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 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,320 If anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, he is 6 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:44,280 not in his. So you cannot be a Christian 7 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,120 without the Holy Spirit. Some people might say, well, 8 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,120 have you received the Holy Spirit since you believe? 9 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:51,880 And we'll read this later on in Acts. 10 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:55,080 Well, I received the Holy Spirit when I got saved. 11 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:58,240 I passed from death to life, and I knew that I wasn't 12 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:00,040 disbelieving something intellectually. 13 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:04,200 I knew something happened to me supernaturally, internally, and 14 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,120 I knew that God now dwelt with me and lived with me. 15 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,520 The Holy Spirit's presence is like a heartbeat, vital to your 16 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,840 life as a Christian. In today's message, Pastor Clark 17 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,720 conveys how Scripture declares that without the Spirit of 18 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,760 Christ, you cannot belong to Him. 19 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:24,080 You might hear some ask if you've received the Spirit since 20 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:27,360 believing, but you know He entered when you were saved. 21 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,480 That moment wasn't just intellectual. 22 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:34,920 It was a supernatural shift moving you from death to life. 23 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:39,280 You felt God's presence dwell within you, transforming you 24 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,280 internally. Now here's Pastor Clark in the 25 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,320 book of Acts Chapter 2 with today's edition of Living Waters 26 00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:51,680 of Grace. And then it says in verse 4 and 27 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:55,920 they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak 28 00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:01,080 with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 29 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,720 Now the Greek word for the idea of tongues. 30 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,840 And also in verse 6, we'll get there in a minute when it talks 31 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:15,240 about them hearing the people, hearing these guys and gals 32 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:20,880 speaking in language was from the Greek word where we get our 33 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:23,920 word linguistic, we get our word. 34 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,400 I forget the word that slips my mind now, but it's the word that 35 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:32,160 means language. And so this was not babbling. 36 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:37,120 This was not something that was unable to be discerned as far as 37 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,880 what it meant as we continue here. 38 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:45,800 This is literally a gift that they were given to proclaim the 39 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:49,760 greatness of God in the midst of all the people that would hear 40 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:52,960 them. This was something too that they 41 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,120 weren't doing themselves. It was the Spirit, the Holy 42 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,800 Spirit that was giving them this utterance to do this. 43 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,000 And verse 5 and there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, 44 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:06,040 devout men from every nation under heaven. 45 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,400 There had to be at least 15 different people groups from 46 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:15,040 various places as far as Iran and Egypt and, and the Roman 47 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:19,040 Empire and, and, and Greece and, and this on and on and on. 48 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,320 So there was all these people with these multiple languages 49 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,920 at, at this time in Pentecost visiting Jerusalem. 50 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,280 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and 51 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,160 they were confused because everyone heard them speak in his 52 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:38,200 own language. OK, this was not in Babel. 53 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,760 Like say I'm say I'm Greek and I'm there and I don't understand 54 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:48,480 Hebrew, but I'm part of this crowd and I'm hearing some of 55 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:51,600 these people speaking in fluent Greek. 56 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:56,320 The great acts of God throughout the Old Testament in the Bible, 57 00:03:57,440 --> 00:03:58,920 the Testament wasn't written yet. 58 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:03,160 So they would be proclaiming the greatness of God's deliverance 59 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:07,440 from the, the bondage of Egypt and Pharaoh and all the things, 60 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:09,680 the great things that God had done. 61 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:14,360 And someone else would be there and, and, and no Italian or 62 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:18,720 someone else would be there and, and no some other Egyptian 63 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:21,839 language or whatever. So the word I was looking for 64 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:24,800 was dialects. OK, That's the Greek word of 65 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:28,960 that word, language, dialects. So they were speaking in various 66 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,640 dialects, OK, at one time, and it's a reversal. 67 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,520 What happened at the Tower of Babel when they decided to use 68 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,960 one language to build that tower to get up to God and sort of 69 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:43,520 control things was all based on pride. 70 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:46,880 And God had to disperse the crowd by giving them different 71 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,360 languages where all of a sudden they couldn't understand one 72 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:51,640 another, right? Well, in this instance, now 73 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:55,360 everybody is understanding the same message given by the Holy 74 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,200 Spirit through these various languages. 