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 --> 00:00:12,680 Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,400 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 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:40,720 The Spirit is the one that draws us to our need of Christ. 6 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:43,920 This man called for Barnabas and Saul. 7 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,440 So Elimus verse 8, the sorcerer for his name is translated, 8 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,800 withstood them seeking to turn the proconsul away from the 9 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,160 faith. And that's what the enemy does. 10 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,280 You know, the day I don't know who's saved, who isn't, I can 11 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:00,680 tell by the fruit of people's lives whether they really know 12 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:03,760 Jesus or not. But that's not my job to judge. 13 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:05,920 You know that. My job's to teach and to preach. 14 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,000 Jesus said you can know a tree by its fruit. 15 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,720 You ever seen a banana growing on an apple tree? 16 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:16,440 No, the fruit is the way to identify what kind of tree 17 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:19,920 you're looking at. The lives of followers of Jesus 18 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:22,080 are the same. We should be bearing the fruit 19 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:26,560 of God's Kingdom here on earth as we await our last breath or 20 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:30,400 Christ's return. Today, Pastor Clark will remind 21 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:35,120 us how important it is to abide in Jesus so that we will bear 22 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:39,400 the fruit of the Kingdom. Notice I didn't say to be a part 23 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,760 of God's Kingdom. Salvation comes from faith in 24 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,960 Christ alone, and works are only the outworking of that 25 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:49,920 salvation. Now here's Pastor Clark in the 26 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:54,120 book of Acts Chapter 13 with today's edition of Living Waters 27 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:56,600 of Grace. And sometimes you need to be set 28 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:01,280 aside like I was for a month to hear some things that I needed 29 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:06,040 to hear for a long time about my personal relationship with the 30 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,160 Lord. This not as a pastor, but as a 31 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:13,120 son of God, a son and a daughter of God. 32 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:22,200 God wants to have this nearness with you and me, and you want to 33 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,200 include the Lord in everything in your life. 34 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:28,400 As they did, they sought him, they ministered to him. 35 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:32,360 And this is something I'm learning a lot more about as 36 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,560 well, that the Lord wants to be involved in everything you're 37 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:38,360 doing. Sometimes you're doing a mundane 38 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:42,120 task and moms are running house, raising kids clean, and guys 39 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,160 work, wives work. We do all this stuff and it's a 40 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:49,240 drudgery at times and it's burdensome instead of like at 41 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,520 this dawn of me recently. Hey, Lord, can you hang out with 42 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:57,080 me while I do this? Can you be with me when I work? 43 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:01,600 Like really? I sense him being with me and my 44 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,800 marriage and my relationship with you guys and family, that 45 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,880 Lord be with me in the midst of these relationships so that you 46 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:15,880 can be glorified and how I can also be blessed knowing that 47 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,280 it's really true when it says the Lord will never leave you or 48 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,840 forsake you. You ever feel like he's left 49 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:22,160 you? Yeah, we all have. 50 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:25,280 Have you ever felt like he's maybe forsaking you? 51 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,280 Yeah, we all have. But that's not true, is it? 52 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:33,760 That's called toxic narratives. We have these things that go in 53 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:36,680 our mind many times that are not even based in the truth. 54 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,200 They're lies. And sometimes we think they're 55 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:43,000 the truth and we embrace them and they just mess us up because 56 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,880 it's not the voice of God. There's two voices, God's voice, 57 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,600 which is always loving, edifying, merciful, patient. 58 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:52,560 And then the other voice is condemning and judging and 59 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:54,840 critical. It makes you feel worthless, 60 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:57,400 right? Makes you feel like a failure. 61 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,360 God will never speak that way to you or to me as his kids. 62 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,760 And so they're learning all this as they're ministering to the 63 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:08,360 Lord. And this is approximately 18 64 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:11,520 years after Paul's conversion, what we're reading about here. 65 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:13,560 Sometimes when you read the Bible, you think, oh, it was 66 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,360 yesterday, got saved, and today or next week he's doing all this 67 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,600 stuff. No, he spent a lot of time being 68 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:22,880 broken, being humbled, being taught, just like we all do. 69 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:30,000 And he's understanding these principles of the Holy Spirit 70 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,880 because the book of the Acts is about the Holy Spirit. 71 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:38,360 So when we're fasting, we're basically learning to surrender 72 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,160 more to the Lord. That's the purpose of fasting. 