1 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,080 This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark 2 00:00:08,080 --> 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 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:40,720 The magicians were able to replicate certain degrees of 6 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:43,280 those miracles, right? And so just because there's a 7 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,480 miracle that occurs doesn't mean it's the Lord. 8 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,880 The devil comes with lying signs and wonders. 9 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,960 A matter of fact, in the last days, when the Antichrist comes 10 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,240 on the scene and the false prophet, they'll be all kind of 11 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:00,080 miraculous that'll be occurring like we've never, ever 12 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:02,280 experienced. And there'll be a lot of people 13 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,960 thinking that he's the Christ, they'll be the Antichrist. 14 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:10,040 Don't be fooled by some of the supernatural things that happen. 15 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,040 Like in any superhero movie, there's a hero and there's a 16 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:16,320 villain. For every Batman, there's a 17 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:18,240 Joker. For every Superman, there's a 18 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,000 Lex Luthor. For every Spider Man, there's a 19 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,560 Green Goblin. Today, Pastor Clark is bringing 20 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,520 light to the fact that with God and the people he's using, he 21 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,600 grants them some supernatural abilities. 22 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:35,320 But there will also be those who are using some supernatural 23 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:40,000 powers or magic that does not come from God, but from the 24 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,240 devil. Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts 25 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:47,200 chapter 19 with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace. 26 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,520 We are in the book of Acts, chapter 19. 27 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,440 Acts is the story of the power of the Holy Spirit and the New 28 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:59,440 Testament Church over 2000 years ago when the church was birthed. 29 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,080 And it continues the work of the Holy Spirit. 30 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:06,520 He, God the Holy Spirit is still at work working in the lives of 31 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,800 people all around the world. And now in verse 11, we're 32 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:14,080 picking up now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of 33 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:18,320 Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his 34 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:22,400 body to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil 35 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,920 spirits went out of them. Interesting that that Laurie 36 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:27,920 would talk about holistic things. 37 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:31,040 You can't get any more holistic than a handkerchief or a a 38 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:35,120 headband that was full of sweat with the perspiration of the 39 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,480 apostle. Now you asked me how this kind 40 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,120 of stuff happens, how it works, I have no idea. 41 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:45,080 It's miraculous. And what's interesting with the 42 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:49,200 the apostles, and I'm not an apostle, there is no more 43 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:53,080 apostles in our day and age in the sense of the apostles that 44 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:55,920 Jesus ordained. But in the book of Second 45 00:02:55,920 --> 00:03:01,880 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 2, it talks about the signs of 46 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:06,080 those apostles, those who were authentic apostles. 47 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:13,360 And the issue of, of Apostolic ministry is miraculous there. 48 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,280 There's different things that happen because of their calling 49 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:20,200 and their anointing by Jesus Christ that they're able to do. 50 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,640 Now you got to realize that Ephesus was a Pagan city. 51 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,800 It was full of sexual immorality, prostitution, 52 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,040 idolatry with the temple of Diana and all these different 53 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:32,440 edifices that they had in Ephesus at the time. 54 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,840 Ephesus would be like modern day San Francisco, sexual 55 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,600 immorality, whether it was fornication, adultery, 56 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,640 lesbianism, homosexuality, it was prevalent then. 57 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,840 And so sometimes the day we say boy, things are really bad. 58 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:50,400 The day they were always bad since the beginning of time in 59 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,040 the book of Genesis, that's when things really started going bad, 60 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:58,200 when we fell away from the Lord. So Paul's in this city that is 61 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:00,600 predominantly Pagan, there's very few Christians. 62 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:02,440 There's not even a church at this time. 63 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,440 So visualize yourself, your friend of Paul, he wants to have 64 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:11,360 some Bible studies. He rented a facility from a guy 65 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,960 that had some real estate that wasn't using it at certain hours 66 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,079 of the day, between 11:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon. 67 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,399 And he invited people like us at the time that were in the 68 00:04:21,399 --> 00:04:24,920 community to come and study the Bible, study the word. 69 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,440 Of course, it would have been primarily the Old Testament 70 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:29,240 Scriptures, but he was writing letters. 