75 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:00,640 This is the real gift of tongues. 76 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,200 I mean, we'll get into other things down the road, but I 77 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:08,440 mean, if I'm going to have a language, a gift to speak in 78 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:12,560 tongues, Lord, give me Italian. I'd like to travel Rome and not 79 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,000 have to study and be able to just talk to people and give 80 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,200 them the gospel, right, Without having to study, you know, this 81 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,560 software, learning how to speak a foreign language. 82 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,680 I mean, I took, I took two years of Spanish in high school and I 83 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,600 all I can say is like buenas tarde or hostile luego coma, say 84 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:33,280 almost dead. And I know that one. 85 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:36,800 I'd learned how to order breakfast a little bit because 86 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,360 one time I had to go to Mexico. So I wanted to know how to order 87 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,240 pancakes and panaceas and that kind of stuff. 88 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,480 Caliente chocolate. I like that too, you know, 89 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,840 Anyway, it's a lot of work to know a language. 90 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:52,480 Well, these people were, I learned it in regard to these 91 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:54,800 languages. It wasn't God was looking down 92 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,000 and said, well, you already know Italians, so you're going to 93 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,080 proclaim the greatness of God in this language and you're no, it 94 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:03,840 was a supernatural manifestation of languages. 95 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:07,200 I talked to Mike Dawson one time and they're they spent many 96 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:09,640 years in the jungles. They're still there in the 97 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:12,160 jungles of Venezuela with the Anaman Indians. 98 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,160 He said, Clark, we prayed many times, Lord, give us a gift to 99 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,320 speak this language. It is brutal when you go into a 100 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,280 foreign country where there's no language and you have to point 101 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:25,920 at things forever to figure out, does that word mean tree or 102 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:28,560 branch or leaf? I mean, it's, it's, it takes a 103 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,080 while to eventually know the language and then to be able to 104 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,560 write the language down in the Bible, in the New Testament, 105 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,240 translate it. And but he told me one time an 106 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:43,800 interesting story. His father was a very pragmatic 107 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:48,760 man, very balanced in his theology, wasn't flying by the 108 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:51,440 seat of his pants. He knew the word, he knew doctor 109 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,800 and he understood what the Bible teaches regarding truth. 110 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,240 And one time he was sitting there talking to a witch doctor 111 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:02,400 trying to have a conversation, but there was no conversation 112 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:06,080 because he didn't understand Yanomano and the Yanomano Indian 113 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,640 didn't understand him, his language, but they were smiling 114 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:11,400 at each other and talking to each other. 115 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:15,080 Well, lo and behold, years later, when this witch doctor 116 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:18,120 became a Christian, he said, I'll never forget that one time 117 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,200 you and I were sitting down there by the river talking, and 118 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,440 you were telling me about Jesus. And I understood what you were 119 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,360 saying. And he said what he says. 120 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,960 Yeah, you were talking to me. The way you were communicating 121 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,440 somehow was translated to me in my language, even though you 122 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:37,280 were speaking something different. 123 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,840 Now that's only God. It only happened for a little 124 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:45,920 while, a little bit, but it was enough to touch that Indian's 125 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:50,320 heart and the Lord used it. I know missionaries I've talked 126 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:53,840 to for years, it's been years, you guys know, you study 127 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:56,440 language, you know to go to be a missionary. 128 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:58,160 And it wouldn't have been nice if you just would have been 129 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:00,720 given that gift and you can get on the plane the next day after 130 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,560 you were ready to go and just go give the gospel. 131 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:08,040 It doesn't work that way for some reason, but nonetheless in 132 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,880 Pentecost here, these are literal language languages. 133 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,960 This is not Babble. If you would have been there and 134 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:16,080 said, well, these people are drunk and we're going to see 135 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,320 what some of the people thought about what was happening here as 136 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,200 we study this together. The the crowds response. 137 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,600 And when they responded to this, it says in verse 5, and there 138 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,440 were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every 139 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,080 nation under heaven. So it gives you the idea of all 140 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:33,760 these different people groups. And when this sound occurred, 141 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:37,320 the multitude came together and they were confused because 142 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:39,480 everyone heard them speak in his own language. 