73 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:46,160 It's not to get something or demand something of God if 74 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:48,520 you're trying to impress him. Oh Lord, I didn't eat today. 75 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,200 Well, he's like, well, So what? I didn't eat for 40 days, 40 76 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,840 days. You know, now when you, maybe 77 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:57,000 when you do that, we'll have a deeper conversation, right? 78 00:04:57,280 --> 00:04:59,240 But I can't fast for like 1/2 a day. 79 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,640 I got like hyperglycemia. I feel like fainting. 80 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:05,240 Oh, I'm so weak. You know, that's what you're 81 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:08,960 supposed to learn when you fast, is that you're weak, that his 82 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:11,360 strength is made perfect in your weakness, that the power of 83 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:14,880 Christ would rest upon you. I said to Lewis this morning, I 84 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:17,840 said, boy, after they prayed for me, you know, I said, I just 85 00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:20,480 feel so weak today. And I looked at him. 86 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:22,120 I said, I guess that's a good start, right? 87 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:26,920 So if I came up here feeling I was strong, that's that's not a 88 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,240 good thing. I need to be dependent on the 89 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:34,520 Lord as much as you guys do. So when we're fasting and in 90 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:37,360 this case, we see the result of the fast because the Holy Spirit 91 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,400 clarified what it was that the will of God wanted to 92 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,320 accomplish. And so it helps us to be more 93 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:48,840 open to him. People need prayer. 94 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,880 And so I think one of the wonderful thing that's occurring 95 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,200 here is that anything we are seeing of any kind of spiritual 96 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,240 significance is happening because of prayer. 97 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:01,520 And you don't need a lot of people to pray. 98 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,160 You just need the people who are called to pray this way. 99 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:08,840 That's not just by, well, that's a good idea, let's pray. 100 00:06:08,840 --> 00:06:12,440 That's a calling the people to really pray for the movement of 101 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:16,040 God in this world, in this city, and in the church that we're 102 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,680 part of. We need to pray that God will 103 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,880 get a hold of people and government and our culture 104 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:27,560 because we were like them at one time, weren't we? 105 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:32,120 We were without Christ, without any kind of direction. 106 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:39,000 And I think about people that need healing. 107 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,080 Many of us, we come to churches on Sunday, we hear hopefully 108 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:45,520 messages that are rooted in the truth of the word. 109 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:51,200 But maybe we're bleeding inside, we're hurting, we don't know how 110 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,280 to get past it. Or maybe we're too ashamed to 111 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:58,360 talk about it. You know, we don't know what to 112 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:00,560 do. So we leave with a :) and 113 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,600 everything's OK. And many times not everything is 114 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:09,240 OK in any of our lives. So they're sent out by the Holy 115 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:13,640 Spirit In verse 4, they get down to Seleucia and from there they 116 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:15,400 sailed to Cyprus. It's an island. 117 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:19,280 And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word 118 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:21,440 of God in the synagogues of the Jews. 119 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:23,880 And they also had John as their assistant. 120 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:26,560 This John is the one that wrote the Gospel of Mark. 121 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:29,400 We'll study about him. He actually split from these 122 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:32,400 guys because he couldn't deal with the pressures of the 123 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:34,960 ministry or whatever. And, and Paul got upset and 124 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,120 says, well, I don't want him working with us anymore because 125 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,480 he wimped out or whatever. Eventually they get in communion 126 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:45,520 and reconciled down the road. But this is who this John is, 127 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:50,120 John Mark. And Seleucia was about 20 miles 128 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,760 north of Antioch, so it wasn't a short trip to get there. 129 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:58,440 They sailed to Cyprus, which is about 40 miles from Seleucia. 130 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:07,320 And that city of Cyprus was 90% Gentile, only 10% Jewish. 131 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:14,040 It was a country that worshipped Venus the the sex goddess, Lust, 132 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:22,040 the goddess of love, lust and evil dark area godless. 133 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:24,880 So much so that a wife and a daughter at that time was 134 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:29,840 expected to offer themselves as temple prostitutes at least one 135 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,600 time. So we think about America, where 136 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,640 we are in our morals. It's not good, but it's never 137 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,039 been good on the face of the earth since the fall, has it? 138 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:45,960 The constant decline of depravity and immorality in the 139 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:48,640 world is what makes the world what it is today. 140 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:53,200 The preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the worship of 141 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:58,520 Christ and the teaching of His Word makes the world like it is 142 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:02,440 this morning right here in this church, a hospital for sinners. 