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 --> 00:00:40,800 In times of persecution and church history, that's when the 6 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,320 church gets hot. That's when it separates the 7 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:45,680 chaff from the wheat, the true from the false. 8 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:50,440 China has been under persecution forever, it seems, and they're 9 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:54,560 one of the most on fire nations in the world in regard to 10 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,840 underground Christianity. And many of them are put in 11 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,920 prison forever once they're caught sharing the Gospel of 12 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:02,720 Christ. But it doesn't stop the people. 13 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,280 So whenever Stephen was martyred, they were dispersed, 14 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,560 and then the word began to go out into the rest of the world. 15 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:13,200 There are dozens of times in the Bible where God takes an evil 16 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:15,320 action and turns it around for good. 17 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:19,120 In today's message, Pastor Clark teaches us about the story of 18 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,960 Stephen, the first person to be martyred because of their faith 19 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:25,720 in Jesus. While Stephen didn't know what 20 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,640 was going to happen after his death, he knew that something 21 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:32,600 great awaited him as he met Jesus face to face in heaven. 22 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:37,760 And it was Stephen's death that helped ignite the gospel fire as 23 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:41,200 it spread from Jerusalem out into the entire world. 24 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,560 Now here's Pastor Clark in Acts Chapter 7 as he begins his 25 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,520 message. Jewish history began with 26 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:51,160 Abraham. Let's get into the word. 27 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:54,920 We are in the book of the Acts, Acts Chapter 7 today. 28 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,760 And I just wanted to give a little background on this guy by 29 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,520 the name of Steven who were studying about the day. 30 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:06,000 Steven, if you remember, was one of the men who were chosen to 31 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:10,960 help serve the widow's ministry and provide food for people in 32 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:14,840 the early church that needed help, sort of like the welfare 33 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:16,960 thing at the beginning of the church age. 34 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,760 He was a man who is full of the Holy Spirit. 35 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:25,520 He was chosen by the Lord to not any serve physically, but also 36 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,000 spiritually. I want to read starting with 37 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,440 verse 8 of chapter 6, leading into what we're going to talk 38 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:35,880 about the day in Chapter 7. And Steven, full of faith and 39 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:38,920 power, did great wonders and signs among the people. 40 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:43,080 Then there arose some from what is called the synagogue of the 41 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,760 Freedmen, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from 42 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:51,440 Celestia and Asia disputing with Stephen, and they were not able 43 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,680 to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. 44 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:57,240 So in other words, this man had an anointing on him. 45 00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:59,440 He spoke by the power of the Spirit of God. 46 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,080 And even if they didn't like what he said or didn't agree 47 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,800 with what he said, they were all open to understanding that he 48 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,280 was giving them something that they had never really probably 49 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:12,240 thought too much about. And so then they secretly 50 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,640 induced men to say, We have heard him speak blasphemous 51 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:19,320 words against Moses and God, and they stirred up the people and 52 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,480 the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him, seized him, 53 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,560 and brought him to the council. They also set up false witnesses 54 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,440 who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words 55 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:32,400 against this holy place in the law. 56 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,200 For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy 57 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:40,000 this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to 58 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,000 us. And all who sat in the council 59 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,080 look steadfastly at him, saw his face as a face of an Angel. 60 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,120 So there's this lie going around that he's teaching things that 61 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,680 aren't true from the Bible. The Old Testament, at that time, 62 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:56,160 the New Testament wasn't written. 63 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,440 They were saying that Jesus was going to destroy the temple 64 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,000 versus understanding that Jesus was talking about himself being 65 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,520 the true temple of the living God and that his body would be 66 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,080 crucified, he would be buried, and he were raised again the 67 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:10,760 third day. That's what Jesus was meant when 68 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,800 he said this temple will be destroyed in three days. 69 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,680 It will be raised up again. Also, the law that Moses 70 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:21,320 brought, we're in a transition. When the church started and the 71 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:24,840 gospel came, it wasn't that the 10 commandments and the law 72 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:29,240 weren't significant anymore, but God never intended anybody to 73 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:33,200 try to be justified by obedience to the 10 commandments. 