143 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,600 I mean, that would be wild, wouldn't it, just to be able to 144 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:49,240 hear every language at that particular time being spoken at 145 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:51,760 the same time. And it's only resonating with 146 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:54,320 people who are from that particular people group that 147 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:56,920 would understand. Someone over here is talking 148 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:59,440 Italian, but if I'm Greek, I'm just listening to the guy that's 149 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,640 speaking in Greek and I'm hearing what it is he's saying. 150 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:07,040 OK. And so it says in verse 7. 151 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:11,040 Then they were all amazed and they marveled, I should say. 152 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,440 So I would be amazed and marveling too. 153 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:17,960 I marvel and amazed reading this and they said to one another, 154 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,520 look, are not all those who speak Galileans? 155 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,840 I mean, they they only knew like one kind of dialect, the 156 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:29,560 Galileans. And how is it that we hear each 157 00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:32,560 in our own language in which we were born? 158 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:35,840 That's the question. How in the world is this 159 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:39,480 happening? It's a miracle, the work of God, 160 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:43,640 the Holy Spirit. Parthians, that's the first 161 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:48,920 people group, and Meese from Persia and Elamites, those 162 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:53,200 dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontius in Asia, 163 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:57,840 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya joining 164 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:01,880 Cyrene. Visitors from Rome, both Jews 165 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:07,760 and Proselytites, Cretian and Arabs, We hear them speaking in 166 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:11,760 our own tongues the wonderful works of God. 167 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:21,120 So they were able to witness of their faith in the God of 168 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:25,680 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob biblically through the language 169 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:30,440 to all these people who were in town at Pentecost to celebrate 170 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:34,080 the giving of the law. No one expected this to happen 171 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:39,720 except obviously our faithful God and those He told that this 172 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:41,840 was going to happen and why they had to wait. 173 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:45,800 But the world was not prepared for this at this time, nor were 174 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:50,880 they expecting this. I was listening to someone talk 175 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:54,960 about this particular section of scripture and they said Jesus 176 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,200 one time in the scriptures was they, they believe this could 177 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:01,320 have happened by the portico of Solomon with the big pillars 178 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:06,120 where it had a big expanse of, of, of space and cement where 179 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:09,400 people could congregate. And Jesus was over there one 180 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:13,440 time praying and walking around and, and you would have loved to 181 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:15,440 heard the conversation if you could. 182 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,440 But you know, he knew he was going to go to the cross and 183 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:20,600 die. He knew he was going to suffer. 184 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:22,480 He knew he was going to raise again from the dead. 185 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:27,080 But he probably walked around that room and that big area of 186 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,320 space. And this was praising his 187 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:33,480 father, saying it won't be too long before there'll be 3000 188 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:37,760 people here one day that will get saved by hearing the gospel 189 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:43,600 from the apostle Peter. So they were always and 190 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:46,720 perplexed saying to one another, whatever could this mean? 191 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,320 In verse 13, others mocking said they are full of new wine, 192 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:54,440 thinking that obviously they were drunk. 193 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:00,560 Importance of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the beginning of 194 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:03,400 this promise where Jesus said not only will the Holy Spirit be 195 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,000 with you, but He shall be in you. 196 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:12,040 OK Once you become a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit 197 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:16,280 comes to indwell in you. You cannot be a believer without 198 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:20,120 the Holy Spirit. Sometimes people have different 199 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:24,960 positions on these subjects, but they're not found rooted in the 200 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:29,000 teaching of the Scripture. It tells us in Romans 8-9, if 201 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:34,000 anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, He is 202 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:35,960 not His. So you cannot be a Christian 203 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,720 without the Holy Spirit. Some people might say, well, 204 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:41,760 have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? 205 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:43,520 And we'll read this later on in Acts. 206 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:46,600 Well, I received the Holy Spirit when I got saved. 207 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:49,760 I passed from death to life. And I knew that I wasn't 208 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:51,560 disbelieving something intellectually. 209 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:55,280 I knew something happened to me supernaturally, internally. 