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 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:40,640 He's there now and and boy, I can imagine when he walked in, 6 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:46,560 the people that knew why he was up in Damascus were anticipating 7 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:55,440 chaos and brutality and anger and fear. 8 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:01,040 He's going in calm, full of the Holy Spirit, and the first thing 9 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:07,440 he begins to say and tell them this is Jesus is a Messiah. 10 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,880 Paul had a reputation of being heartless in persecuting 11 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:13,360 Christians. He sought out Christians to have 12 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:18,080 them sent to prison or killed. He was on fire against the Lord. 13 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,640 In today's message, Pastor Clark wants you to see how God 14 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:26,440 completely changed his life. He would become on fire for God, 15 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,000 spreading the good news of salvation to everyone. 16 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,280 Never underestimate what God can accomplish through one person's 17 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,040 life. Surrender to His will and see 18 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,320 what He can do when you fully commit to going where He calls 19 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:41,720 now. Here's Pastor Clark in Acts 20 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,440 Chapter 9 with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace. 21 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,040 God is never absent from any of our lives. 22 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,160 God is omnipresent. He's able to be present 23 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:57,200 everywhere at the same time in every human being's life. 24 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,240 That in, in and of itself should blow our minds of how great our 25 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,960 God is. He's always there, present. 26 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:09,160 He sees what we're up to. He knows our thoughts, He knows 27 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:10,960 our fears. He knows our anxieties. 28 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:14,200 He knows our dreams, our hopes, our vision, our purpose, our 29 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,400 desires. He sees it all. 30 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,360 And He sees specifically right now this man he's dealing with 31 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,680 named Saul, that he's praying and he's hearing the prayer. 32 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,720 And in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming and 33 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,480 putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight. 34 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:35,000 So this is really something. Not only is God like giving 35 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,480 Ananias the details, but he's saying, I already told Paul that 36 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,960 you're on your way and you're going to lay hands on him and 37 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:44,160 he's going to be able to see again physically. 38 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:49,880 So Ananias answers, Lord, I've heard from many about this man, 39 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:54,960 how much harm he's done to your Saints in Jerusalem, and here he 40 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:57,920 has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call upon 41 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:00,240 your name. So Ananias, man, he's having 42 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,120 this encounter with God, but he's like us, like a Lord. 43 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,040 You sure is this like you really like want me to? 44 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,480 This guy is a problem and everybody knows that he's up 45 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,280 here to get a hold of us to put us in jail because we follow you 46 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,080 and you want me to go and meet him and hang out with him. 47 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:21,160 I mean, that's an honest calling in regard to his own concern is 48 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,280 just a normal human being that he's a little bit freaked out 49 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:27,720 and and shook up about this adventure that God has him on. 50 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:32,440 But the Lord said to him, go for he is a chosen vessel of mine. 51 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:35,360 In other words, no negotiation here, Ananias, you're going to 52 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:42,440 go because God calls Saul a chosen vessel of mine to bear my 53 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:46,240 name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel, For I 54 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,640 will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. 55 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,520 This is crazy, isn't it? Like, you think if you were God, 56 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:59,760 you would be looking around somewhere for people who are 57 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,320 committed to you and following you, right? 58 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:04,880 There's a lot of people out there over the earth at the 59 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,000 time, you know, and there's a lot of people coming to know the 60 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,720 Lord that are have ability to be dynamic leaders for God's 61 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:14,840 Kingdom. Why is he picking this guy? 62 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:21,160 That's the mystery, how God chooses us, how he calls us. 63 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:26,120 Paul later on in his book in Corinthians he says not many 64 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,640 wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has 65 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,560 chosen the weak and foolish things of this world to confound 66 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,600 the wise so that no flesh should glory in his presence. 