143 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:09,080 Then they go to Salamis, which is on the coast of Cyprus in a 144 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:14,000 very, very dark place. And the apostle and those with 145 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:19,640 him knew that the only way to turn the darkness to light was 146 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:25,200 to preach the word of God. And that's how you see the 147 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:29,720 darkness begin to leave, whether it's in your own life, 148 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:31,840 personally, or the things you're praying for. 149 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:38,520 So they're preaching the good news and they go to this island 150 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:44,880 in Papfos, which is about 90 miles trek walking on the other 151 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:50,040 end of Cyprus, not a short trip. And so they're having victory. 152 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,120 They're seeing God work by his spirit. 153 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,960 People are getting saved. And now they experience this 154 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:58,040 here. Now when they had gone through 155 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:01,800 the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false 156 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,560 prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar Jesus. 157 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:08,480 What a name, huh? Who was with the pro council? 158 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,280 Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. 159 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,920 This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word 160 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:17,920 of God. So the reputation of the 161 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:20,720 ministry at that time was causing people to want to get in 162 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,040 the presence of these missionaries. 163 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:28,640 But what happened was this Sergio Paulus, who is an 164 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:32,400 authority in the empire at the time, a lot of influence, the 165 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:34,360 Holy Spirit was beginning to work in his life. 166 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,360 Convict him, show him his need of of Jesus, right? 167 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:40,800 Well, isn't it interesting? Anytime someone gets close to 168 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:44,680 salvation, the enemy is always trying to turn him the other 169 00:10:44,680 --> 00:10:46,280 way. That happened to me when I first 170 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:48,720 heard the gospel. Those people are fanatics. 171 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:50,520 They're crazy. You know, they're going to, 172 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:54,040 they're trying to ruin your fun. You, you can't do this, do that 173 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:55,880 anymore. You know, I mean, it was like 174 00:10:55,880 --> 00:11:01,000 crazy. And this guy Sergius is being 175 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:05,160 drawn by the Holy Spirit. He's not in any church. 176 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:07,360 He's not in any synagogue at the time. 177 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,520 He's just the Spirit is the one that draws us to our need of 178 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:14,880 Christ. This man called for Barnabas and 179 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:18,120 Saul. So Elamas verse 8, the sorcerer 180 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:22,640 for his name is translated withstood them seeking to turn 181 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,840 the pro council away from the faith and that's what the enemy 182 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:27,320 does. You know, the day I don't know 183 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:30,080 who's saved who isn't. I can tell by the fruit of 184 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:32,640 people's lives whether they really know Jesus or not, but 185 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,040 that's not my job to judge. You know that my job is to teach 186 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:40,520 and to preach. So this this guy. 187 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:45,760 It's like the parable to Sir, you know, the seed sown and then 188 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,560 all of a sudden you read in that parable, it's always the enemy 189 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:53,400 trying to take the seed out and prevent the real growth, the 190 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:57,040 conversion, salvation. You might be here today, here 191 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,520 and stuff, and the Spirit of God is convicting you and you know 192 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:02,120 it's true because it's God's word. 193 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:05,360 And you're got a battle on inside and you're, you know, 194 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:07,080 yeah, I understand, I need Jesus. 195 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:10,560 But you know, it's the enemy that would want to prevent you 196 00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:15,400 from being a believer, right? The enemy, he always wants to 197 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:21,720 take the seat out and steal it. So he withstands this 198 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:24,720 conversation and he's seeking to turn this guy away from the 199 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:28,400 faith. So here's Paul in verse 9, Saul, 200 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:33,120 who is who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, 201 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:38,120 looks intently at him and said, Oh, full of all deceit and all 202 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:42,200 fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will 203 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:45,080 you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? 204 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:49,080 He didn't say that calm. He was yelling it. 205 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:52,600 Where are you trying to do here? You're you're an enemy. 206 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:56,240 You're you're a wicked man, you're unrighteous and there's 207 00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:01,280 times to be angry in regard to the work of the enemy and what 208 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:04,480 he tries to do to keep people from knowing Jesus Christ, 209 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:07,720 right. He didn't go up and say, Oh, 210 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:10,560 you're, I know you mean well, but you're you know, there was 211 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:11,920 nothing that kind of conversation. 