Living Waters of Grace - 01.12.26

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.

It's also important that we remember that the gift is in

you. You're not the gift, he said.

The gift that's in you. We're not the gift.

Don't let people think you're the gift.

Don't let people make you believe that you are the gift.

The gift is in you. It's in US.

Whatever that gift is. Teaching, praise and worship, AV

leadership, whatever the gift is, administration, it doesn't

matter. The gift is what's in you.

Maybe you were born with some natural talent.

You can sing with little to no effort.

Your whole life people have admired your gift and poured out

compliments and encouragement. If that's you listening right

now, thank God for that gift. But it is easy to start to let

some of that gifting go to your head, to begin to think that you

are the source of that gift. Today, Pastor Lewis challenges

us to remember the giver of the gift and focus our attention on

glorifying him rather than exulting in our gift.

Now here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of Second Timothy Chapter

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

1, as he begins his message Last Words.

Let's turn in our Bibles, please, to Second Timothy

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. Let's pray and go into the Word

of God. Amen.

Father, We thank you, Lord, once again for your faithfulness to

this house, and not only to this house, but for all those who

call upon your name. Father, we thank you for the

things that our eyes have seen, Lord, and the things that our

ears have heard. We thank you that we are in the

country, Lord, that has been defended by men and women who

have a heart, Lord, for freedom, and we thank you for our

freedom. We can stand here today and

teach Your word and sit together, Lord, under Your word

and not be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ

because of the freedoms that we have.

And we thank you for that Lord, in Jesus name.

Now, Father, as we listen to your word, I pray, Father, that

you open your mouth and speak to us.

Lord, no one came here to see me.

All came here to hear from you. So I pray, Lord, that Your Holy

Spirit would just be upon each and every one of us, that you

would use me, Lord, just as a, as a tool in your hand, Lord, as

a vessel. Speak through me, Father, in

Jesus name we pray, Amen. So over here in Second Timothy

chapter one, we have already just completed First Timothy and

what we've seen is that Paul is giving instruction to his young

protege Timothy, and he met Timothy back in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

You can read about when they initially came together on

Paul's missionary journey through Ephesus.

And what we find is that Paul Wood took a real liking to

Timothy because of Timothy's faithfulness.

Even as a young man, he was faithful.

And, and as we move into now, the second chapter or the second

book of Timothy, like you said last week, there are three

pastoral epistles, first Timothy, second Timothy, and

also Titus. Even though it's not necessarily

in that order, it is actually the correct order is actually

First Timothy Titus. And then Second Timothy is

actual order. And I'll tell you the reason why

it's important for us to talk about that or to mention that is

because it's here in Second Timothy where Paul realizes that

he is facing impending death. So this is probably the last

letter that Paul not probably it is the last letter that Paul

will write and he understands that and he's dealing with it

from the perspective of a man who knows that he is facing his

death. So we're dealing with that.

So as we read through this, please keep in mind that we're

listening to a man who knows that his in is imminent as we

read through this. And maybe you'll be able to just

pick up and we want to point some things out, but you'll be

able to pick out certain things that he says that I think are

just amazing to be able to say at his end.

And you can just take a second to think, If you knew that you

only had a couple days to live, what would be the thing on your

mind most? What would be the thing on your

heart the most? Who would you want to talk to?

Who would you want to speak to? Who would you want to ask

forgiveness of? Who would you want to forgive?

Who would you want to reconcile with?

What would you want to correct in your life if you knew?

You knew you only had a few days to live?

Not many of us have the privilege of knowing when we're

about to go. Not many of us know that, which

is why it's so important that we live every day like it's our

last. Because it very well could be.

You heard people say here today and gone tomorrow.

That's actually not true. You could be here today and gone

today, so you might want to live your life.

We all should be living our lives in a way that we are

mindful of the fact. I think it was in the book of

Psalms where it is written, that we ask the Lord to teach us to

number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

So we live like we don't have forever to live, but we live

that we know and we understand that we too have impending

death. And it was even more significant

for Paul because even his surroundings was dark and it was

cold. He was in a Roman prison.

This is a second imprisonment. He was in a Roman prison.

He was basically lowered down through a hole in the ground.

He was in a dungeon. Wasn't even a prison.

Compared to the things that we see today as a prison, Paul was

probably in some of the worst conditions you can think of.

He was in a hole in the ground where he was around all of his

own waste, along with probably others that was there too as

well before he got there. And not only was he beaten, but

Paul was in shackles. He was in chains, as we'll see

later. He mentions his chains.

