obey them and be in subjection to them.
And the reason why is because the example that they see is
someone who is subject to the leading and the authority of
Jesus Christ. That's why a family should be
able to follow the man of God. It's because they see that he is
willing to submit himself to his authority, which is Christ.
A woman will follow that, a wife will follow that, and so will
the children. They'll follow that, but he goes
on here and he said to take care.
How will he take care of the House of God or the Church of
God? And that take care actually
deals with ministering to the Church of God.
How will someone who doesn't minister to the needs of their
own home and address the needs in their own home?
How will they address the needs in the House of God?
And it's taking care of those needs when someone is hurting,
when someone is was going through sorrow, when someone is
going through different needs or hurts, If someone gets into sin,
how does the man of God respond to that?
How does the man of God respond to that?
That's what this is talking about, how, you know, taking
care of the Church of God. It's the shepherd.
Remember, he's a shepherd, and a shepherd takes care of the
sheep, and one of the main ways that the shepherd takes care of
the sheep is by feeding the sheep.
Just to go back to that whole thing about being able to teach,
you have to feed the sheep. The sheep has to be fed.
If the sheep aren't fed, they die.
Sheep that aren't fed die. So you have to feed the sheep
and that's taking care of the sheep.
The next one that he talks about here is not a novice.
He said he shouldn't be a novice and this is a big one.
It's an important one because often times in a church, because
of need, people kind of lay hands on other people too soon
because there's a need. So you lay hands on someone too
soon and they put them in a position before they are ready
to be in that position. It should not be a novice.
And this is not saying, in other words, what it's saying here is
that they should not be someone who is newly planted or a new
convert. Now there are people that come
into the ministry, they get saved and they grow really,
really fast. I've seen it how, I mean, you
know, people, they can grow really fast.
I mean, they're hungry, they're eating up God's Word, and
they're growing, and you're watching this growth.
But maturity comes over time. It has nothing to do with age.
It has to do with time in the Word, time in the faith to be
mature. What have you experienced?
You know, it's not how long someone's been a pastor, but how
long have they been saved? That's the question.
How long have you actually been saved?
You know, you don't get saved one week and then two months
later, three months later, you put someone in the ministry.
That can't happen. That sets that person up for
danger, sets them up to get puffed up with pride and because
they don't know how to handle those things yet, have not had
the humility that is necessary to have one.
Age doesn't have anything to do with Christian maturity, but
there's a lot of things they have to learn.
You know, Paul talks about the, I'm sorry, Peter talks about the
fact that we have to add to our faith once we get saved.
And that takes time to add different things to our faith
once we get saved. So in order to prevent that
danger, you can't lay hands on people too soon.
So a pastor should not be a novice.
You know, they can be gifted. Often times they are.
They're gifted. They have a lot of abilities.
Seen it. But then as soon as adversity
hits, soon as someone disagrees, when you get a chance to witness
someone in those situations, that's when you find out exactly
what the maturity level is, where that person is at.
Mature wise haven't had an opportunity to view their prayer
life or to see them when they're being criticized, or to view
their faithfulness to the current ministry.
How faithful are they to the current ministry that they're
in? Because that's very important.
So these are all fruit that we look at and, and the last one,
and we're going to close on this one, is a good testimony among
those who are outside of the church.
A good testimony. Look at what it says there in
verse 7. Moreover, he must have a good
testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into
reproach or shame and the snare of the devil.
The elder or pastor must have a good reputation not only in the
church but also in the community.
If you have, if, if a person is a pastor and in the community,
people are able to say things about the pastor, say things
about the pastor that are true, that's an issue.
Who's going to come in here and listen to a pastor that they've
seen out on the corners or listen to a pastor, you know,
how's the guy who owns a bar going to come in and listen to a
pastor who's frequenting a bar stool in his bar?
Or maybe a woman who's, you know, looking at changing her
life and maybe right now she may be a dancer or something and she
comes in and say, man, I know him.
I mean, these are all drug dealers.
He's one of my, he's one of my customers.
How will a man be able to witness the word of God if
that's what's going on? Seeing it happen, seeing it
happen. Reputation in the community is
important. Got to be respected in the
community as well as outside. Just because someone doesn't
agree with you, someone doesn't want to be saved.
Just because they're not into church, so to speak, it doesn't
mean that they don't respect the pastor.
They see him. He's always speaking to him,
even though they don't. They haven't showed up in the
church yet. He's invited them several times
and they haven't showed up yet, but yet they respect them.
They never slander him. They're not saying anything
about him. Yeah, he's a good guy.
Just ain't going to this church. I ain't into that right now.
Never know what God would do with their hearts later.