67 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:38,400 Boy, he knew that Don, didn't he? 68 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,600 I mean in spite of everybody thinking, man, this guy is 69 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,240 bright, he was a Pharisee, he was Sanhedrin, he had it all 70 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:47,800 together. He knew in and of himself he was 71 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,120 nothing. He was a foolish man until 72 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:55,040 Christ saved him. So God works things after the 73 00:04:55,040 --> 00:05:00,480 counsel of his own will. So Ananias in verse 17 went his 74 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:02,880 way, did what God was tell him to do. 75 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:07,560 He entered the House of this man called Judas, and he went in and 76 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:11,120 he laid his hands on him, and he said, brother Saul, now how 77 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:12,600 beautiful is this? The Lord got him. 78 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,320 Calm down. Hey, Saul's a believer now. 79 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:22,040 He's part of our team, he loves, he's learning, he's going to 80 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:26,240 learn to love me and follow me and he's he's OK now. 81 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,080 So he goes in and and this endearing term and had to 82 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,360 encourage Saul where he's being called a brother in the Lord to 83 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,360 Ananias. What a beautiful thing. 84 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,560 Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as 85 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:45,880 you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be 86 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:52,040 filled with the Holy Spirit. So the miracle physical healing 87 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,080 is a big issue in this section of Scripture. 88 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,800 God knew that Paul needed to be able to see because he was going 89 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:04,040 to travel all the regions around and plant churches and many of 90 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:08,960 the communities that surrounded these biblical lands. 91 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:14,200 He had to be able to see, to be able to write the epistles that 92 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,480 eventually he would write. He had to be able to look at the 93 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,920 crowds and the masses and look at people in the eye and tell 94 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:24,280 them that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God. 95 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,720 But not any was he going to have his physical sight restored, But 96 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:32,680 he was going to be filled with the Holy Spirit now, filled with 97 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:34,720 the Holy Spirit. Without the filling of the Holy 98 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,880 Spirit, there is no power to proclaim the truth of God. 99 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,880 You and I need the power of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, a 100 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:46,280 moment by moment basis, because we leak and we need to 101 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:48,280 continually be filled with the Spirit. 102 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:52,280 And we can simply ask God to fill us with His Holy Spirit and 103 00:06:52,280 --> 00:06:55,640 He will fill us to do what it is He's called us to do that we 104 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,080 know we can't do. Apart from God filling us with 105 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,960 His Spirit, we can lay hands on one another and pray to be 106 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:06,320 filled with the Holy Spirit. God uses the hands of believers 107 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:10,240 to touch people many times, to bring encouragement to them, to 108 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:13,320 touch them physically, that they might touch and sense the 109 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:17,240 presence of God. Even if it's only a momentary 110 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,200 experience, it's something that will encourage people, encourage 111 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:22,440 people. You can pray for your children. 112 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,120 You can lay hands on your wife or your husband when they're 113 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:27,320 struggling. And brothers and sisters who are 114 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:31,640 discouraged, pray and pray and pray for one another, that we 115 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:33,520 might be filled with the Holy Spirit. 116 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:38,680 And what happened when Ananias did exactly what the Lord told 117 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:40,440 him to do? Verse 18. 118 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:45,000 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and 119 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,920 he received his sight at once, and he rose, and he was 120 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:51,240 baptized. So not only did he receive his 121 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:57,800 sight, he was healed physically. Not only was he baptized by the 122 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:05,280 power of the Holy Spirit and filled, but he was now baptized 123 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:07,280 because he's a believer in Jesus Christ. 124 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:12,600 I'm sure that Paul knew immediately when this guy was 125 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,600 there that it doesn't give a lot of details in between the lines 126 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:19,800 here, but what happens whenever you become a believer is the 127 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:23,360 first thing you do is you want to be baptized because you're 128 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:27,480 now identifying with being a follower of Jesus Christ. 129 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:33,240 It's not a a right of church membership or it's not a right 130 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:37,440 of earning points with God, or well, if I do this and God might 131 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:39,159 love me more and I'll work and do that. 132 00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:41,200 No, it has nothing to do with that. 133 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,720 It has to be identified. This is what Christ has 134 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:49,120 established in his plan for believers, that when they get 135 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:54,600 saved there to be baptized. And Paul didn't debate that he 136 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,480 was baptized. So everything is in order right 137 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,000 now for him to eventually be used by the Lord for the work of 138 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,640 the ministry. So Paul's has all this 139 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:11,440 experience now and what's fascinating here in verse 20, we 140 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:17,160 see that immediately he wants to tell people about Jesus. 