Why would a man need to still be in chains if he's already been

beaten and in prison? But this is what Paul suffered

and he suffered it for the Gospel.

And he was during the time of the Nero era, you know,

Christians were blamed at that particular time for burning down

Rome. Rome had burned down and and

Nero, because he hated Christians, he blamed the

Christians for doing it. Most people think that Nero was

the one that did it because he wanted to kind of change Rome.

He wanted to do a renovation project in Rome.

So he chose to torch the place and he blamed it on the

Christians. And it was with harsh, harsh

treatment of the Christians that he began to execute believers in

that area. At that particular time, he'd

already killed Peter by crucifying him upside down.

And now Paul was awaiting his own execution in prison.

So it was a really dark time. So it was during this time that

Paul began to pen a letter. Now, people believe that he

dictated the letter and it was Luke who was with him at that

time that actually wrote the letter, but it was definitely

God used Paul to do this. And the other amazing thing that

I have to point out, and I know we talked about this before

before we can get into this, but I have to mention the fact that

God's sovereignty cannot be topped.

It can't even be compared with God's sovereignty.

He's asking in this letter that Timothy come to him quickly.

Timothy, come quickly. I got things I want to say to

you, Timothy. It would be just like someone

who was passing and they know they're passing and they're

calling out to you and they're asking you to come quickly

because I, I don't know how much time I have.

And Paul is saying, Timothy, come quickly.

Come, be diligent to come. But what's amazing, what's

really amazing about that is the fact that this letter or these

instructions that Paul gives to Timothy was meant to be directly

to Timothy. He wrote this just in case

Timothy didn't get there in time.

This was just in case Timothy didn't get there in time.

And because of this, God set it up so that we could all benefit

from this letter that he gave to Timothy.

Paul gives him 5 instructions throughout this letter.

There's five things that Paul gives him as instructions for

Christian living. And the point of the matter is,

is that again, because of God's sovereignty and his love, he

knew that we need to know these five things.

That's the sovereignty and the love of God.

So let's move into this. We're in Second Timothy chapter

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

1. And right here in verse 1 of

chapter 1, Paul says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the

will of God according to the promise of life which is in

Christ Jesus. What's amazing here is that as

he opens up all of his letters or most of his letters, he

always talks about the fact that he has authority to write this

because he is an apostle not of himself, not an apostle of

himself, but apostle by the will of God.

He's apostle of Jesus Christ, of the will of God.

He is a sent servant. He was sent by the will of God.

So he reminds us that Paul was one who was sent.

He was not one who just went. So Paul understood that his

authority came from God. And he's saying that right up

front. So everything that he says to

Timothy, it bears that weight. And he says according to the

promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus.

And that's really important to him right now because Paul was

facing impending death. So his heart, his heart was to

focus on the promise that God has given to him through Christ

Jesus, which is the promise of life.

And that's exactly what he was hold on to while he was there in

that dark, cold, dingy, smelly, stinking cell.

That hold. He was focusing on the fact that

he had a promise from God of life, and every one of us have

that promise as well. And that's the message that not

only did Paul go out and share with everyone, but that's the

message that we have, which is why we should be confident with

the message that we have to give to other people.

We have the promise of life. No one else has that promise, no

one else. We have the promise of life

through Christ Jesus. And then he says in verse 2 to

Timothy, a beloved son, a beloved son.

Paul always talked about his passion, his love for Timothy.

And Timothy was a son in the faith.

And Paul always acknowledged that.

And then he says, and here's when he talks about what I call

the divine triplets, he mentions, he says grace, mercy,

and peace from God and the Father of Jesus Christ our Lord.

James, it's interesting that he talks about mercy and all the

pastoral letters. We notice that he mentions the

word mercy and he mentions that because Paul understood that as

a pastor, there's no one that should be before the mercy seat

more than pastors. There's no one else that should

be hastening to come before the mercy seat more than pastors.

We need mercy, and we should know that we need mercy.

And he understands that. In fact, in James 31, it says

that instructors or teachers will be held to a stricter

judgment. So we need the mercy of God.

We need the mercy of God. All of us need God's mercy.

And if it wasn't for God's mercy, we wouldn't be here today

in Christ Jesus if it wasn't for his mercy.

And he goes on in verse 3, and we're now about to get into what

is probably the meat of this, but he says, I thank God whom I

serve with a pure conscience as my forefathers did.