210 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,560 And I knew that God now dwelt with me and lived with me. 211 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,080 And He promised he would never leave me or forsake me. 212 00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:05,560 And now I've been a Christian for many years, and I learn 213 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:09,720 every day my need to continually be filled and influenced and 214 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,720 controlled by the Holy Spirit. When I get out of that control 215 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,040 of the power of the Holy Spirit, I'm not pleasing the Lord. 216 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:20,000 I want to be filled. I want to be controlled by the 217 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:24,560 Spirit of God so his love flows out of me, His joy, his peace, 218 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:27,560 his long-suffering, his goodness, his meekness, his 219 00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:31,480 gentleness, his humility. This is what we need as God's 220 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:35,360 people, to be filled with God's Spirit and not to be filled with 221 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:37,840 ourselves, right? When we're filled with 222 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:42,600 ourselves, it's not a good story, right? 223 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:47,880 But when we're filled with God, it's wonderful because then we 224 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:51,520 can be instruments of his peace to other people. 225 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:55,200 We can all be ministers of the New covenant and bring life to 226 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:59,720 people by the giftings that God has given to each of us. 227 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:05,560 And so when we think about they, they mentioned new wine here 228 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:11,280 and, and Paul uses this illustration in in Ephesians 229 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:13,960 518, he says, do not be drunk with wine. 230 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,480 Where's an excess? And some of you have known, you 231 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:20,240 know, you've been inebriated in your life. 232 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,400 Hopefully that is not something that's a common occurrence 233 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:25,800 anymore. But have you become a believer? 234 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:28,200 You don't want to be drunk with wine, but you want to be filled 235 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:30,400 with the spirit. But it's not saying you can't 236 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:33,440 have a glass of wine, but it's saying not be under the control 237 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,840 and the influence of alcohol. OK. 238 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,040 Because when you're under the influence and control of 239 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:42,440 alcohol, you behave differently than whenever, whenever you're 240 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:47,000 influenced by God, right? I'm, I'm not asking you to test 241 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:51,240 that postulate, but it's true. I can tell you from my own 242 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,480 experience is a big difference in being filled with God and 243 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:58,000 being filled with alcohol. OK, The dynamics of what comes 244 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,400 out of your life is completely opposite opposition. 245 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,320 But anyway, do not be drunk with wine. 246 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:05,240 Whereas in excess could be filled with the spirit. 247 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,720 So we're commanded to be filled with the spirit. 248 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,800 It's not a suggestion. It's not well, a request. 249 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,240 Maybe, maybe not I, I, I don't feel like it today. 250 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,000 No, we need to be filled with the spirit and the idea is to 251 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,040 continually be filled because we leak. 252 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,560 We, it isn't like I get filled once I don't need any more power 253 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:27,360 of God's Spirit. I need to be constantly filled. 254 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,160 I need to have this thirst for God, this like this morning, I, 255 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,120 I was parched and I needed water. 256 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,120 Louis gave me some water and, and I, and I know when I need 257 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:38,360 water, I drink it, you know, I need some now. 258 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:41,800 And I want to know when I need to be filled with God's Spirit 259 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:44,480 too. I want to have that evidence 260 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:49,560 that I, I need to be filled. And when do I need to be filled? 261 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:56,440 Whenever I'm in a situation that I can't do anything in my own 262 00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:00,440 strength, and that should be every second of my life. 263 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,640 I, I'm not filled with the spirit every second of my life, 264 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,280 I, I want to be. That's a desire, that's a goal. 265 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:09,440 Maybe as we grow in the grace and the knowledge of God, we're 266 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:12,520 more filled with him and less filled with us, right? 267 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:17,480 But the, there's always test. Everything's a test in life. 268 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:23,080 Am I under God's control today? Am I under God's control of my 269 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:27,840 home and my, my marriage and my relationship with my wife or my, 270 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:33,080 my, my children, my family, my am I under God's control when I 271 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:36,880 preach? When I am I under control of 272 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:41,640 God's Spirit when I'm driving? That's a real one to think 273 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:47,000 about, especially when you see the police with the, the lights 274 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:51,280 on behind you. If I was under the control of 275 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:53,240 the Spirit of God, I wouldn't be speeding, right? 276 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:58,560 Let's be honest, I got pulled over last week 'cause I was 277 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:02,960 speeding. I was praying, Lord, I prayed 278 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:05,520 it. The name I drop here will be of 279 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:09,000 some influence. I know, Officer such and such. 280 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:11,599 OK. He goes back to the car. 281 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:14,040 He probably called him up and said, you know, this character 282 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,520 by the name of Clark, you know? But fortunately, he let me go. 283 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:19,800 And I was grateful. But I said, Lord, forgive me for 284 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:21,880 not paying it. I wasn't like, I don't think 285 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:24,880 intentionally wanting to put the pedal to the metal, but I was 286 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,440 sort of this daydreaming when I was driving. 