141 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:21,240 He goes to the synagogues. He preached the Christ in the 142 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:22,840 synagogues that he's the Son of God. 143 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,520 So most of the people up there anticipating Paul at this time, 144 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:30,160 Saul, at this time, coming into the synagogues and dragging you, 145 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:34,080 you and me out as believers and taking us to Jerusalem to be put 146 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:36,640 in prison or to be martyred. He's there now. 147 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:40,080 And, and boy, I can imagine when he walked in, the people that 148 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:48,040 knew why he was up in Damascus were anticipating chaos and 149 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:57,080 brutality and anger and fear. He's going in calm, full of the 150 00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:59,600 Holy Spirit. And the first thing he begins to 151 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:05,280 say and tell them, this is Jesus is a Messiah. 152 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:10,960 People got to be sitting there thinking what happened to him. 153 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:18,880 This is like totally unexpected. How did this happen? 154 00:10:21,680 --> 00:10:23,560 He's, he's emboldened to do this. 155 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:27,120 I don't know if you remember when you first got saved, but 156 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,320 the first thing that happened to me after I got saved, I didn't 157 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,600 get baptized for about a year. I didn't understand. 158 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,120 I wasn't in a church at the time being taught about, you know, 159 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,640 how do I begin to be discipled and follow Jesus? 160 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:43,080 But one thing I knew I wanted to tell everyone else about Jesus 161 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:46,280 and what he did for me. First people I wanted to tell 162 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:49,440 was my family. Then I wanted to tell my friends 163 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:52,800 and people I hung out with. Then I wanted to tell strangers. 164 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:56,800 Cindy and I would spend hours on the Atlantic City boardwalk. 165 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:58,800 We lived in New Jersey on at the ocean. 166 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:02,600 And we would this strike up conversations with a lot of 167 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,320 people our age at the time. And we would just tell them 168 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:09,280 about Jesus. And it was fun. 169 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:12,520 Some people look at you like you're crazy, whatever. 170 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,600 But boy, a lot of people were intrigued because there was a 171 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,880 revival happening at that time called the Jesus movement and 172 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,120 the Holy Spirit was falling all over the world. 173 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:26,040 And it was a lot of young people in the ages of probably 16 to 24 174 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,200 that were being drawn by the Spirit of God to get saved. 175 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:34,160 And we got to pray with a lot of people and, and see people come 176 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,640 to faith in Jesus Christ. We had Bible studies. 177 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,680 There was just a lot of wonderful energy occurring at 178 00:11:39,680 --> 00:11:42,240 that time in our lives as new believers. 179 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:47,040 And this is what is normal and should be happening after you 180 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:49,640 become a believer. You want others to know about 181 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:51,720 it. You bring someone to church you, 182 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:55,200 you give them a Bible. You know, Pastor Lewis was out 183 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:59,040 in the streets around the area taking the Bibles that you guys 184 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:03,200 can have access to now. The Promise Book, which has the 185 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,440 gospel right in here and promises of God from his word 186 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:09,760 and then a really nice Bible, large print Bible. 187 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:13,720 We give these as a gift to people to plant the seed that 188 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,000 they might come to know Christ. The Bible says faith comes by 189 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:19,800 hearing and hearing by the word of God. 190 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,640 The way I got saved, my brother threw me a copy of the Bible and 191 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:25,280 said, hey, I'm getting some answers from this. 192 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,640 And I started reading it And by the time I got through the 193 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:33,160 Gospel of John, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, I was, I was born 194 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:36,000 again. That's what Paul was doing. 195 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:40,720 He was utilizing the Spirit of God that's in him now to talk to 196 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:44,320 people about what God did for him. 197 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:48,920 Verse 21 Then all who heard were amazed and said, is this not he 198 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,280 who destroyed those who called on his name in Jerusalem has 199 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:55,200 come here for that purpose that he might bring them bound to the 200 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:57,560 chief priest. They knew why he was initially 201 00:12:57,560 --> 00:12:59,760 coming up there. And they're saying like this is 202 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:03,960 amazing, but Saul increased all the more in strength and 203 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:08,000 confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this 204 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,680 Jesus is the Christ. Now, what's interesting here the 205 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:18,680 the time periods of what's happening in between verse 21 206 00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:21,000 and 22 there, there's a gap period there. 207 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,280 And I want to go to Galatians chapter one for a moment. 208 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,400 This is a book he wrote many years later, but this is the 209 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:32,080 ministry of of the Apostle Paul. He had to be trained. 