This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
continues teaching through God's Word.
It's all about His love for us and His desire to help us see
that we need Him. We don't need religion and we
don't need church per SE. We don't need all the stuff that
goes along with hypocrisy that many times is seen in churches.
We need the real Jesus and the real love of God and the
forgiveness of God all of us every day, so that we might live
after the ways of God to be representatives of Him.
You can go to church every Sunday for your entire life and
still not get into heaven. You're just filling up your
spiritual tank without any destination to move towards.
Pastor Clark teaches you today that if you haven't accepted
Jesus's gift of salvation and allowed the Holy Spirit to
transform you from the inside out, you're like a car without
an engine. You'll go anywhere in this life
or the next if the Holy Spirit isn't living inside you, making
you more and more like Jesus every single day.
Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts Chapter 5 with today's edition
of Living Waters of Grace. If you have your Bibles today,
you can turn to Acts chapter 5 and we'll continue on where we
left off. The book of the Acts is really
an exciting book to study because it's all about the early
church and how the church started and how people became
followers of Jesus out of a Pagan lifestyle.
All of us at one times were pagans.
We had quite a story in our lives of how we lived before we
came to know Jesus Christ. I did a funeral on Saturday, a
difficult funeral, and most of the people that were there were
lost. They didn't know anything about
Jesus. I could sort of tell they're
like, OK, when's this guy going to get done with what he's
talking about? So we can just get out of here,
right? But I had a captive audience for
a little bit of time, so I took advantage of it and I shared the
gospel and why we need Jesus. And the statistics right now of
people 22 and under is astounding in regard to suicide.
The number of young people that are taking their lives is out of
control. And we were in a little
restaurant in Irwin after the, after the funeral, Cindy and I
and, and we were in this cool little place called Candy Corner
down in Irwin. And they had a sign about the
importance of getting disconnected from the wireless
Internet and the devices we have that sort of become an
appendage. You know, we don't think we can
live unless we have a news feed every 10-15 minutes.
I'm, I'm shocked at times. I get a report every week on how
many hours I've been on this thing and it's, it's like, I
gotta like get off this thing, you know, kind of like fast or
something. I mean, it's nice to have news
and communication, but it's just so fast and furious and it's
almost like an addiction, you know, you're just connecting to
it all the time. You find yourself looking at it
how many times minute or an hour a day.
And unfortunately, you know, for us as Christians, we're, we're
not looking at stuff on the Internet.
I would hope that isn't helpful for us spiritually, but young
people are getting hit with all kind of weird stuff and exposed
to things that are not good for the soul and the heart.
And so as a result, you know, it's, it's a real difficult
situation that we're dealing with in the US, in the world,
Roe versus Wade. I think what, what happens with
us as Christians is that people that aren't Christians think
we're bigoted or we're trying to control or we're, we're trying
to judge or criticize. I mean, it's, it's not
Christianity and the, and the gospel is not about any of that
subject. Abortion is 1 issue that's
discussed in the Bible, but it's not the only issue, is it?
Christians aren't focused on one issue.
We're focused on every issue that the Bible teaches from
Genesis to Revelation, Amen. The truth of God and living for
the truth is what God wants. So when we think about the issue
of life, some of us have have been in situations, maybe in
families, whatever, where there's been abortions that have
occurred and, and it's been before we knew the Lord or maybe
even after the we knew the Lord. Some things have happened at
times in families and we're the last people that should judge
anybody for anything because of God's mercy and taking the
judgment of off off of us and putting it on Jesus right for
our sins. We're no better than anybody
else right. People that live in excess
drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality.
The Bible says such were some of you.
I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but I can put myself
in that position that you are washed, you are justified,
you're sanctified, you're a cleanse.
God gives us a new life in Christ, doesn't he?
To take away all of our compulsions and the things we're
maybe overboard in our life. And it's all about his love for
us and his desire to help us see that we need him.
We don't need religion and we don't need church per SE.
We don't need all the stuff that goes along with hypocrisy that
many times is seen in churches. We need the real Jesus and the
real love of God and the forgiveness of God all of us
every day so that we might live after the ways of God and and be
representatives of him. So as we study the book of the
Acts, these guys were characters before they came to know Jesus.