He talks about a pure conscience and now he's not saying that he

did everything perfect when he served God, He didn't do

everything perfect, but he had a pure conscience because he was

able to take everything that he did before the Lord.

So if he did slip up, in fact, he talked about in Romans 7, he

talked about slipping up quite a bit.

He said the things that I want to do, I don't do the things

that I should do, you know, things I shouldn't do, those

things I do. So he realizes that he still

sins. Paul still sins, but he had a

pure conscience because he was he would acknowledge that sin

and take it before the Lord and he would become pure just as we

can serve with the pure conscience.

It doesn't mean that we don't do anything that we don't need to

repent for we do. But the pure conscience coming

to the fact that we don't hold long accounts with God.

I love the way Clark always say that, you know, keep short

accounts, you know, with the Lord and we do that by when we

do slip up, the Holy Spirit prompts us and lets us know that

we slip up and we hit our knees and ask for forgiveness.

Acknowledge it. We come into agreement with God

that we have sinned. And this is what Paul was

saying. So Paul was saying, I served

with a pure conscience. Ain't nothing lingering.

Ain't nothing lingering, nothing lingering.

The things that I've done, I acknowledged it.

I acknowledged it. And he says also as my father's

did. So he goes back to thinking

about the patriarchs that are in his life that served before him,

the Abrahams, The Isaacs and the Jacob who had faith in God and

they served with faith in God. And Paul said, I served in that

same way. And he says as without ceasing,

I remember you in my prayers night and day.

You know, sometimes it's a thought that when someone gets

saved, oh, don't have to worry about them now, Don't have to

worry about them now. I ain't got to pray for them as

much as they had to pray when they were out there in that

street. Oh, I ain't got to.

No, it's the other way around. When someone gets saved, those

prayers should not diminish. They should intensify.

They should intensify and especially if they get into

ministry, intensify those prayers, don't diminish them,

need them. And Paul understand that there

was a need to pray for Timothy because Timothy was called to

the pastorate. He was saved and called to the

pastorate. And Paul understood that it was

necessary to pray for that young man night and day.

There's nothing good that happens in this church that

doesn't come through your prayers.

Your prayers for Clark, your prayers for me, your prayers for

the other ministries in this church.

Anything that happens of any significance is coming through

your prayers, whether it's corporately by praying together

or praying on a Thursday night prayer or or the Monday or the

other Thursday night prayer that people are holding, or whether

it's individually your prayers. Your prayers are the helps that

holds this place together. It holds it together and the

Lord honors the prayers of the Saints.

Then he goes on in verse 4 and he says greatly desiring to see

you, and that follows up with what he's going to say in

chapter 4, verse 9, when he when he tells him to please

diligently, diligently come quickly because he knows he

doesn't have but a short amount of time to be able to share with

him. And then he says, being mindful

of your tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to

remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwell

first in your grandmother, Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am

persuaded is in you also. Paul says being mindful of your

tears. He's sitting there in the prison

and he's thinking about Timothy's tears.

We don't know exactly what it was that he's referring to.

He could be referring to the fact that the last time he saw

Timothy, Timothy wept because Timothy may have realized that

this could be the last time that I'm seeing my spiritual father.

This could be the last time he may have been there when Paul

got arrested and was put in prison, and he may have known

that this is going to end in his execution.

The Holy Spirit may have prompted him to know that the

end is near. Or it could be because Timothy

was left in Ephesus to be a pastor of a church where people

were older than he was and was dealing with him like he was a

kid instead of dealing with him like he's a pastor.

The ministry, the persecution, he sees Paul getting arrested

and about to be executed, and he's in the same ministry.

He is testifying to the same name that Paul was testifying to

that's leading to his impending execution.

Maybe that caused Timothy to weep.

We don't really know what caused Timothy to weep.

But Paul says I'm mindful of those tears, that I may be

filled with joy when I call into remembrance your genuine faith,

Timothy, your faith is not hypocritical.

Your faith does not come from surface belief.

Your faith comes from the real, the real source.

Your faith is based upon your knowledge and your belief in

Jesus Christ. That is genuine faith.

It's faith in the face of fear. It's faith in the face of all

things of persecution. It's faith in the face of

danger. That's genuine faith, Faith and

temptation. Timothy, your faith is not

hypocritical because your examples were good.

First, it was in your your grandmother, your grandmother

Lois, she was a faithful woman. And that was passed down to your

mother, Eunice, who was a faithful woman.

They pray for you, Timothy. And now you have genuine faith.

