Living Waters of Grace 12.25.25

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.

If you were going for a cheap, kind of slutty, inviting look,

you nailed it. That was the way he addressed

it. Didn't have to say another word,

didn't have to say another word. Never accused her of anything,

just basically gave a man's opinion of what she looked like.

That's all. And I think as fathers we should

do that. We should give our opinion.

We understand how the male mind works and we have to impart that

to our kids. We joined Pastor Lewis in the

middle of a recounting of a story of a father talking with

his daughter about some immodest clothing choices that she was

making. Well, this kind of talk might be

antiquated. We know as fathers that God has

called us to speak the truth in love to our children.

Now we must season these times of truthful speaking with the

love of God. When our children know that we

love them, we can say some of the most difficult things in the

world to them. Now here's Pastor Lewis in the

Book of First Timothy, chapter 2, with today's edition of

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

Living Waters of Grace. I heard one teacher say that,

you know, in the church now, there's more announcements and

things of that nature than there is prayer.

And we really need to focus on prayer.

I'm glad that we have so many avenues here in this church that

offer prayer. So many, so many.

And you can all plug yourselves into it.

We invite you to plug yourselves into those avenues.

A prayer because every one of those groups, whether it's a

Thursday night Zoom group or whether it's the Thursday night

group that meets here to pray about certain things.

The all of the Bible studies that should include prayer.

I'm sure it does. When those things happen, that

is all in worship to God. It's all in worship to God.

So we pray because he died for all and his death was sufficient

for all, but it's only efficient for those who believe, for those

who believe. And then he goes to verse 8.

And as we move to verse 8, we come to see now that we're now

moving into an issue which is seen as being controversial, but

it's not really controversial. If it is rightly divided, it's

not really controversial. The world makes things

controversial, but it's the word of God.

It's the word of God. And before we even go there, I

just want to go to second Timothy real quick.

Chapter 3, Second Timothy chapter 3, we're going to just

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

look at verse. Just going to read for verse 16.

All Scripture, not some, not parts of it.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is

profitable for doctrine and for reproof, for correction, for

instruction and righteousness. We just talked about that, that

the man of God or the woman of God may be complete, thoroughly

equipped for every good work. So what we're about to go in

here into here, this is not Paul's opinion.

This is not just Paul's opinion. All scripture is inspired by

God. It's in the Canon of Scripture.

This is coming from God. So he, she, he says here in

verse 8, I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting

up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

Let's stop there, he said. I desire, therefore, that the

men pray everywhere. Now he's talking about not just

mankind, meaning everybody. He's talking about men as in

male gender, that they pray. And Paul is saying here that men

should lead prayer in public services.

Men should lead prayer. I know growing up I didn't see a

lot of men leading prayer in public services.

It was mostly in women. I just see a lot of men leading

it. But Paul says here that men

should lead prayer. We know women will pray, but

Paul's saying we want to see more men praying.

Men pray leading. And now this is not a

prohibition to say that women shouldn't pray in public.

That's not what this is saying. And we want to get to that over

in verse 9. But here he is making a point to

say that men should be praying and should be leading and

praying in public services, lifting up holy hands without

wrath and doubting. So Paul's mentioned in three,

three things that are essential. And we know with men praying in

public, three things. First of all, he says lifting up

holy hands and lifting up holy hands is actually cultural.

It's Jewish culture that the men at that particular time when

they prayed, they would pray extending their hands to heaven.

Now that gesture of extending the hands of heaven, when you

look at it, it really has a lot of different meaning or

connotations to it. First of all, it's the

connotation of surrender. It's surrender when a man lifts

his hands, when a police officer tells a suspect to come out with

your hands up, that means you are surrendering, that that

person is surrendering to the authority of that police

officer. He's surrendering.

He is putting himself into custody, willingly putting

himself into custody of that police officer.

And that's exactly what we're doing when we lift our hands to

the Lord. Back in the Old Testament, this

was a sign of surrender to God. God, I surrender, I place myself

under your authority. So the prayers that go up are

prayers to the Lord submitting to his authority.

And there's several scriptures that talk about the lifting of

the hands. Turn with me really quick to

Psalm 63 and look at verse four. He says thus I will bless you

while I live. I will lift up my hands in your

name and then go to Psalm 134 and Psalm 134 reads this way.

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord.

And we know we read the story back in First Kings chapter 8

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

and 22 that when Solomon prayed and he dedicated to temple, he

lifted up his hands to heaven that he prayed.

When David prayed several times it's mentioned that he lifted up

his hands to the Lord when he prayed.

So that is a, it's a cultural position.

But I just want to mention that we need to understand the

lifting of the hands. It's an outward expression of

where our hearts should be. It's not that important what we

do with our hands. Now, God is more interested in

the position of your heart when we pray.

And then he goes in and he goes into that.

So he says without wrath and without wrath means that it's,

you know, you first of all, you, you, the hands that you're

lifting up have to be holy hands.

So it's got to be pure hands, right?

Hands that we, we're not talking about, you know, practicing sin

and then coming up and lifting your hands to pray.

You know, that doesn't mean that if you have sin that you can't

pray, you repent. And the repentance cleanses us.