212 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:18,000 Paul knew through discernment that this guy needed dealt with. 213 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,760 And so Paul being an apostle and we don't see these kind of 214 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:25,200 things common among us today, but nonetheless, God still does 215 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:27,720 bring judgment when he says enough's enough. 216 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,680 In God's heart, we see the Lord turning the money tables upside 217 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:34,840 down. Speaking to the Pharisees. 218 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,920 He was angry at times, wasn't he? 219 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:42,000 There's like this righteous indignation, not self judgement, 220 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:46,600 but like this is wrong and someone is messing with someone 221 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:50,600 you love. You tell them in a very firm way 222 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,240 you do this and you and I are going to have problems. 223 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:58,920 There's a time you turn the cheek and there's a time you 224 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:02,400 don't turn the cheek and we see that in the Lord's life. 225 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:08,400 So what's he do? Verse 11 and now indeed the hand 226 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:12,120 of the Lord is upon you and you shall be blind, not seeing the 227 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:16,600 sun for a time. Now who does that remind you of? 228 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:20,840 There was a period of time where Paul was blinded right for three 229 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:23,600 days. So Paul knew that something can 230 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:29,080 happen when you're blind for supernaturally blind, you start 231 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:32,240 to not see anything, but you begin to hear things that you 232 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,160 need to hear By the Spirit of God, I guarantee if that 233 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:38,320 happened to us, we'd be screaming out, Lord, what is it 234 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:40,880 you want us to know? I want to get it. 235 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:42,960 I want to do it. I want to be faithful. 236 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,720 I want to be responsible with with the truth now that you've 237 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:52,040 given me. So it's powerful to know that 238 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:55,640 God is aware of the evil that's in the world. 239 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:59,360 He's against the evil. He has a plan to deal with the 240 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:03,280 evil, and eventually he will completely eradicate the evil 241 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:07,000 when he sets up his new heavens and earth. 242 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:12,000 In the meantime, we stand on the truth of the Word of God. 243 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,080 And I'm sure there's been people in your life that you would like 244 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:19,200 to be able to say this kind of thing, see the result, and then 245 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:21,920 they wake up and they realize I got to change my life. 246 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:24,760 But that's the work of the Spirit of God through the word 247 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:26,760 of God, right? That's what he does. 248 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:30,400 One day you hear it and you say, that's me. 249 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:33,520 I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips, and I 250 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:37,840 dwell in the midst of an unclean people, and I need Jesus. 251 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:41,360 The best day of your life will be when you come to the 252 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:48,000 realization that you need Jesus to save you from your sin. 253 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:50,520 You get saved. You're not perfect. 254 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,200 You're still flawed, you still have struggles, but you know 255 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,520 you're forgiven and you know where you're heading when you 256 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:00,760 leave this world. And then you begin to become an 257 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:03,080 influence to other people, salt and light. 258 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,800 You begin to see them impacted by your testimony and who you 259 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:09,000 who you are in Christ, what he's done for you. 260 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:14,320 One of my favorite experiences in Spain was we're in this big 261 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:17,760 corporate room, about 40 of us, and we're given 2 minutes to 262 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:20,960 tell a little bit about ourselves, how we got into this, 263 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:23,760 what do we do, what's our hobby, whatever. 264 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:26,840 And you, that's the worst thing you can say to a pastor. 2 265 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:29,800 minutes, that ain't going to happen. 2 minutes turns into an 266 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:32,920 hour now. So I'm telling them my story, 267 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:37,440 how I got into it and, you know, the purpose of it, to actually 268 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,960 have an opportunity to do more ministry outside the church with 269 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:44,360 people I see every day that have all kind of issues that are 270 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:46,640 going on in their lives, be able to speak into their lives. 271 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,600 I said, yeah, my, my hobby and my passion is the word of God 272 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:53,400 and the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I'm a pastor. 273 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,040 And, well, they pretty much all knew I was a pastor because that 274 00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,040 gets around, you know, he doesn't get drunk like we get 275 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:02,480 drunk. You know, doesn't mean that you 276 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:07,040 can't have a glass of wine or a beer and, you know, be OK. 277 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,160 But most people, when there's free booze, they don't know when 278 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:13,359 to stop, do they? They just go on and on. 279 00:17:13,599 --> 00:17:15,800 After all, you're like, OK, I have enough of this, I'm going 280 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:16,960 to. But the Lord said, no, you're 281 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:18,800 going to hang with these people. You're going to listen to them, 282 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:20,680 you're going to talk with them. You're not going to hide in your 283 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,000 room, which is what I usually like to do. 284 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:28,840 And I I got to have these amazing conversations with 285 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:35,600 wonderful people, good people that have had events occur in 286 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:38,560 their life is broken up. So there I am. 287 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:39,880 I don't know if I'm the only believer. 