They were fishermen. They lived a life that was
godless prior to coming to know the Lord and they ended up
having a salvation or a born again experience.
Jesus personally called these guys to himself to follow him.
So we'll pick it up. Their whole goal in everyday
life now in this book of the Acts is how can I tell someone
about Jesus? Every day they got up and their
whole focus every day was I want to tell the world, I want to
tell the city of Jerusalem about what Jesus has done for people.
And so because of that, they began to experience opposition
in the in the city of Jerusalem. The Roman Empire was involved
with control, and they did not want the Christian movement to
change their way of life and the way they wanted the citizens to
live. And so we'll pick it up on verse
12 of chapter 5. This will set it up for where
we're going in regard to when these guys got thrown in jail
for sharing their faith. So it says in verse 12.
And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders
were done among the people. And they were all with 1 accord
in Solomon's porch, yet none of the rest dared join them.
But the people esteemed them highly and believers were
increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and
women. And so we see this work of God's
miraculous supernatural power healing people and touching
people physically, emotionally, psychologically, casting demons
out, setting people free from their adversity that they had
encountered in their lives. And these people that were
experiencing this in the city, it wasn't in a building, there
was no church at the time. They met in the streets and they
were with the people in the streets that people's lives
began to become impacted by seeing these miracles and seeing
and sensing the power of God, his miraculous healing power.
And so it says, believers were increasingly added to the Lord,
multitudes of both men and and women so that they brought the
sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches
that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on
some of them. Also a multitude gathered from
the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people
and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were
all healed. This wasn't just a few people
that got changed. This was like anybody that
showed up that had a need were touched by the Lord through the
hands of the apostles in the prayers.
So when the gospel goes out and people hear the truth or the
good news of Jesus Christ, one or two things happen.
People either say, wow, this makes sense.
I need this in my life. I want this in my life.
I need a savior, I need Jesus. Or people get mad, they get
angry, they get offended, they're insulted, and they want
to retaliate against anybody that is a follower of Jesus
Christ or represents him in any way.
And this is what happens. Now we look in verse 17, it
says, then the high priest rose up and all those who were with
him, which is the Sadducees, and they were filled with
indignation, and they laid their hands on the apostles and put
them in the common prison. So this is what happens.
It still happens in some parts of the world.
It's beginning, I think, to happen, unfortunately, in
America where, you know, freedom of speech or freedom of
religion, these kind of things that we always felt were part of
our constitutional rights, which they are, are being sort of like
circumvented. And we're being set up to look
like a bunch of fanatics and idiots and right wing wackos,
right? Because we are followers of
Jesus Christ and there's people that would want to silence you
in regard to your faith or ridicule you or stone you or
maybe try to kill you. I don't know.
This happens in third world countries like Iraq and Iran and
parts of Africa. Terrible forms of persecution
against people who are just wanting to love people and tell
them about Jesus. No agenda other than, hey, let
me tell you what the Lord did for me, how He changed my life,
how He gave me hope, how He forgave me, how He took my guilt
away. All the things that I was so
distraught over that I had done in my life.
That the Lord had completely forgiven me freely and loved me
and doesn't condemn me and doesn't hold anything against me
anymore because of what Christ has done for me.
I mean, that's like the best news that anybody could ever
have. So these guys, because of them
doing the ministry immediately, again, this is the second time
they're being confronted with their evangelism.
It needs to be stopped. They're thrown in prison.
And the people that are putting them in prison are the very
people that this months previous to this had ended up making sure
that Jesus was silenced and were responsible for having him
crucified. And so it says after these guys
were thrown in this common prison, a miracle happened.
Verse 19. But at night, an Angel of the
Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go
stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this
life. I mean, these guys are locked in
prison. There's guards.
There's no way out unless there is a miracle.
And they were set free by an Angel of the Lord.
Now an Angel the Lord in Bible history many times looks like
common normal people. You can't really tell who's an
Angel who isn't they, they don't come down here with wings on,
you know, they just, they're just put in position by God to
help people out in different jams and situations of life.
