1 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:08,119 This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark 2 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:12,680 Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,400 of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he 4 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:18,720 continues teaching through God's Word. 5 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,960 God's comfort is everlasting. There's never a day when you 6 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,160 won't have God's comfort. All we have to do is just 7 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:47,600 entreat him forward and Good Hope by grace. 8 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,600 And of course, that Good Hope, it's seeing Jesus Christ return 9 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,240 and also having that eternal life, that's our Good Hope, He 10 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:57,960 said. May He comfort your hearts in 11 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:02,320 verse 17 and establish you, comfort your hearts, or 12 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:06,120 encourage your hearts, and establish you or strengthen you 13 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,800 in every good work. Believers in Christ have a 14 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,240 comfort from God that includes a true freedom from guilt. 15 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,480 For Christians, our righteous judge is also our loving Savior, 16 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,520 which is a sharp contrast with the terrifying assortment of 17 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,840 distant, cruel, or unappeasable deities of the ancient world. 18 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:29,600 Today, Pastor Lewis will be reminding you that whenever you 19 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:32,800 need help and comfort, you can go to your Father in heaven. 20 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,120 Don't run back to the world when things get tough. 21 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:40,320 Instead, run straight to Jesus. Now here's Pastor Lewis in the 22 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:44,280 Book of Second Thessalonians Chapter 2, with today's edition 23 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:48,200 of Living Waters of Grace. We do have a kind of a 24 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:50,720 challenging topic because we're going to talk a little bit about 25 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,080 church discipline. We're going to be talking about 26 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,000 those who don't want to work in busy bodies and things of that 27 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,200 nature. These are things that aren't 28 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:02,840 popular to talk about, but the Lord does have a opinion on 29 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:05,440 those things. I mean he, he, he talks very 30 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:09,600 strongly about those things. Charles Spurgeon had to say this 31 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:15,000 about busybodies and and those who are lazy and don't want to 32 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,960 work. Charles Spurgeon says I am not 33 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,200 the only one that condemns the idol for once. 34 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:25,320 When I was going to give our minister a pretty long list of 35 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:30,200 the sins of one of our people that he was asking after I begin 36 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:35,280 with, he's dreadfully lazy. That's enough, said the old 37 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:39,720 gentleman. All sorts of sins are in that 38 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:43,600 one. All sorts of sins are in that 39 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:45,720 one. So we're going to talk about 40 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:50,360 some of those things Now we have, we're, we're on the end of 41 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,120 Second Thessalonians. So we have, you know, we, we've 42 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:55,480 covered, we're, we're covering the three chapters that it's 43 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,040 involved in. So the first chapter we covered 44 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,440 two weeks ago, we covered the Lord's final judgment and glory. 45 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,000 And that was on the heels of talking about the rapture that 46 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,760 we covered in First Thessalonians chapter 4. 47 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:13,640 In chapter 2, Paul assures the church that they didn't miss the 48 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:17,840 rapture and that they're not currently living in the times of 49 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,640 the great tribulation. There's a couple things have to 50 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:22,480 happen. First, he said there has to be 51 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,520 an apostasy or that falling away, that rebellion, and it has 52 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:30,080 to be the revealing of the man of sin. 53 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,720 And this week he concludes this, that this epistle or this letter 54 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:38,640 to the Thessalonians, he, he includes it by requesting 55 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:43,320 prayer, first of all for his ministry for himself, Silas and 56 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,560 Timothy. And also he gives a warning 57 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:51,280 against idleness and being a busy body. 58 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:54,680 So let's get into these scriptures, OK? 59 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:58,760 We look at verse 1, chapter 3, verse one, and it reads like 60 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,280 this. It says finally, brethren, pray 61 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:07,760 for us that the word of the Lord runs swiftly and be glorified 62 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,040 just as it is with you. If we can just stop there for a 63 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,440 second. Parenthetically, we get a chance 64 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:19,920 to hear Paul coming off of the end of chapter 2 where he prayed 65 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:23,240 for them and this was Paul's prayer for them. 66 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:28,880 At the end of chapter 2, verse 16, he says, now may our Lord 67 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:34,640 Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father who has loved us and 68 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,760 given US everlasting consolation, everlasting 69 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,120 comfort. We talked about last week how 70 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,160 God's comfort is everlasting. There's never a day when you 71 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,400 won't have God's comfort. All we have to do is just 72 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,880 entreat him forward and Good Hope by grace. 