287 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:30,680 You ever do that and the next thing you know you're going much 288 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,880 faster than you should be and you suffer the consequences. 289 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:38,000 But the the whole idea is this idea of wine influence. 290 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,880 They think these guys are drunk. Paul teaches in the book of 291 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:46,040 Ephesians that the influence of alcohol has negative effects 292 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,240 when it's controlling us. That why we absolutely need to 293 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:52,080 be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. 294 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:57,520 And so in verse 14 and Peter, he stands up with the 11 I I am 295 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,800 encouraged with this and Pastor Lewis, I'm sure is to anybody 296 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:03,960 that's called to preach the gospel. 297 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:09,160 He's calling people that he can work in their lives to perfect 298 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:11,240 them for the work of the ministry. 299 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,720 But he never looks down and says well, I'm going to wait till 300 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,320 such and such is perfect and then I might use them. 301 00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:23,360 We know Peter, shortly before this incident, was denying the 302 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:27,600 Lord right? He denied him three times, and 303 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:32,480 now he's chosen by God, the Holy Spirit, to bring forth the first 304 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:39,000 evangelistic message after this experience of Pentecost. 305 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:46,840 That should really encourage all of us that Peter was used to do 306 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,640 something that was remarkable by the work of God's Spirit. 307 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:56,920 So Peter, standing up with the 11, raised his voice and said to 308 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:01,520 them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be 309 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:05,480 made known to you, and heed my words, for these are not drunk 310 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,560 as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 311 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:12,080 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. 312 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:16,720 Now this particular section of Scripture in Joel is beginning 313 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:21,920 to show forth the whole economy of God until the 2nd coming of 314 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:25,200 Christ, when he establishes His Kingdom and the millennial reign 315 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:27,160 in Jerusalem. That's when this section of 316 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:30,600 Scripture will be completely fulfilled at that particular 317 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:32,880 time. But there is indicators here 318 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,760 that this is the beginning of this movement of God in the last 319 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:39,280 days. And the last days begin from the 320 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:42,520 day of Pentecost until the day of Christ return. 321 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,720 So we've been in the last days for several thousand years. 322 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:49,000 So that's because a lot of stuff's going on right now in 323 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:53,320 the world does not mean literally that tomorrow Jesus is 324 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:54,840 coming. And these are the last days. 325 00:19:55,080 --> 00:20:00,520 This last day, phenomena and experience of world insanity and 326 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,360 crisis and evil dictators and rulers and sin and all the other 327 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:08,960 things that comprise human existence have begun in Genesis, 328 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:11,800 but in the Church age, they began at Pentecost. 329 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:15,360 The last days before Christ's second coming will be fulfilled 330 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:19,600 at His second coming. And so this is the prophecies 331 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,280 that are beginning to be fulfilled. 332 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:23,680 It shall come to pass in the last days, says God. 333 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,400 I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. 334 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:28,960 Your sons, your daughters shall prophecy. 335 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:31,560 Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall 336 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:34,680 dream dreams. And my men servants, and on my 337 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:38,160 maidservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they 338 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:40,440 shall prophecy. And I will show wonders in 339 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:42,720 heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath. 340 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:46,240 Blood and fire and vapour smoke. The sun shall be turned Into 341 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:49,200 Darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the 342 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:50,960 great and awesome day of the Lord. 343 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:55,360 And it shall come to pass that whosoever calls on the name of 344 00:20:55,360 --> 00:21:00,240 the Lord shall be saved. And that's the gospel, right? 345 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:05,040 And the, and the ideas of, of prophesying is proclaiming the 346 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,640 word of God, speaking forth the truth of God. 347 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:11,960 Men and women can do that equally as God empowers them. 348 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:14,480 You give a witness somewhere, you give a testimony. 349 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,000 It isn't foretelling the future per SE. 350 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,480 That's a very rare thing because we got the future dictated in 351 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:22,360 this book, Genesis through Revelation. 