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 is saying basically I have fulfilled my ministry.
If today was the last day, if I don't get a chance to see
another sunrise, I can say that I fulfilled my ministry.
Lord, I've done what you have called me here to do.
That was a question that had to come to me.
If I was to leave here today, could I say, Lord, I fulfilled
your ministry? I fulfilled the ministry that
you've given me. Could I say that?
Could you say that?
You know, for a lot of people, the end of their lives comes
before they realize it. Although some are content with
the legacy they left behind and prepared for the life to come,
there are others who have given little thought to these things
until it's too late. Today in his message, Pastor
Lewis asks you if you can say that you've fulfilled all that
God has called you to do in this life, You've got one chance.
To live. Are you making it count?
Will you finish your race? Content that you ran with
everything you had? Now here's Pastor Lewis in the
Book of Second Timothy, Chapter 4, with today's edition of
Living Waters of Grace. I want to ask you to turn and
your Bibles to the second, second Timothy, the book of
Second Timothy, and we're going to finish up chapter 4.
We're going to do verses 9 through 22, I think is where we
stopped last time. Why don't we pray and go into
the word? Father, there is nothing beyond
your power. There's nothing beyond your
reach. You are the omnipotent God.
Lord, There's nothing that you can't do.
There's nothing too hard for you and Father, we know, Lord, that
it's you who can pour your spirit out upon man.
It's you who can bring us to repentance and totally change
our lives. You've done it in US, Lord.
And Lord, we ask that you do it for those in Greensburg, in the
surrounding areas, the places where you have placed us, Lord,
to do ministry. Father, do it here.
We come to give you praise and worship both through song,
through prayer, and also, Lord, through the teaching of Your
word. Lord, teach us this morning.
It's you who speaks the truth, Lord.
It's you who teaches us, Lord. We are assembled at the foot of
the mountain this morning, Lord, and we're looking for you to
speak to us. I pray, Father, that each and
every one of us, Lord, would have something that we will
leave here with that would change our lives in some way.
Great way, small way, however it is Lord.
But in some way, Lord, may we look more like you.
May our lives change, Lord, to look more like you.
And may your Son Jesus be glorified in our lives and
everything that we do and everything that we say, even the
very thoughts of our heart. So Father, this morning we ask
that you would execute the thoughts of your heart this
morning and teach us the things, Lord, that you have to say to
us. What was in your heart?
Lord, when you have Paul write these verses, What did you want
us to hear? What did you want us to learn?
How is it supposed to impact us? Lord, do it in our hearts.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen. So we're in Second Timothy
chapter 4 and starting at verse 9 it reads this way.
It says be diligent to come to me quickly, for demons has
forsaken me. Having loved this present world.
It has departed for Thessalonica crescents, for Galatia Titus,
for Dematia Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me.
Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for
ministry. And Tachakis, I have sent to
Ephesus. Bring the cloak that I left with
Karpis at Troas when you come. And the books, especially the
parchments, we're going to stop there just for a second.
You know, one of the things that struck me as I was reading this,
and I'm sure like many of you, when you sit down to read the
Word of God, the request that we typically make is, Lord, what do
you want me to get out of this? What do you want me to profit
from this? The scripture?
What what's what is the thing that I'm supposed to understand
most about this particular scripture?
Show me, Lord, shine the light on that thing.
So after reading it several times, one of the things that
came to my mind was this being that this is Paul's final
letter. The thing that stuck out to me
most is the fact that this letter really doesn't look much
different than any other letter that he's written.
Other than the fact that there's a few times where he mentions
urgency. What a few times that he
requests that Timothy come where he makes reference to the fact
that he may not escape this particular trial or this
particular tests or this persecution.
He may not escape this. But other than that, this letter
really looks much like any other letter that he's written.
He is still writing with conviction.
He is still writing with some rebuke.
He is still writing with exhortation.
He is still encouraging the readers to be obedient to the
things of the Lord. He is still sharing the gospel.
It's not much different in this letter.
And I was just thinking. It made me think, well, if I
knew that this may be one of the last days that I would be on
earth today, if I didn't know whether or not I was even going
to finish the day, how would I preach this morning?
Would it change the way I preach?
Would it change the way I teach this morning?
Would it change what I do after I leave service?
Would it caused me to get on the phone and begin to call people
that I know, that I know I've offended and what I asked for
their forgiveness with some urgency?
Would I forgive those who have offended me?
Go out of my way to find them just so I can ask or let them
know that I forgive them. How would I change?
Would it have impact on the way that I treated you?