The Angel spoke to them, made it possible for these doors to open
with the guards being totally disconnected from what was
happening in the physical realm. This is a spiritual,
supernatural dimension of this Angel working this miracle to
get these guys out of the prison doors.
And he doesn't say, hey, you're free now, take off, get on a
ship, go to some other country, get away from these crazy
people. You're going to end up dying
because of what you're doing. No, he gave them specific
direction in verse 20. Go stand in the temple and speak
to the people all the words of this life.
So in other words, they were told to go out and do what they
were doing before. The Angel didn't say hey you
better not talk about this anymore just move on.
No, they were given specific direction to pick up where they
had left off. And when they heard that they
entered the temple early in the morning.
So they they got out of prison. They head over to the temple.
The temple was huge. It had all these porches and
porticoes there. There was no internal place for
them to go. So they would be on these big
porches where the people would gather and they would hear these
guys talk about the faith and they were told to tell the
people the words of this life. And So what happened was then
the high priest and those who those with him came and called
the council together with all the elders of the children of
Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought.
So this is comical. They weren't even aware yet of
what had happened. These guys in charge of the
religious system at the time that were adversaries of of the
gospel of Jesus. They said, go get those guys,
bring them down here. We're going to deal with them
now for the crime of what they would call insurrection or
spreading this new religious sect in the city of Jerusalem.
They were totally opposed to that.
And so they were gonna, you know, there's gonna be
consequences for these guys doing it over again even after
they got out of prison the first time.
So it says. But when the officers came in
verse 22 and did not find them in prison, they returned and
reported saying, indeed, we found the prison shut securely
and the guards standing outside before the doors.
But when we opened them, we found no one inside.
Isn't that fascinating? I mean, the, the guards were
there. They were, they weren't sleeping
on the job. They were totally aware of what
was happening in, in the responsibilities they had, but
they didn't see what God did with this Angel and how these
guys got out of the out of the jail cell this miraculous.
And so they assume you go down, get these guys bringing up,
we're going to judge them and and there's going to be
consequences 'cause they're not, they're not following what we're
telling them to do. Now, when the high priest, the
captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these things,
they wondered what the outcome would be.
So one came and told them saying, look, the men whom you
put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the
people that had to make them livid.
How in the world can this happen?
What's what's going on here? The captain went with the
officers and brought them without violence, for they
feared the people that they should be stoned.
So whenever they went up to collect these guys to grab them
and take them to the place where they were going to be judged for
disobeying the law, they had to do it in a very laid back, not
pushy kind of way. Because all these thousands of
people that were in the area at the time were really into what
the apostles were teaching. And they loved the Lord and they
loved the word of God. And they couldn't, like,
physically manhandle these guys in a way that would cause the
crowd to get uptight and perhaps start a battle there.
So it's fascinating that these guys, in spite of the
consequences of what's going to happen when they tell people
about Jesus, it didn't stop them.
They weren't fearing the authorities or the people.
Now I have to stop and think about myself or you.
And a culture that is basically opposite of what it is we're
discussing today. Not everybody, some, some people
say it's 5050. I don't know what the
percentages are, but it, it's obvious now that like when I was
a kid and, and maybe some of you guys remember, there wasn't any
kind of like pushback regard to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It was almost, I think for a period of time in our nation's
history, something that was valued, appreciated, honored and
respected. Even if you weren't a believer,
there would be presidents that would be supportive of
judeo-christian values. And of course, the Constitution
has biblical principles all through it.
When did it start going South and when did it start getting
more difficult to voice your opinion, I guess, or voice your
position on the Bible and on on truth?
When did this actually begin to happen?
I think it's been like a slow burn.
It's like the frog in the frying pan.
The heat keeps getting turned up.
And we don't, like, really recognize how we're losing our
religious liberties. So here we are today, where
we're viewed by people in the House, in the Congress and in
the White House as troublemakers that need to be silenced.
Where are you and me in regard to sharing our faith?
I met with the evangelist at the campus of Penn State College
last week. He's been a friend of mine for
years, and he stands in front of the science building.