73 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:56,320 And of course that Good Hope is seeing Jesus Christ return and 74 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:59,320 also having that eternal life. That's our Good Hope. 75 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:05,000 He said may he comfort your hearts in verse 17 and establish 76 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,360 you. Comfort your hearts or encourage 77 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:12,040 your hearts and establish you or strengthen you in every good 78 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:18,080 work with word and work. So he ended his prayer and 79 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:22,160 talking about him, strengthening them and, and, and, and 80 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:25,920 comforting them in every good word and work. 81 00:05:26,280 --> 00:05:31,960 So here in chapter 3, Paul now asked for them to pray for him 82 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:35,880 because Paul understands the significance of prayer. 83 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:38,280 He understands the significance of prayer. 84 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:40,800 We understand the significance of prayer here. 85 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:44,360 And we have a lot of different groups that are always praying. 86 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,880 I'm always talking about the group that we have on Thursday 87 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:54,520 nights because that intercessory group prays for you individually 88 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,240 and that group play prays for us as teachers. 89 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:03,600 It prays for us and we need the prayers of the people because 90 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,720 there is some everything that happens good in this church. 91 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:11,360 It comes on the heels of prayer. It comes on the heels of prayer. 92 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:14,960 It's men and women that are humbling themselves and going 93 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,560 before God and crying out to God for the things that we are 94 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,800 requesting of him. And what a privilege it is. 95 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:26,760 Excuse me to be a man of God or a woman of God, a child of God, 96 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:31,360 or be loved by God that we can go before him in prayer. 97 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,120 We have that privilege as children of God. 98 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,520 So we do that and we pray for each other. 99 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,760 But he asked for something specific here. 100 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:44,360 Paul asked for something specific. 101 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:50,920 He said not just pray, OK, that God will, that God will bless us 102 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:55,400 or help us, but he said he wants to pray that the Word will run 103 00:06:55,480 --> 00:07:00,200 swiftly and be glorified. Pray that the Word of God will 104 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:06,760 run swiftly or rapidly spread, rapidly spread just as it did 105 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:10,120 with you, Thessalonians, just as it did with you. 106 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:14,000 We pray that that word will rapidly spread and be glorified, 107 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:16,320 just as it was with you. How is the Word of God 108 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:18,920 glorified? The Word of God is glorified 109 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:23,600 through US who hear the Word of God, who obey the Word of God, 110 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:27,680 who walk in the Word of God. The people who are unbelievers 111 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,960 get a chance to see God's power working through US, and it 112 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,240 glorifies not us, but it glorifies God. 113 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:42,200 Let your light so shine before man that he sees your good 114 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:46,400 works, and glorify God who is in heaven. 115 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:51,320 It glorifies him when we walk in the things of the Lord. 116 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,400 So he said, let the word run swiftly or quickly. 117 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,000 Let it spread rapidly and be glorified just as it is with 118 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:02,600 you. When Paul went to the 119 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:06,520 Thessalonian church and he preached the gospel, the Bible 120 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,880 says that they listened and received that word just like it 121 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,360 was in truth, not that it came from men. 122 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:16,520 They didn't take it like this was just somebody coming who has 123 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:19,760 some good ideas. This is a man with some good 124 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,040 theories, some good philosophies and what it makes sense, so 125 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:25,000 we'll listen. No, that's not how they took it. 126 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:31,160 They took it as it was in truth, Paul said, as the word of God. 127 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:36,000 When we hear the word spoken and we understand the authority of 128 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,840 that word that is coming from God, it has an impact on us. 129 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,520 That's a lot different than if someone said, listen what Lewis 130 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:45,920 said, who cares? Most people probably say who 131 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:50,560 cares, but when you hear that God said it, that gives 132 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:54,120 authority to it. So that's why we teach what thus 133 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:57,560 says the Lord and not what we said. 134 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:02,080 