352 00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:24,480 We know what God's going to do and what's going to come to 353 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:27,640 pass. But prophesying is the ability 354 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:33,520 to, you know, exhort people, warn them, edify, build them up 355 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,240 and comfort them. That's the real true meaning of 356 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:38,480 prophecy. The apostle Paul said, I wish 357 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:42,000 all of you would. Prophecy meaning that you would 358 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:48,000 in your ministry, warn people, build people up and comfort 359 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,120 them. That's something that we should 360 00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:52,680 all want to emulate, right? We should all want to have that 361 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,840 gift occurring in our lives to be useful to God. 362 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:00,960 Visions and dreams. People have them. 363 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:06,000 Sometimes they're caused by eating too much pizza the night 364 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,600 before. But I'm not negating the fact 365 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:12,840 that God can't speak through a dream or a vision. 366 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:18,920 But these things will increase in magnitude during the time of 367 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,520 right prior to the the return of Lord. 368 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,320 Some of these phenomenas in the heavens haven't occurred yet. 369 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,320 Of course, some commentators try to tie these into what happened 370 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:31,360 when Jerusalem was destroyed in 8070. 371 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:35,240 It looked pretty traumatic when Rome sacked the city. 372 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:40,200 But this what is being depicted here and Acts is unlike anything 373 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,360 that the world has seen yet. And these signs will be 374 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,240 obviously near the end of the Tribulation, right prior to the 375 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:50,760 return of Christ at his second coming, when he establishes His 376 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,040 Kingdom and rules and reigns in Jerusalem. 377 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,760 And then Peter continues, Men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus 378 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,280 of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you, by miracles, 379 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,840 wonders, and signs, which God did through him in your midst, 380 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:09,680 as you yourselves also know him, being delivered by the 381 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:13,640 determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have 382 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,680 taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death, whom 383 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:21,320 God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was 384 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,200 not possible that he should be held by it. 385 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:29,080 For David says concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before 386 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:33,960 my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. 387 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,120 Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. 388 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:40,560 Moreover my flesh also my will rest and hope. 389 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:44,000 For you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow 390 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,680 your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the 391 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:51,240 ways of life. You will make me full of joy in 392 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:53,200 your presence. Of course, this is the 393 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:55,440 fulfillment of what Christ experienced. 394 00:23:57,400 --> 00:23:59,680 Thanks for joining us on this journey through Acts. 395 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,680 On today's edition of Living Waters of Grace, Pastor Clark 396 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,760 shares that one of the most remarkable things about the book 397 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,360 of Acts is how it shows the disciples transformation. 398 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:15,240 The followers of Jesus we meet here are very different from the 399 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:19,040 often confused and fearful disciples in the Gospels. 400 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:23,160 And after Jesus's death and resurrection, and especially 401 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:27,320 through the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostles experienced 402 00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:30,800 a profound change in their hearts and boldness. 403 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,600 Their faith became unwavering, and they moved forward with 404 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:38,800 courage to spread the gospel despite opposition and hardship. 405 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:43,560 Acts reminds us that the same Spirit who empowered them is at 406 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:48,280 work in US today, shaping our hearts and giving us strength to 407 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:52,160 live boldly for Christ. Living Waters of Grace is a 408 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,760 ministry of Calvary Chapel Westmoreland. 409 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:58,400 If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, we invite you to join us 410 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:03,040 this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St. 411 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:07,720 Unit 6B. Visit calvarychapelonline.com 412 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,520 For more information where you can also join our e-mail list, 413 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:16,200 submit prayer requests, give online and download our mobile 414 00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:18,680 app. If you are in the Greensburg 415 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:23,160 area, you can listen to Grace FM on the new 91.7 frequency. 416 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:26,720 Pray about helping support the new station that will reach 417 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:31,160 thousands more listeners. Send gifts to Grace FMPO Box 418 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:37,560 716, Greensburg, PA 15601. 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