1 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,119 This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark 2 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:12,240 Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, 3 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:16,400 County 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 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:41,600 When a soul comes to faith in Jesus Christ, it's a work of the 6 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,520 Holy Spirit. Matter of fact, the Bible tells 7 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:46,600 us that we can't make that happen. 8 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:49,360 We're not even the ones that come. 9 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:53,080 He draws us. He draws us to Himself. 10 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,440 He softens our hearts. He gives us the ability to 11 00:00:56,440 --> 00:01:01,280 reason and have logic and He speaks to our minds and our 12 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:06,840 hearts and presents the truth and then we, the receiver to we 13 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:09,920 reject it. Any good gardener knows that you 14 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:14,000 can't just bury some seeds in your backyard and expect to get 15 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,960 fresh produce out of it. It takes lots of work spread out 16 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:21,040 over the course of a growing season in order to receive fresh 17 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,120 fruits and vegetables for you and your family to consume. 18 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,840 Well, in today's message, Pastor Clark reminds you that the Holy 19 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,560 Spirit is a Master Gardener, but instead of tilling the soil of 20 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:34,720 the earth, he tends to the souls of humanity. 21 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:39,080 Every heart is fertile ground ready to hear and respond to 22 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,080 Jesus. Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts 23 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:46,040 chapter 19 with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace. 24 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:51,360 I knew when I was 20 years old that I needed a miracle of some 25 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:56,760 sort to Get Me Out of the pattern of life I was living and 26 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:59,600 I hated it. I would go to bed at night and I 27 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,360 would this be in such despair and depression and 28 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:07,240 discouragement of my addictions to so many different things that 29 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:11,520 were not right. And it wasn't till Jesus Christ 30 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:17,520 came into my life and I was given the gospel and I realized 31 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:22,680 that He died for my sin to save me and to forgive me, but also 32 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,440 to free me from my sin. That's the big missing 33 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:28,240 connection. Sometimes when we preach the 34 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:30,480 gospel, we tell people to believe on Jesus. 35 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:33,400 He'll forgive you of your sin. You go to heaven and you don't 36 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:35,600 have to worry about going to hell and he loves you and all 37 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,920 those things are true. But you have to 1st realize that 38 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:43,000 you're a Sinner and that you need to turn from your sin. 39 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,600 That's called repentance. And that you need Christ to do a 40 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:49,880 miracle in your life so that you don't stay stuck in your sin, 41 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,040 Right. And whenever Jesus does that 42 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:58,000 work, when we're born again, we are given his nature. 43 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,600 Even though we still have this old nature trying to take over 44 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,360 every once in a while, we have a new nature. 45 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,480 We have a new life. And not only that, the Holy 46 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:10,360 Spirit comes into our life to live in us at the time we're 47 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,480 born again. And when he's in US, he gives us 48 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:15,800 the ability to live a completely different life. 49 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:17,840 Amen. We're not perfect, but we're 50 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:19,880 certainly not the way we used to be, right? 51 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,280 Certain things bother us now that never used to bother us. 52 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:27,040 And there's certain things that we used to do that we detest 53 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:28,800 now. And there's no longer, we, we no 54 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,360 longer can do them. That's the work and the power of 55 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,080 the Holy Spirit. So these people that Paul's 56 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,800 speaking to, they have this desire to believe, but they're 57 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,600 missing these key ingredients. They're missing the power of the 58 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,040 cross and the and the resurrection, and they're also 59 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,680 missing this power of the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, 60 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,240 because they haven't received him yet. 61 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:55,560 And so Paul says to them, John and verse 4, indeed baptized 62 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:59,560 with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they 63 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,800 should believe on him who would come after him, that is on 64 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,440 Christ Jesus. So they were prepared to believe 65 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,040 in the Messiah. Apollos preached the fact that 66 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:13,640 John proclaimed the baptism of repentance, being prepared for 67 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,560 the one who was prophesized in the Old Testament to be the 68 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:19,920 Messiah. OK, but the Messiah has now 69 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:23,320 already come. He's been crucified, He's been 70 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,440 buried, He's been resurrected, and the Holy Spirit came down 71 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:32,440 upon the Church in the 2nd chapter of Acts at Pentecost to 72 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,640 begin to dwell inside the life of the believer. 73 00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:38,120 For the first time in the Old Testament. 