OK, So he said that this, he said that this word be glorified 135 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:05,400 as it was with them, and it was glorified in them. 136 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,520 When they heard the word, they turned, they turned, they 137 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:13,680 changed. They had a work of faith, they 138 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:18,760 had a labor of love and they turned away from their idols 139 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:21,440 and, and, and they were patiently, they became patient 140 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:27,200 waiting on Jesus Christ, a patience of hope, waiting on 141 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:29,880 Jesus Christ. That's how the word worked in 142 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,760 them, so much so that they became examples to other 143 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,720 churches. That's how effective the word 144 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:38,960 worked in them. And that's what we hope for our 145 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,880 church, that the word works in us to the point where we become 146 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:47,400 an example or we become effective in, in, in, in, in 147 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,000 dealing with our community, that the community can see the 148 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,720 difference between US and unbelievers and they want what 149 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:58,680 it is that we have. That's what we would love to see 150 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:02,240 the word working in US effectively. 151 00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:05,120 So he says here be glorified just as it is with you. 152 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:08,880 And then verse 2, he says, and that we may be delivered from 153 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:13,240 unreasonable and wicked men. One of the things that we have 154 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:17,040 to understand is that whenever we are serving the Lord, 155 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,200 whenever we are serving the Lord and whatever, whatever capacity 156 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:23,280 you are serving the Lord in, it doesn't matter. 157 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,000 You don't have to be up here. You can be doing any kind of 158 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,280 ministry that you have. You're serving the Lord. 159 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:34,320 You are going to get opposition. Please do not be surprised when 160 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:40,600 you get opposition. Don't don't be surprised. 161 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,040 Don't back away from your ministry because you're getting 162 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:45,880 opposition. It should be a, a confirmation 163 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:48,280 to you that you're doing something right, that you are 164 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:49,760 doing what you're supposed to do. 165 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,680 There are always going to be people out there that are going 166 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:56,920 to oppose God's work. That's just the truth of the 167 00:10:56,920 --> 00:10:59,200 matter. It's an unpleasant truth, but 168 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,800 it's the truth nonetheless. And here Paul says, I want you 169 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:04,160 to pray. This is the second part of his 170 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:07,520 prayer, he said, in that we be delivered, or in other words, 171 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:12,960 that we be rescued from unreasonable and wicked men, 172 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:17,840 from unreasonable and wicked men or troublesome, troublesome men, 173 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:22,960 men who have the capacity to do harm to us, harmful things, not 174 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,480 necessarily to us physically, but even to our ministries. 175 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:31,600 And wicked men, evil men, men who have a desire to corrupt 176 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:37,640 other men, that's evil. That's evil, have a desire to 177 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,320 corrupt other men. And he was talking here about 178 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:44,280 these unbelieving Jews who were persecuting the apostles because 179 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:49,240 of what they were teaching, always going to be persecution. 180 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:52,920 Nehemiah, he witnessed persecution from Sambalit and 181 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:55,840 Tobiah. Jesus Christ witnessed 182 00:11:55,840 --> 00:12:01,080 persecution from the Pharisees. And Paul, once he became, once 183 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:04,320 he stopped being, when he was converted from being a Pharisee 184 00:12:04,560 --> 00:12:06,520 to being saved, he became a Christian. 185 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:12,840 He began to experience persecution and opposition from 186 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:17,480 the unbelieving Jews. So we know there's always going 187 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,760 to be opposition. We know that, but we trust in 188 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:23,400 God. We look for God to help us to 189 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:25,720 get through that. And in verse three, he tells 190 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,520 them, he said, but the Lord is faithful. 191 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,320 Yes, there's going to be opposition to your ministry. 192 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:35,960 There are going to be people who are opposing you when you are 193 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,960 trying to do the right thing. There are going to be people 194 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:41,320 opposing you. But God is faithful. 