All these bright young brains coming out of Penn State to go
into incredible careers and he would just talk and preach and
share and give positions on what is truth and students would
engage with him. Some would argue, some would
listen, some would end up believing and become Christians.
Well, Gary told me now, he said, Clark, it's so bad up here that
anybody that's a student that hears this will be really
apprehensive about engaging me in any kind of dialogue.
Because they said what'll happen is, is that the students will
get blackballed on Facebook or social media and they'll be held
out as being like right wing crazy people because they are
interested in the gospel of Christ.
And they're concerned that that'll be set up somehow in
their resumes and they won't be able to get jobs.
And so they're like running silent.
Fortunately, he's he's allowed to continually do that.
Quite a wealthy man many years ago made an endowment to the
college that this would be the deal, that there would be a
preacher in front of the science building until Jesus came being
funded by some very wealthy person.
So they can't throw Gary off campus.
They just got to put up with him, which is.
Which is pretty cool, you know? Yeah.
So you have the situation though, that in Jerusalem at the
time, I mean, it was definitely bad and and I would say worse
than what maybe we think we're experiencing right now.
The captain went with the officers and brought them
without violence. They feared the people would
unless they should be stoned. And when they brought them, they
set them before the council. And the high priest asked them
saying, did not we strictly command you not to teach in his
name? Like, what's up with you guys?
We told you you can't do this. And look, you have filled
Jerusalem with your doctrine and intended to bring this man's
blood on us. So what?
What's amazing is there was such a a power in the early church
that the whole city was aware of the gospel.
Unfortunately, the whole city of Greensburg, I'm sure, is not
aware of the Gospel, nor the state of Pennsylvania, nor the
United States of America, let alone the rest of the world.
Why? Because we as Christians have
been, I think, apathetic or complacent in regard to sharing
our faith when we have opportunities to share it.
I'm not talking about pushing people with this stuff.
There was a time when people tell me about this before I
believed I didn't want to hear them.
So I don't want to. I don't want to hear about this
stuff so people would, you know, respect me and my opinion and
maybe pray for me, but they wouldn't bug me about this stuff
all the time. But there has to be this
opportunity to have conversation with people that have views that
are different than yours and mine, not out of judgment, but
out of love. You want lost people to know
that there's a God who loves them and cares about them no
matter what they've done. He's a forgiving, merciful God
that has to be in our hearts as Christians, front and center.
And the positions of that come up, you know, nowadays in regard
to human sexuality or, you know, issues of when life is truly in
the womb and positions of morals and creation and all these
things that are obviously very viable truths that need to be
communicated right to people that don't know the other side.
I mean, I think it's good to have a, a, a conversation with
someone who's an evolutionist. You don't ridicule them and make
fun of them and call them stupid, whatever you want to
find out why they think the way they think and what causes them
to have the position they have. And then share some information
that you have regarding Genesis and what the Bible teaches about
how mankind came into existence in regard to the issue of jobs
right now and all the people that are complaining, there's no
one that's out there that wants to work well.
No one ever asks the question, why is there less people
physically able to work? Well, when you think about the
number of lives that have been taken over the last 30 years, if
they weren't taken, there'd be a lot of people that would be here
that could work or do whatever. They're not here.
They weren't given the chance. They were taken out before they
were born. Thanks for joining us on this
journey through Acts. On today's edition of Living
Waters of Grace, Pastor Clark shares that one of the most
remarkable things about the book of Acts is how it shows the
disciples transformation. The followers of Jesus we meet
here are very different from the often confused and fearful
disciples in the Gospels. And after Jesus's death and
resurrection, and especially through the power of the Holy
Spirit, the apostles experienced a profound change in their
hearts and boldness. Their faith became unwavering,
and they move forward with courage to spread the gospel
despite opposition and hardship. Acts reminds us that the same
Spirit who empowered them is at work in US today, shaping our
hearts and giving us strength to live boldly for Christ.
Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel
Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
area, we invite you to join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E
Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B.
Visit calvarychapelonline.com For more information where you
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We're so grateful that you joined us today in Axe TuneIn
again soon for another edition of Living Waters of Grace.