288 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:42,320 No one came up to me after I said, Hey, you Christian, I am 289 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:43,520 too. No one said that. 290 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:45,400 So that's always fun when that happens. 291 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:50,080 At least you have a partner. But it was me alone. 292 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:53,960 But nonetheless, you know, seeds were were planted. 293 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:59,800 So what happens to this guy? Immediately a dark mist fell on 294 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,440 him and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 295 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:05,040 Now the scriptures never get back to this guy. 296 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:09,520 What happened to him when it was his sight, you know, temporarily 297 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,920 taken or how long or did he come to the realization like Paul did 298 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:18,560 that he needed to be saved? You know, pray that that was the 299 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,920 case for him. Then the pro Council, this is 300 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:27,560 the government official, verse 12, it says believed when he saw 301 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:32,600 what had been done, but it wasn't the miracle of this man 302 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,720 becoming blind in God's judgement that got this man to 303 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:38,080 believe. Pay attention to the last part 304 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:44,200 of this verse, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. 305 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:47,120 That's what brought him to salvation. 306 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:52,280 He was astonished at the teaching of the Word. 307 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:57,040 And that's what's happening to us every time we gather. 308 00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:00,520 I trust that somehow in the midst of the sermon, I see 309 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:02,800 people nodding off. And that's why I raise my voice 310 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:06,120 every once in a while. I I do the same thing as you 311 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:07,600 guys. I'm at a pastors conference. 312 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:10,080 Oh, it's so good. Lord, I need this all next time. 313 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,480 I know well who's put me to sleep. 314 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,880 It's a Sandman the devil. I don't want you to get too 315 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:18,280 serious about this stuff. Right. 316 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:26,280 So the gospel and the teaching of the Lord brought this man the 317 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,600 faith in Jesus Christ, just like it has for you and me. 318 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:35,800 Now, as I begin to conclude, I know some of you better than 319 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,280 others because I've hung out with you or had coffee or 320 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:42,360 whatever. But I know as I meet with 321 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:44,560 people, every one of us has a story, right? 322 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:49,160 Broken things that didn't go the way we wanted them to go in 323 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:53,880 life, tragedies, it's difficulties, broken 324 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:58,000 relationships, whatever. It's part of life and it can be 325 00:19:58,000 --> 00:19:59,800 very, very painful, as you all know. 326 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:05,600 So who can save us out of our lives that have been perhaps 327 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,800 ruined because of sin and rejecting God? 328 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:15,960 What needs to happen to bring Christians to a deeper, closer 329 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,800 repentance, closer relationship with Jesus? 330 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:25,680 Surrendering our lives to Jesus. What do you want, Lord? 331 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:30,760 When we're in situations we don't like, we want them to be 332 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:33,960 fixed immediately. We don't like to have 333 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:38,680 discomfort. But Jesus, the Bible's profound 334 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:40,320 verse. Jesus learned obedience by the 335 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,760 things he suffered. Now Jesus is perfect. 336 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:44,840 He's God Incarnate. What did he have to learn? 337 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:49,840 He was in our human skin. He experienced rejection, 338 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:54,760 persecution, all this. He felt the human emotions that 339 00:20:54,760 --> 00:21:02,640 we feel and he had to learn in the human frame clearly what it 340 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:07,520 was like to not know God and to live in sin. 341 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:11,000 Of course, he never lived in sin, but he did experience 342 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,520 briefly what it was like to be separated from God the Father 343 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,560 and the Holy Trinity. That's why he said, we don't 344 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,800 have a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling our 345 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:26,040 infirmities, our weaknesses, but was on all points tempted as we 346 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,560 are, yet without sin. He says, therefore you can come 347 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,160 boldly into this throne room of grace that you might find mercy 348 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:33,920 and grace and help in your time and need. 349 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,720 Someone said to me recently, and it wasn't a criticism, it was 350 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:41,000 just a question about altar calls. 