195 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:45,600 God is faithful. And why did he say that? 196 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:50,040 Because at the end of verse 2, he says for not all men have 197 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:52,520 faith. All men don't believe in Jesus 198 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:54,680 Christ. All men aren't working in the 199 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:59,120 faith of Jesus Christ. But Paul said, but the Lord is 200 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:03,560 faithful. And trust me, it may not seem 201 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:07,720 like it sometimes it may seem like you're by yourself in that 202 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:12,240 ministry, but God is with you. He's with you, He's helping you. 203 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:19,560 He will give you the grace and the strength to persevere even 204 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:22,400 against the opposition. Does He always deliver us from 205 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:26,360 persecution and opposition? No, He gives us opportunity to 206 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:31,320 trust Him in it. That's what He does. 207 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:36,200 And He gives us the grace to be able to stand in the midst of 208 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:40,360 it, stand flat footed and trust him. 209 00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:45,960 Trust his word, trust His promises, trust Him, His 210 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,280 strength, His wisdom, His knowledge. 211 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:51,200 Trust him. Don't trust our own. 212 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:52,480 This is the way I'm going to deal with it. 213 00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:55,960 First I'm going to take him out. And then when I come back from 214 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:58,160 taking him out, I'm going to ask him to come outside with me and 215 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,560 I'm going to take him out. Now, that's man's wisdom. 216 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:03,960 That's man's Wiz. I know sometimes we may feel 217 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,760 like doing that sometimes like physically helping God to get 218 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:10,680 rid of our opposition. People are people that are 219 00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:12,960 opposing us. I know sometimes we feel like 220 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,320 that, you know, I mean, that's when we get to the point. 221 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:16,800 Sometimes we got, I think I'm hearing God. 222 00:14:16,920 --> 00:14:20,360 No, God ain't telling you that. God ain't telling you that, but 223 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:24,320 we trust God. He handles those things in our 224 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:27,800 lives, so he said, but the Lord is faithful who will establish 225 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:29,760 you and that means to strengthen you. 226 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,920 Just as we said, He will give us the strength to endure those 227 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,720 opposition's and guard you, guard you. 228 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:39,360 That means that He'll protect you. 229 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:44,800 He'll protect you from the evil 1 and that's what it's important 230 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:50,200 to be protected from is the evil 1, the influence of the evil 1, 231 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:52,760 Not even necessarily what they do physically. 232 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:55,120 What's the influence of the evil 1? 233 00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:00,240 He protects us from that. The lies of the evil 1, the 234 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:04,760 deception of the evil 1. He protects US against those 235 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:08,880 things. And then he goes on in verse 4 236 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:14,160 and he says, and we have confidence in the Lord 237 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:19,600 concerning you both that you do and we'll do the things that we 238 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,360 command you, the confidence in the Lord. 239 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:29,400 We know that we are maturing in Christ Jesus when we no longer 240 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:35,520 walk by the confidence that we have in ourselves to do what the 241 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,800 Lord has called us to do. You want to know what maturity 242 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:40,760 is? That's what maturity is in the 243 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,320 Lord. For me to know that I can't 244 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:49,240 count on me to accomplish the work of the Lord, I can't do 245 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:54,280 that. I can't count on you to give me 246 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:59,320 what I need all the time to help me to do the work of the Lord. 247 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:04,400 We can't count on flesh. Jeremiah 17 and five says this. 248 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:09,120 He says curse. It is the man who trusts in man 249 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,520 and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the 250 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,840 Lord. We can't count on that. 251 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,160 We have to put our confidence in the Lord. 252 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:24,360 In everything that we do, we put our confidence in the Lord. 253 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:28,600 Philippians one and six says, being confident of this very 254 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,800 thing, that the good work that he has begun in me, he will 255 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,960 continue to do it until the day of Jesus Christ. 256 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:43,080 In Philippians 2 and 13, he says it is God who works in you, both 257 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:48,480 to will and to do of His good pleasure. 258 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:53,400 We can't count on ourselves, We can't count on men on the arm of 259 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,440 flesh, but we can count on the Lord. 260 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:02,400 Some believe in Chariots, right? Some believe in horses. 261 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:08,319 But I will remember the name of the Lord. 262 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:11,079 That's what I'm trusting in to help me. 263 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:13,680 Amen. So then we move on in here in 264 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,359 verse 5, we we're going to get to the crux of this. 265 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:18,680 In verse 5. He says, now may the Lord hears 266 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:20,839 another prayer. Here's another prayer. 267 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:25,000 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and 268 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:30,320 the patience and into the patience of Christ, into the 269 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:31,960 love of God. May the Lord direct your hearts. 