74 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:38,360 If you had to present yourself before God based upon perfectly 75 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:41,480 following the 10 commandments, and because you did that, you 76 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,400 would be accepted into heaven, none of us would be able to get 77 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,200 into heaven because all of us have broken the law, the 10 78 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,960 commandments. And so all these things are 79 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:55,200 manipulated by these people that were basically raised up to stir 80 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,760 up contention amidst the early church. 81 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:02,320 And so Stephen is accused of these various untruths. 82 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,520 Nonetheless, he continues and what it is God's called him to 83 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,320 do. Now this guy had a very short 84 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,880 term ministry. He will be, as we study this 85 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,640 chapter, the first martyr of the New Testament church. 86 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,960 He's blood was shed because of his faith in Jesus Christ. 87 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,160 Since that time, millions of people have been martyred all 88 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,160 across the planet. And to this day, people are 89 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:26,840 still being martyred for their faith and hassled because 90 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:28,960 they're just sharing the good news of the gospel. 91 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:34,200 Steven also was from a Greek culture, Greek background. 92 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:36,480 He wasn't the Hebrew of Hebrew, so to speak. 93 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,320 He was Jewish, but he was impacted by more the the Greek 94 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,440 culture than he was the Hebrew culture. 95 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:47,120 So he was sort of seen as maybe an outsider to those who led in 96 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,680 the synagogues and, and, you know, were responsible for 97 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:55,040 leading the nation of Israel and Judeo values. 98 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,760 We're also in a transition in the sense that we're going from 99 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:05,080 the emphasis of law to grace. Now, grace is in the old 100 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:07,120 covenant. Grace is in the Old Testament. 101 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,760 Again, God never said that anybody would be justified by 102 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,400 the works of the law, but the law was given so that man would 103 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,840 know that he is a Sinner. And so when we're presented with 104 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:21,280 the commandments and the and the law, it all it does is show us 105 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:24,600 that we're in need of a Savior, that we're sinners and that we 106 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:28,600 can't get to heaven by trying to obey the law, even though we 107 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:32,240 want to live and, and follow obviously the truths of the 10 108 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:34,240 commandments. They're all true and good and 109 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:37,080 they're righteous and they're holy, but none of us can 110 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,160 unfortunately do it perfectly right. 111 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:42,520 Only one could fulfill the law, and that was Jesus Christ. 112 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:47,800 And so Stephen also is the bridge between the ministry of 113 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,200 Peter and Paul because we'll find out as we study this and 114 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,960 later on, Paul is one of the people that are accusing Stephen 115 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:56,800 of blasphemy at this particular time. 116 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:00,920 Saul of Tarsus, who became eventually the apostle Paul. 117 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:05,560 Fascinating how Stephen was the God that the Lord God used to 118 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,160 begin to develop this new movement of Christianity. 119 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:12,920 When the persecution came in the early church, it was necessary 120 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:16,320 because they were hanging out in Jerusalem and they had done a 121 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:18,840 great job getting the gospel out in Jerusalem. 122 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,240 A matter of fact, they were accused of filling the city with 123 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,080 the word of Christ, the gospel of Christ. 124 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:30,760 And so now the Lord knows that it has to go into not any 125 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:35,120 Jerusalem, but Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the 126 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,680 earth in times of persecution and church history. 127 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:42,000 That's when the church gets hot. That's when it separates the 128 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:44,240 chaff from the wheat, the true from the false. 129 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:48,800 China has been under persecution forever, it seems, and they're 130 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:52,760 one of the most on fire nations in the world in regard to 131 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,920 underground Christianity. And many of them are put in 132 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,880 prison forever once they're caught sharing the gospel of 133 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:00,600 Christ. But it doesn't stop the people. 134 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:04,000 So whenever Stephen was martyred, they were dispersed 135 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,120 and then the word began to go out to the rest of the world. 136 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,360 So everything that happens in this sermon today that Stephen 137 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,720 is going to give us in Chapter 7 is all about the sovereignty of 138 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,880 God and how he has everything under control, even when maybe 139 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:21,640 we don't think things are under control. 140 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:25,040 And that everything that happens in history, in biblical history 141 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,320 was always for a purpose, never a mistake made. 142 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:32,480 No one missing the point. God had a directive, He put it 143 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,440 in place. It was us that refused to accept 144 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,720 the direction of God and we formed our own opinions and not 145 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:43,679 wanting to hear from the truth of the word of God as the Jewish 146 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:45,680 people didn't want to hear really the truth. 