210 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,280 He had to be prepared. And we'll, we'll read here this 211 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:40,720 briefly what it is that occurred in his life whenever he was in 212 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:46,000 this situation of of training in, in in Galatians chapter 1 213 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:51,320 starts out in verse one. Paul, an apostle, not from men, 214 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:55,080 nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father 215 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:58,200 who raised him from the dead and all the brethren who are with 216 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,760 me. So he's, he opens the letter to 217 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:05,000 the church in Galatia that his apostleship wasn't given by man, 218 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:08,840 but it was given directly from the Lord Jesus. 219 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:14,720 And he's talking to these believers at the time that are 220 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:20,000 in the church that they're turning away from the truth of 221 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,000 the grace of God to a different gospel. 222 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:27,400 There's all kind of messengers out there on TV, radio, books, 223 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:29,520 all this kind of stuff. If you're not grounded in the 224 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:31,560 truth of the Scripture and you're not going by what the 225 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,960 Bible says, you can be drawn into all kind of weird stuff. 226 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:39,680 And Paul's confronting them at this time, like, who's troubling 227 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,040 you? Who's perverting the gospel of 228 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:44,920 Christ? He says even if we are an Angel 229 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:47,520 from heaven, preach any of their gospel to you than what we've 230 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:49,440 preached you. Let him be accursed. 231 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:53,640 Paul's warning them about false teachers, as we said before. 232 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:57,040 So now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you 233 00:14:57,320 --> 00:14:59,800 than what you've received, let him be accursed. 234 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,440 And so he's beginning to tell them now about his apostleship 235 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:06,920 in verse 11. But I make known to you, 236 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:10,640 brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not 237 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:15,360 according to man other words, the, the, the people didn't make 238 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:18,480 this up. It wasn't the Protestant Church, 239 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,560 the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church that formulated 240 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:25,640 the gospel. The Gospel was given by Jesus 241 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:30,000 Christ and it's clearly delineated in the gospel and the 242 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,240 preaching of Christ in the apostles. 243 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:36,120 It's it's so clear and so evident for by grace we've been 244 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:39,360 saved through faith. And this is not of ourselves. 245 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:43,920 It's a gift of God, right? A gift of God, not of works, 246 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:49,200 lest anyone would boast so many in religion, and I was religious 247 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:50,800 for a while and many of you were too. 248 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:54,360 We want to boast at how good we were because we went to church, 249 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,560 we went to Mass or we took communion or we did this or we 250 00:15:57,560 --> 00:15:59,560 did that. And, and, and somehow people 251 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:01,240 look at us. Oh yeah, you're a pretty good 252 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:05,480 person, I guess, if you do that. But we can't be saved by 253 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,160 anything we do. We're saved by the blood and the 254 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:14,360 grace of Jesus Christ alone, and that that goes against the pride 255 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,080 and the ego of us as human beings. 256 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,920 Paul was confronted with this gospel and there was no way he 257 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:24,080 was going to accept it because he wanted to give everybody his 258 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:28,600 resume of what a great religious man he was as a Pharisee in the 259 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:30,640 Sanhedrin. That kept him in bondage and 260 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:35,240 darkness for a long time until finally God got him down on his 261 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,760 face, right, and began to show him and tell him what the truth 262 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:42,560 was. And Paul said this is about his 263 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:45,680 life. This gospel came through the 264 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,480 revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former 265 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:53,040 conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God 266 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,560 beyond measure, and I tried to destroy it. 267 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:59,880 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries and my 268 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:03,160 own nation being more exceedingly jealous for the 269 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,359 traditions of my father's. He took pride in that at one 270 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:10,319 time, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my 271 00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:13,560 mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his 272 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:17,160 Son and me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did 273 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:19,520 not immediately confer with flesh and blood. 274 00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:22,720 Paul, didn't you know, there wasn't phones or Internet or 275 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:24,119 texts or emails. He did. 276 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:26,760 I got to run this by some people, some friends of mine, to 277 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:28,880 see like what it what do they think about all this stuff? 278 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:32,920 He didn't ask any other human being about what he had 279 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,560 encountered. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to 280 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:38,440 those who were apostles. He didn't even go up at that to 281 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:41,400 those who were leading the church in the book of the Acts. 282 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:46,560 But I went to Arabia and then I returned again to Damascus. 