We confess, and that cleanses us before God and we can lift up

our hands and pray. It's about lifting up cleansed

hands. That means the heart is cleansed

from whatever sin is morally or spiritually cleansed.

But it's without wrath. And without wrath simply means

without anger. It's without resentment.

We should be praying without resentment.

I shouldn't be up here praying and knowing I got something

against that brother sitting back there or something against

a sister sitting over there. Can't pray like that.

I got to go make it right with them first.

I got to go make it right with them and then I can pray.

I don't want my prayers hindered by having all these ungodly

things in my heart towards someone else, have an ought in

my heart against a brother. I can't pray that way, Davis

said. If I regard iniquity in my

heart, he won't hear me. God won't hear me.

So we have to have pure hearts and clean hands when we pray.

And he said, and doubting, doubting actually means that we

must pray in faith. We shouldn't be praying

doubting. James said that when you pray,

you know you, you, you should be praying without doubting.

You ask without doubting. He said he who doubts is like a

wave of the sea tossed to and fro by the wind.

It it's an unstable person who doubts.

When we pray, we pray believing. We pray believing, so we pray

without doubt. So then we go on to verse 9.

And this is where things get kind of interesting because he

says here in like manner also, and don't miss that line, in

like manner also, in like manner also, women adorn themselves in

modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided

hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing.

So what is he saying here? This is actually evidence to

some degree that women can pray in public.

It's fine for women to pray in public because he said in like

manner. Also, in other words, in the

same way, when women pray, their praying should be with, you

know, adorning themselves in modest apparel.

Men should pray with their hearts, not having wickedness or

anger or art in their hearts. He emphasized that for men, not

that anybody should, but that's what he emphasized for men.

And but for women, he said when you pray, if you want to, you

know, when you pray, have modest apparel, have modest clothes on.

Now, let's not know we, we don't have to exaggerate this and

think that this means that a woman can never wear braided

hair or never have gold or pearls on or wear nice clothes.

That's not what Paul is saying here.

What he is saying is that when we pray before the people that

the women should be dressed in a way that God is being glorified

and not someone looking at what they're wearing.

It should be tasteful clothing. And, and, and I thank God that

we don't have that issue here. We don't have the issue of a, we

don't have a clothing issue here.

We don't have people coming in here dressing worldly.

I, I, I just don't see that here.

But what Paul is saying is that women should be dressing in ways

that professes godliness, a way that shows that you are godly.

So he says here, first of all, it should be modest apparel and

that emphasizes appropriate dress.

You know, you have. We have to help men to be

focused on the right thing because men are visual.

We're very visual and our and, and, and we notice things very

quickly. So women, you dress in ways that

doesn't call attention to anything negative, Then we don't

worry about that. It it, it's, it's tasteful

dressing. And, and so Paul is saying just

dress in a way that's, that's tasteful.

And then it says that the word propriety that means in or

shamefacedness, that means that you're, you're, you're dressing

in a way that's giving reverence and respect to God.

And then the word moderation and that means that you're dressing,

you're using sound judgment and inner self-control.

When you dress sound judgment and inner self-control with

moderation, it should be a spiritual radar on the inside of

you that tells you what is good and proper dress, what is good

and proper dress before we leave home.

We all have mirrors before we leave home.

You know, am I dressed appropriately now?

I have that. You know, when we're, you know,

when kids are younger mothers and fathers, we have to help our

teenage daughters with that help, assist.

We have to have feedback for our teenage daughters.

And part of the reason why is because society is putting out

clothes. I mean, almost forcing young

people to dress in ways that's not godly, almost forces them to

they're like, what's the options out there?

What can you buy and where can you buy it that's appropriate.

But I think that, you know, but we have to, but we have to give

assistance to our young teenage girls when it comes to dressing.

Told me before I worked in pharmaceuticals and, and I was

in an office waiting to see a doctor and there was another

pharmaceutical Rep in there from another company.

And she came in and she, we're sitting down talking.

I knew that she was saved and we were talking about the things of

the Lord and some kind of way the discussion got on clothing,

appropriate clothing. She has a, you know, she was

dealing with a teenage issue with her 14 year old daughter

and her daughter came downstairs one day.

Well, her daughter came downstairs.

They asked her mother and father if she can go to the mall with

some friends. And of course, you know, they

trusted her and they trusted her friends.

So they said sure, yeah, absolutely.

So she went upstairs to get dressed.

And when she came downstairs, they both had a strange look on

their face, very surprised look on their face.

And the teenage daughter looked at him and like, what?

What's wrong? What, what, what, what's wrong?

You know, he's how do I look? And the father, not the mother,

the father, he said, well, what were you shooting for when you

got dressed? Let me ask you that.

What were you going for? If you were going for a academic

look, if you were going for a studious look, you missed it.

If you were going for a cheap, kind of slutty, inviting look,

you nailed it. That was the way he addressed

it. Didn't have to say another word,

didn't have to say another word. Never accused her of anything.

Just basically gave a man's opinion of what she looked like.

That's all. And I think as fathers, we

should do that. We should give our opinion.