I'm going to tell you something. Most of us, and I know I am,

chief, I am definitely one who are here as a result of the

faithful prayers of someone who pray for us.

Maybe it was your grandmother, maybe it was your grandfather,

maybe it was your father, maybe it was your mother.

For me, it was mother, grandmother, and my older

sister. They desperately prayed for me

to come out of those streets, and maybe somebody did that for

you. So we have evidence that the

fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much, and Timothy

understood that. So if you're praying for

somebody that's not in here yet, if you're praying for somebody

that you want to see, walk in with the Lord before you leave.

Don't stop praying. Regardless of what you see,

regardless of what you see. It's not about what we see.

It's what we believe. We serve a God that is able to

change hearts, to change lives, to change the destiny of men and

women. He is able.

So don't give up your prayers. Don't give up your prayers.

And then he goes on and he says in verse 6, he says, therefore,

I remind you now this is his first.

If you're taking notes, this is his first instruction to

Timothy. He says, therefore, I remind

you, stir up the gift of God that is in you through the

laying on of my hands. Stir up the gift.

That's instruction #1 Timothy, stir up that gift that is in

you. Every one of us have a gift

that's in us that came to us at the time that we got saved.

When the Holy Spirit came to dwell on the inside of us, it

brought gifts. So we all have a gift, but non

use, fear and other things can cause that gift to go dormant.

Circumstances, frustrations, problems in ministry, it can

cause that gift to go dormant. Non use of that gift.

And Paula said, Timothy, stir up that gift.

Fan those embers into a flame. Timothy, don't let your ministry

die. Don't let your faith die.

Don't let your testimony die. Stir it up.

And that's what he's saying to us.

He sent it to me and I know he's saying it to you as well.

Stir up that gift that's in you. God placed something in you.

I don't know what it is, but he placed a gift that's in each and

every one of you who believe. Stir it up.

Don't let it sit and go dormant. Don't let the enemy be able to

celebrate because you are not serving the Lord in the way that

God has called you to do it because your gift went dormant.

Stir it up. Stir it up.

But it's also important that we remember that the gift is in

you. You're not the gift, he said.

The gift that's in you. We're not the gift.

Don't let people think you're the gift.

Don't let people make you believe that you are the gift.

The gift is in you, It's in US. Whatever that gift is, teaching,

praise and worship, AV leadership, whatever the gift

is, administration, it doesn't matter.

The gift is what's in you. So he goes on.

That was necessary just to put out there before we move on then

verse 7 he says for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but

of power and of love and a sound mind that was must have been

necessary to say Paul would not have made that admonition if it

wasn't necessary somewhere along the line.

Timothy must have became timid somewhere along the line.

Somewhere along the line, Timothy must have become pretty

silent about his gift and was not teaching the word of God or

doing what he needed to do with the gift that was placed in him.

Somewhere along the line, something was going on where

Timothy was becoming fearful. Otherwise Paul would not have

made that admonition to him. He would not have brought that

up. And it was right after he said,

stir up the gift. And then he says, for God has

not given us a spirit of fear. So you put those two together,

that tells us that Timothy somewhere along the line became

fearful. Maybe it's because he was seeing

so many people executed around him.

Maybe it's because he was seeing the treatment.

Maybe it was because he was getting threats from Nero.

Maybe he was because the older people that was around him was

just disrespecting him so much that he become fearful.

But whatever the case was, he must have become fearful.

And Paul said God did not give us a spirit of fear.

Here on Living Waters of Grace, we're in the books of First and

Second Timothy. Pastor Lewis Harrell is walking

us through these letters written from Paul to Timothy.

Toward the end of these letters, Paul is anticipating that his

time here on earth is coming to a close.

He's giving some final words of advice to his mentee.

Paul writes in Second Timothy 4, verse seven.

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith wherever you are in your journey of faith

with God, our hope is that you have the willingness to fight

for what's true, not compromising, but holding fast

to the Word of God. Paul was reminding Timothy of

this, and it's a good reminder for you and for me today too.

For helpful input throughout this series, why not listen to

all of these teachings from First and Second Timothy on our

website? Go to calvarychapelonline.com to

access teachings, download our app, and more.

If you'd like to visit us this weekend, we'd be delighted.

Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel

Westmoreland in Greensburg, PA Come to our service held at

10:30 AM on Sundays. We're located at 400 E

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We thank you for tuning in today and ask that you come back for

more solid and biblical teaching from Pastor Lewis right here on

Living Waters of Grace.