147 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:48,480 And so we're going to read about the history here. 148 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,480 It starts out and verse one, the high priest said to him, are 149 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:55,080 these things. So basically, Stephen, are you 150 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:59,560 stirring up all these problems? Are you blaspheming our temple 151 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:02,920 and blaspheming Moses? And he said this is an 152 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:04,720 opportunity now for him to speak up. 153 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,440 He said, brethren and fathers, listen, the God of glory 154 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:12,040 appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia 155 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:15,840 before he dwelt in Haran and said to him, get out of your 156 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:19,520 country and from your relatives and come to a land that I will 157 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,280 show you. What's interesting here is that 158 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,960 Abraham and I don't know how much you've thought about these 159 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:29,000 things. I was on vacation back in April 160 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,840 and I was, I was going to get breakfast and I heard a, a short 161 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:36,520 message by a messianic Christian guy, Jewish guy, And he was 162 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:40,840 explaining that in the beginning there wasn't this division of 163 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:43,760 Jew and Gentile. Basically, when God created the 164 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:47,320 world, we're all his creation and we all fell. 165 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,920 And Paul talks about later on in the in the New Testament that 166 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,200 there's neither Jew nor Gentile bond or free or male or female. 167 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:58,960 In other words, like it isn't like people groups or skin color 168 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:04,280 or ethnic origin or being born a man or a woman is insignificant. 169 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:06,800 These are all part of God's beautiful creation, right? 170 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:09,960 But he never holds up one higher than the other. 171 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:13,600 He never says that the man's more important than the woman or 172 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,160 this nation is better than that nation. 173 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,360 I mean, we're all fallen and we need a savior. 174 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,560 So he has this incredible plan. And so the guys talking, he says 175 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:27,040 Abraham was a Gentile and that that blew my mind because I 176 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:32,040 never like even conceived that that he was a Gentile. 177 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:37,600 He was chosen by God to start this nation, Israel, to begin to 178 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:43,320 develop his plan with the chosen people group, to have the law 179 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:47,920 and the prophets to bring the Messianic sea to fruition 180 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:51,320 through the bloodline of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 181 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:56,960 And so then he instituted the covenant between him and God. 182 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:00,360 Abraham, first he said, through you all the nations of the earth 183 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:02,680 will be blessed. And then God designed this 184 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:06,120 procedure called circumcision. And that's a whole another 185 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:09,000 subject for another time. But all these things were 186 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:13,600 ordained by God to put in a people group to send the message 187 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:16,840 of the gospel to humanity. Fascinating. 188 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:20,280 So Abraham, he's this guy, this normal guy. 189 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,680 And God favored him and, and chose him to be this one who 190 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:27,800 would be the first Jewish, this person basically to start this 191 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:33,600 nation called Israel didn't exist prior to this calling out 192 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,640 of God to Abraham, but it was in the plan of God before the 193 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:40,160 foundation of the earth. So whenever the we, we talk 194 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:43,480 about God's chosen people, it wasn't that they were better 195 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:48,600 than the Gentile, but God had to choose a people group to get us 196 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:52,360 to where we are today in regard to the gospel and Christianity. 197 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:55,040 And so he tells Abraham what to do. 198 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:57,600 Get out from your relatives. Come to the land and I'll show 199 00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:59,760 you. So he comes out of the land of 200 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:01,840 the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. 201 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,720 And from there, when his father was dead, he moved him to this 202 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:08,760 land in which you now dwelt, which is the promised land. 203 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,960 He's talking to all these people in Jerusalem right now. 204 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,880 What's also interesting, God starts when he calls us in a 205 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:19,800 very basic way. It's it's it's somewhat not 206 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,640 totally clear when we're called by God to do some kind of 207 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:25,480 ministry or some kind of calling. 208 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:29,320 We just step up in faith and we be obedient to what God's put on 209 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:31,640 our heart. So this is what Abraham did, but 210 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,920 it's interesting. God had a plan for him, you 211 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:38,120 know, beyond waiting to his dad died, but he waited. 212 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:40,840 His father died and there was no problem with that. 213 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,920 God honored that, but it wasn't like immediately everything came 214 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:50,160 into clarity for him. And so he goes from there. 