We understand how the male mind works and we have to impart that

to our kids because a lot of 14 year olds really don't realize

that they're dressing in that way because that's just the

styles that's out there. They see it all over the place.

But godliness is something different.

Now, the reason why he mentioned this, the braiding of the hair

and the gold and the perils. Again, remember, as we said at

the top of this, this is Ephesus, the city of Ephesus.

There was a lot of worldliness in the city of Ephesus and in

the temples they had temple prostitutes.

These women dressed in ways to try to attract attention to

themselves. So they would put on these kind

of things, the braiding of their hair and put glitter in their

hair and, and, and, and, and they would, and they would have

the jewelry on and all the things that would attract

attention to themselves so that they can, you know, do their

business. But Paul is saying when you

dress there should be a difference.

People should be able to see a difference that you are not one

of these women. You know that that that's

working in the temple, but that you are a woman professing

godliness. And that's what he's saying here

in verse 10. But that which is proper for

women professing godliness with good works.

In other words, if you're going to dress, cover yourself in

something, cover yourself with the good works.

Let people see that. Let that be what you adorn

yourself with, not the showing of flesh.

And then in verse 11, he says let a woman learn in silence

with all submission. And verse 12 says, and I do not

permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man, but to be

in silence. OK, let's stop there now He says

let a woman learn in silence. Again, keep in mind that at that

particular time, you know, he was given instruction in church

about church order. And he was trying to help them

to understand what is proper order and what is out of order.

And apparently whatever was happening here.

And he also mentioned this and to a letter, in a letter to the

Corinthians as well, when he said that, look, these women

need to learn how to be quiet during the service.

These are women. And you got to remember, they

sit apart. You know, the men sit on one

side, women sit on the other side.

You know, so if they're women, they have a question.

They just thought it was OK to just, you know, hey, excuse me,

you know, what does that mean? Or or holler to her husband

that's sitting on the other side of the room.

Hey, John, what is he talking about?

This is joint service. Obviously that would be

disruptive and Paul's addressing that they can learn, but learn

in silence. Learn in silence.

In fact, in First Corinthians, in First Corinthians 1434, I

think he says let's let's turn it real quick, First Corinthians

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14 and 34. And he said, let your women keep

silence in the churches for they are not permitted to speak, but

they are to be submissive as the law also says.

And if they want to learn something, let them ask their

own husbands at home for the shameful for a woman to speak in

church. That doesn't mean that women

have to totally keep their mouth shut.

But join the service. You know, he's saying don't be

disruptive. It's a shame for women to be

disruptive in service and to interfere or interrupt with the

flow of the Spirit as the word of God is going forth.

That is, that's disturbing it, it's disruptive.

So that's what Paul's talking about that not saying that women

can't talk in church. That's not what it's saying.

Join the service. Be respectful.

And these are things that obviously we understand because

we grew up in the church. But this is Ephesus.

They didn't have this kind of order initially.

They weren't used to this. So that's why Paul gave the

instruction. And even now sometimes it's

appropriate to give that instruction because from time to

time you might see someone that may not have a lot of experience

in church who could be disruptive.

And then in verse 12 it says, now I do not permit a woman to

teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.

And again, does that mean that women can never teach in the

church? No, what it means is that in a

mixed congregation like this, a woman should not be the teacher.

A man should teach the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

We are taught in Titus chapter 2, verses 3 and four that women

Titus 2:3

or the older women are to teach the younger women.

That's where women teach women teach women, women teach men,

not stand up in a congregation like this and teach men because

when because the Bible says that we are under the authority.

A woman is under the authority of a man.

Man is over woman, Christ is over man, and God is over

Christ. So women are under the authority

of the men here in the church, the pastors or the teachers,

because once someone is teaching, we're under that

authority. We're under that authority, and

women should not be placed in that position.

That's just positioning. We're not talking about ability,

OK? We're not talking about ability.

Can women teach? Absolutely.

They're capable of teaching. We're not talking about ability.

We're talking about church order is what he's calling church

order. This is what's appropriate in

the church, and I do not permit a woman to teach or have

authority over a man, but to be in silence.

Verse 13, Now he gives his reason, a reason for saying that

in verse 13 he says Adam was formed first, then Eve.

So it's the order of creation that he goes back to.

He refers to the order of creation.

Adam was first, the man was first, and then Eve.

Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into

transgression. So what is he saying here?

What he's saying? He's not saying that Adam wasn't

wrong. He's not saying that Adam wasn't

wrong. He's not saying that Adam's sin

was any less than Eve's sin. But what he is saying is that

Adam's sin wide with his eyes wide open because he had the

law. He had the instruction.

He just went and followed his wife who had overstepped him and

made a independent decision. And because of that, sin came

into the world. So he says Adam was first.

That's the order of creation. So then he goes on and he says

it was a woman that fell into transgression.

So women can teach, but they should teach.

Women should teach women. Older women should teach the

younger women, teach them how to love their husbands, how to love

their children. We need that.

We need that. Is that any less important or

significant than what Clark or I or anybody else that stands up

here does? Absolutely not.

It's important when women teach other women how to be godly

women. That is important.

It's significant, very important.

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

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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.