Would I be more sensitive to the things that you that you need?
Would I be more sensitive to your heart?
Would I be more kind? How would it change me?
And the thing that I asked myself is why?
If it does change me in any way, why don't I live that way every
day? Why don't I live that way?
Do I? Would I read my Bible more?
Because if I would, then why don't I do that more now?
And would I pray more? Would I spend more time with the
Lord in prayer? And if I and if I would, Lord,
why don't I do that now? How would it impact me?
This is a time when Paul knew that his death was imminent, and
yet he continues to be selfless in his approach, in this letter,
warning and exhorting, encouraging others.
Not once does he say, look, I need you to come and help me get
out of here. I need you to talk to somebody
that you may know and tell them to let me go.
Not once does he do that. Everything is about being
obedient to the Word. Everything is about serving the
Lord Almighty. Paul said I fought the good
fight back in verse 7. He said I fought the good fight.
I finished the race. I have kept the faith.
Paul is saying basically I have fulfilled my ministry.
If today was the last day, if I don't get a chance to see
another sunrise, I can say that I fulfilled my ministry.
Lord, I've done what you have called me here to do.
That was a question that had to come to me.
If I was to leave here today, could I say, Lord, I fulfilled
your ministry? I fulfilled the ministry that
you've given me. Can I say that?
Could I say that? Could you say that?
So as I continue to go on and we think about the things that Paul
says, one of the things that jumps out at me is the fact that
I should be living every day like it could be my last.
And I know that's not no revelation.
I mean, we've hear that all the time, but how often do we really
heed it? I've heard it before, but how
many times do I walk away and forget that I've heard that and
I just go back to doing what I was doing?
So that's how this letter is impacting me.
So as Paul gets into the letter, he goes he starts here verse 9
and he says be diligent and to come to me quickly for Demas has
forsaken me having loved this present world and has departed
for Thessalonica. Demas Demas was actually a Co
laborer with Paul. He's done some ministry journeys
with Paul. He ministered with Paul.
He served in the missionary with Paul, as a missionary with Paul.
But yet he comes to this point and you was seeing when, when
Paul needs him the most, he betrays Paul, he abandons Paul,
he deserts Paul. So we look at forsaken, you
know, he says demons has forsaken me, He has renounced
me, He has turned away from me, He has deserted me, having loved
this present world. And and then there's some things
that will cause us to desert either each other or desert the
Lord. But one of the things I just
want to be clear about is that as we take this journey, as we
continue to live the Christian life, please know there's times
that it's going to be lonely for us.
It's going to be lonely. There's times when we're going
to have to stand and we will look around and we're standing
by ourselves and we have to make a decision just because we were
abandoned, are we going to abandon the Lord?
Would it be easier to do that? Of course, Demas is going back
to Thessalonica. Thessalonica is like a New York
City, it's like a Las Vegas, it's a party town.
It's a worldly town, it's a sinful town.
I don't know about you, but from time to time I get these, these
these these emails or text messages and right on the title
it says vacation in Sin City. Now why would I want to rush
there? But I get these sometime, you
know, I look at my phone and say vacation in Sin City.
They actually advocate and they market that if you come here and
vacate and have a vacation, you will have all the ungodliness
you want. And yet we have people who flock
there. The world will do that.
But this is saying that demons did it because demons turned
back. Persecution can do that.
Sometimes persecution can cause us to turn back and to turn away
because of fear. It's a lot more easier to just
go and seek the pleasures of the world.
I mean, that sounds better than to be locked up in a stinking
cave ready for have my head separated from my shoulders.
And demons is saying, look, I'm sorry, I can't be with you
anymore. I can't be associated with you
anymore. But he was not the only one that
have forsaken Paul. So demons has forsaken Paul.
He has forsaken him. And you know, the one thing that
we must understand and feel really good about is that we, we
do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our
weaknesses, but who was in all points tempted as we are, yet he
was without sin. That's what the Bible tells us
in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15. So if we consider that, then we
know that when Paul called out to the Lord in his time of being
forsaken, not only could the Lord respond to him out of his
grace and his sensitivity and his love for Paul, but even out
of experience, Jesus knows what it's like to be forsaken.
He knows what it's like to stand alone after he has done all for
everybody else. And yet when in his time of
need, he was forsaken. And I'm sure Paul felt like
this. I have preached the gospel to
these, to these men and women. I have done things for them.
I didn't even take money from them in many cases.
I just wanted them. I just wanted them to, to, to
understand that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
I just wanted them to understand that and I wanted their souls
saved. And in doing that, He put His
own life on the line time and time and time again.