71 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,640 So he was using things that the Holy Spirit had been giving him 72 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,840 that were eventually codified in what we call the day our Bible, 73 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:40,760 66 Books of the Bible. So as he's teaching these people 74 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,640 that the things of the Spirit, people like you and me, we're 75 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:46,680 sitting there and we're getting changed. 76 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,160 We're hearing the word. So all these things are 77 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,040 happening and they're learning. And so they're going out from 78 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,280 this Bible study every day. Can you imagine being in a 79 00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:57,000 Bible? It's one thing to be in a Bible 80 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,160 study with me. I ain't anywhere near Paul. 81 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:01,440 OK, I'm lip synching what Paul wrote. 82 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,120 This is all what he, you know, Luke translated this and put it 83 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:06,800 into this book, the book of the Acts. 84 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:09,840 But these these are the this is the life of Paul, his ministry. 85 00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:14,080 But to be able to sit with an apostle for six hours a day, 86 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,080 five days a week for over almost three years, you would be really 87 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:20,240 grounded. You'd really know what the Bible 88 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,960 was all about. But not only that, they were 89 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:25,960 going out and in the power of the Holy Spirit. 90 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,520 They were impacting the community and the provinces 91 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:34,160 around the area that Paul was ministering in at the time and 92 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,000 act. So the purpose of the church and 93 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,640 in our church to hear is to explode on the outside so that 94 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:45,520 people that don't know Jesus begin to hear about him and want 95 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,480 to know about him and they end up maybe coming here to hear 96 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:50,880 more about him. OK, or or another Bible church, 97 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,560 whatever. And so this is impacting the 98 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:57,360 whole known world. At the time the gospel was going 99 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,120 out in the power of the Holy Spirit. 100 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,720 And so Paul, not any was preaching because the gospel in 101 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,840 and of itself is the power of God and the salvation to 102 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:10,720 everyone that believes, to the Jew 1st and also to the Greek. 103 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:14,480 So I don't need to have a miracle in front of me before 104 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:17,640 I'm a Christian to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 105 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,600 the living God. The Holy Spirit does the miracle 106 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:25,320 in my heart to cause me to believe the message of the 107 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,200 gospel. And then when I believe that 108 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,200 message, then my life is dramatically transformed. 109 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:36,080 I'm saved, I become born again. I have new eyesight, I have new 110 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,920 vision, new passion, new desires, and my my life is, is 111 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,200 brand new and yours is too. When you come to faith in Christ 112 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,560 and that is the miracle of miracles, you know of someone 113 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,400 becoming born again, passing from death to light, from 114 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:54,600 darkness to light. And now our followers of God as 115 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,880 as opposed to followers of the devil in his lies. 116 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,760 And so not any though the preaching at the time time, but 117 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:06,000 Jews require a sign, it said. So signs are real important to 118 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,120 the Jewish people. The Greeks seeked after wisdom. 119 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,520 Jews seek a sign. So in order to authenticate the 120 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:16,160 message that Paul is proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah to a 121 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:20,320 predominantly Jewish population at the time these miracles 122 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,360 occurred. And so these handkerchiefs and 123 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:25,960 these weren't like things he was blowing his nose on. 124 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:28,680 These were sweat bands he put around his head when he was 125 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:31,720 doing his tent making. The aprons were the made out of 126 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:33,680 leather. And he used this to put his 127 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:37,440 tools in whenever he was making his living as he was preaching 128 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:41,600 the gospel and and making tents. And So what happened was I don't 129 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:43,800 know who came up with the idea. I know it wouldn't have been 130 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:45,520 Paul. He wouldn't have said we'll take 131 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,920 this and put it on someone sick and, and they'll be OK and 132 