270 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:36,880 May the Lord lead your heart. May the Lord guide your heart 271 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:41,480 into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. 272 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:46,160 May the Lord remove the obstacles that's in your way 273 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:49,880 that stops you from understanding or experiencing 274 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:54,520 the love of God. May He remove those things in 275 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:59,680 your life that causes you to question the love of God. 276 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:02,800 My point is that the love of God is there. 277 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:08,400 We have to ask God to work in our lives so that we understand 278 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:13,160 and we that we we experience that love to know all beyond a 279 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:16,680 shadow of a doubt. The love of God is there for us. 280 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:18,960 Now. There's God loving us and 281 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:23,440 there's us loving him, us loving him. 282 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:27,320 Let's not do anything to break fellowship with the love of God. 283 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,960 We've already been told that nothing's going to separate us 284 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,160 from the love of God. We've been told that right over 285 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:35,560 in Romans 8. Nothing can separate us from the 286 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:39,160 love of God. It's us understanding that the 287 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:45,360 love of God is always there for us, always there for us, that 288 00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:48,000 that's encouraging that regardless of how you feel, you 289 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:49,440 can't even trust your own feelings. 290 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:51,840 You can't trust man. You can't trust your own 291 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:54,480 feelings. You have to trust His Word. 292 00:18:55,720 --> 00:19:01,480 We have to trust His word. He is always there for us and 293 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:05,200 Jude, Jude said that he said, how, how do we keep ourselves in 294 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:07,360 the love of God? He says praying in the Holy 295 00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:14,640 Ghost, praying in the Holy Spirit, praying that keeps us in 296 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:19,320 the love of God because when we're praying, our focus, our 297 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:25,560 attention and our hearts are directed toward God and it's on 298 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:27,600 God. It's not on what's over here and 299 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,320 it's not on what's over there. It's upward. 300 00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:38,280 My vertical relationship with the Lord, Amen. 301 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,560 And he said then to the patients of Christ, we know that there's 302 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:44,880 that patient that he talked about over here in First 303 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,960 Thessalonians 1 and 10, which talks about the, the, the, the, 304 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,080 the patience of hope. That means that patience that we 305 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:53,640 have and waiting for Christ to return. 306 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,840 We should do that patiently. And waiting for Christ to return 307 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:02,160 patiently means that we don't get to the point where we give 308 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:05,360 out and we just give up on Christ. 309 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:08,480 And go to the things of the world and do what we no, but we 310 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:13,760 wait patiently upon him being steadfast and what Christ has 311 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,080 given to us and what Christ has told us and being steadfast in 312 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:22,360 the work that Christ has for us. That's what he's talking about 313 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,240 when he says the patience of Christ the way patiently. 314 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,800 But there's also that patience of Christ, which talks about the 315 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,440 patience that Christ himself demonstrated when he was here 316 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:37,160 with us in on earth, when he was being persecuted, when he was 317 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,480 being reviled, when he was being threatened. 318 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:46,520 The patience that he had to continue to keep his eyes on the 319 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:48,600 Lord, keep his eyes on the Father. 320 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:53,920 He kept his eyes on the Father and he did the work of the 321 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,080 father the entire time he was here. 322 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,000 Nothing moved him. And that's the patience that 323 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,160 he's talking about. We know, you know, and we look 324 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,040 at what he says. We look at what he says over 325 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:09,000 here in verse where we had here verse five. 326 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:14,480 I've gotten above, I've gotten ahead of my notes here, but we 327 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:19,400 know that he says in, in first Peter 2 and 23, Peter says that 328 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,280 when he was reviled, meaning Christ, because Peter witnessed 329 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:26,320 it, Peter witnessed it when he was reviled, he reviled not 330 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:28,040 again. And when he suffered, he 331 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:32,000 threatened not, but he committed himself to him who judges 332 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:35,760 righteously. He was patient and waiting for 333 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,720 the time that he would be glorified to be back with the 334 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,280 Father, to be back with the Father. 