74 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,720 The Holy Spirit came upon people and then He would take off when 75 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:45,920 they offended Him or they sin. The the the power of the Holy 76 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,840 Spirit. Even in the the times of gospel 77 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,160 when Jesus was walking, the Spirit was working in and 78 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:54,600 through Christ. And Jesus even said that the 79 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:58,120 apostles at one time received the Holy Spirit and he blown on 80 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:01,280 them the the wind of the Spirit and they they sensed the 81 00:05:01,280 --> 00:05:04,200 presence of God. But there was no indwelling of 82 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:08,640 the Holy Spirit until Pentecost. This is the great teaching of of 83 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:11,520 the book of the Acts, the power of the Spirit God, the Holy 84 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:17,240 Spirit coming to indwelled in US and to stay in US and to be the 85 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:22,200 guarantee of our salvation and the reality of our experience 86 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,720 being real until the day that we're taken out of here. 87 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:30,200 So Paul said, yes, John and Dee baptized with the baptism 88 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,600 repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him 89 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,480 who would come after him that is on Christ Jesus. 90 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:38,520 So they're already in man, they're like ready. 91 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:42,520 OK, so when they heard this, they were baptized in the name 92 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,240 of the Lord Jesus. They were baptized in the name 93 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,760 of the Lord Jesus. Many of you, I trust, hopefully 94 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,240 all of you who are born again have been baptized in water. 95 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,400 Baptism does not save you, but it is a confirmation that you 96 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,000 have been saved because it's the first sign of obedience after 97 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,920 you become a believer for Jesus. They go into all the world and 98 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:06,520 preach the gospel into every living creature, baptizing them 99 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,720 in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 100 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,640 And hello, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. 101 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,800 And baptism is, is an awesome thing when you get baptized and 102 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,800 some of you, I've had the privilege of baptized, baptizing 103 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,160 and you come out of the water, smile and it's just like, it's 104 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:25,680 just a blessing cause you're doing what it is that Jesus told 105 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,840 us to do. That's the first sign after you 106 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:30,240 become a Christian that I want to follow you Lord. 107 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:34,000 And when you're baptized, you're identifying with his death as 108 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,160 you go into the water, his burial, and then as you come out 109 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,400 of the water, his resurrection. You're affirming, I believe that 110 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:44,480 Christ Jesus is my Lord, that he died for my sins and he was 111 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:48,160 buried on the on the 3rd and he rose again on the third day 112 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,040 according to the Scriptures. And how, how awesome is that, 113 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:55,440 you know, to be able to identify with the with the Lord Jesus. 114 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:58,080 A matter of fact in the book of the Acts, when people were 115 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,360 riding down on their carts and their horses and all that kind 116 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,520 of stuff, they could always tell that something was special was 117 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:08,240 going on when they saw people being baptized in the water. 118 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,680 And they would say those people are of the way, the way of the 119 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,840 cross, the way of Jesus, as he's the one that says I am the way I 120 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,160 am the truth, I'm the life. No man come to the Father but 121 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:23,080 through me. And so this is an exciting time 122 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:25,680 for these people. Now they're they're they've been 123 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:30,280 baptized in the name of Jesus. And when they heard this, they 124 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:31,760 were baptized in the name of the Lord. 125 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:33,680 And when Paul had laid his hands on them. 126 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:37,160 And this is really important to understand. 127 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:44,080 The laying on of hands is a wonderful ministry and blessing 128 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,480 that we can all do for one another. 129 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,240 You pray for someone you you you're compelled to lay hands on 130 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,440 them. There's nothing empowering in my 131 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:56,360 hands or your hands, but it's, it's a sign of a blessing and a 132 00:07:56,360 --> 00:08:00,040 sign of contact that you just want to bring comfort. 133 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:05,240 And the Bible talks about the, this movement of the Holy Spirit 134 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,640 through the elders and the leaders of the church that if 135 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,960 any are sick among you, let him call upon the elders of the 136 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:15,000 church that they may anoint them with oil and pray for them and 137 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:16,480 they lay hands on them, pray for them. 138 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:18,400 And sometimes there's healings that occur. 139 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:21,760 Sometimes God chooses to bring healing, but there's no 140 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,800 guarantee that healing comes every time we lay hands on 141 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,520 someone or every time we anoint someone. 142 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,720 The Bible tells us in First Corinthians 12 that the Holy 143 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:36,400 Spirit gives gifts, gifts of healing, gifts of all kind of 144 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:40,760 things in the Bible, that He does these things severally as 145 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,960 He wills. Not as I will, not as you will, 146 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:48,640 OK, but as God wills. But in the apostles, they were 147 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:51,680 special group of people. There's no more apostles. 