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:51,480 they'll be healed. No, that wasn't the way it 133 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:53,360 works. Somehow the Spirit of God, this 134 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,720 ended up getting some of this stuff out into these different 135 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,560 places. And when it touched the bodies 136 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:03,000 of some of these people, it says that they were delivered from 137 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,200 their sickness. Diseases left them and, and, and 138 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:10,680 not any of that evil spirits went out from them automatically 139 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:15,520 just by the touching of this point of contact of a man who is 140 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,240 highly anointed of God. It wasn't anything in and of 141 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,320 Paul. It was Christ in Paul that 142 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:24,000 enabled this to actually occur. Now, you don't really read about 143 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:25,920 this in any other part of the Bible. 144 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:29,320 You have to realize that the miracles in the Bible started 145 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:34,520 with Moses primarily, and then they were Elijah and Elijah, and 146 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:36,520 then they were Jesus and the apostles. 147 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,799 Those were the three stages of the ages of miracles in, in 148 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:44,400 church history and in the Bible. There's less than 100 miracles 149 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:49,280 codified or quantified in detail where we can read and study 150 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,880 them, tells us and John, Jesus did many other miracles that 151 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:55,440 there wouldn't have been enough books in the world to contain 152 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:58,000 everything he did. But God felt that it was 153 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,320 necessary to give us enough indication that he does work 154 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:07,200 within the miraculous realm. Now today I could RIP part of my 155 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,600 sweater off here. If you had a headache and, and 156 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,120 tell you to put it on your forehead, nothing's going to 157 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:16,720 happen. These charlatans on TV that sell 158 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,040 these things and tell you to send money in and they prayed 159 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:22,280 for them and, and they soaked their sweat in them. 160 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,040 If you send 50 bucks and they'll send you this cloth. 161 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,240 I mean, it's just nothing but con artists and RIP off. 162 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,760 This happened one time and you know, and other times, if you 163 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:35,120 read church history documents from way back in the early days, 164 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:37,840 there has been miracles that occurred that there was no 165 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,400 explanation for. People have laid hands on me and 166 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:43,760 prayed for me. And when I've been sick or 167 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,680 having a problem, and I've done the same thing for other people 168 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:51,400 and sometimes God shows up and brings healing and other times, 169 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:53,280 OK, you take the medicine, right? 170 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,320 That's just the way it is. I prefer to get the healing and 171 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:58,760 not take the medicine. But you know, if I got to take 172 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:00,160 the medicine, I take the medicine. 173 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,080 And you do too. But there's nothing wrong with 174 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,320 seeking God for a touch supernaturally. 175 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:11,080 There was a true story. And I saw the movie and I read 176 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,760 the history and it was authenticated that this guy, 177 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:19,440 Victarius was his name. And he was a very godly, 178 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:23,960 monastic kind of guy, praying all the time, a very holy man, 179 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:27,400 very saintly man. And Mickey Rourke, the guy 180 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:31,160 played in that movie, that boxing movie, he played the part 181 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:36,080 of this drunk coal miner that was at living at the time that 182 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,760 Victarius was living on this particular island. 183 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,680 And he somehow, I think he had a drinking problem and he fell off 184 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:47,160 a Cliff and paralyzed himself. So he's in bed and he can't 185 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,240 move. And Victarius is in bed with 186 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:52,000 prostate cancer. And this is what always 187 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,840 fascinated me. Here's Paul able to do miracles, 188 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:57,120 right? People getting healed, 189 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:00,240 delivered. Paul had a physical affliction, 190 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,440 the thorn in the flesh. He asked God three times to take 191 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,400 it from him. He didn't like RIP off his shirt 192 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,880 and put it on his wherever it was hurting and to say, OK, make 193 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:12,320 it happen. He had to suffer it. 194 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:15,080 And then the Lord said, hey, I'm not going to answer the prayer. 195 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:18,200 My strength is made perfect in your weakness, that the power of 196 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:21,760 Christ would rest upon you. So Paul had to deal with the 197 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:23,800 illness and the affliction that he had. 198 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:26,160 Everybody's going to die of something. 