335 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,920 That's a blessing. We need that patience to wait 336 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,720 for him. And then in verse 6 it says, but 337 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:55,440 we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 338 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:59,680 that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly. 339 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:04,600 So now we're getting into the very meat of what this study is 340 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,800 about. And he starts that off with a 341 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:10,280 command. And verse 6 he says, we command 342 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,240 you. We give you strong instruction, 343 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,360 strong instruction that you withdraw. 344 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:18,800 But we don't do that in ourselves, brother. 345 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:24,600 We do that in the name or the authority of our Lord and Savior 346 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,720 Jesus Christ. And He said that you withdraw 347 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,760 from every brother. That means withhold your 348 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:35,720 fellowship, withhold your fellowship, withhold your 349 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:41,720 communication, your communion. Hold that from this brother who 350 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:46,080 is walking in a disorderly fashion and this, this word 351 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:49,040 disorderly means that he's walking in a way that's he's 352 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:52,280 idle. He's walking in a divisive way 353 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:56,760 or disruptive or unruly. This is difficult because it's 354 00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:01,800 us seeing a brother who is not walking in the things that we 355 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:07,720 have received from the Lord. And Paul says, OK, after so many 356 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:12,240 warnings, you have to just separate yourself for a while. 357 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:16,360 You got to withdraw from that brother to let him know that 358 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:20,400 what he's doing is not approved of in this community. 359 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:24,040 And this is not the first time that he gave those kind of 360 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:26,920 warnings that we go over. We go back, as a matter of fact, 361 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:32,520 the First Thessalonians chapter 5, First Thessalonians chapter 362 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:34,560 5. And look at verse 14. 363 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,480 He says now we exhort you and this is in the 1st letter, in 364 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:42,680 the first letter he said we exhort you brethren, warn those, 365 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:48,240 warn those or admonish those who are unruly, comfort the faint 366 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,800 hearted and uphold the weak. So he told him about that. 367 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,720 He wrote about that back in the 1st letter. 368 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,480 He knew what was going on and he said, look, you need to go in 369 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,760 and deal with those brothers that are unruly because they 370 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,920 will be a disruption in your community. 371 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,680 Thank you for joining us here today on Living Waters of Grace. 372 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,360 You might have noticed a different voice teaching this 373 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:15,960 message and that's because Pastor Lewis Harrell is coming 374 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:19,680 alongside Pastor Clark sharing in the teachings through Calvary 375 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,600 Chapel of Westmoreland. Pastor Lewis has been going 376 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,720 through 1st and 2nd Thessalonians verse by verse in 377 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,520 this series found in the Pauline Epistles. 378 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,320 These books are jam packed with wisdom and instruction for the 379 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:35,040 Christian life. If you haven't been challenged 380 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:37,440 by this book, you must not have been listening. 381 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:40,360 If that's you, I'll tell you in just a moment how to listen to 382 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:43,480 this message again. But for now, think about someone 383 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,200 that has been a mentor to you and your relationship with 384 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,000 Christ. How much did that person invest 385 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,640 in your faith and how critical were they in a time when you had 386 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:57,600 more questions than answers? Now think of someone you can 387 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,360 invest in. It's important to share your 388 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:03,160 faith and be there for others who are going through the same 389 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:05,520 thing you did when you were first saved. 390 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:09,160 Now for those of you who need to go back and listen again, head 391 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,440 on over to calvarychapelonline.com. 392 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,560 That's Calvary Chapel online.com. 393 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:19,160 Everything you need to know about listening to past messages 394 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:21,920 you'll find there. You'll also find a way to invest 395 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,840 in the ministry of sending the Word of God to the world. 396 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,960 Just click on the Giving tab. And for more messages like this 397 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:31,200 one, subscribe to our YouTube channel. 398 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,920 Living Waters of Grace is a ministry out of Calvary Chapel 399 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:39,760 Westmoreland in Greensburg, PA. You can also hear us on Grace 400 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:43,240 Radio dot FM. That's all for today, but we'll 401 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,240 connect with you again on Living Waters of Grace.