He just got to keep on asking. That's what I'll do.
We just keep on asking. You know, I couldn't make it
this week because I had this to do.
No problem. Catch you next time, man.
See you next time. Yeah, I'll be there.
I'll be there. OK.
That's how it goes. That's how it goes.
It's just like that sometimes. But we must have a good
reputation so we don't let the devil be able to speak.
I'll of us. In Acts 16 and 2, Paul said that
Timothy was well spoken of amongst the men in Lystra and
the reason why is because he gave a good example.
He walked in the ways that were of good behavior and he had a
good testimony and a good reputation among those who are
without. See, all these traits that we
talked about are really traits that Jesus Christ has.
He has these same traits. And we cannot get these, but by
the power of the Holy Spirit, I look at some of these traits and
I said, oh, Lord, have mercy, have mercy.
How am IA, pastor? These aren't things that you can
do yourself. These aren't things that you can
become yourself. These aren't things that you can
try to act or try to show in front of people, but really
they're not in your heart. Lord, have mercy and put these
things in my heart. Holy Spirit, lead me in these
things lead me in the way everlasting.
I don't want to be a castaway when I when I teach the word of
God and though I'm teaching to somebody else and yet I'm
disqualifying myself by what I'm saying.
I don't want to be that. So Holy Spirit, I need you to
help me and we all need this. This isn't just, it's it, you
know, he's talking about it here for leaders, but this isn't just
about for leaders. This is Christian life.
This should be the description
of all of us, but the only way we can attain to it is through
the Holy Spirit. And thank God he's so merciful
because we don't have all these things.
He don't stop. That's it, you're done.
You have 5 out of the seven, sit down.
You got to have all of them. Sit down.
You can't do this no more. Thank God He doesn't do that.
He doesn't disqualify us because we don't have it all together.
The Bible tells us that the good work that he's begun and us,
he's going to continue to do it until the day of Jesus Christ.
That means as long as we're living, He is sanctifying us
into a good work. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for your instruction.
We thank you for your goodness, Father.
We ask now, Lord, that You would touch our hearts, This word,
Lord, that you gave us today in First Timothy.
These instructions, Lord. These are high standards, Lord.
And these are things, Lord, that it takes prayer, it takes the
movement of your Holy Spirit in US, Lord, for us to be able to
attain to such things. Even Paul himself said, even
though I'm not attained and I've not apprehended everything, but
what I do is that I put those things that are behind me and I
reach toward those things that are before me, and I press
toward the mark of the high calling of God.
So yesterday or today, I may have fallen short on some of
these things that we talked about.
Maybe some of us fell short, but we can put those things behind
us, Lord, and we can seek You today and ask You, Lord, to help
us today to attain those things, Lord, to put those things in our
hearts and to help us to live a life, Lord, that is worthy of
the call wherewith we are all called.
So, Father, even as we do that, we remember your sacrifice
because you left heaven with a reputation in heaven, Lord, You
were glorified, and you came down here to earth amongst men
who mocked you, who slandered you, who talked about you, who
spoke I'll of you, who lied on you, all for the purpose of
setting you up to take your life, Lord.
But yet your word says that even when you were reviled, we were
persecute, persecuted. Lord, You never reviled.
You didn't revile again even when you were threatened, Lord,
you didn't threaten that. You never threw back the spear
that was thrown at you, but instead, Lord, you committed
yourself to the Father, to the one who judges righteously.
Thank you for tuning in to Living Waters of Grace with
Pastor Lewis Harrell. We're currently in the books of
First and Second Timothy. Some of the things included in
these New Testament letters from Paul are that the young and
newly established Pastor Timothy was being encouraged to hold
fast to what was true. He was challenged to confront
and address the false teachers that were rising up.
He was also reminded to accept his calling to the ministry with
gratefulness and to address the happenings going on in the
Ephesian church. Paul was imparting his
experience and knowledge to the next generation.
Timothy was receptive to learning and gleaning what he
could from Paul's wisdom. This is how it should be in
ministry across multiple generations.
Those who have lived a little more life should be open to
sharing their successes and also things they've learned along the
way. That we're not a wind.
The younger generations coming up can learn and appreciate much
from those ahead of them, and perhaps avoid some of the same
pitfalls that their mentors work through mentoring.
It's a beautiful relationship. When the hearts are in the right
place to learn and grow. You trust that you're in a
community where this is happening.
Older ones providing advice and wisdom, and each side learning
and growing from one another. This certainly was the case for
Paul and Timothy as they were comrades for the sake of the
gospel. For more information on where
this teaching came from, go to calvarychapelonline.com.
There you can also learn about our service times to join us in
person. This has been living waters of
grace.