215 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,520 After his dad dies, he moves him to this land in which you now 216 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,320 dwell. And God gave him no inheritance 217 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:58,520 in it, not even enough to set his foot on. 218 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:02,840 What's interesting is that Abraham was the father of all 219 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:06,400 this blessing that would come to Israel and to us as New Covenant 220 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,360 believers. The seed of Abraham impacted us 221 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:11,080 too. It's it's the remnant, it's the 222 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,760 people of God from the beginning of time until the end of time 223 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:16,640 when the world is no more as we know it. 224 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:21,960 And so he's speaking to Abraham about this big plan of this 225 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,760 promised land. Now, Abraham never was given 226 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:28,080 anything personally. The only ground he had was hit 227 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,000 with the burial plot he bought to bury Sarah in. 228 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,080 It's probably, you know, 6 by 6 feet or something. 229 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,880 That was all that he had entitlement to. 230 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,640 But everything was futuristic here and what God was promising 231 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:44,760 to Abraham, So and God gave him no inheritance in it, not even 232 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:48,160 enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no 233 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:53,520 child and Abraham waited a long time right before his son was 234 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:58,680 born Isaac remember Sarah and him they she was not fertile and 235 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:03,960 they got impatient and so Hagar came along and then Ishmael was 236 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:06,480 born and then you had that Pagan race. 237 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,920 It was developed that pretty much a symbolic of Islam in the 238 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:14,360 in the Mideast that came out of the seat of a Vishnail. 239 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:19,360 But Abraham and Sarah, just like you and I at times aren't 240 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:22,320 patient with God. We get ahead of God. 241 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:24,240 We want to take matters in our own hands. 242 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,560 We want to I think I got a better way. 243 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:29,840 I got a better idea, Lord. And so we end up messing things 244 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:32,640 up, right? Because, you know, he, he was 245 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,640 faithful to, to his promise. And eventually he told them that 246 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,560 they were going to have a child. They thought it was ridiculous 247 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:42,760 because they were too old to to be able to do this anymore. 248 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:45,200 But the Lord, you know, whenever he says he's going to do 249 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:47,560 something, he's going to do it regardless of the the 250 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:51,600 limitations of human ability, medical science. 251 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:55,560 And so God promises to do something here. 252 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:58,880 Even when Abraham didn't have a child yet, he promised to give 253 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,440 it to him for a possession and to his descendants after him. 254 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:06,000 But God spoke in this way that his descendants would dwell in a 255 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,040 foreign land and that they would bring them into bondage and 256 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:13,280 oppress them for 400 years. So not any was he given that the 257 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,520 picture of this promise in his covenant, but also the reality 258 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,640 that because of Israel's disobedience to what it was, a 259 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:23,200 goddess established that they would go into captivity for 400 260 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:26,280 years, very difficult. They wouldn't have freedom to 261 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:28,880 move about like you and I have in this country. 262 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:32,720 They were isolated and treated as slaves for many years and 263 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:37,480 abused and taken advantage of. Nonetheless, this was again the 264 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:42,880 part of the plan. So this bondage lasted all this 265 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,600 time, and the nation to whom they will be in bondage, God 266 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,960 says, I will judge, says God. And after that they shall come 267 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:53,480 out and serve me in this place. So then God had this plan for 268 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:55,400 Moses, which we'll look at here in a minute. 269 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:59,760 So he's giving all this history of what God has done since the 270 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:04,520 beginning of time to bring the reality to the world that Jesus 271 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:09,680 Christ truly is the Messiah. So he gave him the covenant of 272 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,840 circumcision. And so Abraham begot Isaac and 273 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:17,280 circumcised him on the 8th day. And Isaac begot Jacob and Jacob 274 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:20,760 begot the 12 patriarchs. So this is like the history of 275 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:25,680 this nation now beginning to develop and how God's going to 276 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,320 work through the the Jewish people. 277 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,640 The 8th day is significant too, because that's when it's safe 278 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,600 medically to do circumcision because the blood's able to be 279 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,840 clotted. Everything was according to the 280 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,360 to the plan of God. And so the patriarchs now we're 281 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:46,040 looking at next in Egypt, verse 9, and the patriarchs becoming 282 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:50,400 envious sold Joseph into Egypt so that we hear that the fathers 283 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,560 are the patriarchs of the nation of Israel. 284 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:58,560 These guys were scoundrels. They were jealous of their 285 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:01,400 brother Joseph and they had him arrested. 286 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,600 They basically didn't care if he got killed or not. 287 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:07,800 They threw him into a pit and he was taken to be a slave and in 288 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:10,920 Egypt's place and he went through a lot of adversity and 289 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:14,319 difficulty because of his so-called godly brothers. 