199 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,680 Even after Lazarus was raised from a dead miraculously, guess 200 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:31,600 what? He eventually died physically. 201 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:35,760 We all have to die physically. But so anyway, this this 202 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:39,240 nectarious guy, he's laying in bed and and Mickey Rourke, the 203 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,720 actor, he's laying there. Why would God allow me to have 204 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:45,120 this problem? I can't move. 205 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,400 What good am I going to be to my wife and my kids? 206 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:49,880 I can't make a living. He's depressed, he's complaining 207 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:53,040 and Nectarious just sort of laying there in agony and pain. 208 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:55,320 He just smiles as well. Maybe God will surprise you. 209 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:58,720 That's all he said. Well, this is wild. 210 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:01,680 So Nectarious dies. They come in, the nurses are 211 00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:03,240 taking the shirt and everything off. 212 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:06,880 They throw the shirt on the bed to the guy, Mickey Rourke, the 213 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,440 actor laying there in the bed and within several minutes he's 214 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:13,360 completely healed and he's able to walk. 215 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:14,840 His body's restored. Now. 216 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:17,880 You can't reenact this stuff. You, you can't figure it out. 217 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:20,600 I mean, even when Jesus did healing, they were always 218 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:23,480 different. Sometimes he'd spit on the, the 219 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,160 dirt and get the mud and rub it in someone's eyes or some other 220 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:29,400 time a woman would touch the hem of his garment. 221 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:34,440 I, I all I know is that God is able to do the miraculous and we 222 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:38,320 can pray and ask him to do that. And sometimes we experience 223 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:40,720 that, but there's no guarantee. There's no man. 224 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:44,600 You can go to some woman that it's a holy person to ask him to 225 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:47,280 pray, and just because it's them, they're going to be able 226 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:50,720 to do something for you. It's only the Lord and he does 227 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,360 everything after the council of his own will, even the gifts of 228 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:56,720 the Spirit. He gives them out severally as 229 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:00,520 He wills. The idea of faith healers is not 230 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:05,640 biblical, but the the idea of the gift of healing is biblical. 231 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,440 But even the people that have been used by God to pray for 232 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:12,200 people and their health, and there's been evidence of maybe a 233 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,160 higher percentage of people being healed doesn't mean that 234 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,920 everybody's going to get healed. But anyway, this this instance 235 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:22,960 of this occurring in here was to get the attention of these 236 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:26,320 Jewish people. And it did in verse 13, and some 237 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:30,640 of the itinerant Jewish exorcist took it upon themselves to call 238 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,800 in the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, 239 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:38,280 saying, we exercise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. 240 00:13:38,560 --> 00:13:42,440 Also there were seven sons of Skiva, a Jewish sheep priest who 241 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,640 did so. So these Jewish people at the 242 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:50,480 time, unbelievers, had some kind of capacity because they did 243 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:52,760 believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 244 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:56,160 So there was some anointing authority in their lives and I 245 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,920 guess they had experiences at times where they were used and 246 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:03,200 God worked through them to deliver people from demonic 247 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:07,720 possession or oppression. But their minds are thinking and 248 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:12,320 they're not even believers yet. Well, like Paul, praise in Jesus 249 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,400 name and there's, there's miracles that occur. 250 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,760 So let's try this. Let's see if it works for us. 251 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:21,760 Well, well, first of all, it's, it's humorous here. 252 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:25,680 What's going to happen because these, these sons of the, the 253 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:29,600 Jewish chief priests thought that maybe they could make some 254 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:31,920 new kind of ministry going on here. 255 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:36,400 And and it says in verse 15, the evil spirit answered and said, 256 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:41,600 Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know, but who are you? 257 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,000 Boy, that's scary, huh? They're in the house with this 258 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,480 demonic person, the spirit. They think they're going to have 259 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:53,120 an overcoming experience here and these demon demons going to 260 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,520 be cast out. And this is what happens in 261 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,280 verse 16. Then the man in whom the evil 262 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:04,000 spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them and prevailed 263 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,480 against them so that they fled out of that house naked and 264 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:09,040 wounded. Wouldn't that be something? 