Yet in his time of need, he was forsaken and so was our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. He understands that.
I say that to say to you that when you are in your time of
need, when you're in your time of feeling forsaken by everybody
else, being by yourself, after you have poured out to others,
know that when you cry to Jesus, He understands.
And he doesn't just understand because he's a God who knows
all. He understands because he
experienced it on the night in which he was portrayed, the
night, night in which he was arrested, everyone forsook him.
The 12 people that he poured the most of his life into forsook
him. So he knows exactly what you are
saying to him when you cry out. He hears your heart.
He knows, he knows. So he goes on.
He says crescence is in, you know, now the next few people, I
want to make this point, Demons was the one that he mentions by
name that forsake that have forsaken him.
But the next few people that he's going to talk about are
going to be men that he actually reassigned or he dispatched to
different places, OK, for ministry purposes.
And so he says crescents. Crescents left for Galatia and
Titus for Dalmatia. Now, first of all, Galatia, Paul
had established a few churches there in Galatia.
In fact, when you go to the book of Galatians, you know, you will
see that Paul is writing to the churches, not church, but the
church is of Galatia, of Galatians.
And there at that particular time, they had a great need for
someone to come and do ministry because there were Judaizers
coming there and was trying to get them to follow another
doctrine. They were trying to tell them
that look, you got to do more than just believe in Jesus
Christ in order to be saved. I mean, you need to be
circumcised. You need to do this, you need to
follow all Moses, all these things.
In other words, Jesus plus some of the things that we see even
now, Jesus plus but no, Paul's saying don't follow no other
doctrine. In fact, even if I come and if I
say something other than the doctrine that I first taught
you, then I should be accursed. And if anyone else comes and
teaches you any other doctrine, they should be accursed.
But this is where he sent Crescents who is a faithful Co
labor of his. Now Galatia, you know it is is
now Turkey. And then he said he sent Titus
to Dalmatia. Dalmatia is one of these coastal
regions off of the off of the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
And Dalmatia actually used to be Yugoslavia and now it's one of
the it's a part of the Republic of Croatia.
And of course, we know Paul spent a lot of time there and he
planted many churches. So Paul is dispatching people.
Crescents, you go here and continue to do the work that we
began. And Titus, you go here and
continue to do the work that we began.
In fact, he says in verse 11, the only one that is with me is
Luke. Now we have to remember that
Luke is more of a personal physician and personal chaplain
for Paul. And I say personal chaplain
because in many of his imprisonments and many times
that when, when, when when Paul was in prison, Luke would be the
one that would be there with him to minister to him during the
time that he's in prison. So, you know, I kind of refer to
him almost as Paul's chaplain to some degree, you know, because
when he's in ministry, when he needs him the most, Luke is one
of the faithful people that he can count on to be with him.
But also is the fact that Luke was a physician.
In fact, he was called the beloved physician.
Luke was a doctor. So Paul had some health
challenges. We don't know exactly what they
were. The Bible's not very clear on
them. People have different theories
about what they were. Some people say malaria, Some
people say he was, you know, partially blind.
Some people say that he had rumor rheumatoid arthritis or
whatever it is. But people really don't know
exactly what his his health problem were.
But we do know is that Luke was the beloved physician that is
always there to assist him and help him.
But Luke also served as a scribe for Paul.
So when Paul would pour out his heart, it was Luke that was
writing. Luke is also one of the only
gentile writers that we have in the New Testament.
Luke is actually the the author of both Acts and the book of
Luke. Luke is the author of both of
those books. So he said I only have Luke with
me. And then he says get Mark and
bring him with me for he is useful for me, for to me for
ministry, which is really amazing because if you remember
back in the 12th or 13th chapter, the book of Acts, it
was there when they took Mark with them.
Paul and Barnabas took Mark with them on the 1st missionary
journey and the first resistance that they ran into, Mark said, I
had enough of this. I can't deal with this.
I don't have the stomach for this.
And Mark quit and went back to Jerusalem.
You know, we can look at Mark and say, hey, you know, why'd
you abandon him, man? But the truth of the matter is,
is that Mark just wasn't there yet.
He just wasn't there yet. Like we said last week, we all
mature at different levels in the faith.
We all mature at different levels.
Mark had not got to that point and he went back.
But this story is a story of reconciliation because we know
that in Colossians chapter 4 around verse 10, Paul names Mark
as one of the Co laborers that was with him or that worked with
him in ministry. And also in Philemon, we know
that Mark is named actually named with demons as one of the
faithful workers that was working with Paul.