290 00:17:14,599 --> 00:17:17,839 But God was with him. No matter what happened in life, 291 00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:21,200 what happens in your life, what happens in biblical history, we 292 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:24,480 have to understand if we belong to God, God is always with us, 293 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:26,480 right? He'll never leave us or forsake 294 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:27,760 us. Sometimes we feel feel like 295 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:30,400 we're alone. Sometimes we feel like he, he 296 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,640 doesn't care. He's not with us or he's not 297 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:36,400 watching out for us. God is always watching out for 298 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,480 us, always caring, always listening to our cries. 299 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,080 But God was with him, and he delivered him out of all his 300 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:45,240 troubles. It doesn't say he delivered him 301 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:48,680 out of some of his troubles. He delivered him out of all his 302 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,880 troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of 303 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:55,840 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, And he made him governor over Egypt and 304 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,600 all his house. Now a famine in a great trouble 305 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,000 came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers 306 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,840 found those substance. There was nothing to eat. 307 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:09,360 And when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out 308 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:11,560 our fathers. That's the brothers of, of 309 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:14,520 Joseph 1st. And the second time Joseph was 310 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,640 made known to his brothers, the first time they went down, they 311 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:21,400 didn't know that their brother was the one second in command to 312 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:24,360 Pharaoh, but they'd sure found out the second time. 313 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,960 And when Jacob heard that there was no grain in Egypt, he sent 314 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,480 the father's first. And the second time Joseph was 315 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:34,320 made known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to 316 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,800 the Pharaoh. So Pharaoh said, hey, bring your 317 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:38,840 whole family down. I want to meet them and bless 318 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,720 them and take care of them. So Joseph sent and called his 319 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:45,680 father Jacob and all his relatives to him, 75 people. 320 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:50,280 So Jacob went down to Egypt and he died, he and our fathers, and 321 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:52,920 they were carried back to Shechem and laid in in the tomb 322 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,440 that Abraham bought for the sum of money from the sons of Hamor, 323 00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:01,320 the father of Shechem. So here we are in this beautiful 324 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:06,520 arrangement of Joseph being in this place at this time to take 325 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,120 care of the the Jewish people during the famine. 326 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:13,360 Well, what happened was eventually Joseph passed on, the 327 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:17,240 new Pharaoh came on the scene, had no connection with the 328 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:21,240 people, the nation of Israel. And so the persecution then 329 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:24,840 began to occur again. The difficulty, the enslavement. 330 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,480 You remember the children of Israel in bondage. 331 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:31,360 You watch the movie, I'm sure 10 Commandments and saw Moses open 332 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:34,800 up the water and all that. Well, you saw the Red Sea, but 333 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,160 you saw how the people were being beaten and slaughtered 334 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,000 because they weren't working hard enough for fast enough. 335 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,120 And and this is a wicked, wicked leadership at the time. 336 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:47,240 And so God delivers Israel by Moses. 337 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:49,000 We'll we'll study this little section now. 338 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:54,360 And this is all building up to Steven really clearly helping 339 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:57,520 these Jewish people that think they're so religious that 340 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:00,720 they're missing the whole point when they rejected Christ and 341 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:03,640 had him crucified. But when the time of the promise 342 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,080 drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and 343 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,640 multiplied in Egypt. I mean, this people group is 344 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,480 growing and growing, multiplying, growing, truly 345 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:15,800 being fruitful and multiplying till another king arose who did 346 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:18,640 not know Joseph. This man dealt treacherously 347 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,480 with our people and oppressed our forefathers, making them 348 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:24,760 expose their babies. Remember they they were told 349 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:27,200 they were going to kill the the first born males. 350 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:29,320 All that kind of stuff, making them expose. 351 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:33,400 Babies so they might not live. At this time Moses was born and 352 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,040 was well pleasing to God, and he was brought up in his father's 353 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:39,760 house for three months. But when he was set out, 354 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:43,040 Pharaoh's daughter took him away and brought him up as our own 355 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,160 son. And Moses was learned in all the 356 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,280 wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in the words of deeds. 357 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:51,600 So God spared Moses like his mother, put him in that little 358 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:54,480 basket in the bull rushes, and put him in the water. 359 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,840 Thereafter the Pharaoh's daughter saw the baby and took 360 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:01,960 the baby as her own and raised this baby in the palace there. 361 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:06,840 And so Moses knew all about Egyptian Pagan idolatry. 362 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,760 He knew about all their false religion and all the stuff. 