265 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:13,000 One guy, the strength of this person possessed by the devil, 266 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:18,000 was able to whoop 7 grown healthy young men and not any 267 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,000 beat them up but tear their clothes off and and have them 268 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,840 running out humiliated by what it was they tried to do. 269 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:30,080 The devil's always trying to replicate or duplicate the 270 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,800 miraculous. We remember Moses with the rod 271 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,880 and throw it down. It turns into a snake. 272 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,080 Well, God allowed that to happen when the magicians were able to 273 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:43,560 replicate certain degrees of those miracles, right? 274 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,480 And so just because there's a miracle that occurs doesn't mean 275 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:50,160 it's the Lord. The devil comes with lying signs 276 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,760 and wonders, a matter of fact, in the last days when the 277 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:58,480 Antichrist comes on the scene and the false prophet, they'll 278 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:01,080 be all kind of miraculous. That will be occurring like 279 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:04,240 we've never, ever experienced. And there'll be a lot of people 280 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:08,000 thinking that he's the Christ and he'll be the Antichrist. 281 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:13,200 And so this became known in verse 17 both to all the Jews 282 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:17,280 and the Greeks dwelling in Ephesus and fear fell on all 283 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:20,640 them. So we're in Greensburg here. 284 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,280 It's in the newspaper. Channel 4 News is down there 285 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:27,560 interviewing. We are all aware that something 286 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:32,800 spectacular happened and scary. And so we know there's problems 287 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:35,600 in Greensburg. There's demonic activity, 288 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,480 there's demonic activity everywhere. 289 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,560 There's satanic powers. There's a oh called there's 290 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:46,760 astrology, there's false religions, there's all these 291 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:48,880 kind of things that are happening in the day and age 292 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,000 that we live. And these are the things that 293 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:54,280 bind people into immoral lifestyles. 294 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:57,360 Someone doesn't this one day wake up and say, well, I think 295 00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:59,840 I'm going to I'm a guy. So I think I want to have some 296 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:02,800 sex with a guy. I mean, that's, that is demonic. 297 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,920 It's not real. It's not, I don't care what any 298 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,079 psychologists or what any kind of secular humanists or what 299 00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:12,359 they're trying to tell us in government now and all these 300 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:14,920 things, these things are not normal. 301 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:20,240 Matter of fact, Roman Empire fell because of the this 302 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:25,839 promiscuity and this increase atmosphere of gay and lesbian 303 00:17:25,839 --> 00:17:29,720 lifestyle and abortion that eventually that nation was 304 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:31,840 destroyed. And we are this close right now 305 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:35,840 with testing God with what it is we're doing as a culture and 306 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:38,960 people saying good is evil and evil is good. 307 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,480 And we as Christians need This is why like we need to get out 308 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:44,320 of the building, have conversations. 309 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:46,640 We don't need to condemn people. We don't hate people. 310 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:49,040 We need to love them enough to tell them, hey, what you're 311 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:54,640 doing is sin and your sin will cause you to eventually be in 312 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:56,760 hell. That's the bottom line. 313 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:00,400 Now, I hope I'm not hurting anybody's feelings here today. 314 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:06,040 But if you're living in a lifestyle that is not God's will 315 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:08,960 and, and in his word, you're going to suffer consequences. 316 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:11,320 You already are. The amount of people who are 317 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:14,560 taking their lives that have tried this transgenderism and 318 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,640 all this crazy stuff out there, sex changes and all this, it is 319 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:20,680 unbelievable. You got to do the research, the 320 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:22,880 statistics, and you know, and it isn't unloving. 321 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:25,120 It's loving to tell people the truth. 