148 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:54,560 Now some people claim to be apostles, but there is no 149 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:58,320 apostles in the sense of what was ordained by Christ. 150 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:02,720 Apostles had to be eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ in his life 151 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,840 physically. OK, that was the first and it 152 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,200 gives the signs of the apostles in in Hebrews. 153 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,480 They were gifted to do miraculous signs and wonders. 154 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,680 This was the sign of authentic apostles. 155 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,800 And so Paul had something different in his ministry 156 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:23,440 because whenever he laid hands on people, there was Apostolic 157 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,320 authority. A matter of fact, Timothy was 158 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:31,040 said, stir up the gift that is in you that was given to by the 159 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:35,320 laying on of hands, not anybody else's hands, but the apostles 160 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,200 hands. OK, now you and I have spiritual 161 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:41,000 gifts. All of us have gifts in here 162 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:46,640 today, and they were given to us at the moment of our salvation. 163 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,320 Some of us have one gift. Some of us have more than one 164 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:54,640 gift. And because we have a gift or 165 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:58,240 more than one gift doesn't make us any better or any less than 166 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:00,440 anybody else that's in the body of Christ. 167 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:06,760 God gives us these gifts for the reason of giving Him glory but 168 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:08,760 also accomplishing His will, right? 169 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:13,920 The gift of teaching, and many of you have that in here. 170 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,120 It's just not a pastor gift. Women have it. 171 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:19,600 Men have it. Anytime you have the ability to 172 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:24,360 communicate the word of God in a way that people understand it 173 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:30,360 and can grow in it and grow by it and be blessed through it, it 174 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,160 is evidence of God's gifting on your life. 175 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:36,160 Doesn't make you any more spiritual any more powerful, any 176 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:38,640 more of a blessing. It's just the way it is. 177 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:43,200 Some of you have more of a calm down gift of like say the gift 178 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,200 of helps and you're always looking at how you can help 179 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,920 people and you're behind the scenes and you're doing this and 180 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,360 you're doing that and you just never sit down. 181 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,120 You're always busy wanting to bless someone and help them. 182 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:56,840 My wife has that gift. She's just unbelievable. 183 00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,120 We go somewhere to someone's house for dinner. 184 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:01,000 She wants to do the dishes is at their house. 185 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,200 It's just well, no, no, you sit down, you're a guest. 186 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:05,520 You no, no. And if you tell her no, then 187 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:07,120 you're bumming her out because that's her gift. 188 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,360 She wants to to bless you that way, you know. 189 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:11,920 So if you want to make a nice dinner, invite us and you don't 190 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:14,200 want to do dishes, call us, send, send. 191 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:16,440 You'll do the dishes for you know, no, I'm not. 192 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,000 I'm sitting in there Gab and that's what I do my gifts Gab 193 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:21,600 right. But but anyway, it's just, it's 194 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:23,880 just fun to know that every one of us in here have these 195 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,720 spiritual gifts today. I didn't give them to you. 196 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:29,960 You didn't give them to me. They occurred when we got saved. 197 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:32,520 Now what happened when you and I got saved? 198 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,320 It's really important to realize, like if I said to you 199 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,120 today, have any of you received the Holy Spirit since you 200 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:43,120 believe that's sort of like a that's a like a bad question to 201 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:46,160 ask because if you're saved, you've all received the Holy 202 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:47,920 Spirit. The Bible tells us in Romans 203 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:53,040 8-9, if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 204 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:54,640 his. So you can't be a Christian 205 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,880 without the Holy Spirit and the baptism. 206 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,560 There's one baptism, 1 Lord, 1 faith, one baptism, one God and 207 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:04,200 Father of all who is above all and in all and through all. 208 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:08,000 It tells us, tells us that in the book of Ephesians, First 209 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:13,360 Corinthians 12/13 For we are all baptized by 1 Spirit into the 210 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,960 body of Christ. So you are placed, you're 211 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,840 baptized by the Spirit, and you're put into this 212 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:24,920 supernatural body of people who have believed the Gospels for 213 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,880 all time since the beginning to the end, and that's the body of 214 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,120 Christ. We are baptized a moment, we're 215 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:36,960 born again by the Spirit of God. And then in Ephesians chapter 216 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:40,560 one, verse 13, and I need to clarify these things because 217 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:43,400 unfortunately there's a lot of bad teaching out there regarding 218 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:46,520 these kind of things. I had people come to me and say, 219 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,120 you know, they, they believe, but they haven't received the 220 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:51,480 Holy Spirit yet. I said, well, who told you that? 221 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:55,320 You know, Pentecostals, unfortunately wonderful people 222 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,200 love the Lord, but they really got some mixed up teaching on 223 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,760 the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And some of you've come out of 224 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:02,880 that. I came out of that. 225 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:06,520 So I I sort of could write a book on what not to do, what not 226 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:08,840 to believe regarding God, the Holy Spirit. 