363 00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:15,120 Yet he was called by God in the very beginning before he was 364 00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:18,120 even born. The Bible says that God's favor 365 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:23,000 was on Moses when he was a baby. Now when he was 40 years old and 366 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:26,880 Moses lived to be 120. So Moses life is separated into 367 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:31,120 3 segments of 40 years and then when he was 40 years old it came 368 00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:33,920 into his heart to visit his brother and the children of 369 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:35,040 Israel. Wasn't that interesting? 370 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,680 One day he gets up and all of a sudden he's got a burden for his 371 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,360 own people. Up until that point, he was 372 00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:43,400 probably just living his life, doing his thing. 373 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:46,880 And all of a sudden the Holy Spirit puts his passion in his 374 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:48,640 heart to visit the children of Israel. 375 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,200 And he saw one of them suffer wrong. 376 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,720 He defended and avenged him who was oppressed and struck down 377 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,480 the Egyptians. So this Egyptians being brutal 378 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:01,120 to this Jewish slave, taking advantage of them, beating them. 379 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,040 Moses sees it, goes over and intervenes. 380 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,520 And in pushing down this Egyptian, this guy ended up 381 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,200 dying. He basically was murdered. 382 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,520 For he supposed that this brother would have understood 383 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:16,880 that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not 384 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,240 understand. So Moses, whenever he had this 385 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:24,480 burden, he already understood that somehow he was responsible 386 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,200 to be the one who would deliver the children of Israel out of 387 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:33,360 Egypt. What a what a calling all these 388 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:37,240 people, millions of people and one man. 389 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,000 And he senses this burden that they got to be helped, they got 390 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,120 to someone's got to do something to get these people out of this 391 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,920 horrible place and under this terrible bondage. 392 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,560 So he supposed that his brother would have understood that God 393 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,720 would deliver them by his hand, but they didn't understand. 394 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:57,120 So the next day he appears to two of them as they're fighting. 395 00:22:57,120 --> 00:22:59,920 So 2 Jewish guys, they're fighting about who knows what. 396 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:03,640 And he tries to reconcile them saying, men, you are brethren, 397 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:05,960 you belong to each other, your family. 398 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:09,600 Why do you wrong one another that he who did his neighbor 399 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,120 wrong pushed him away, saying, who made you a ruler and a judge 400 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:15,600 over us? Do you want to kill me as you 401 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:19,840 did the Egyptian yesterday. Then as this saying, Moses fled 402 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:24,120 and became a dweller in the land of Midian where he had two sons. 403 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:26,560 So Moses hears us. He's probably looking around. 404 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:28,600 I hope no one heard this. I'm getting out of here because 405 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,000 they catch me for this. I'm I'm in trouble. 406 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:35,120 So so he took off. It's interesting that any 407 00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:38,800 messenger that God has sent and you can study throughout the Old 408 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:40,760 Testament. Isaiah was a prophet. 409 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,520 He was son into Jeremiah was sown in a prison. 410 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,800 I mean, all the people that God had sent to bring the message 411 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,200 was always somehow either martyred, rejected, or just 412 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,280 betrayed. This is just the the history of 413 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:58,480 of the nation of Israel. Thanks for joining us on this 414 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,440 journey through Acts. On today's edition of Living 415 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,840 Waters of Grace, Pastor Clark shares that one of the most 416 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,600 remarkable things about the book of Acts is how it shows the 417 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:12,640 disciples transformation. The followers of Jesus we meet 418 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:17,480 here are very different from the often confused and fearful 419 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:21,280 disciples in the Gospels. After Jesus's death and 420 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,640 resurrection, and especially through the power of the Holy 421 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:29,200 Spirit, the apostles experienced a profound change in their 422 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,960 hearts and boldness. Their faith became unwavering, 423 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,840 and they moved forward with courage to spread the gospel 424 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:41,400 despite opposition and hardship. Acts reminds us that the same 425 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:46,360 Spirit who empowered them is at work in US today, shaping our 426 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:49,960 hearts and giving us strength to live boldly for Christ. 427 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,960 Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel 428 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,800 Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA 429 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:02,080 area, we invite you to join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E 430 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,320 Pittsburgh St. Unit 6B. 431 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:09,600 Visit calvarychapelonline.com For more information or you can 432 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:13,920 also join our e-mail list, submit prayer requests, give 433 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:16,560 online and download our mobile app. 434 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:20,720 If you are in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM 435 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:25,360 on the new 91.7 frequency. 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