322 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:28,200 It's unloving to just say, well, it's OK, That's whatever you 323 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:32,640 want to do, go ahead and do it. And so Paul wasn't that kind of 324 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:34,480 guy. And nor are we these kind of 325 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,560 people that just ignore these issues of sin today, even in our 326 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,920 own time and our own culture. And So what happened was they're 327 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,200 they're afraid now that the beginning of wisdom is the fear 328 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:47,680 of the Lord and depart from evil. 329 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:51,480 That tells us in Proverbs you're really catching on when you 330 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:55,120 begin to fear the consequences of your sin. 331 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:57,720 Don't play around with it anymore. 332 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:00,840 You don't justify, you don't say, well, that's OK and 333 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:02,600 everybody's doing it. No big deal. 334 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:06,880 It's a big deal. It's a big, big deal. 335 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:09,880 And So what happened was these people are are are starting to 336 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:12,760 get frightened. And whenever you have an 337 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:16,120 encounter with God to such a degree over your sin, and you 338 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:20,800 know you have one or two choices to make, you either continue in 339 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:23,960 your sin and you perish, or you get right with God and you 340 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:30,160 repent and you leave your sin. And this began to cause such a a 341 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,760 move of God's spirit. And the city of Ephesus, it says 342 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:37,160 that fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was 343 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:39,080 magnified. That's what we need to have 344 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:42,400 happen today. At the name of Jesus, every knee 345 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,520 will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is 346 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:47,280 Lord to the glory of God the Father. 347 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:51,760 There is no other name given among men under heaven by which 348 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:54,440 we can be saved or must be saved. 349 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,400 Jesus is the truth. He's the way, the truth the 350 00:19:57,400 --> 00:19:59,960 life. No man comes to the Father but 351 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,600 through him. So Jesus was magnified. 352 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:05,920 He said if he be lifted up, he will draw all men to himself. 353 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:09,280 Pray for Pastor Lewis and myself that when we preach the Word, 354 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,720 we're preaching the Word. With the name Jesus involved in 355 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:16,560 the word, because the Bible without Jesus is just a bunch of 356 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:22,520 words, but the Bible with Jesus can turn the world upside down. 357 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:23,920 And this is what was happening here. 358 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:27,680 Now we'll read. Many are intimidated now they're 359 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:30,640 fearful. And many who had believed came 360 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:32,800 confessing and telling their deeds. 361 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,480 Can you imagine Calvary today? Some of you guys are getting 362 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:37,440 saved. Hey, I'm not leaving today until 363 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:41,360 I tell you what God's delivered me from before I came here 364 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:45,000 today, I was sleeping around with every, every woman I could 365 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:49,720 find or whatever. I was chasing some guy down the 366 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,760 street or some woman says, well, I'm sleeping with all the 367 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:58,000 different girls out there in the community, you know, and the 368 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:03,880 Lord convicted me and I couldn't live that way anymore and I 369 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,720 repented. And I want to tell you guys what 370 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,560 Jesus did for me, right? If you ever have a testimony, 371 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:12,960 let me know. Because the more we hear what 372 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:16,320 the Lord's done, the more he's glorified and the more people 373 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:19,000 hear they say, well, maybe he could do that for me. 374 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:23,080 People are trapped in sin. People don't just decide one day 375 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:27,080 that they want to be immoral. They start becoming immoral and 376 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,000 then they're trapped. They don't know how to stop 377 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,960 being immoral. And they're they're in bondage 378 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:34,880 and they're under the influence of the devil and says. 379 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,200 And so these people, they're confessing and telling their 380 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,360 deeds. Also, many of those who had 381 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:42,800 practiced magic brought their books together and burned them 382 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,080 in the sight of all. Now, I've been a student of all 383 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,880 kind of religions my whole life, and I was into Buddhism for a 384 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:54,040 while and I was into, you know, reading whatever was esoteric or 385 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,040 ocaldic, and I didn't even know what I was doing at the time. 386 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,520 It just fascinated me. What makes the world go round 387 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:02,160 and why is this happened? Why is that? 388 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,160 And how far is the sky going? And what's truth? 