227 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:12,600 But it tells us in Ephesians chapter one, verse 13. 228 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:15,320 This is a wonderful verse underlined in your Bible. 229 00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:21,440 In him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the 230 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:26,240 gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you 231 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:30,600 were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is a guarantee 232 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:33,440 of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased 233 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,080 possession to the praise of his glory. 234 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:40,040 And that a wonderful verse, the moment you believe you were 235 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,360 sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. 236 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:48,800 So what's happening here in Acts is that there's this movement of 237 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:53,880 God through the work of the apostle, and this is what occurs 238 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:57,360 to them in this experience. Not every time an act, not 239 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:01,320 everybody spoke in tongues when they received the Holy Spirit, 240 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:05,640 but at Pentecost they did. And the gift of tongues at that 241 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:10,120 time was not senseless Babel. These were literal languages 242 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:14,120 that all those different ethnic groups of people in that time, 243 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:17,720 at that day were able to hear the word of God and their own 244 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:20,000 dialect. That's wild. 245 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,440 I mean, these people that were given this gift, they didn't 246 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,760 know what they were saying, but say you were, you know, your 247 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:34,440 language was, I don't know, Turkish or Greek or whatever, 248 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:39,000 and you never had learned those languages as one of the people 249 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,760 who were given the gift of tongues at Pentecost. 250 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,680 And you're, you're worshipping God. 251 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:47,320 You're, you're speaking this language that you don't even 252 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,760 know what it is. But someone right beside you is 253 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:53,400 getting saved because they're hearing the Gospel in their own 254 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,800 dialect, their own tongue, this miraculous. 255 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:00,800 And so it wasn't, it wasn't senseless Babel. 256 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,000 It was a literal, literal languages. 257 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:07,320 But anyway, so Paul is then going to lay hands on them. 258 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:11,000 He lays hands on them. The Holy Spirit came upon them. 259 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,280 And this is the Greek preposition of the word FP. 260 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:17,920 You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. 261 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:20,160 And I'll talk about that in a second here. 262 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,000 And they spoke with tongues and they prophesized. 263 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:25,680 Now the, the word prophecy wasn't like, well, I'm going to 264 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:28,760 tell you the future, what's happening, you know, five years 265 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:30,840 from now or 100 years from now or 300 years. 266 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:34,880 The ability to prophecy is to be able to speak in a way that 267 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:38,000 you're edifying the here, building them up in their faith, 268 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:43,440 comforting them and exhorting them, warning them to follow 269 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:46,640 Christ. Paul said, I'd rather all of you 270 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,800 had the gift of prophecy. It's one of the most powerful 271 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,320 gifts because it's multitasking at the same time. 272 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,440 It's comforting, it's edifying and it's exhorting. 273 00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:00,320 And so they had these gifts and these men, there was about 12 of 274 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:02,880 them and all. And so they go into the 275 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:07,360 synagogue and they spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and 276 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,800 persuading and concerning the things of the Kingdom of God. 277 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:12,760 So Paul, wherever he had a chance, he went in the 278 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,360 synagogue. He was approved and accepted 279 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:18,120 because he was a member of the Sanhedrin. 280 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:21,800 He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. All those things are passe now 281 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,040 because he had come to Christ. His whole agenda and going to 282 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,200 the synagogue was to tell people the gospel. 283 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:30,600 And they couldn't shut him up because he was welcome to go in 284 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:32,520 there. Now eventually people would get 285 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:35,440 tired of hearing what he was saying and they would begin to 286 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:37,600 get uptight as it says here in verse 9. 287 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,640 But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil 288 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:45,360 the way WAY, the way of the Lord before the multitude, he 289 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:50,000 departed from them and withdrew the disciples reasoning daily in 290 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,400 the school of Tyrannius. So Paul knew that there was a 291 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:57,320 period of time that they weren't going to deal with this anymore, 292 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:01,560 and he was going to take them somewhere else, especially the 293 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,880 new believers. Hearing all these conflicts and 294 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:06,640 these complaints and these arguments, whatever, Paul knew 295 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:08,319 he'd eventually have to get him out of there. 