So see, just because Paul or or or Mark had a tough start, he
may have been kind of weak in the beginning.
That doesn't mean that he stayed there.
He was strengthened, the Lord strengthened him.
The Lord caused him to be bolder, and He can do the same
thing with us. You know, just because we have
some problems at the beginning of our ministries or we have
some problems in beginning of walking with the Lord, doesn't
mean we're going to stay there. The Lord has the power to
strengthen you. He has the power to mature you
in the faith. As long as you continue to
follow Him, continue to seek Him, He's able to cause you to
mature in the faith. I am still looking to mature in
the faith. When do we get there?
We don't get to the point of being totally perfected until
Jesus Christ comes back. That's when we finally get
there. But until that time, we are
being sanctified. We are being matured, we're
being developed in the faith. So this is a story of
reconciliation. Now we know, first of all,
Timothy had to be Bolden. He had to get more boldness in
his heart for the gospel and for the work.
But Paul also had to soften his heart and the Lord did a work on
both. And that's the way it should
happen in ministry. For those of us, we are brothers
and sisters in Christ. We should not have life long
contentions with each other. That just shouldn't happen.
I'm sorry, but it shouldn't happen.
Even my mother would get to a point where me and my sisters
were arguing and fighting with each other.
She would get to a point and say, OK, that's it.
You guys are going to make up and that's just all there's to
it. You going to get this stuff
behind you, You going to forget about all this and we going to
be a family. Even she would get to that
point. You know what, in Christ there's
so many places where we are told that we are to reconcile with
our brother quickly and Mark and in Matthew 5, he says reconcile
with your brother quickly. If there's an offense, we know
that he gives us a process for reconciliation.
Matthew 18, he gives us a process for reconciliation, but
the beginning of that process is to go to that brother, not just
avoid them, don't talk about them, don't backbite them, go to
them. Let's resolve this.
That is not of the Lord. When two people or how,
regardless of how many people have contentions for extended
periods of time and they're never resolved, that is not of
the Lord. That is not the Spirit of
Christ. He was denied by Peter three
times, yet after his resurrection he said go get
Peter and bring him with you to Galilee.
Don't leave him out. I'm not casting him out.
I'm not forgetting about him. Go get him and bring him with
you. I'm reconciling with Him.
I want Him to know I've forgiven him and that's what we should be
doing with each other. Either I need to call you or you
need to call me, but we need to reconcile.
We need not to be allowing this thing just to last forever and
ever and ever. You talking to your people about
what happened and somebody else talking to their people about
what happened. Let's sit down and talk with
each other and let's love on each other the way Christ
intended so that we can do the work of the ministry.
And that's exactly what happened.
Paul is basically saying, he said I need, I have need of him.
I have use for him for ministry. And that's exactly, and this is
what gives the devil a black eye, because the devil knows
that we have use for each other that we add to each other's
ministry. Just the evil one knows that,
our enemy knows that. And So what he's going to try to
do is to keep us separated so that your ministry can't bless
me and my ministry can't bless you, and we can't serve together
to be a blessing to whomever the Lord has sent us here to be a
blessing too. Paul says I have need bring him
to me. I have need of him for ministry.
But it took him a while to realize that.
Let us not take us that long to realize that we need each other.
So let's reconcile. Let's reconcile quickly.
This has been another encouraging edition of Living
Waters of Grace. Pastor Lewis Harrell has shared
some good reminders for us to learn and walk in today as he's
teaching through the books of First and Second Timothy.
There are useful practices and advice that the Apostle Paul
offers to Timothy in these books.
From a fellow pastor, Paul imparts some wisdom to Timothy
about solid leadership and what some of the criteria should be
for leadership. There are specific passages
directed towards men and women, respectively.
And All in all, there's much to gain in coming to an awareness
of God's heart for each person and God's purposes for each one.
We're happy that you've taken the time today to listen and
invite you to come here the next edition.
In the meantime, when you have some time to spare today, go
check out our website, calvarychapelonline.com.
There you'll find additional messages as well as a variety of
resources and information about how to meet with us in person.
We're also on Facebook, so you can be a part of what we share
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ministry of Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
Before we go today, we ask that you share this program with
others and invite them to listen on Grace FM at 91.7.
That's all we have for today, but we're so glad that you've
been with us. There's more to dig into here in
First and Second Timothy, so let's gear up for some more
great teachings from Pastor Lewis next time here on Living
Waters of Grace.