351 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:44,840 And I've been in churches where every week it was an altar call 352 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:47,920 and you felt if you weren't upfront, then you weren't 353 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,160 serious about God. This is how the pastor rolled 354 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:52,800 it. So you go up, you know, OK, you 355 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,080 know, how long is this going to be today? 356 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:59,280 Because the Steelers are coming on at 12:30 and I want to see 357 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,680 the kickoff. That's what I'm thinking as I'm 358 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:03,960 at the altar. There's nothing wrong with that. 359 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,840 Just being human right now. If I knew the guy was going to 360 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:11,680 like just let the spirit work for a couple minutes, whoever 361 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,720 were compelled to come, then it's the church is dismissed. 362 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:17,360 That's that's more easy to to deal with, right. 363 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:22,200 But if being in that church, you know, it was almost like he was 364 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:24,560 like playing with our heads. I'll see if you're really 365 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:27,240 committed to Jesus, you won't be thinking about the Steelers. 366 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:32,200 That's ridiculous stuff, man. We, we still live life. 367 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:34,720 We have hobbies, we like to travel, we like to have fun, we 368 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,600 like to have stuff with family. It it isn't, you know, 24 369 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:43,880 mindset hours of this idea that I need to get right with God. 370 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,760 You have been made right with God through the cross and the 371 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:50,760 sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Nothing you can add to that. 372 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:52,360 Nothing you can do to make it better. 373 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,800 It's the simple what must I do to be saved? 374 00:22:56,800 --> 00:23:02,320 The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall 375 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:04,800 be saved. It isn't coming up front. 376 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:09,920 It's believing in Christ and ask Him to forgive you of your sin 377 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:13,880 right in your seat, in your car, wherever you are. 378 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:20,480 But sometimes you need some brothers and sisters to come 379 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:22,400 around you to pray for you. You don't need to get into 380 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,920 detail what it is you're doing or going through or struggling 381 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:29,160 with or failing. You can just come up and you can 382 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,280 just be there. And someone might come up and 383 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:34,840 just lay their hand on you back or pray for you. 384 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,760 And as that begins to happen, the Holy Spirit begins to do 385 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,760 things that we don't anticipate. You would feel the burden 386 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,040 lifted, or sometimes there's a physical healing, or sometimes 387 00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:49,440 there's a touch of God that lets you know it's going to be OK. 388 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,840 It's not fixed right away maybe, but it's going to be OK. 389 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:58,800 I need that as much as you do. Thanks for joining us on today's 390 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,480 edition of Living Waters of Grace, a ministry of Calvary 391 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:05,800 Chapel, Westmoreland. Today, Pastor Clark is teaching 392 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:09,360 about the Book of Acts, And as we learn more about Acts, it 393 00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:12,360 becomes clear that the early church didn't miss a single 394 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:16,920 opportunity to share the gospel. In nearly every chapter, you see 395 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,640 apostles like Peter and Paul stepping into conversations, 396 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:25,040 crowds, and crises with boldness, ready to proclaim the 397 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:28,520 name of Jesus. Their example challenges us to 398 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:32,520 consider how we might step into gospel moments in our own lives. 399 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,600 What doors might God open this week for you to speak truth, 400 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,040 offer hope, or live out your faith in a way that points 401 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,160 others to Him? The story of Acts reminds us we 402 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:47,320 are part of the same mission. Today, let's live with eyes open 403 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:51,040 and hearts ready to respond. We hope you are challenged by 404 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,680 today's message. If you're in the Greensburg, PA 405 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:58,280 area, we'd love to see you in person this Sunday at 10:30 AM 406 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:02,320 at 400 E Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B. 407 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,440 For more information, visit calvarychapelonline.com. 408 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:10,360 You could also join our e-mail list, give online, or submit a 409 00:25:10,360 --> 00:25:12,320 prayer request right from the site. 410 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,000 If you can't make it in person, be sure to tune in on the 411 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:18,640 Calvary Chapel Westmoreland YouTube channel. 412 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,680 Subscribe so you never miss new teachings. 413 00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:25,840 If you're in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM 414 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:31,000 on the new 91.7 frequency. Pray about helping financially 415 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,360 support the new station that will reach thousands more 416 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:37,280 listeners. Send financial gifts to Grace 417 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:43,640 FMPO, Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601. 418 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,800 Once again, we're so grateful you joined us today to be 419 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:50,800 inspired by God's Word. Please tune in again for more 420 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:52,600 Living Waters of Grace.