296 00:17:08,839 --> 00:17:14,599 Now, what's important to realize here is that these new believers 297 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:19,760 are filled with the Holy Spirit. They're empowered by God, as was 298 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:23,480 all those in the early book of Acts, Pentecost. 299 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:28,240 We're empowered by God to do what it is that God compels us 300 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:32,880 to do, to help people, to pray for people, to teach people. 301 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,760 You're empowered by God to study the word of God because the Holy 302 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:38,840 Spirit's the teacher. When you sit down with your 303 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:41,960 Bible in your home, wherever you are, and you start reading and 304 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,640 maybe you're confused, say Holy Spirit, explain this to me, show 305 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:47,120 me. Reveal the truth. 306 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:48,600 He will. He's the teacher. 307 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:51,960 He's the teacher here today through a knucklehead or a 308 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:53,640 donkey. He can speak through anybody, 309 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,960 can he? It's not the vessel, it's the 310 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:02,120 Spirit of God that does the work and does the transformation. 311 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:07,880 And so this wonderful person, and he is a person. 312 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:12,480 God the Holy Spirit desires to have more of you. 313 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:19,200 He wants to control you and direct you, guide you and bless 314 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:24,240 you, protect you, lead you and to use you. 315 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:30,720 Any move of God that's happened since the beginning of Genesis 316 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,720 to the end of Revelation has had the instrumentality of God, the 317 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:39,360 Holy Spirit at work in the miraculous. 318 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:45,040 When the soul comes to faith in Jesus Christ, it's a work of the 319 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:47,920 Holy Spirit. Matter of fact, the Bible tells 320 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:50,040 us that we can't make that happen. 321 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:52,760 We're not even the ones that come. 322 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:56,560 He draws us, He draws us to Himself. 323 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:01,360 He softens our hearts, He gives us the ability to reason and 324 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:05,760 have logic, and He speaks to our minds and our hearts and 325 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:09,760 presents the truth. And then we either receive it or 326 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:12,760 we reject it. This is the work of the Holy 327 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:15,000 Spirit. He comes to convict the world of 328 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,240 sin, of righteousness, of judgement. 329 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:25,160 And He's doing this 24/7. And so Paul, he starts the first 330 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,840 Bible college here, the school of Tyrannius. 331 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,640 Tyrannius was a philosopher, and he used this facility, this 332 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:34,200 building to teach people philosophy. 333 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,560 Supposedly between the hours of 11 in the morning till 4:00 in 334 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:39,480 the afternoon, it wasn't being used. 335 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,120 So Paul developed a friendship, and he said, yeah, you can use 336 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:45,640 this. And so Paul set up shop there. 337 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:50,000 And for two years, Can you imagine going and sitting in 338 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:53,600 Paul's teaching? For two years you lived there in 339 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:55,360 Ephesus. And where you going today? 340 00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:56,960 Well, I'm not missing Paul today. 341 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,680 I'm going down to hear more. And you be down there and be be 342 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:06,120 so grounded and so aware of all these wonderful truths that we 343 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:12,200 study and read about today. He studied and he taught, and he 344 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:15,680 reasoned daily, it says, in the school of Tyrannius. 345 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,600 And this continued for two years that it all who dwelled in Asia 346 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,880 heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. 347 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:33,040 Now whenever we have opportunity to be in certain sections of the 348 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,960 Scripture, I think it's important to pause for a minute 349 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:42,800 and think a little bit. This church, Calvary Chapel, has 350 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:46,320 been established by the Holy Spirit, not me or Cindy or 351 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:50,680 anybody else. Matter of fact, this is the last 352 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,600 thing I ever wanted or ever thought about doing in my life 353 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:57,680 is being a pastor. I fought it for a good many 354 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:01,840 years and we attended Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia. 355 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:04,080 Wonderful church or a church plan out of there. 356 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:08,760 And we came out here and we looked and we went to churches, 357 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:12,040 try to find a church that teaches the Bible and we 358 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:14,240 couldn't find any. Hard to believe, nice churches, 359 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:16,440 nice people, but like, where's the word of God? 360 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:20,640 And we got conditioned to get acclimated to this kind of 361 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:24,280 church where the word is being taught line upon line, precept 362 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,120 upon precept, the way it's written, book by book, the way 363 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:30,280 God intended it. So we, we planted the church, 364 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:35,560 Calvary Chapel. It started in the late 60s, 365 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:39,560 early 70s in Costa Mesa, CA. It was a little church called 366 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:43,560 Calvary Chapel run by a pastor, by a guy by the name of Chuck 367 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:45,760 Smith. And, and Chuck had been in 368 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:49,200 denominations he'd come out of really not aberrant, but the 369 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,440 really extreme Pentecostalism and, and all the hype. 370 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,440 And he just got tired of that. And he started reading and 371 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:57,760 studying Spurgeon and Martin Lloyd Jones. 