283 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:51,560 So he went to Arabia, down by Sinai for approximately 284 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,440 somewhere between two and three years, where he just sought the 285 00:17:54,440 --> 00:18:00,640 Lord, just sought the Lord. What God wanted, what the plan 286 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:05,160 was from God's perspective, not his ideas, not his plans. 287 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:09,320 And of course, Paul knew the Old Testament, so he had the the 288 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,760 scrolls he was studying. He was looking in there because 289 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,280 in the, in the beginning stages before the New Testament was 290 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,320 written, you, you brought people to Christ through the preaching 291 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,760 of the Old Testament because Christ is revealed throughout 292 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:27,840 the whole Bible. And so I'm going to wind down 293 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,320 here because there's so much more to talk about and I don't 294 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:33,720 want to try to jam it into 11 message a day. 295 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:38,560 So we'll sort of stop right there in this period of him 296 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:43,800 being in this training period, none of us get saved and we 297 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:48,160 start out right away in some kind of ministry that's not 298 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,720 really healthy. We need to be discipled, we need 299 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:53,640 to be trained, we need to be taught. 300 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:58,080 We got saved and we had a lot of ideas, Cindy and I, but we knew 301 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:02,280 we needed to be grounded. So we went to Bible college and 302 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,240 even after Bible college, I wasn't ready to serve the Lord 303 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:09,160 and and pastoral ministry. I didn't get called into the 304 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:11,440 pastoral ministry. I wanted to get involved in 305 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:16,480 something, but it, it took until I was like 44 until I heard the 306 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,760 call of God again that this was a time for me to, to avail 307 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:22,840 myself to yield my life to, to ministry. 308 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:24,520 And I'm still learning what ministry is. 309 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,080 I'm still growing, growing. I'm still being trained, I'm 310 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,720 still developing. I'm still dealing with sin 311 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:31,760 nature in my heart, just like you guys are. 312 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:33,560 You know, I, I got to fight that every day. 313 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:38,840 But I love what it tells us in the book of Isaiah 1 of the 314 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:42,640 things we need to do more than ever is waiting on the Lord. 315 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:46,680 Not this doing stuff, but waiting on the Lord in your own 316 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:48,920 life. You wait upon the Lord for his 317 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,400 call upon your life, His will for your life, the ministry that 318 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,640 He's perhaps directing you to do. 319 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,920 You're sensing Him leading you in some area. 320 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,240 Wait on the Lord. It tells us in the book of 321 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:05,560 Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31. But they that wait upon the Lord 322 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:10,400 shall renew their strength. I get weary and you do too. 323 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,960 I get weak. I get beaten down by life like 324 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:15,960 we all do. I get the scourge. 325 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:20,480 I get to spawn them. But the Lord tells me that if I 326 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:24,160 wait upon Him, my strength will be renewed. 327 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:27,040 I'm not real good at waiting. I don't know about you. 328 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:30,080 I'm go, go, go all the time. All they're saying no, no, you 329 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,400 got to wait, wait, wait. And I'm learning baby steps how 330 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,040 to wait to sit out in the back, my Bible open or whatever, just 331 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:38,400 sitting here. Lord, speak to me. 332 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,400 What is it that I'm not seeing? What is it that I need to hear? 333 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:43,640 What is it that I'm just not getting? 334 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,520 Give God time in your life as you wait upon him, because 335 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:50,520 there's a promise here. You wait upon the Lord. 336 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,840 Your strength will be renewed. You shall mount up with wings as 337 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:55,760 eagles. You ever see eagles fly in their 338 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:57,640 wingspan? There's nothing that's going to 339 00:20:57,640 --> 00:20:59,760 take them down unless it's their time to die. 340 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,800 They soar and they float and they God, and they're 341 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:07,480 spectacular to watch. It says they shall run and not 342 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,760 be weary. In other words, I'm not running 343 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,320 as much as I used to. I walk like sort of fast once in 344 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:13,560 a while. I'm not jogging anymore. 345 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,160 I'm a swimmer. But run and not be weary. 346 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,480 Whatever it is that God's calling you to do, raise a 347 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:23,520 family, do marriage, build a business, grow your career, 348 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:25,560 whatever it might be, raising little kids. 349 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:26,920 And that makes you weary, does it? 350 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:31,480 God's promising you that you'll be able to have this stamina to 351 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:36,960 not get burnt out and not get weary and you'll be able to walk 352 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:44,960 in this life and not faint, not give up, not say I'm not going 353 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:47,280 to do this anymore. I'm not going to follow Jesus 354 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:48,200 anymore. I'm not going to. 355 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:50,440 It's too hard. There's too many challenges. 