389 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,840 You know, until I came to know Christ, I had no idea what truth 390 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:10,640 was. So I have a bunch of books and 391 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,400 there are a lot of them are in my garage now in a box. 392 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:15,600 This, I don't know. What am I going to do with that? 393 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:17,920 Maybe we should have a bonfire this summer somewhere. 394 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,120 I'll bring my old books and you bring yours too, you know. 395 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:23,920 But anyway, this is what was happening here, right? 396 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:26,800 They were convicted about the things they were reading, the 397 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,440 things they were studying, and they brought their books 398 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,480 together and they burned them as sight of all. 399 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,920 So all the people in Ephesus, there's a big deal going on 400 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,280 here. People were magnifying the Lord. 401 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,160 People are confessing their sins. 402 00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:42,040 They're bringing all their garbage and they're porn and 403 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,120 whatever it might be and they're going to burn it. 404 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:48,720 And it says they counted up the value of them and a total of 405 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:53,000 50,000 pieces of silver in today's that could be between 406 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:56,720 1:00 and $5,000,000. I read back and that day that 407 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,120 silver was worth about $10,000, which is a lot of money. 408 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:04,320 It was enough for 150 people to make their livelihood for a 409 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,280 whole year. That's how much was destroyed in 410 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:11,480 this in this fire. And as a result of that, what 411 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:15,280 happened, it says the word of the Lord grew mightily and 412 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:20,080 prevailed. So we have a calm church here 413 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:23,760 today. Usually I'm a calm pastor 414 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:26,600 because a lot of you fall asleep when I teach. 415 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:28,680 Hey, so you have a very nice voice. 416 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:31,640 You know what a day my voice is a little bit more, you know, 417 00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:35,520 whatever, you know, I don't know, but you know, you're not 418 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:37,840 falling asleep today as much as you normally do. 419 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,120 It's not that the message is any better, but the the text is 420 00:23:43,120 --> 00:23:47,160 better because we're reading about the Lord being magnified. 421 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:51,120 And, and so as a result of the word, the message in the gospel 422 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:53,840 is growing mightily. It it's prevailing in the world, 423 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:55,480 it's prevailing in the community. 424 00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:00,400 Thanks for joining us on today's edition of Living Waters of 425 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,520 Grace, a ministry of Calvary Chapel, Westmoreland. 426 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,200 Today, Pastor Clark is teaching about the book of Acts. 427 00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:10,760 And as we learn more about Acts, it becomes clear that the early 428 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,760 church didn't miss a single opportunity to share the gospel. 429 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,800 In nearly every chapter, you see apostles like Peter and Paul 430 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:22,640 stepping into conversations, crowds, and crises with 431 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,120 boldness, ready to proclaim the name of Jesus. 432 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:30,240 Their example challenges us to consider how we might step into 433 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:35,040 gospel moments in our own lives. What doors might God open this 434 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,720 week for you to speak truth, offer hope, or live out your 435 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,000 faith in a way that points others to Him? 436 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,560 The story of Acts reminds us we are part of the same mission. 437 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:49,240 Today, let's live with eyes open and hearts ready to respond. 438 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,080 We hope you are challenged by today's message. 439 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,680 If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, we'd love to see you in 440 00:24:55,680 --> 00:25:01,400 person this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St., Unit 441 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,120 6B. For more information, visit 442 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:08,160 calvarychapelonline.com. You could also join our e-mail 443 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,880 list, give online, or submit a prayer request right from the 444 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,120 site. If you can't make it in person, 445 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:17,800 be sure to tune in on the Calvary Chapel Westmoreland 446 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:21,120 YouTube channel. Subscribe so you never miss new 447 00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:23,400 teachings. If you're in the Greensburg 448 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:28,600 area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency. 449 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,720 Pray about helping financially support the new station that 450 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:34,960 will reach thousands more listeners. 451 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:41,080 Send financial gifts to Grace FMPO, Box 716, Greensburg, PA 452 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:45,600 15601. Once again, we're so grateful 453 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:48,800 you joined us today to be inspired by God's Word. 454 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,600 Please tune in again for more Living Waters of Grace.