372 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:03,040 He started getting grounded and, and when this this church was a 373 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,960 bunch of this uptight people that were legalist and 374 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:10,120 judgmental and self-righteous and they thought they had it 375 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:12,440 together and everybody else didn't and they didn't want 376 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,560 anybody in the church. It wasn't like them. 377 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:19,160 Well, lo and behold, the hippies start coming and the Jesus 378 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,480 movement is birthed through Calvary Chapel. 379 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:26,600 So churches maybe having 2025 people starts having hundreds 380 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:31,240 upon hundreds upon thousands upon thousands until the church 381 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:35,200 got to be so small, too small for what God was doing, they had 382 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,000 to put a tent up. So over 2 years, every night 383 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,520 thousands of young people were ushered into these tents out of 384 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:44,720 their Pagan, immoral, godless lifestyle. 385 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:46,880 And I was one of them. I, I wasn't there, but it 386 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:48,160 happened to me on the East Coast. 387 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:53,640 And there was this move of God's Spirit drawing people all across 388 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,720 the world into Jesus Christ to be saved. 389 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:02,600 And we were born again. And 1700 Calvary chapels around 390 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,720 the world right now, still being birthed, and all because of the 391 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:11,040 work of the Holy Spirit. We need another Jesus revolution 392 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:13,920 today. We need the Spirit of God to 393 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,960 compel people in Greensburg and Latrobe and Irwin. 394 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:20,880 I don't know why I'm in this church today, but I was drawn 395 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:23,840 here somehow. That's what happened to these 396 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:25,400 young kids. They'd be in that tent. 397 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:27,840 A lot of the guys went down there because there's a lot of 398 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,080 cute girls down there. But after they got down there, 399 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,040 they started hearing the word and the Holy Spirit started 400 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:37,760 convicting them and the, and the music was so alive. 401 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:40,080 And, and there's this middle-aged guy, balding 402 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:43,360 middle-aged guy, Chuck Smith to just get up there and just teach 403 00:23:43,360 --> 00:23:45,200 the Bible like we're teaching it today. 404 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:49,160 And those kids would hold on to every word of that Bible. 405 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,160 And then eventually they wanted to go out and tell others. 406 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:54,960 And so these other churches were birthed. 407 00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:00,360 Thank you for listening to this edition of Living Waters of 408 00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:02,560 Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching us 409 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:04,760 about the book of Acts in this series. 410 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:08,440 Acts is a powerful and unique part of Scripture, not just 411 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,240 because it records the spread of the gospel geographically from 412 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,400 Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, but also culturally. 413 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:20,080 Acts shows us how the message of Jesus moved beyond its Jewish 414 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,720 roots and began to reach the Gentile world. 415 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:26,360 What started with Peter leading a small group in the Upper Room 416 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:30,240 became a global movement with Paul taking the gospel to 417 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:34,440 cities, synagogues, and marketplaces across the Roman 418 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,360 Empire. Acts captures this vital 419 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:41,160 transition and reminds us that the good news of Jesus is for 420 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:46,120 all people in every place. May we be inspired to carry that 421 00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:49,400 same gospel boldly into our world today. 422 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:53,120 Living Waters of Grace comes to you from Calvary Chapel, 423 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,120 Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA 424 00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:01,040 area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency. 425 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,120 Pray about helping support the new station that will reach 426 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:10,400 thousands more listeners. Send gifts to Grace FMPO, Box 427 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:18,400 716, Greensburg, PA 15601 also invite you to join us in person 428 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:23,240 this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St. 429 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:26,760 Unit 6B. To stay up to date, visit 430 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,560 calvarychapelonline.com where you can find our teaching 431 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:34,720 archive, submit prayer requests, join our e-mail list, or give 432 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,360 online. If you're outside the area, 433 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:40,280 don't worry, you can still worship with us through the 434 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:43,080 Calvary Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel. 435 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,400 Be sure to subscribe so you won't miss new content. 436 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,040 We're so thankful that you joined us today. 437 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,560 Be sure to tune into the next edition of Living Waters of 438 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:53,120 Grace.