356 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:53,200 There's too much stuff that happens that I just don't like 357 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,240 or whatever. Too much conflict. 358 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:00,560 When we're when we belong to the Lord, we can't quit, even though 359 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:04,440 we might think about it once in a while, because he sustains us. 360 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,520 His Spirit lives in US, and he strengthens us to do what it is 361 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,400 that we're called to do. Just pray, Lord God. 362 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:16,000 We are thankful, Lord, and we learned today from you through 363 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:20,920 the testimony of Paul that Lord, you first have to apprehend our 364 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:26,560 heart and save us before we even understand the need to serve. 365 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,240 We can't serve without having a servant heart. 366 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:32,680 And so, Lord, we pray that all of us would have a heart to 367 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:34,480 serve. Lord, whatever that ministry is 368 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,640 that you call us to there, there would be a reason in our lives 369 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,640 for life that goes beyond what is just about us. 370 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:47,000 We pray for these precious kids. Most of us have kids that are in 371 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:48,600 the class or grandkids or whatever. 372 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,400 Lord, we pray your blessing upon them and nothing we desire more 373 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,240 than to see these little kids get saved and to walk with you 374 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,480 and and live for you. Lord, we pray you bless the 375 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:02,040 teachers who are now working and serving and helping and, and 376 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:04,920 Lord raise up more people to help father in this ministry. 377 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,560 Lord, we pray for the Bible giveaway ministry. 378 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,040 Lord, this would be something we'll do until you come back, 379 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:13,640 that people have the opportunity to have encounters with people 380 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,120 that might come to know Jesus Christ. 381 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,360 But this is simple gift of the Bible and the promised book. 382 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:22,520 We ask your favor and your blessing on that as well. 383 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:26,840 And Lord, I pray most of all, and I pray for myself as well, 384 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:31,360 that Lord, I would learn to wait upon you more to sit before you 385 00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:35,960 be in your presence, to listen so that Lord, you can strengthen 386 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:41,320 us and give us encouragement and let us hear your voice. 387 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:43,640 Lord, your voice would be louder. 388 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,600 And all the voices of media in the world and the Internet and 389 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,720 YouTube and TikTok and all these other things that people watch 390 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:53,600 or listen to. Lord, may we all as a church 391 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:55,400 Lord, be able to hear your voice. 392 00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:00,400 Thanks for joining us on today's edition of Living Waters of 393 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,520 Grace, a ministry of Calvary Chapel, Westmoreland. 394 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,240 Today, Pastor Clark is teaching about the Book of Acts. 395 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,760 As we learn more about Acts, it becomes clear that the early 396 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,720 church didn't miss a single opportunity to share the gospel. 397 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,800 In nearly every chapter, you see apostles like Peter and Paul 398 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:22,640 stepping into conversations, crowds, and crises with 399 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,120 boldness, ready to proclaim the name of Jesus. 400 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:30,240 Their example challenges us to consider how we might step into 401 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:35,040 gospel moments in our own lives. What doors might God open this 402 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,680 week for you to speak truth, offer hope, or live out your 403 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:40,960 faith in a way that points others to Him? 404 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,520 The story of Acts reminds us we are part of the same mission. 405 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:49,200 Today, let's live with eyes open and hearts ready to respond. 406 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,040 We hope you are challenged by today's message. 407 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,680 If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, we'd love to see you in 408 00:24:55,680 --> 00:25:00,640 person this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St. 409 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,120 Unit 6B. For more information, visit 410 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:08,160 calvarychapelonline.com. You could also join our e-mail 411 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,880 list, give online or submit a prayer request right from the 412 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,120 site. If you can't make it in person, 413 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:17,800 be sure to tune in on the Calvary Chapel Westmoreland 414 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:21,120 YouTube channel. Subscribe so you never miss new 415 00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:23,440 teachings. If you were in the Greensburg 416 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:28,600 area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency. 417 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:32,680 Pray about helping financially support the new station that 418 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:36,440 will reach thousands more listeners to send financial 419 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:43,640 gifts to Grace FMPO, Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601. 420 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,800 Once again, we're so grateful you joined us today to be 421 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:50,800 inspired by God's Word. Please tune in again for more 422 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:52,600 Living Waters of Grace.